Are you worth more dead or alive? That is a question many people eventually ask, usually while reviewing a life insurance policy and discovering just how expensive it is to continue living.
Three years ago, one of my term life insurance policies expired. I had bought it a few decades earlier, when I was considerably younger and life insurance was considerably cheaper. So I bought another policy recently. This one wasn’t cheap. I understand why. I am older. I am less healthy. And, if I am being brutally honest, I am statistically closer to the finish line. That’s the insurance business. The companies make money insuring young people who believe they are immortal, then they charge the rest of us more because we have started noticing that our warranties are getting closer to expiration. It’s simple math.
Of course, plenty of people have no life insurance at all. These are often the same people who do not give much thought to funeral expenses. “I will be dead,” they reason. “It won’t be my problem.” Technically, they have a point. But it will be somebody’s problem.
More than 20 years ago, a good friend of mine died. He was married and had two young children. Naturally, all of us worried about what would happen to his family. Fortunately, he had planned ahead and carried life insurance. That didn’t make losing him any easier, but it removed one enormous financial worry from a family already dealing with enough grief. It makes you think. And it should.
As part of getting my latest policy approved, I had to undergo a physical exam. Height. Weight. Urine test. Blood work. And 93 questions about my medical history. At some point, I expected the nurse to ask what I had for breakfast when I was 12.
The physical exam itself was humbling. My height has decreased. My weight has increased. I am apparently shrinking in one direction and expanding in another. My blood and urine were, well, blood and urine. Although, thanks to some unfriendly kidney stones, those two categories occasionally seem to have developed a closer working relationship than I would prefer.
I don’t take many medications, other than a cholesterol-lowering pill. The frustrating part is how much those numbers changed from one physical to another. One year, the doctor wanted me on a medication for the rest of my life. The next year, he said my numbers look exceptional. I would like to tell you I dramatically changed my diet and exercise routine. I didn’t. So, I asked the nurse about it. She explained that some test results can be affected, positively or negatively, by what we eat in the 24 hours before the exam.
Apparently, we really are what we eat. And when it comes to life insurance, what we eat might determine what we are worth — dead or alive.
Have a fantastic Friday, and thanks for reading.
Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital newsletter
shane@gctimesnews.com
641-332-2707