Death By Dishwasher

CRITICAL ILLNESS

Apparently, death by dishwasher has increased 100% since they invented the diswasher. Beware, those crazy dishes can pile up and wreak all sorts of trouble on your life, even relationships (specifically the marital type), sometimes resulting in an “accident”, disability or as already alluded to, death. What advice I’d like to give you is to avoid those pesky things all together, however, in life we know that dishes, taxes and death are certain, and for the most part unavoidable. Sadly, there is one more certainty to add to that list that will likely affect everyone at some point in their life: Critical Illness.

I’m not going to go into statistics, but everyone knows someone or multiple people in their life with a critical illness right now. And here’s the thing, most people do survive their critical illness, be it cancer, heart attack, stroke, etc. and for many years after go on to live completely normal lives. Life after a critical illness is becoming more common thanks to medical technology and health care advancements and fabulous support groups.

Critical Illness Insurance, I believe, is an important part of your financial portfolio (because I’ve seen it financially distress families many times). If it’s not in your portfolio, I really think you should take a serious look at it, regardless what age you are at!

Keep in mind, it’s probably not part of your benefits plan at work (if you are lucky to have one).  There are very few companies that do offer Critical Illness Insurance as part of their benefits, so make sure to read and know what your benefits cover.

There are even return of premium options (so you get your money back at age 75 for example) and although Critical Illness Insurance premiums are more expensive than Life Insurance, still typically less expensive than Disability Insurance.

But what I really want to tell you today is what Critical Illness Insurance really does for people. I’ve handed out a few critical illness claims myself (all to people under age 50 by the way!) and found it had a very positive effect on those families.

I think when handed a large lump sum of money when you are diagnosed with a critical illness is a mindset game changer – keep in mind, you can do whatever you want with this money (oooh, and I forgot to mention the best part: It’s TAX FREE!) I think it goes unsaid, but I know in my clients’ situation that there was no financial stress on the families during that difficult time, there were financial options available to them to go seek medical attention at the best places in the world if they wanted to, and they felt they were more in control of their situation, rather than having their situation control them. Plus, they didn’t dip into their life savings, and came out in remission financially unharmed years later.

I’m also a firm believer that a positive mindset will overcome anything. And when you have financial resources available to you to, you are less likely to get depressed or feel like a burden to others, because still one of the top reasons for divorce and depression is financial difficulty.

I could write a book about Critical Illness Insurance and why I’m so passionate about it (oh wait, I am….), but for today, just remember to stay clear the dishwasher, and if anyone in your family asks, just tell them I said so*.

*This advice is not real legal advice and should not be construed as legal advice. Liability for not doing dishes is at your own risk, and you should NOT not do dishes without first seeking legal and other professional marital advice. If you were injured as a result of not doing dishes or your life was otherwise negatively impacted by not doing dishes, you are advised expected to shrug it off and be more careful next time.