Life Insurance With Living Benefits: A Policy With Built-In ‘Apps’

By Tracy King

It’s 10 p.m. and as I go to sit down for the first time today, I realize I forgot to call the orthodontist, forgot to schedule a strategy meeting for work, need to update my homeowners insurance for the deck we built, and still need to write a check for school lunches. I’ve been up for 15 hours and, like all working moms, I am having flashbacks of things forgotten and not done.

Tomorrow, it starts all over again, but with soccer practice from 6-8:30 p.m., something hot for dinner and some laundry – or else I will need to go Wal-Mart and buy more underwear. The multitasking never stops. And why should it? I am always Mom and as well as a professional woman who is trying to move forward.

Being a working mother is difficult. I juggle a lot of balls every day and a few of them usually are on fire. Nothing in college or the early years of my marriage prepared me for the parenting endurance run. I empathize with other working moms. I no longer judge.  I know that some days I have to decide between being a good mom and being a good employee – and honestly, some days I am not that successful at either.

However, I do find solace that I am not alone. According to the US Department of Labor, women comprise 59 percent of the workforce. Knowing that I am not alone in my constant state of multitasking brings me some comfort.

Technology has been the savior of my existence. I use my smartphone for everything. Really – everything. Reminders and the calendar app keep the juggled balls in view. I constantly take photos and screen shots for everything from recipes, work receipts, inspirational sayings, magazine articles I want to read later and medical bills to upload to my health savings account. I text my husband and kids to update the schedule daily (if not hourly), my mother to make sure she checks her blood pressure and takes her medications, and my Dad to reassure him that she did. I text my little brother to remind him Mom shouldn’t mow the lawn even if she likes to. I search for vacation packages with a travel app and pay my credit card online with the Citibank app. I order the gluten-free oatmeal from Amazon and the graduation gifts from Etsy – right after I transfer money from the bank app.

I wish everything would be as useful as my smartphone. I constantly look for the next “thing” that will help make my life easier by being multi-functional and simple.

Enter life insurance with living benefits.

A study from the Pew Research Center tells us that 40 percent of women are the sole or primary income provider in their households. Life insurance holds an important place for women like never before.  A national poll states that 43 percent of adult women have no life insurance at all and those who do are insured for considerably less than men in similar income brackets. Baby, we’ve come a long way and life insurance is no longer just for the boys!

Normally, I would have purchased life insurance for when I died. My family would have the death benefit and, although they would be grief-stricken, my kids’ lives would go on. I might have had to purchase multiple kinds of health insurance products to cover my immediate health issues and future health care concerns. Then, I could purchase a retirement vehicle for those golden years.

Life insurance with living benefits is a life insurance policy with built in “apps.” One policy that multitasks: the death benefit if I die too soon, accelerated benefits riders if I become ill and a lifetime income benefit rider in case I live longer than my retirement savings. Living benefits riders provide access to the death benefit before you die if you need to funds because of an illness or injury. Riders also can give provide access to the policy’s cash value for an extra stream of tax-free income in retirement. Life insurance with living benefits has been a game changer. I have found the smartphone of life insurance policies.

I love this life insurance just as much as I love my smartphone – and that’s a lot. Maybe one night when I finally go to sit for the day, instead of having flashbacks of tasks not completed and financial futures not secured, I might actually be able to catch up on “Grey’s Anatomy” – on my Hulu app of course.

Tracy King is senior marketing specialist, National Life Group. Tracy may be contacted at tracy.king@innfeedback.com.