My Virtual Office

Insurance - Response to Butterfly 2 October 4, 2008

Posted by mona in : Uncategorized , trackback

Wow, thanks Mona for the great advice. I have another question. I have invested in Sunlife’s VUL since last year. Do you think it was a bad decision after all? - Butterfly

Hi again!

I believe getting a premium life insurance such as a VUL is never a bad decision. If you’re from the Philippines (are you?), SunLife Phils has repeatedly declared that it is a stable company with no exposure to Lehman Brothers. So, I guess there’s really no need to worry about it. Shaky as the pre-need and insurance industry is here, somehow we just need to place our trust in the people behind it to really know what to do and how to handle the hard-earned money we place with them.

I must admit that I have always been critical of pre-need and insurance products. I have often gotten into discussions with agents whenever I pose the question - HOW CAN YOU GUARANTEE THAT WHAT MY FAMILY WILL GET WOULD BE ENOUGH TO ENSURE THAT THEY WOULD BE ABLE TO MAINTAIN THEIR STANDARD OF LIVING? This was even made worse when we fell victims to Pacific Plans’ “disastrous” traditional education plans. All of my daughter’s education plans from elementary all the way through college have been compromised by a company that had claimed to be stable and guaranteed that they would pay for my kid’s full tuition fees no matter when and where she studies.

But whatever it is that has happened to us with Pacific Plans didn’t stop my husband and me from getting our life insurances from another company. Death is inevitable and we simply needed that feeling of “security” that our kids will not be left empty-handed when we die. Our insurances won’t probably amount to much with the way the economy is going. It won’t make our kids multimillionaires when we die but we think it would help them somehow. And besides, we don’t really like to leave our kids with too much money which we think would inevitably rob them of the ability to strive and dream. (which I have blogged about already in http://theheadquarters.168center.com/2008/08/12/kids-and-business-a-mothers-point-of-view/)

Going back…It’s really an issue of trust. In this life, we’re really left without much choice but to place it in institutions like the government (however much we hate the system), the banks, and yes even insurance companies included.

I know I am beginning to sound pessimistic but I just believe that there is no such thing as “enough” or a “100% guarantee”. No one can really say what’s gonna happen next. I guess the key here is to NOT put “everything” into one basket and learn to peg a “safe” limit to your exposures.

I hope I was able to answer your question.