By now, most of us have accepted the realities of the market turbulence, and we are simply trying to go on with our lives. As we reflect upon the long and short-term effect on each of us, we may recall stating something like, "It will never happen to me" not too terribly long ago.
We also express this simple statement quite often when we think about other potentially devastating circumstances that may affect us, such as having a car accident, having a fire in our home, or suffering an expected disability. Most of us have done something to prepare us for the financial impact that the first two situations — car accident or house fire — could cause.
Unfortunately, many individuals have not secured similar coverage when it comes to the possibility that they may, physically or cognitively, become disabled. Sure, there are plenty of hard-working people who may have some type of short-term disability coverage through their employer, but what about the possibility of a long-term need, particularly one that occurs after our working years?
It's widely accepted that we will likely live a long life, hence the need to plan well for retirement. You are here to remind your clients that they need to plan for the very real possibility that we all may live even longer than we originally thought when it came to saving money for life after our post-work years. In fact, many studies point out that one of our biggest fears is that we will run out of money before we run out of life.
With the very real effect that the recent and continued market conditions have forced upon all of us, these fears may be more real than we ever wanted to acknowledge. Now is the time when protecting wealth has a greater meaning than we have ever taken the time to consider.
Some producers may be thinking, "This is old news; my clients and I are past this." Don't be so sure about that. Your clients are constantly being bombarded with news about the current economy and may be in just as much fear about their future now as they were when this news broke several months ago. In fact they may be even more cautious than before since the recovery we all expected has not played out the way many had hoped.
