Did you know... most folks hate insurance.

Did you know……

Did you know that you are not alone?  I think a lot of people feel very alone when they are scrolling through the internet searching for anything that resembles insurance.  I have been reminded repeatedly how insurance is a word that no one wants to talk about.  Insurance is a term that people in finance tend to hide.  Insurance is an industry that has been compared to MLM (multi-level marketing) and used car sales. 

To me, insurance is widely misunderstood.  Insurance is a tool that everyone wishes they had when they needed but hate to pay for it when they don’t. 

Let me tell you a quick personal story about insurance.  I owned a car back in 2004.  A white Honda Accord that was new in 1995 and very well used by me being a single mom by the time it got to 2004.  The A/C was gone.  I needed to run the heater, so it didn’t overheat.  I promised I would take care of it each month when I got paid but never had the money.  I worked in the insurance industry and still paid for full coverage on my fully paid off car.  Everyone told me I was crazy for doing that. 

“It’s not worth it!” “Save the money for a new car.” They said. 

One February morning, I asked my oldest son to run outside and start the car, so it was warmer while I packed up the baby and met him downstairs.  It took longer and he kept the car running and came back into the apartment.  Less than 5 minutes later, we walked out, locked up and walked to where my car used to be.  It was gone.  Stolen.

Yes, I had a breakdown.  Yes, I felt a huge panic about what was I going to do?  We got through with the help of friends driving us to and from daycare and school.  We walked to the store, and I waited for the car insurance company to decide that it was time to pay for my stolen car.  Two days before the company would pay out, the police found my stripped-down, beat-up car.  Two weeks later, and about $8,000 of insurance company money later, I got my car back.  It was better than before it was stolen.  I was grateful. 

That is not the end of this story, however.  Six months later, it was stolen again from my work’s parking lot.  Just so everyone knows, Honda Accords are the most stolen cars in the world. I was told that again by everyone except the insurance company.  They did their due diligence and investigated with the police.  This time, the car was not found.  One month after the car was stolen the second time, I received a check for the amount that the insurance company put into the car some six months prior.  That check gave me enough money for a down payment on a reliable car that was not a Honda Accord.

What would have happened if I didn’t keep the full insurance on the car?  What would have happened if I listened to what everyone else was telling me at the time how useless it was to keep full insurance on a paid-off car? 

I can tell you.  I would have been a single mother with no car and no prospect of a car.  While I have faith that things would eventually work out, it would have created a horrible situation for me financially. I continued to be wildly grateful that I chose to keep full car insurance coverage on my beat-up car.

Every insurance out there is designed to be used when the worst-case scenario happens.  No, people do not like to talk about it.  No one looks forward to talking about worse-case scenarios. 

They like to hate insurance companies and rage against spending money on something they don’t use.  No one wants to talk about what would happen if?  No one wants to have tough conversations that start with questions like:

-          What would you do if you were injured and couldn’t work?

-          What would you do if you were so injured you couldn’t work ever again?

-          What would you do if you were diagnosed with cancer?

-          What would you do if the person providing for you died unexpectedly?

-          What would your family do if YOU died unexpectedly?

-          What would you do if your car was stolen?

I know that the insurance industry is unpopular to talk about, and I still want to talk about it. 

We do hard things when we are adults.  We must have tough conversations.  We need to say things that are not popular.

Did you know that you are not alone?  Did you know that is why I am here? 

Let’s have tough conversations and do hard things together.