26 Sep Life Insurance Policies Can Help Families Move On After Loss
Life Insurance Provides Value and Piece of Mind
Understanding the true value of running a bakery—with crack-of-dawn start times and seasonal crunches—can be tough, but Sherri and John Horsley loved their small business. It offered them the right fit. Sherri’s boundless enthusiasm made her the perfect up-front person, and John gravitated to the behind-the-scenes baking. Plus, running their own small business allowed them to spend time with their two young sons, Nate and Dave.
While it was still a new operation for them, the couple met with insurance professional Greg Call to make sure that both their business and their futures were financially secure. And, indeed, Greg saw a gap in Sherri’s life insurance coverage, which she addressed. Plus, the couple understood the wisdom in starting retirement plans. As the business grew, Sherri and John sat down for an annual review with Greg and did a new life insurance needs analysis. They discovered they needed more, so they increased their coverage.
Then, just as the holiday rush was upon them, Sherri discovered a lump, which doctors told her was breast cancer. While continuing to run the bakery and go to school for her Master’s in family counseling, she bravely battled the disease. While she did experience a period of remission, the cancer returned. Sadly, it was the devastating disease that took her life at just 45.
As John says, “The life insurance has made all the difference in the world to us.” It gave him time to grieve, as well as find a buyer for the business so he and the boys could move closer to family. John has also secured the boys’ college education and his own retirement. “We knew life insurance was important, but didn’t understand the value until now,” he says. “I can say in hindsight that the sacrifice of putting money aside for life insurance—to give you peace of mind and less stress—is totally worth it.” This piece has been reproduced with the permission of Life Happens, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping consumers make smart insurance decisions to safeguard their families’ financial futures. Life Happens does not endorse any insurance company, product or advisor. © Life Happens 2017. All rights reserved. Protect the ones you love with life insurance. Learn more at www.lifehappens.org/LI.
If you have any questions regarding Life Insurance and the value and piece of mind it provides, please contact our trusted agents at 844-879-7747 today.
Life Insurance Video Transcription
John Horsley: Sherri just loved to bake, we had an overall plan to own a bakery and it’s just kind of the American dream. Sherri was great, great personality, she was fun loving, she loved life, had just a glass half full mentality and we had our two boys. Nate was four and Dave was almost one when we bought the bakery, so they grew up here. The boys loved the bakery.
Greg Call: The bakery was really Sherri and she was passionate about it, she loved it. Sherri purchased a term insurance policy that had a rider that also insured each of the boys. She wanted to make sure that John and the boys were okay and she wanted to make sure that they paid off the debt of the bakery. With John and Sherri, we sat down once a year to review the investment portfolio, as well as the life insurance.
John Horsley: Sherri wanted to add a second policy, obviously in hindsight that was a great thing for us. Sherri always had a desire to get a Master’s degree, her last semester of Grad School, she noticed a lump and was diagnosed with Stage III breast cancer.
Greg Call: She was so positive and just really had the attitude of, hey we’ll tackle this and life will be fine. She got through the treatments, everything looked clean.
John Horsley: Sherri was symptom free from cancer for almost a year and the summer after her first round of treatment, she started getting symptoms and so they ran tests again and we learned at that point that the cancer had spread all throughout her body. After a three-year battle with breast cancer, she passed away. She had just turned forty-five, you know she just wore out, her body just couldn’t fight it off any longer. Sherri is my best friend, that’s the hardest part, is just missing my friend.
Life insurance to me is piece of mind, allowing me to be a dad that my boys need without their mom. Nate is sixteen and Dave is thirteen now, they’re doing well, you know they miss their mom, they were both momma’s boys who believe that she is still there cheering for them and expecting great things for them.
Greg Call: Sherri believed in the power of life insurance. She knew what that could offer her family if she would not psychically be there.
John Horsley: Life insurance definitely has given me more opportunity, a brighter future for both my boys and I, and that’s that gift that Sherri made sure that we had going forward.