Alan D Charles is a local Fraternal Insurance Advisor with Catholic Financial Life who specializes in life insurance and annuities. He has been involved in life insurance for several years and manages his clients out of his office on Main Street in Mount Horeb. What sets Alan apart from most life insurance agents is his ability to broker life insurance. That means that he can evaluate each person’s individual needs and review multiple companies and financial products to custom-fit a solution for each client. Life insurance isn’t a one-size-fits-all product, and he is able to ensure that the best solution is found for his clients.
As a top recognized life insurance specialist, Alan finds himself catering to his clientele with home visit appointments often meeting out of traditional business hours. He values the trust and responsibility of thoroughly and personally handling the unfortunate end of the life insurance process by walking through death claims and helping with end-of-life arrangements.
Life Insurance can be confusing to navigate. That’s why there are professions and designations tailored to help the everyday-person make sense of what life insurance products might be in their best interest. We sat Alan down to pick his brain on a few basic questions that were asked most recently during our Virtual Bloom Event:
1: Why Do I Need Life Insurance?
As a bare minimum, anybody needs life insurance to cover basic burial or funeral expenses along with any debt they currently hold. Many people consider funeral home policies in order to cover burial costs, but those policies prohibit any flexibility in choice of funeral location and can also be financially prohibitive with noncompetitive products such as a dollar-for-dollar return.
Another reason for life insurance is income protection. If you are relied upon for your income or rely on someone else for their income, you should have life insurance covering that amount for the length of time needed to properly adjust to losing that income.
The need for life insurance gets more complicated once you have dependents (AKA kids!). While kids aren’t a “debt” to cover, they are a liability that parents would like to protect. That means that even if you don’t require income protection coverage as a stay-at-home parent, you still hold a significant amount of financial value that needs to be covered. Imagine if you unexpectedly passed away with two young children at home– your partner brought in all of the household income, but you handled all of the childcare. Upon your passing, your partner would need to navigate finding childcare and the standard of living that your family has become accustomed to.
2: When Should I get Life Insurance?
A great time to get or update your life insurance is during any major life event. That includes birth, graduation, career changes, marriage, divorce, and the birth of children. The likelihood is that if it is in the back of your mind, it would probably be a good time to evaluate if you’d benefit from a life insurance review.
3: How Much Life Insurance Do I Need?
The recommended amount of life insurance for an average person is a common and frequently asked question, and an outdated rule of thumb is to go by 10x the amount of your annual income. That method is outdated for scenarios such as the one stated above– the truth is that each individual person requires a ‘professional needs’ analysis of their current situation for an accurate amount of recommended coverage and type of coverage needed.
4: Why Would I Need to Update My Life Insurance?
A simple answer to this is that your needs change throughout life. For example, I’m currently a father of four young kids with a stay-at-home spouse and a mortgage with other responsibilities. My current need for coverage is fairly high. However, it won’t always be this high. When I am retired and my children are grown, my need for coverage will also decrease.
5: Where Should I Go For Life Insurance?
This is a personal question that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Instead of going wherever is convenient or who you saw on a billboard on the beltline, do your research and see what each company and individual Advisor can offer you. A broker has the ability to run your information and needs through multiple companies and products whereas a captive agent or company employee is only able to work within the means of their given company. There are benefits to each, and the top priority is that you feel secure in your decision and trust the person you are meeting with. They will be there in the most unfortunate of circumstances should you need to collect on a loved one’s policy and it is a privilege to be one of the first calls searching for support after life-altering news.
If you would like to schedule a free consultation to discuss your current life insurance needs with Alan, he would love to hear from you!:
Alan D. Charles, FIC
Catholic Financial Life
608-250-9089
[email protected]
209 E Main St #E, Mt Horeb, WI 53572
