Insurance Understood:Cookie dough coverage
By Medicine Hat News on May 12, 2018.
Have you ever been shopping and had a craving for cookies? Maybe it stems from when you were a kid and the bakery gave you a free one. I love seeing little kids treasure that moment. I remember one day in university when I conceded to the cookie craving. I was hoping for my mom’s chocolate chip oatmeal cookies fresh out of the oven but quickly realized that I only had basic ingredients like flour and sugar at my apartment. I also determined that purchasing the extra ingredients and phoning home to get the recipe was not feasible with my time. Frankly, it would have likely gotten messy and not turned out anyways. Buying cookie dough from a can would solve the problem sufficiently. Have you ever read the process to make cookies from a can? It is simple, requires minimal effort and provides you with fresh cookies in just a few minutes. One downside is that you only get a small batch from each can and the cost per cookies is a little higher than making them from scratch. My experience with cookies from a can reminds me of two growing markets in purchasing life insurance. The industry calls them simplified and guaranteed life insurance. Just like cookies you can obtain insurance very quickly and with minimal effort. However, the amount of insurance is often limited up to about $500,000. The insurance company has a list of questions that work on an elimination basis. As long as you are able to keep answering no then every few questions you go up a level of coverage that they offer. Once you answer yes to something then you stop and don’t answer any more questions. The nice thing is that no medical is required and you can have coverage in place very quickly. Some people would not qualify for insurance following a conventional application process or there is potential that things will get messy. I guess, no different than making cookies from scratch, there is at times a need for simplified or guaranteed life insurance application. The insurance company can still provide coverage if you have had a number of conditions. I will name just a few: Cancer, diabetes, heart attack/stroke, high blood pressure, criminal history, foreign travel and hazardous occupation. You do pay more for this convenience but it can be also be a backup plan for when you are declined or rated for traditional life insurance. Additionally, there are situations when you don’t require a large amount of insurance in the first place and this can be competitive with a traditional offering. Simplified and guaranteed issue life insurance has a place in planning. After all this talk I am craving some of my mom’s homemade chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. Here we go again. Steve Meldrum B.Mgt. CFP¨ CLU¨ is the founder of Swell Private Wealth Ltd. For over a decade he has specialized in helping individuals and businesses expand protect and perpetuate their wealth. For further information or tailored advice, contact him at 403-487-0490, steve@swellwealth.com or connect on social media. 5-4
