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Crowdfunding isn’t Life Insurance

Let’s talk life insurance shall we. My husband died in January and he did not have life insurance. We had it and he let it lapse, not paying the bill. I had life insurance when I was little my mom got me the one that you pay up until you are 18 but she took money out on it and so it went down the drain to where I didn’t have any life insurance. The hubs and I wanted to make sure we were covered but that time got away from us. When we finally remembered he got it and paid for it. We were going to wait on me because I didn’t really have any bills besides student loans so I would only need enough to bury me. We added the kids on as riders. Things got tight for us so we let it lapse and didn’t pay on it, because it wasn’t a year old the insurance company would not let me get the insurance because he hadn’t paid in about 3 months. Since I am not money hungry it didn’t bother me I said oh well I asked and kept it moving.

When my husband died one of my blog buddies set up a gofundme account. The account was not to pay for the funeral as I had already worked out an arrangement with the funeral home. The money was more so to tie us over to help cover expenses of household bills since the hubs was the sole provider. Nowadays…when people die they go straight to gofundme to set up an account to pay for the funeral. A lot of times the money is actually needed for the funeral but don’t always believe the hype…a lot of people use it to just get extra money just to have. It’s not really used for anything. They use a story and people pay up! But is crowdfunding the new life insurance?

Let’s say Bob dies of an accident….Bob’s family contacts the news and they set up a gofundme account to pay for the funeral. Let’s be real…depending on the story people will pay and you can raise up to 10,000+. More and more people are becoming like Bob…they may or may not have life insurance but it’s easy to set something up to have others pay. This isn’t the new life insurance and I would like for people to stop using it as one. Life insurance isn’t expensive if you have it, but we didn’t have the funds. When we finally did have it we never got around to getting back on track with payment. That’s not anyone’s fault but ours. I would never go to Gofundme to get money to pay for a funeral…that’s not anyone’s responsibility but mine.

The money that I did receive from Gofundme went to pay my rent for 3 months because even though it looked like a lot of money …gofundme actually taxes you and takes a good chunk. It did not go to pay the funeral at all! I used it to pay my rent and I have the receipts to prove it (you know people think you are always lying so I had to back myself up).  Luckily by the grace of God my hubs job covered the funeral expenses for me out of the goodness of them being who they are so I didn’t have to pay but trust me the arrangements were made to pay on time even if I had to let go of some things…we were going to get that paid without GoFundme.

I now have life insurance for myself and my kids and I pay a monthly fee that I will gladly cough up every single month! It’s worth it to pay 60 bucks a month than to ask for money. I know that some of us have to do it but if you can avoid begging for money…pay a monthly bill for life insurance. You can pay $20-$60 monthly and have enough to bury you.

Do you think that times have changed and people think that crowdfunding is easier to pay for funerals? Do you think that this is something new for future generations? Do you have life insurance?

crowdfunding isn't life insurance

19 Comments

  • Nellie
    April 20, 2016 at 9:37 am

    What a great post, I’ve been wondering about this myself! I see a lot of people starting gofundme ‘s but not many with life insurance it’s crazy. I have close to a million for me (don’t tell my hubby lol) and about half that for my husband. I still want more. Nobody likes to talk about death but it’s a conversation that MUST be had. I already told everyone please don’t start a gofundme for me, donate to the ronald McDonald house instead. My family is ok.

    Reply
  • Alli Smith
    April 20, 2016 at 1:28 pm

    I didn’t realize people jumped on the GoFundMe bandwagon instead of having life insurance. Life Insurance is one of the cheapest insurances we can invest in. I think the main bread winner should have the max they can afford.

    Reply
  • Mimi Green
    April 20, 2016 at 2:01 pm

    Kita I so agree with you 100% Crowdfunding has become the new life insurance. I have two types of life insurance coverage with my job. One they provide {two times my salary} and the second I pay for because I work for a law enforcement agency.

    I still want to get another policy just to have.

    Reply
  • Amanda
    April 20, 2016 at 2:31 pm

    This is such an important message to share. I am so incredibly sorry about the loss of your husband and am glad to hear that you had a great support system to help you back onto your feet. Thanks for spreading this important message about the importance of life insurance.

    Reply
  • Erin
    April 20, 2016 at 2:38 pm

    I had no idea people used crowdfunding rather than insurance. I think crowdfunding is a great resource but insurance is important to have,

    Reply
  • Shirley Wood
    April 20, 2016 at 3:20 pm

    Although I keep seeing those Go Fund Me shares constantly on my social media, I didn’t realize how prevalent crowdfunding had become for funeral costs. I think life insurance should be a part of every budget. We don’t realize how important it is unless and until we need it and don’t have it. I’m so thankful both of my parents did realize the importance and made sure to have it. My hubby and I consider life insurance to be an important part of our budget. Thank you for sharing your story. I know this time continues to be difficult as you adjust to your new normal.

