UlTImATE SUccESS GUIdEPenny had six children. She was a dedicated and loving wife and a “su-
per” mom, with her family being the center of her universe. Her hus-
band John was one of the hardest working men I had ever known. One
day, as darkness descended on the jobsite, he decided to take a short nap
in his van before working into the night. Since it was January, and quite
cold outside, he left the engine running to keep it warm inside. He must
have fallen into a deep sleep and did not notice that the van had run out
of gas. In the morning, Penny was frantic that he had not come home the
night before. When the police found the van, it was determined that John
had died of carbon monoxide poisoning from a leaky gas line. It was New
Year’s Day. There was no life insurance. Six months later, their home was
foreclosed. All karate, dance lessons, and soccer camps were done, too.
The oldest had to drop out of college to help support the family. If only I
had convinced them to purchase that life insurance policy, instead of let-
ting them procrastinate. John had said they could not afford it, and besides
he was as healthy as an ox and “not going anywhere” for a very longtime.
Life has a way of throwing you a curve ball when you least expect it, just
the same.
After several very difficult years, Penny had the courage and tenacity to
go back to school at age 42 and became a Licensed Nurse Practitioner.
She now has great medical benefits, a retirement account, and weekends
off to go to baseball and soccer games. Her oldest son is doing well as a
licensed electrician and is about to bless Penny with her first grandchild.
She insisted that he and his wife purchase term life policies while they
were still young; ones that were affordable and could be converted to
permanent insurance later on if they wanted. After all his mom had en-
dured, he understood the value and immediacy of having life insurance.
There was no resistance from the expectant parents whatsoever.
Lori was a kind, intelligent, divorced woman whose mom had left her a
substantial inheritance from their family business. Since Lori was never
really into learning about investments, she decided to go with a broker
who convinced her he would take care of everything, and that she didn’t
have to worry. When she would ask questions and try to learn about
her investments, he would respond in a condescending tone that she
wouldn’t understand and that it was probably over her head anyway.
When she came to me from a referral, I was appalled hearing about how
she was treated, and thoroughly disgusted to learn she had lost over half
of her inheritance in two short years. She had told her broker she was