It’s 10:00 pm and as I go to sit down for the first time today, I realize I forgot to call the orthodontist, forgot to schedule a strategy meeting for work, need to update my homeowner’s insurance for the deck we built and still need to write a check for school lunches. I’ve been up for 15 hours and like all working moms, I am having flashbacks of things forgotten and not done. Tomorrow it starts all over again but with soccer practice from 6-8:30, hopefully something hot for dinner and some laundry; otherwise I need to go to Walmart and buy more underwear. The multi-tasking never stops. And why should it–I am always Mom and always a professional woman trying to move forward.
Being a working mom is hard. I juggle a lot of balls every day and usually a few of them are on fire. Nothing in college or the early years of my marriage prepared me for the parenting endurance run. I empathize with other working moms. I no longer judge. I know that some days I have to decide between being a good mom and being a good employee–and honestly, some days I am not that successful at either. However, I do find solace that I am not alone.
According to the US Department of Labor (Women in the Labor Force in 2010/ May 2015) women are now 59% of the workforce. Knowing that I am not alone in my constant state of multi-tasking brings me some comfort.
Technology has been the savior of my existence. I use my smartphone for everything. Really, everything. Reminders and the calendar app keep the juggled balls in view. I am constantly taking photos and screen shots for everything from recipes, work receipts, inspirational sayings, magazine articles I want to read later, medical bills to upload to the HSA. I text my husband and kids to update the schedule daily (if not hourly), my mother to make sure she checks her blood pressure and takes her meds and with my dad to reassure her that she did. I text my little brother to remind him mom shouldn’t mow the lawn even if she likes to. I search for vacation packages with a travel app and pay my credit card online with the Citibank app. I order the gluten free oatmeal from Amazon and the graduation gifts from Etsy–right after I transfer money from the bank app.
I wish everything would be as useful as my smartphone and I am constantly looking for the next “thing” that will help make my life easier– be multi-functional and easy. Enter life insurance with living benefits.
Whoa! Yes, life insurance with living benefits. A study from the Pew Research Center (Breadwinner Moms/May 2015) tells us that 40% of us are the sole or primary income provider. Life insurance holds an important place for women like it never has before. A national poll by wholesaleinsurance.net (Insurance Information Institute, March 2015) states that 43% of adult women have no life insurance at all and those that do are insured for considerably less than men in similar income brackets. Baby, we’ve come a long way and life insurance is no longer just for the boys.
Normally I would have purchased life insurance for when I died. My family would have the death benefit and while they would be grief stricken, my kids’ lives would go on. I might have had to purchase multiple kinds of insurance products to cover other risks, such as illness or injury. Then, I could purchase a retirement vehicle for those golden years.
Life insurance with living benefits is a life insurance policy with built in “apps.” The insurance industry calls these riders, and they’re options that let me customize my policy like I would my smartphone. One policy that multi-tasks: the death benefit if I die too soon, and riders that can provide a benefit if I become ill or even turn my policy cash value into an income stream in case I live longer than my retirement savings. Riders that can provide access to the death benefit before you die for an illness or injury or to the cash value in retirement for an extra stream of tax-free income has been a game changer. I have found the smartphone of life insurance policies.
I love this life insurance just as much as I love my smartphone–and that’s a lot. Maybe one night when I finally go to sit for the day, instead of having flashbacks of tasks not completed and financial futures not secured, I might actually be able to catch up on Grey’s Anatomy–on my Hulu app of course.
Learn more about life insurance.
Riders are supplemental benefits that can be added to a life insurance policy and are not suitable unless you also have a need for life insurance. Riders are optional, may require additional premium and may not be available in all states or on all products. Riders typically have limitations and restrictions to exercising them. Receipt of other policy benefits that reduce policy values may also reduce the ability to exercise a rider. This is not a solicitation of any specific insurance policy. Policy loans and withdrawals reduce the policy’s cash value and death benefit and may result in a taxable event. Withdrawals up to the basis paid into the contract and loans thereafter will not create an immediate taxable event, but substantial tax ramifications could result upon contract lapse or surrender. Surrender charges may reduce the policy’s cash value in early years. The use of one benefit may reduce or eliminate other policy and rider benefits.
TC85559(0615)3
