Our Friends: Ryan and Megan
Megan and Ryan Collins are fictional characters created from stories we have heard from clients over the many years in the insurance business. This is one of those stories:
When their first child, Emily, was born, Megan and Ryan Collins decided that Megan would leave the workplace and become a full-time mom. They had many such discussions before Emily was born and decided that this was the best solution for their family.
Losing one income would be difficult but, by cutting down on some expenses, they created a family budget they could live with. By the birth of their third child in six years, the budget had become stretched as tight as it could and they would need to cut expenses further. Looking for additional ways to cut down on spending, they decided to cancel Megan’s life insurance, since she wasn’t working anyway and, if something should happen to her, there would be no income to replace.
A month after canceling the insurance, Megan began to complain about headaches and blurred vision. Six months after that, the non-operative brain tumor got the best of her and, a week shy of her 38th birthday, Megan Collins passed away.
As tight as the budget had been prior to Megan’s passing, it was nothing compared to what it would be when all of her household duties were replaced. Matt couldn’t afford to lose any pay from missed work, so he had to hire a full-time babysitter to take care of the baby and another one part-time to drive the older ones to and from school and to after-school activities. He was able to take on extra work to do at home, but that would leave him no time for cleaning the house and caring for the property (lawn mowing, gardening, etc.), so he had no choice but to hire people to take over those duties.
The children needed more of his time in this difficult period but he had to work the extra hours to help pay for these services. If only I hadn’t canceled Megan’s life insurance, he thought, I would be able to spend more time with my children, time they truly need now.
Don’t let their story become yours.
A non-working spouse should have life insurance. The death benefit typically doesn’t have to be as much as the working spouse, but there should be coverage for both parents.
Do you have a similar story you would like to share? Send it to stories@lifeinsure.com so we can share it with our readers. Anonymity is guaranteed, as your stories will be told through the eyes of Ryan and Megan.