My name is Jaime and I’m an agent at Etler Kettenacker Agency. Before I got into the insurance industry I did not really understand the importance of insurance or how it worked.   I swear I would hear the teacher from Peanuts when someone would talk insurance!

Since I just told you how confusing I thought insurance was, you may be asking why the heck I would decide to go work in insurance? 2 words… Life Insurance. My husband, Jason, was our family’s breadwinner.  He worked and I took care of the house and the kids. We were in our 30’s and invincible.  My friend who also works in insurance talked to Jason about life insurance.  We always thought… “I’ll do it soon.”, or “he has enough through work.”, or “Maybe after the holidays.” Life was looking pretty good.  Well, pretty good until it wasn’t.

One doctor’s appointment in 2011 brought our lives crashing to the ground. Jason was diagnosed with Oral Cancer.  He worked as long as he could, but we ended up moving in with my mother so we could focus on fighting cancer rather than paying bills.  Jason fought for 6 long years.  While he fought we burned through any savings we had. I lost Jason in January of 2017.  He fought a long hard battle with cancer and now it was my time to step up as the breadwinner, the mom, and the dad.

I used the little bit of retirement funds Jason had for his funeral.   So, if my family was going to make it, I had to get a job!  It broke my heart that I could not stay home with my kids and help them as they grieved their father or allow myself more time to grieve.   I had to go out and find a job to put food on the table, a roof over our heads, and try to maintain our same lifestyle.  I hadn’t worked more than a retail job my entire life, how was I going to support 3 kids on my own?  3 teenage kids who are learning to drive and getting ready to go to college! 

Only now, now that it’s too late, do I realize how important a life insurance policy was for both Jason and myself.  What if it was me?  Who would have been there to take care of the kids while Jason worked? How would he have paid for my burial expenses?   

You purchase home and auto insurance hoping you never need to use it, but Life Insurance….you will eventually need! No one lives forever, no one is guaranteed tomorrow. 

Do me a quick favor, ask yourself these 3 very important questions.  Would my family be financially sound if I died tomorrow? Would they be able to pay for my burial expenses? Would they be able to maintain the house payments to stay in the home we made as a family?  Now ask these same 3 questions for your spouse.

Don’t wait until it’s too late!

The photo below is of our family just after Jason started his treatment. Noah age 13, Faith age 9 and Austin age 8.