The Absent Uncle: Those pesky details

I had one of those necessary calls to make on details regarding end-of-life stuff. I don’t want to sound morbid – nothing in the predictable future imminent – but trying to keep things tidy just in case things happen quicker than you expect.

The call concerned life insurance. In moving around, the agent/agency that originally wrote the policy some 38 years ago and is still on the yearly statement, the quarterly bills, I haven’t been in contact with for years, and they’re certainly not in Texas. I called the number listed, left a message, and the call was returned by a 90-plus-year-old very-retired partner in the firm that wonderfully felt responsible to have calls forwarded to him should someone like me ever call. 

I will also say, the company that wrote the insurance policy is a prominent company – still in business – and has collected my quarterly premiums, sent me yearly statements, and is solidly behind the policy I hold. 

The policy was taken out after the birth of our son to ensure he and his mother’s well-being with additionally an eye to making sure college funds were available for him in case of my passing. 

In short – it has all worked out. I’m still kicking, he is way past his college years (paid in full without the benefit of the policy or loans!) and I know the ultimate payout is something that happens after I will be totally done recording it in my simple bookkeeping system.

So, that well-retired insurance agency partner did due diligence; verified my policy, and called me back with a number to call to ask my questions about next steps (whatever they may be; being retired, he humbly confessed to not being current on policies). 

With no active agent (I would call him active. He answered the phone!) I was thrown into the 1-800 number-you-get-who-you-get zone.   

I verified all my information: policy number, last four of my SSN, address, telephone number, email address, and that, yes, I am the policy holder – and yes – I was still alive. 

“So, what do you want? A loan from the policy? Change of beneficiary or address?” 

I was stumped. What did I want? I guess I thought we would talk about the policy. Options. I finally came up with that I wanted to find out about continuing to pay the quarterly premiums and still have the policy in effect – that I wanted to just make sure the amounts payable were correct. After all, it’s a life insurance, not life assurance. The short answer: I have to die for someone to collect unless I want a loan to payback.

At least I have the right numbers (for someone to call) and those pesky details are correct.