It’s quiet in the early morning, before anyone else is awake – and there is a calm that comes from knowing that you’re working to provide for the people you love. Being the breadwinner for some isn’t just a paycheque, it’s the unspoken responsibility of taking care of your family. But what if something happens? How do you guard against the unknown? The answer, as mundane a concept as it sounds, is insurance – more specifically, life insurance. And even though it might sound like a pretty trivial topic for someone to be writing about, the truth is, it could be the most important thing in your financial life.
The Unseen Burden
Breadwinning is an honour to be bestowed and a responsibility to be borne. When most people think of the role of the breadwinner, they tend to focus on the first part of that description – the bringing in of income that allows the family access to the necessary funds to cover their short-term needs. Yet, whatever it is that the breadwinner brings home – after taxes, savings, benefits and other factors have been deducted – that amount is embroiled in the medium- and long-term planning that moves families forward in life. The amount of money that the breadwinner brings home is connected to the mortgage payments, the tuition fees, and everything in between that is part of the family budget. Breadwinners spend their pay cheques because they have to and because they want to, spend earning money is time that is spent away from home – creating a futuristic, fictitious and frightening scenario about what happens when they stop. Many people tend to avoid thinking about the question of what happens to the family if the head of household ought to stop producing income. That’s probably because the question is awkward and unpleasant, even frightening.
Life insurance acts as a backstop here: a way to guarantee that your family can be certain of maintaining their lifestyle, should you not be around to do so. It’s a question not just about replacing income; it’s about continuity, about giving your family the certainty they need to carry on when you’ve gone.
The True Value of Life Insurance
What’s more – and this is the basis of its real value – life insurance, like homeowner’s insurance, is a reassurance device. It allows the primary source of family income to protect the family’s future. The family living from paycheque to paycheque may become enmeshed in poverty after the breadwinner’s demise, while the family that has life insurance can continue to live a comfortable life after the loss of the same breadwinner.
The level of cover depends on the individual situation: mortgage balance, kids’ tuition, other debts outstanding, even whether we’re ever planning to stop working. For the principal wage earner, the needs assessment is especially critical, often with a financial adviser, to assure that the policy is in proportion to the financial loss.
But life insurance isn’t just for the middle-aged or the greyed. That means the younger breadwinner, who might feel invincible, or who sees life insurance as a foolish expense, needs to consider the effect of his or her sudden non-appearance as well. Younger people have the advantage of purchasing life insurance now, when you are healthiest and your premiums can be lower. You’re creating a low-cost safety net that gets more valuable as the years pass.
A Legacy of Responsibility
In addition to the cash component, life insurance also offers something less quantifiable: a gift of duty. It’s a legacy that says I care for you beyond the grave, that I bind my family’s fortunes to mine in sickness as in health. It’s the grand act of parting love, the ending gift for your survivors.
The thought that your family might suffer when you’re gone is a terrifying one, a powerful fear; buying your first policy is a domestic way of turning it into action, a practical perspective in line with the bigger responsibility of being the primary breadwinner – which is as much about preparing for things that might never happen as it is about seeing to immediate needs.
The Conversation We Need to Have
Although it might seem morbid or taboo in a culture that doesn’t like to discuss mortality, the primary breadwinner in every home must have ‘the talk’ on life insurance coverage. It should go without saying why a life policy is important, but the thought of your untimely death might blind you to the value of planning for your family’s future.
You already have so much responsibility for supporting your family, and responsibility doesn’t get lighter when you’ve passed on. That’s why life insurance, in a good and quiet, unobtrusive way, helps to share the responsibility, so you can make sure your family has what they need, even when you aren’t there to provide for them. It’s just good adult planning that can make the world a little brighter.
After all, life insurance is not about fear; life insurance is about love. It’s about the small, profound gesture of making a commitment to those you care about most that will forever outlast your life. Life insurance, then, is not a policy; it is a promise.
