In the insurance business you tend to spend a lot of time asking "what if". None of the fun questions that you asked yourself when you were a teenager. When I was a teen I asked myself "what if'", I had a million dollars ... or ... what if I asked her on a date ... what if I became a famous rock star? No, the questions I ask of myself now are more like, what if you have an accident ... what if you had a fire ... what if you died tonight? One area that is most uncomfortable is the "what if" that surrounds our children. What if they crash the car? What if they hurt someone? What if they get hurt? What if they die? No one ever wants to look at these possibilities, but I speak with parents everyday that have had these questions answered for them in the aftermath of a personal disaster. Many of these parents had not asked the question before hand and they were caught off guard by an accident. I want to take just a moment to discuss the most difficult of these questions and illuminate the answer to a question you never want to ask.
Lets imagine that you have a teenager who is in college, maybe Ball State or Indiana State University. You want them to learn the ethics that makes the Midwest famous so you have them work and take out loans to pay for their college. Lets imagine that it is working, you have a great kid who is in their 3rd year and has an A- or B+ ... they work they go to school and study, they don't drink and drive and they are very responsible.
But it is Wednesday night and your child is on their way to work, they just aced a test and are feeling good about the world, when BAMM! They are Tee boned by a drunk driver that ran the light. Your child is pronounced dead on arrival but not before being life lined to Indianapolis. On the day after the worst day of your life you will realize that your child will never get to use the education that you will now have to pay for, not to mention the thousands of dollars that will be owed to the medical units that worked on them trying to save their life.
How will you pay for those things? Will you make payments? A monthly reminder of that day for 3 years, 5 years? 10 years? This is not a pleasant thought but it is a thought I want to have now rather than later. Imagine the worse case scenario now and you'll avoid the pain of discovery if you every have to exercise the contingency plans made while asking "what if?".
This is a simple contingency plan, once your son or daughter starts a college program, figure the final debt load they will have upon graduation if they are attending a state university and borrowing half of what is needed then perhaps $30,000 in term life insurance to cover their note. Just a few dollars a month while they are in school will save you from ever having to make a payment on a loan for your child's unused education.
This is one "what if" that no one should ever have to experience, if you do ... make sure it is not made worse than the horror it already is and make sure their debt is covered.
J
PS: What college costs in Indiana http://www.collegecosts.com/HotTopics/IndianaCollegeCosts/tabid/102/Default.aspx
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