There are five false ideas about life insurance in the Hispanic community.
The founder and CEO of Efficient Financial and Insurance Solutions in Brea, California, helps people in her community get best whole life insurance coverage all the time. Here are the most common myths that her Hispanic clients tell her.
1. If anything goes wrong, we can get loans or help from family.
Qureshi says that this is one of the most common lies he hears from Hispanic people. Many clients like to think that their kids will take care of them or that other family members will help them out when they need money. If they need more money than that, they could get a loan. "Your kids are not your retirement plan," he says.
We know we can get help from our families as we go through life. But if you were to die, your family's emotional and financial worlds would be turned upside down. During a time of grief, it's not a good idea to try to get money from the public for a funeral or deal with money problems.
Life insurance could be an affordable way to make sure that doesn't happen.
2. My kid won't have to pay anything for life insurance.
Many of Qureshi clients want their kids to learn how to work for what they want. They want to teach their kids that "nothing is free" in life and that they have to work hard to get what they need.
Recent data from the 2022 Insurance Barometer Study by Life Happens and LIMRA shows that Hispanic Americans are slightly more likely than other races and ethnicities to say that they value hard work and don't think anyone should get richer from their life insurance policy (35 percent).
Your parents taught you how to work hard, and now you're teaching your own kids the same thing. But life insurance isn't just a way to leave your kids a lot of money. It's about putting the rules of personal financial responsibility into practise and teaching them to others.
Qureshi says, "As parents, isn't it our job to help our kids learn to be better than us? We came here for a better life, the "American Dream." We moved here to give our kids more chances in life. Why aren't we using what we've learned here to make a step up in our finances? Why wouldn't we help them by giving them something like life insurance? ”
Preparing for the future with life insurance is a good way to teach your loved ones how to set goals, stick to a budget, and be responsible with their money. This is a valuable lesson to pass on.
3. If I buy life insurance, I'll "jinx" myself.
Qureshi says that some of her Hispanic clients worry that buying life insurance will make bad things happen to them. They think that if they get insurance, something bad will happen to them.
"The Grim Reaper comes to mind," he says with a laugh. "I swear that the Grim Reaper doesn't follow me! If that really happened, there would be no more life insurance companies.
The same Barometer Study found that only a quarter of Americans are comfortable talking about planning for the end of life, and that Hispanics are even less comfortable with these kinds of talks.
We know that talking about death isn't high on your list of things to do. It's easier to put things off, like going to the doctor once a year or getting the car fixed. But you can never be sure about tomorrow. The more you know about life insurance, the easier it is to have those hard talks with people. Check out this article for more ideas on how to talk to your loved ones about life insurance.
4. I'm only going to take a handful of dirt with me when I die. I should enjoy myself while I can.
Qureshi says that many of her Hispanic clients believe that life is about living it to the fullest. "Thinking about living day-to-day is a very cultural thing. Even in Spanish songs, it's a common theme to say, "You're only going to take dirt with you when you die, so you might as well live it up while you can." he says this contributes to a culture of living paycheck to paycheck.
The Barometer Study shows that paying monthly bills is one of the top five financial worries for Hispanic Americans, but not for people of other ethnic groups. The fact that 46% of Hispanic respondents are worried about money shows that many people in this group aren't able to handle competing financial priorities.
It's easy to see why... bills, rent or mortgage, car payments, child care, food, gas. We could keep going. But if you died, how would your family pay for things? If you leave, your income goes away, but their bills and costs don't change. If money is tight, life insurance takes care of your family's financial needs after you're gone.
Qureshi tells her clients, "It's fine to enjoy yourself, but why don't you take care of yourself first? Live it up today, but let's also come up with a plan so you can do the same tomorrow."
5. I'm going to lose all the money I've put into the policy and get nothing back.
Qureshi says that her clients often have the wrong idea about life insurance. They think of it like other types of insurance, where you pay money "just in case" but don't always get anything back.
he teaches her clients quickly about the different kinds of life insurance. With term insurance, it's possible that your beneficiaries wouldn't get a death benefit if you died after the term ended. But with permanent insurance, as long as you pay the premiums, you'll be covered for life. This means that, based on the term life insurance vs whole life company's ability to pay claims, your beneficiaries will get a payment when you die, whether that's next month or 40 years from now.
This myth is also busted by what are called "living benefits" in permanent insurance. Over time, these policies can build up cash value that you can use to pay for anything you want while you're still alive, like a down payment on a house, income for your retirement, and more (accessing the cash value will decrease the death benefit).
Even though the pandemic has caused a lot of damage over the past year, there may be a silver lining to COVID-19's dark clouds. People are more aware of their own mortality and financial health, which has led to more people looking for life insurance to protect their families.
Only 11% of Americans said they were more likely to buy life insurance in 2011. Now, 31% of Americans say they are more likely to buy it. A common misconception about how affordable life insurance is, though, is that most people think it will cost three times as much as it actually does. Because of this misconception and the tendency to put other financial needs first, too many families are at risk of having trouble paying their bills if a loved one dies suddenly.
Permanent and term insurance are the two main types of life insurance. Term insurance is often a good choice because it is cheap. With the help of term insurance, families can make sure that if a wage earner dies, they will still be able to live the way they want and reach their dreams.
Buying term insurance is easier now than it was in the past because it is easier to get to and takes less time. Many companies have added more online tools and resources to speed up the application process, make it easier to process applications, and speed up the underwriting process.
Term insurance can also be a key part of a long-term plan for your money. It can lock in your ability to get insurance at the same time that it locks in an affordable death benefit for a certain amount of time.
Public Last updated: 2022-12-09 01:24:36 PM