LIFE Awareness

I haven’t had many people pass away in my life. Most of my family live overseas. I never met my grandparents and I have none left. I’ve never been to a funeral. I feel lucky in that respect. I know that, like everyone else, my time will come to experience the death of a loved one and it’s something I dread.

I remember a few years ago when my uncle died in Egypt. It was the first time I had seen my father weep so unashamedly. My dad’s side of the family banded together and they all went over to my Auntie’s house. Was it to grieve collectively? Partly so. But mainly because they had to discuss the awful truth that my Auntie was stuck over there with no insurance and a body waiting to be buried. They had to move fast to make sure she had enough funds to put together a respectful funeral. From my experiences it seems that life insurance over there is for the wealthy, and the wealthy only. It was awful for my family here and for her overseas to be dealing with scrambling funds together as well as grieving and dealing with the loss of a close loved one.

Experiences like that really do become etched into one’s brain. They make you appreciate being in a country where things like life insurance is affordable. It can be budgeted for, and if you do your research you can make sure you have a policy to suit your needs as your circumstances change and you enter into a life with a family of your own.

When I had Mr T it dawned on me, this preciousness of life, this beautiful magic that we can create is one which is amazingly fragile. It needs so much care, nurturing, love and attention. And above all else, it needs protection.

In Australia so many of us are careful to insure our material possessions – our homes, our cars and our holidays but not our lives. And I guess the reason may be that we are so caught up with the here and now and so busy with all those things that surround us which are tangible, that life itself becomes some kind of abstract concept – out there in the ether. Something that will end eventually but not something we should think about or discuss. Better to just live in the moment.

Statistics show that there is a severe problem of underinsurance in Australia. In fact a recent survey by the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees and Industry Funds Forum showed that 1 in 2 industry fund members were underinsured by $100,000 or more.

September is Life Insurance Awareness Month. It’s calling us to attention. It’s reminding us to get on board with Life Insurance and think about the fragility of this beautiful thing that is life and make sure our loved ones are looked after, both in the present and beyond that.

So get in there and join in on the Life Insurance Awareness Campaign. Check your life insurance out. Do you have the appropriate cover for your family?

You can visit the life insurance calculator from Life Insurance Finder and then compare life insurance plans to find the right option for you.

I am participating in the LIFE Awareness campaign. I received a VISA gift card for this post courtesy of Life Insurance Finder via Digital Parents Collective. I am also in the running to win an ipad3. As always, all opinions are purely my own.