April 28, 2004Term Life InsuranceLife insurance is one of those company perks that we tend to take for granted. Once it's gone, you realize what you're missing. A while back, I wrote about letting my term life insurance lapse. I still feel bad about it, but then again, I'm still walking around, so I guess I'm ahead. For now. But I know I need to pick up a new term life insurance policy sooner or later. And I'm out here on the Internet, doing research and getting more and more confused every day. Once upon a time, I worked for an insurance company. Not only was it once upon a time, it was for quite a long time ... over ten years. Scary thought that it is, I spent over a decade toiling away for a big international insurer. I learned a little bit about insurance, mostly through osmosis. But I never considered myself an insurance kinda guy ... quite the opposite, in fact. Many moons ago, while I was still in the employ of the insurance company, I was out for a leisurely day of shopping with my wife. We were milling about in an antique store when I ran into an old high-school buddy and his new wife. I hadn't seen Dave in years. Dave and I exchanged the obigatory introductions and howyadoins, before the conversation quickly turned to sowhatchadoins. "I'm working for blah blah blah Insurance Company," I told my friend, sheepishly. "But don't worry, I don't sell the stuff. I only help sell the stuff." My friend, who always was a bit on the pale side, turns an even whiter shade of pale (as the song goes). I look at him with curious compassion as the color drained from his face and an odd look (despair?) came to his eyes. I felt like a complete idiot. "Oh man, Dave," I said, simultaneously putting two and two together as I extracted one foot from my mouth before I inserted the other. "I'm so sorry. You don't sell insurance, do you?" He nodded the affirmative. It got real quiet. Not long after that uncomfortable moment, we bid goodbye and I bit my tongue all the way home. I'm pretty sure I ran into Dave once more in all these years, but I can't recall if we discussed my faux pas. So here I am, more than ten years after that chance encounter. And I need a new term life insurance policy. I know I should just pick up the phone and call my old friend, but still ... I'm out here on the Internet looking for rates, getting more and more confused by the minute. Posted by geekbooks at April 28, 2004 10:45 PM |
