The purpose of insurance in it's most basic form is to protect and guard against financial loss. This is true for all types of insurance, be it health insurance for yourself and family, accident and disability for the self employed, key person insurance on a business partner or highly compensated employee and life insurance on a loved one or provider.
When you are without insurance you leave yourself and those around you exposed to the financial risk. of loss. This is common knowledge, but many people view insurance as a luxury as opposed to a necessity. Perhaps this is because there is such a myriad of choices, many are frozen like a deer in the headlights and put off the purchase until they have to. So let's see why insurance is a necessity and not a luxury.
Funeral cost
In 2020 the average funeral ranged from 7,000 to 12,000 for burial and cremation at about 6,000. If you are a single person with no spouse or children, your funeral will cost your family around 10,000. At a time while your loved ones dealing with your loss, many will have to start a "gofundme" page to cover the expenses. One Time magazine article stated:
" A search on GoFundMe for campaigns related to COVID-19 funerals turns up more than 17,000 results. "
"Crowdfunding is uneven, too. Some campaigns have raised nothing."
Your spouse and children
On January 31, 2021 the COVID-19 eviction moratorium comes to an end. There is never a good time to loose a loved one and provider or the income they bring, The world is now in the grip of the worst pandemic since 1918 and the loss of the primary wage earner is leaving families with no place to live. While there are plans in the works to help homeowners and renters to stay in there homes, it is unlikely these will cover a 30,000 to 100,000 financial deficit. With the loss of the primary or secondary wage earner your family could be left homeless.
Your worldly possessions
While many feel, "once I am gone I won't care what happens to my stuff", many want to be able to leave a keepsake or memento. Many more would hate to know that the homes, cars or that comic book collection they spent years building, was sold at pennies on the dollar, to pay for a funeral.
There are many other reasons why insurance should be taught as a necessity, not a luxury. I believe the one of the best reasons was stated by the Temptations, "and when he died, all he left us was alone"
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