Why you may want to think twice about work provided life insurance

As the owner of Farmers Insurance - The Wertzberger Agency, I have conversations with clients about all different types of insurance products. A very regular conversation will be around the product of life insurance. We will have conversations about who should carry it, how much should be carried, and what type should be carried. Inevitably, through that conversation, the topic of life insurance being provided by one's employer will come up and my opinion on it; Should it be purchased? How much should be purchased?

When asked whether a client should purchase life insurance through their employer, my answer is always YES! However, it does come with a cautionary caveat of not to rely solely on work provided coverage to fill one's life insurance need. It should be a part of one's life insurance package, if not just supplementary to the coverage one owns personally.

To expand, think of it this way: There are basically three ways we all leave this earth.

1. Accident - As in car accident or some other type of unforeseeable incident.
2. Illness - As in Cancer or some other type of disease.
3. Age 

When contemplating work provided life insurance, what one needs to realize is that the coverage provided through one's employer normally ceases to be provided if/when one's employment were to stop. Now, think about about the three ways of passing listed above and whether or not work provided coverage would apply to be a saving grace for one's family.

1. Accident - Will you be employed at the time of death if you were to perish due to some type of accident? - POSSIBLY! Obviously, no one ever knows if/when a tragedy would strike that would cause one to perish due to an accident. It is certainly probable that one would be employed at the time of their passing due to an accident. Their work provided coverage MAY apply.
2. Illness - Will you be employed at the time of death if you were to perish due to some type of illness? - PROBABLY NOT! In many, if not all, cases if one were to acquire a life threatening disease it would very likely effect their ability to work. This would cause them to have to leave their place of employment and would in turn cause their life insurance to cease, just at the time it is needed most! Some may argue that in some cases work provided coverage can be converted to a personally owned policy but, if that is available, it is normally rated extremely high. Think about it: if one needs to convert work provided coverage it normally means that they can not acquire coverage directly due to a medical issue. This converted policy will VERY likely get paid out and the carrier will rate highly due to that circumstance.
3. Age - Will you be employed at the time of death if you were to perish due to age? I WOULD HOPE NOT! Obviously we all hope to retire as far before our death as possible. Work provided life insurance would cease to apply when retirement would be reached.

In conclusion, work provided life insurance can be a good PART of one's life insurance plan. Normally, work provided life insurance is very cheap and it allows the applicant to secure the most coverage for a very inexpensive cost. 

One needs to realize that work provided life insurance is cheap for a reason; It very likely will never get used!

If you would have interest in structuring a life insurance plan that you would own/control personally, please reach out to us at Farmers Insurance - The Wertzberger Agency at 913-383-3276 or www.thewertzbergeragency.com