I recently transitioned from an office job where my day was filled to the brim with emails and conference calls to a sales job, more specifically a job selling life insurance. I got a lot of mixed reactions from friends and family about this decision, probably because of the stigma associated with it. There are more jokes about selling life insurance than I can count.
What would have drawn me to an industry that many consider boring and others consider either challenging or near impossible to make a living doing? In one word, security.
At its core, money provides us with security. The level of security depends on how much you make or have saved to pay for the things you either need or want. Having the ability to purchase a can of beans to avoid starvation is not the same as buying crab cakes to pair with your steak dinner. Although different, both provide you with a feeling of security in having the ability to make the purchase in the first place.
How much security we provide ourselves is also dependent on how we’re hedging our bets. Let’s say you want a pool and decide to take out a home equity line to pay for it. By taking out the loan, you’re betting that your house value will continue to rise and you’ll have the same or more income in the future to pay the bill. What happens if one or both of these doesn’t happen? What’s the impact on you and your family? Taking into account the worst case scenario prior to diving into the deep end of your new pool is always a good idea.
One of the aspects I’ve noticed with my clients is how conservative they are with their money. Rather than buying a huge house or new car, most of them live in a modest home and drive older cars. Often times, the land their house sits on was gifted to them by friends and family. They are humble and thankful for what they have. Rather than being jealous of their neighbor, they’re able to separate the material and focus on the human aspects of one another. They have enough, they’re happy and wish only for others to be happy as well.
The gifting of an asset and/or removing the burden of debt is a huge leg up, especially when you’re first starting out. Imagine how much easier it is for someone graduating college to have no student loans. Add a gifted car, house or land on top of zero debt and it’s easy to see how this person would be positioned to succeed financially from a young age.
The burden of security falls on those with the means to provide it. I realize how this sounds but it’s true nonetheless. Parents and grandparents who leave a legacy for the next generation are setting them up for success. Whether that success is achieved or not is entirely up to the person being gifted the asset.
In more cases than not, the clients I’ve met have used the gifts they’ve received to further themselves financially. It’s a small test case, but it’s good to see they’re not only thankful, they’ve been able to help themselves and their family live a better life.
If you haven’t noticed, things are only getting more expensive. Anything we can do to provide assistance for those we love to help secure their future will no doubt be welcome.
It may also become necessary.
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