Cancer, Are the Odds in your favour?

It’s not a topic that any of us like to talk about, but awareness can save your life. In recent years this concept of awareness has taken on many forms including Movember, those gross rear end posters urging men to check their butts, breast cancer walks and, well you get the picture. This April is Cancer is awareness month, you probably will notice the Daffodil pin worn to raise support and get people talking.

You don't have to look far to find someone touched by Cancer.  A new survey by the Canadian Cancer Society finds that 3 out of 4 Canadians have been affected through diagnosis one way or another.  A little more than half of those say they didn't feel prepared to support themselves or loved ones' diagnoses with cancer.

Almost everyone I speak with knows someone in, or close to their families who has been afflicted by Cancer. But despite that fact, Critical illness and other insurance products are looked down at and even compared to buying a car from a low down greasy used car salesman. Except, of course, by those who have actually experienced a major illness, but at that point it is too late.

This topic is actually hard to talk about, even for myself. I saw my first mother in-law deteriorate before my own eyes as the Cancer ravaged her body, while we were left feeling helpless and unable to stop its progression.  She and several other people close to my family have experienced a lot of pain and even death due to Cancer.  And it is because of this reason I feel responsible and even believe it to be a duty to inform people about the risks to themselves and their families.

I want to stop here and ask you to think about those people who are closest to you. I want you to picture them in your mind, remember them having good times, laughing, celebrating and enjoying life. This is the way we want our love ones to feel all the time, but the reality is, tough times come and usually at the worst times. I bet that when you were picturing your family and friends that there was at least one person who would fit into this tragic topic. A friend or spouse of a friend who has experience the pain of Cancer, I know that it wasn’t nice to think about, but we have to.

The good news is that the medical industry is continually battling this and other major diseases and survival rates are improving. The only problem is that we are unprepared financially to deal with this type of life changing event. Here are just a few well known people who have been affected by a major illness:

Sheryl Crow,

Mario Lemieux,

Lance Armstrong,

Michael J. Fox

I know, I know, you think that it will never happen to you ………..until it does.

The problem here is that we can’t imagine, or simply don’t want to imagine, the unimaginable. No one hopes to get sick or ill, no one even wants to think about it. Come to think about it no one typically wants to be around it. I would say about 80-90% of the people in my life dread going to the hospital.  But the reality is that 3 out of 4 will be afflicted by this disease, this means the odds are not in your favour.

So the question remains, how do we prepare for this? And the answer is the same for everything in life, with planning and preparation. Some people can afford the financial burden of an event like this, or are covered by an employment plan, others cannot. For the majority, I say that Insurance is the only way to go and you should cut costs elsewhere to get it done.

Think about what matters most in this life, that fast car, that new gadget, that big TV? Or is it your life and those people you and I surround ourselves with, those we love, those who count on us to be there when they need us. I want to make sure you protect what matters most.

I suggest that at a minimum your Life Insurance coverage should cover your debts and passing. The preferred situation would be providing for your loved ones in your absence as well as protecting your retirement and estate planning from any unplanned pillaging of funds due to a serious illness.

You insure your house and your car, things that can be replaced, why do you not insure yourself, something your family can never replace?

For more information about affordable coverage visit www.protectingwhatmattersmost.com

Written by Edgar Schuchardt – Life Insurance Advocate & Agent

April 8, 2015