    Reply
  • Pam
    April 20, 2016 at 3:38 pm

    We are lucky to have good life insurance. So many people don’t have access to it or don’t think they will need it.

    Reply
  • Jeanette
    April 20, 2016 at 3:57 pm

    I never actually thought about crowdfunding as a life insurance policy. We need to get a life insurance policy we are in the same boat as you were in very tight on money but I do know we need to get it.

    Reply
  • Jeanine
    April 20, 2016 at 4:59 pm

    I’m so sick of all those crowdfunding things to be honest. I usually ignore them. I used to donate to so many things and got burned so now I ignore most of what I see and donate to those I know personally.

    Nothing can replace insurance. It’s so important to have for everyone.

    Reply
  • Coasta
    April 20, 2016 at 5:55 pm

    I have life insurance on myself through my Employer and I also have a private policy that is enough to ensure my son would be okay if something should happen to me. It would be enough to take care of him for a very long time! I also have coverage on my son but just enough for funeral expenses. Growing up we had a lot of deaths in our family. One time someone didn’t have any life Insurance and the family had to come up with the money to pay for it. So my Grandma took the initiative to get a Life Insurance policy for EVERYONE: her daughter (my mom); all my mom’s 4 kids; her mom, her grandma and all of her siblings except one of her sister’s because she knew she was covered. My Grandma isn’t wealthy but she said she would rather sacrifice and pay that for everyone to not have to worry how we would pay for it… when they passed. We have since buried several people. So it definitely took the stress off financially. She doesn’t have insurance on me anymore bc I told her I have myself and my child covered. So no need to worry about us… but if you are not wealthy and have that type of money readily available to you. Then, YES you need to have a Life Insurance policy – at least enough to cover your burial expenses. If you are the Provider for your family. You should have enough coverage to where your family would be ok for at least 1-2 years. Give them enough time to grieve, heal and get up on their feet, etc.

    Reply
  • Jenni
    April 20, 2016 at 6:00 pm

    I think people are starting to turn to gofundme accounts for funeral expenses instead of insurance, but that’s not guaranteed money. Before gofundme people would just go without insurance and hope people will just provide funds. *I know when my mom and dad died people sent food and cards with money even though they both had insurance.* My mother was always a proponent of life insurance. She kept what she called “enough to bury them” policies on several of her siblings. Without them, there wouldn’t have been money to bury them.

    I took out a life insurance policy on myself when I got my first fulltime job. I was 22. I didn’t want my father to have to worry.
    Now, my husband and I both have multiple life insurance policies through our jobs and that we’ve taken out on our own. We have one on my husband that will pay off our mortgage. We also reevaluate and increase our policies as our pay increases. I made sure we had a policy on our son before he turned one. We spend a good bit of money on insurance, but I feel good knowing RJ will be more than ok financially if something happens to us.

    Reply
  • Fatima
    April 20, 2016 at 6:06 pm

    That’s insane. My husband recently got life insurance, and you forget how important it is should anything happen to either one of us.

    Reply
  • Chantal
    April 20, 2016 at 6:53 pm

    This is great information and something to think about sooner than later. Neither my husband or I have life insurance but need to get it.

    Reply
  • Liz Mays
    April 20, 2016 at 7:07 pm

    I didn’t know that it was so common. I don’t see anything wrong with it. Crowdfunding is probably a bit less reliable but I like that people can get help in these situations.

    Reply
  • Jenn @ EngineerMommy
    April 20, 2016 at 8:39 pm

    Life insurance is so important. So many people overlook getting this coverage- and enough of it! It’s so essential for the main income provider to have sufficient life insurance!

    Reply
  • Miles L.
    April 21, 2016 at 1:32 am

    Life Insurance is among the most important things that we should have and yet, not all have it. Crowdfunding is most often not enough.

    Reply
  • Ashley
    April 22, 2016 at 2:23 pm

    I am so sorry for your loss and had no idea that this was a thing! I would much rather have life insurance and know that if something happened, we’d be covered.

    Reply
  • Sarah Bailey
    April 22, 2016 at 3:10 pm

    I often see people crowdfunding and think wow really? I would definitely donate to help a friend in need from time to time, but your right we can’t use it to rely on. x

    Reply
  • Yolo Spinks
    April 22, 2016 at 11:22 pm

    Honestly, I think there is a greater problem at hand. More so a cultural issue versus a new standard, especially in the AA community that tends to be poorer and poverty stricken. Of all the things our parents and their parents had to worry about, they couldn’t focus on death because they were too busy trying to live. As we are getting better jobs, although we’re still dealing with being underpaid in many careers when related to other races, we should start to educate one another on life insurance. Many people have not because they know not and really don’t even understand how insurance works. It’s time for each one to teach one.

    Reply

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