PSA: A life insurance primer for the uninitiated

Can you imagine making promises for a living? You help people make choices in the present in order to assure them and their families a fund which they can use should the unexpected (like passing away) would happen. Making promises and collaborating with people in keeping these promises are Jon Pineda’s profession and vocation. After a colorful career in advertising, brand management, and sales, Jon has found his purpose in making promises for a living. For the past five years, he has been fulfilling these promises as a life insurance advisor.

Define life insurance in the simplest terms.

Life insurance is the trade of an uncertainty (passing away unexpectedly) for a certainty (a periodic premium payment). It’s a promise made by an insurer to pay a significant agreed‑upon sum in exchange for a periodic fraction of that sum. To put it simply, it’s paying ₱2,000 per month now and for a couple of years, in exchange for a permanent tattoo that says “in case of the inevitable, please tell my wife that I own a promise from someone to give her ₱2,000,000.”

A life insurance policy, therefore, is considered by the financially savvy to be the foundation of any sound financial portfolio, particularly by parents. It’s the single financial tool that multiplies the value of ₱1.00 by hundreds of thousands, even millions. There are specific kinds of life insurance that are designed to be there up until the day a person dies. Whether it be at 35 or 95, the amount paid is still the same. It’s like giving ₱2,000 per month for 10 years in order to gain ₱2,000,000 million for your family’s future.

Is it necessary?

Many people think of insurance, particularly life insurance, as an expense or a “nice to have” that deserves to be at the bottom of the priority list. Sure, we all want to spend on things we enjoy and while that is understandable, it is also necessary to think long‑term. Let’s stop for a minute and think, why are we working today? Is it really for myself, to satisfy my pleasures and to help me gain experiences? Or is it to pay for the mortgage, the tuition, a trip with my wife, our family dinners, braces for my teenage daughter, etc.? What if suddenly I can’t work anymore, what happens then? Insurances are necessary because it promises your family a secure future. You can actually make that possible for them with a life insurance.

How much life insurance is enough?

The true question to be asked really is “how much would you want them to have to live the life you wanted for them?” Sure, we want our family to have as much as there could possibly be when we do pass, but a good advisor will ask you counter and follow‑up questions in order to reach a more specific, fine‑tuned purpose for your insurance policy. Your life insurance is based on your goals and needs, and its policy is customized for you because we completely understand that no two people’s needs are the same. This is a decision you will have to make with the help and guidance of your advisor.

Determining the “right amount” is a skill set honed by life insurance advisors who have embraced their role in society. We may be pariahs at first, but our belief in what insurance really does—to protect a family from financial ruin—is a noble cause that makes our career worth enduring. Stories in the insurance community about families’ lives being touched and promises being kept, all while earning a decent (and oftentimes great) living are what really fuels me to keep my promises in return.

Securing a future for your family relies on a decision you make in the present. Talk to a life insurance advisor who does this for a career. Find someone who will make a contract with you and one that will see to it that your family is well‑provided for, because in the end, our promises to our family live long after we do. They deserve the life you’ve always envisioned for them because you worked to make and keep a promise for them.