Life and Death

Another unique experience happened yesterday to me. I went with Mrs. IWG to purchase a life insurance policy. This is important to do now that we are bringing a child into the world. In case we die, we need to leave it an obscene amount of money! (Don't ask how much, I don't need people plotting my death for their financial benefit!) At any rate, we have an insurance agent through the Horace Mann Corporation, a company for teacher's that gives great rates. Our agent is a lunatic. She tells the most inane stories, including one about a house she once owned with wallpaper on the walls in pieces that contain "funky chickens".

Today her stories seemed to all deal with interesting manners of death and destitude that her clients had been involved with. This made buying the policy very cheery! The best part was when my wife thought that we should designate my 20 year old brother, a junior in college, as the guardian of our trust should we both perish. Now, I don't know about you, but as a junior in college I could not balance my checkbook, let alone manage a large financial trust for a child. At any rate, we finally settled on another relative and signed our policy application.

The whole process is kind of surreal when you think about it. It is like gambling. The insurance company is betting that you will not die within a certain amount of time. If they win, they don't have to pay the large pot, but they get to keep a small pot. If they lose, they have to pay a large pot. So, let's hope my odds are good!