Car seats are the worst. My youngest, now 4 years old is VERY independent and always wants to be the one to buckle herself up. She sits there and struggles for a minute or two to get it all together and get buckled before we can leave for even the shortest of trips. I’ll never forget all the times when she was younger, flailing her limbs around or fighting us like we were her worst enemy as we tried to get that 5-point harness on her. It was like buckling up the world’s smallest NASCAR driver who really didn’t want to drive that day. There were tears. There were expletives spoken that her innocent little ears probably shouldn’t have heard. Sometimes you wish you could go old school and not have to use these giant things that take up so much space and make us wrestle with our kids. And yet we do this without question. And we do it EVERY time we get in the car, even if it’s a two-minute trip to the corner store. And we don’t do it because we expect to get into an accident, because the probability of getting in a wreck is pretty low. We don’t do these things because of the probabilities – we do it because of the consequences.
When you really start to think about the number of things that are done in life strictly because of the consequences and not because of the probabilities it hits home.
I have to admit that once in a while – when the lotto max jackpot gets to $50+ Million. I buy a ticket. It definitely gives that hopeful “what if” feeling of unlimited possibility. But I’m pragmatic – I don’t purchase a ticket because of the probability of winning. Want to talk about the extremely low probabilities? Astronomically low. But the consequence of winning the jackpot would be absolutely life-changing.
Now flip that on its head. I hate paying thousands of dollars a year in car and home insurance premiums because of the probability of getting in a car accident or having my home burn down or flood. I do it because the consequences of not having that insurance could spell financial ruin for us.
Airplanes always do a safety demonstration before the flight. I was in Boston recently (the current year is 2022) and was delayed for over an hour on the tarmac. No surprise given the airline industry right now. The point is – if you sit on tarmac long enough… guess what? You get to see the safety demonstration TWICE. Score! They don’t do the demonstration because of the probability of losing pressure during flight. They do it because the consequences of not getting your mask on in that situation are dire.
So why am I telling you this? I’ve seen too many people over the last 10 years that have only considered the small probability of something bad happening that can affect their financial planning and the lives of them and their families and were willing to accept the risk. And even with a small probability too many times, it came back to bite them. One of the risks I see being accepted is the risk dying without life insurance and a proper Will.
I’m 38 years old at the time I’m writing this and according to the actuarial tables, I have a 6% chance of dying before the age of 65. It’s almost negligible. But I don’t carry life insurance on myself or my wife because of the probability of us dying any time soon. I do it because of the consequences of that event. Never mind the grief that we would all go through – it basically equals financial armageddon. I can pay $50 a month for the peace of mind that if anything happens to me, my family gets $1,000,000 of cash to help them carry on with life. My wife won’t have to worry about mortgage payments and my kids can continue to participate in sports and extracurriculars. They won’t have to post a Go-FundMe page and rely on the charity of strangers and relatives to support them through the toughest of times. They can focus on healing while living a normal life; as normal a life as can be had where something like that happens. Having a proper will means that if anything happens to me and my spouse, or heaven forbid to both of us – that our children will be taken care of and our wishes for them will be followed through with.
I’ll leave you with this – everyone pays for these things one way or another. You either pay the premium for the insurance and cost of the Will or your family pays for the rest of their lives if something happens to you. Sure the probabilities might be low – but it’s the consequences that we should be thinking about.
– Jon Corrigan, CFP, CLU
