It’s been another one of those weeks where people seem to be out to overthrow logic with, well, illogical thinking. It was about a tie between the insurance companies and those considering buying life insurance. They both seem to have a common flaw in the way they were going about the process. Both of them seemed to forget that the reason that people buy life insurance is that people have a tendency to died unexpectedly. They both also seem to forget that a policy that isn’t in force is worthless.

The battle this week was with two different insurance companies who were asked to reissue policies to better meet the client’s needs. Big asterik here! I always recommend my clients put a policy in force and then have it reissued. For whatever reason they think they are being more prudent by waiting for the corrected policy.

In both of these cases the companies took over three weeks to issue a new policy, one because they said the couldn’t issue a new policy until they got the old one back, the other because the order to reissue just never seemed to get to the right department. The bottom line with both of these is that, in spite of poking and prodding and expressing my outrage, neither company was able to overcome their own inertia and get the job done in a timely manner.

As I expressed to the presidents of both of these companies, if a client were to die while the company was obviously dragging their feet with a simple reissue process, the first call I would recommend that a widow make would be to their attorney. In both of these cases the companies were withholding the ability for the person to put coverage in force.

Again this week I had a person who was doing what they considered their due diligence in shopping for life insurance, become uninsurable while they were still thinking about what they really wanted to do…..after 4 months. This was a person that, before being diagnosed with colon cancer, would have been a preferred risk. It will now be years, if ever, before they are insurable.

I’ve harped on this before, and it may sound like the rantings of a mad man, but if you think you need life insurance, just go buy some. Don’t over think it. Use an independent agent so you know that it will be shopped for price anyway. Don’t worry about the product. Buy term insurance and get as much or more than you think you need. Buy it on a monthly basis so you can change easily. The size and shape and color don’t matter, because you aren’t stuck with the decision. If you buy a 10 or 20 year term policy, the only one locked into that term length is the company. You can change whenever you want. Once it’s in force, feel free to overthink it, over shop it, analyze and scrutinize it, all with the peace of mind that if you die or your health changes, your family is secure because you have life insurance in force.

Bottom line. Your family gets nothing if you die while you are analyzing the whole life insurance issue. You won’t get insurance if you become uninsurable, and if you die from the event that rendered you uninsurable, your family gets nothing. Term insurance is so inexpensive that there is absolutely no reason not to insure yourself first and then set off on your analytical journey.