Why Is the First Question People Ask After Someone Dies, “Did They Have Life Insurance?”

It’s a question I’ve been thinking about a lot lately.

When someone passes away, what is one of the very first questions people ask?

“Did they have life insurance?”

Not:

“How much money was in their checking account?”

“How many followers did they have on social media?”

“What kind of car did they drive?”

No.

The question is almost always:

“Did they have life insurance?”

Why?

Why is that one of the first things people want to know?

The answer is simple.

Because at that moment, reality shows up.

The shock is real.

The grief is overwhelming.

The tears are flowing.

And suddenly everyone realizes that while a life may have ended, the financial responsibilities did not.

The mortgage is still due.

The rent still has to be paid.

The electric company still wants its money.

The credit cards don’t stop calling.

The funeral home isn’t free.

Life keeps moving even when a family wishes it would stop.

And that’s why people ask about life insurance.

Because deep down, everyone knows what it represents.

Protection.

Responsibility.

Love.

A plan.

A safety net.

The ability for a family to grieve without immediately wondering how they’re going to survive financially.

But here’s the part I find fascinating.

If life insurance is important enough to be one of the first questions people ask after someone dies…

Why do so many people avoid the conversation while they’re alive?

The Life Insurance Paradox

The very thing people desperately hope was in place after a death is often the very thing they refuse to discuss before one.

Think about that.

The product everyone hopes existed becomes the product nobody wants to talk about.

And we come up with all kinds of reasons.

“I’m young.”

“I’m healthy.”

“I don’t need it yet.”

“I’ll get it later.”

“My family will be okay.”

“I have money saved.”

“It’s too expensive.”

Sound familiar?

The funny thing is, most of those reasons aren’t really reasons.

They’re just ways of avoiding a conversation that makes us uncomfortable.

Because life insurance forces us to acknowledge something we’d rather ignore.

That none of us are guaranteed tomorrow.

The Greatest Sales Resistance in America

As someone who works in this industry, I’ve noticed something unique.

People will insure things they can replace before they’ll insure the people they can’t.

They insure their cars.

Their phones.

Their boats.

Their campers.

Their jewelry.

Their homes.

And then they hesitate when it comes to protecting the income, love, guidance, and support that their family depends on every day.

It’s almost backwards.

The most valuable thing in the household is usually the person earning the income, raising the kids, paying the bills, and holding everything together.

Yet that’s often the thing left unprotected.

What People Are Really Buying

Here’s another misconception.

People think life insurance is about death.

It’s not.

Life insurance is about the people who keep living.

It’s about the husband who suddenly finds himself alone.

The wife who now has to figure out how to make one income do the work of two.

The children who still need food, clothes, school supplies, and a future.

Life insurance isn’t purchased because you’re planning to die.

It’s purchased because you’re planning to take care of the people you love no matter what happens.

It’s one of the few products you buy hoping it never gets used.

But if it does get used, it can change everything.

The Question Behind the Question

When someone asks, “Did they have life insurance?”

What they’re really asking is:

“Is the family going to be okay?”

That’s the real question.

Not whether a policy existed.

Not what company it was through.

Not how much coverage there was.

People want to know if the family is protected.

Whether someone planned ahead.

Whether one final act of love and responsibility was left behind.

And maybe that’s why the conversation matters so much.

Because every single day people avoid discussing life insurance…

They are gambling that the question won’t be asked about them tomorrow.

Maybe it won’t be.

I hope it isn’t.

But hope has never paid a mortgage.

Hope has never covered a funeral.

Hope has never replaced a paycheck.

Planning does.

And that’s why the first question people ask after someone dies may be the most important question people should ask themselves while they’re still alive.

Do I have life insurance?

And if not…

Why not?

— Big Mike Shellhart
Exodus Benefits
Faith • Family • Freedom