It’s the one month each year that the life insurance industry coordinates a campaign aimed at educating folks about the importance of life insurance and helping them get the coverage they need. I don’t want to bore you with lots of statistics, but a recent survey from LIMRA (Life Insurance Marketing Research Association) found that only 59% of Americans own life insurance and about half of those are underinsured. So that means that 70% of the population either has no life insurance or has too little life insurance.
So what does that have to do with the Knights? The historian, Christopher Kauffman, spent several years at the Supreme Office and at the Museum, researching the book that he wrote on the 100th anniversary of our founding. That book, Faith and Fraternalism, notes on page 13, “…he [Fr. McGivney] was deeply interested in pursuing the topic of a Catholic fraternal insurance society among groups of Catholic laymen of New Haven.” Then on page 35 Mr. Kauffman goes on, “…he [Fr. McGivney again] spent his energy in promoting the insurance feature…his emphasis on business was his pastoral concern for the social and financial security of the family.”
Fr. McGivney lived both the social and the financial insecurity of a desperate family, with the breadwinner suddenly taken, that had to be supported. He left the seminary to work and support his mother and siblings. He didn’t want other Catholic families to find themselves in such a predicament. That, and uniting men of faith, was the impetus for establishing our Order. Everyone who joined in those first years was insured; that was part and parcel of being in the organization. Now every member has a choice and every member should know what we do, and how we do it.
Here’s the process I use when I meet with families:
1. Discover – Identify & prioritize your financial goals
2. Gather Data – Collect facts & figures based on your current situation
3. Analyze – Input data, run calculations, identify shortfalls
4. Recommend – Propose a financial strategy designed to satisfy your goals
5. Implement – Choose a financial strategy and implement
6. Periodic Review – Review regularly, measure success, make adjustments
As you can tell, this is a painless process. But it can help any family, at any age, determine if they have blind spots in their coverage. It can help you avoid the pain of being underinsured. With a variety of life insurance products we offer we can help just about any person within any budget.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to buy life insurance…I want to buy what life insurance provides: no change in lifestyle for the survivors…in the house where they want to be. It’ll pay for a daughter’s wedding, a child’s college education and much more. What does life insurance provide? Peace of mind, security, freedom from anxiety, a safeguard from the unknown.
That’s where I can help.
Vivat Jesus!