Last night in our FPU course, we focused on Insurance. When I saw the topic, I was ready! I've got this or did I? I didn't. I really didn't. I actually felt a little immature that I didn't have it together like I thought I did. We have health, life, long term disability, auto, and rental insurance, so I thought we were good to go. It's great that we have these things, but 1. Do we fully understand our policies? (No) and 2. How often do we review them? (Rarely) Last night's lesson wasn't just about understanding and reviewing our policies and comprehending premiums and deductibles, but it was about protecting ourselves from liabilities that we are not financially capable of handling on our own. It's why we have insurance.
It should have dawned on me a few weeks ago when I took a trip to Target. I was getting ready to make a left hand turn on to a street that I have made hundreds of left hand turns on, and I've done it plenty of times at night. This particular night as I was getting ready to turn, I didn't see that there was a woman crossing the street (Yes, she had the right of way.). I was so close to her that I could see the paralyzing fear on her face. She stood in the street frozen from fright because my vehicle was less than a foot away from her. I too was frightened like I've never been in my life. My first thought was that I could have seriously injured this woman or worse. I had to let my window down to apologize to her. She told me that it was "okay", but no it wasn't. My carelessness could have cost her her life, potential jail time for myself, and created a financial liability on my family that we aren't equipped to handle.
I continued along my journey to Target, and I thanked God for the blessings he bestowed on both of us. I thanked him for having properly functioning brakes, and it dawned on me just how important FPU is because what if my insurance wasn't enough to cover her medical expenses if I had hit her. That was a great reason why 6 months living expenses would have been needed. All of this dawned on me except to check my auto insurance policy! I found out last night that we have been riding around with what I'll call "basic" auto insurance. It's the minimum that the state of VA requires. I'm almost 30 years old, and I'm rolling around with basic! Now it's one thing if that's all you can afford, but for 1, 2, 3, 4 $10 extra a month, I was able to increase my insurance by 20 times more than what I previously had. INSANE!!!! Now, we know we have way more than what we need, but there was only a $2 difference between really great coverage and insane coverage, so I got a little crazy.
Our lack of coverage isn't about maturity but about financial literacy. It's a topic that I love, but even I didn't have it all together. I shared the topic with friends, and I found out that many of them had just increased their rates or they needed to review their policy as well. Some didn't respond at all, but that's okay. I just hope they read the e-mail.
Insurance really is one of those peace of mind financial products out there. I encourage all to learn more about it and make sure you have the right coverage. We all know that we need it, but fully understanding what we have is a different story. Insurance is marketed to us on a purely emotional level for a reason. Companies know that you don't want to leave your loved ones behind with a financial burden. If you put aside your feelings about marketing and salespeople, you will find that this one is pretty spot on. I don't want to leave Daniel with a ton of debt, a decrease in household income, and have to deal with my death. We want to make sure that if anything happens to either of us, the other one will be okay at least financially.
I love how God doesn't stop speaking to you. You may have not gotten it the first time, but he'll find another way to get your attention. I'm very appreciative that I didn't have to go through the School of Hard Knocks for this one, and I hope that this may prevent someone else from being a part of the School of Hard Knocks Class of 2013.
- Debt Free in 2013
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