Jade serves as a manager in the Sales and Marketing Division at Auto-Owners Insurance. She helps the division prioritize projects that need to be completed with IT ― including our public website, agency portal, and agency information.

After Jade gave birth to her child, she and her husband chose to buy a life insurance policy for their son. 

Q: As a new mother, why did you feel that your son needed life insurance?

“As a fairly new mom to my two children and as a step mother, I never want to think about outliving my children. But being in the industry that I am and seeing things from a claims perspective, sometimes tragedies do happen and you have to be prepared for those situations. 

There are so many people who think — it’s never going to be me. It’ll never be my child, it would never be my family but the truth is, we never really know. Every day is a gift. There’s a great deal of comfort knowing that, God forbid, if something was to happen, we would have financial help and we wouldn’t be alone.”

Q: Many people begin thinking about life insurance once they have children. What prompted you to look into a plan before your child was born?

“In my time here at Auto-Owners, I’ve known associates that have experienced extreme loss and I’ve witnessed these types of tragedies outside of work with family members and friends. The shock and disbelief that come with an unexpected death are enough to cope with; to throw a financial burden on top of that must be an incredible weight to bear.”  

Q: Did you buy one term of life insurance or a permanent plan for your son? 

“At this point with my son, we are covering him with a term rider on my own policy. We figured we would pick that plan now, knowing that we would probably revisit it at a later date.”

Q: Can you describe the process of getting a life insurance plan for your son?

“We just selected a coverage option that we would be comfortable with, so it wasn’t too difficult for us. The hardest part is really just considering the likelihood of something bad happening to your child at such a young age.” 

Q: Getting life insurance early guarantees your child’s insurability. How did this apply to your situation? 

“Well there is always the possibility of finding out that your child has an illness later on. The sooner that you purchase life insurance, the better your chances are to continuously renew that policy instead of having to look at other health factors later on in life.”   

Q: Would you have been as likely to take out a plan if you didn’t work at A-O?

“I think that if I worked in another industry I wouldn’t have thought to get a plan. Fortunately, we do a great job at Auto-Owners of educating our staff on the importance of life insurance. I think the educational piece that the company gave me influenced our decision. When you think about the benefits that Auto-Owners offers for life insurance policies, it’s truly a gift.”

Learn more about Auto-Owners life insurance policies.