You See What I Mean?

I rant. I rave. I scream from the rafters. The point I keep making about people’s mortality hit home again for me over the weekend when a 51 year old friend of mine died suddenly at home. Danny was just too young to die. He was too active to die.

When I was talking to a partner of mine in Denver today and told him about Danny, he told me about a friend who has passed away this weekend from leukemia at age 37. That’s just too young. How can a young family plan for life when things like this happen when they aren’t supposed to?

First, in case neither of the cases above strikes a nerve, let’s cut right to the chase about all of this mortality stuff. As I’ve stated in many posts in this forum, if you’re a 25 year old male in America, you have only a 1 in 6 chance of making to age 64 according to a recent study. This same study points out the kind of denial that causes people, especially those in their 30’s and 40’s to avoid purchasing life insurance. The survey notes that “Americans generally underestimate their risks – for example, only 5% of Americans ages 35-44 said they think they will die before reaching age 65, when in fact a typical 35-year-old male has a 17.5% chance of death before age 65.” That almost 1 in 5!!

Whether it’s cancer or a heart attack, a car accident or whatever, death happens too early. It happens at the wrong time. It happens unexpectedly and the only planning tool we have, and thank God it is an inexpensive one, is life insurance. It isn’t going to replace the loss or do away with the pain, but it’s going to fulfill your loved one’s wish that if something did happen, you’re going to be all right.

Bottom line. As a whole we are living longer and I think there is a tendency for young adults to think that means that death always comes when it’s supposed to. Think again.