Insurance overload? The benefits of having it when you need it most

If you are over the age of 16 then you probably have had your first discussion about insurance. Car insurance as soon as you get your drivers license. Perhaps you are in your 30's and 40's.. 50's and so on.. and you own a house/condo and have homeowner's insurance. Renter's insurance or contents insurance. If you are a business owner you have liability insurance. The list goes on.. This is why I believe that most of us shut down when we hear about any insurance at all. We feel tapped out. I want to bring up a few key points surrounding the topic of insurance and the experience I have had. As a child I knew that we had health insurance because we went to the dentist often, if we had any medications we would show our card at the pharmacist. Sounds pretty familar to many I'm sure. It wasn't until I was 22 when I learned about the real benefits of having these plans. I was in my last year of University and my Mom was suddenly diagnosed with ALS/Lou Gehrig's disease. A shock indeed as she was only 52 yrs old. So it begins.. She is unable to work as her speech began to slur, not able to drive, and her mobility quickly deterioted. A bit of a blurr but I remember my Dad with a stack of papers at the kitchen table...pages and pages read Sunlife Financial health insurance, disability insurance, prescriptions, physio, home health care, equipment.. The list goes on. The real concern were my parents. My Mom dealing with an illness taking over her life and my Dad taking the extreme burden of being her main care giver as long as he could. I cannot imagine the extra stress if he had to work extra hours to factor in these increasing costs. My Mom died within 7 months of being diagnosed with ALS. She died at the age of 53 in 1999. I learned so much from her. She was a great Mom. I still miss her terribly. Which brings me to the life insurance she had in place. The home that my brother and I grew up in was now passed to my Dad clear of a mortgage debt. My brother and I were able to pay off our student loan debt. I would rather still have that debt to have my Mom here, however it was just a little.. It was what my Mom would have wanted for us. Fast forward a few more years... my Dad remarried and shortly after retired. His life insurance, health insurance coverage dropped significantly when he reached 65 yrs old. This happens to mostly everyone! So if you don't have anything such as life insurance outside of work, then I highly recommend it! He died in 2007 from a heart attack and I haven't spoken to his wife since. I don't blame her as there were no clear instructions in the Will to set aside anything for my brother and I. Lesson - Get a Will, clearly write out what you would want to happen when you die and perhaps discuss some different scenarios. Wait, there's more... My partner 34 yrs old in 2007 was diagnosed with breast cancer. Totally healthy now I might add! However, at the time of diagnosis our worlds were turned upside down. Chemo, surgeries, time off work, raising a young child, paying mortgage, general survival. Critical illness insurance saved us at a time when we really needed it. The benefit allowed us to focus on recovery and take the stress away from finances. My message here is not to go crazy and get all kinds of extra insurance but to begin with an assessment of what you need, what is mandatory and perhaps where you have large gaps. We can't insure ourselves for every minor thing, so it's important to get the right kind of coverage for you and your family. If you would like to know about your current coverage and your needs please do not hesitate to call me. It is part of what I do, there are no costs associated with meeting and doing a needs analysis. Thanks! Karen karen.divenanzo@sunlife.com 604-603-8571 www.sunlife.ca/karen.divenanzo