Day 5: #BlogLikeCrazy – Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

Yesterday’s #BlogLikeCrazy topic kicked off with quick segment on #SelfCare and much like the importance of #SelfCare, today’s conversation is one that we do not have often enough.

Life happens fast and with that, we could literally be “here today, and gone tomorrow” in the blink of an eye.

Just as the good book says, “no man knows the day nor the hour” and in knowing that statement to be true, we MUST do better in preparing for such an occasion.

I know no one loves to discuss death and what should and shouldn’t happen if you leave this Earth, but honestly, it (death) is inevitable.

It is a necessary conversation to have because the reality is, no matter who you are, no matter what you do, no matter the impact you have in this life, ONE DAY, you will no longer reside amongst the land of the living.

It is important for your family and loved ones to know what’s important to you when you pass, and it is equally as important for you to be financially prepared for your passing.

You may wonder what I mean by that, and I’m glad you asked!

The unexpected loss of a very close friend of mine really shifted the trajectory of how I viewed death.

It was a reminder that literally anything can happen, at any given time.

In that reminder, I felt like it was more than necessary for me to do two things and those two things were this: (a) GET LIFE INSURANCE and (b) ESTABLISH A LIVING WILL.

I found these things to be vital because I never wanted my family to stress over preparing funeral arrangements for me nor being forced to decide whether to keep me on life support should an unexpected tragedy occur.

When death happens, it is usually unexpected, so I never wanted to INCREASE the difficulty in an already unimaginable situation.

It is for those reasons that I had a very difficult conversation with my mom about what I did and did not want should I be unable to make decisions for myself.

After that conversation, I put EVERYTHING in WRITING, by way of a LIVING WILL, so that it was understood and quite frankly nonnegotiable.

A LIVING WILL is a written statement detailing a person’s desires regarding their medical treatment in circumstances in which they are no longer able to express informed consent, especially an advance directive.

The decision to establish how I wanted my final wishes to be carried out was probably, without a doubt, one of the most difficult things I’ve done in my life.

But I wanted to do everything I could to make a stressful situation a little less stressful.

The establishment of a WILL was my way of doing that.

It may be hard, but I encourage you to have a conversation with your loved ones about what your final wishes may be, should they ever be placed in a situation that called for them to make a difficult decision about your life.

After the conversation, I also encourage you to meet with an Estate Planning Attorney who can help create a living will on your behalf.

A few things to consider when preparing a living will are:

Who will have the ability to make informed decisions on your behalf? Do you want your organs donated? Do you want to be on life support if you have a major accident and your quality-of-life changes? Do you want to remain on life support should you be brain dead? Do you want to depend on a machine for food and nutrition should you be unable to care for yourself? Who will maintain possession of your earthly assets in the event of your passing?

All the items above, and more, are questions I had to answer to create my living will.

In creating a living will, there will be NO fighting over my possessions, there will be NO repossessions, and most importantly, there will be absolutely NO confusion about what should and should not happen in the event of my death.

You may have noticed I mentioned above that there would be no repossessions and that is because when making the decision to create a living will, I also decided it would be important to invest in life insurance.

Life Insurance is an insurance that pays out a sum of money either on the death of the insured or after a set period.

I don’t know if you know this or not, BUT debt does not go away just because someone passes.

If you have property or businesses, a decision must be made on what happens with your assets, in the event of your passing.

For me, I wanted to be able to gift my family with what I’ve worked so hard for.

I wanted to be able to establish and create generational wealth. I wanted to have possessions within my bloodline that could be passed down from generation to generation.

Life Insurance has helped ensure that I can do that.

My life insurance policies are plentiful, simply because I wanted everything I owned to be paid in FULL AND I wanted my family to be able to LIVE WELL.

The cost of my life insurance policies, combined, are less than $100 per month.

I personally have policies with my employer AND a third-party life insurance agency because I wanted to ensure that EVERYTHING I owned was COVERED.

The establishment of my life insurance policies WILL create GENERATIONAL WEALTH for my family.

Afterlife planning is a conversation many of us shy away from but is it probably one of the most important conversations we can ever have.

A go fund me account or fish fry for your cousin Ray-Ray is NOT life insurance and is NOT proper afterlife planning.

Why not make the INVESTMENT NOW, to ensure your family, your children, and your spouse are taken care of when you leave this Earth.

Death is hard enough, without the added stress of having to figure out how things will work now that you’re gone.

If you’re interested in learning more about Life Insurance, JOIN US Tuesday, November 8, 2022, at 7:00 PM for a one-time informational session with a Licensed Insurance Agent.

The conversation is 100% FREE and FOR YOU to get the information you need. Simply, “CLICK HERE” for access to the Zoom.

Until Next Time, #KeyInspires