This blog is part 4 of our life insurance awareness month series.
Anne Daly may be a respected insurance industry sales veteran, but that’s hardly how she describes herself. “I would say that I’m a little bit of an insurance geek,” Daly said. “And I’m also really passionate about these products. Life insurance and annuities serve incredible purposes for policyholders; they protect their life and they protect their retirement.”
Daly’s intense connection has roots that far precede her career. Growing up in Youngstown, Ohio, she witnessed the fallout when her father Joe Michael got into a terrible accident while driving a delivery truck. Unable to continue in that line of work, the man affectionately known as “Joe Doughnuts” (you can guess what he was delivering) emerged from a year-long recovery with a new job as an agent with the Knights of Columbus Insurance Agency.
The career offered a secure way to support a family of six, but also informed a way of life — and a belief about how to best handle it. “When we, his five children, ended up reaching young adult life — starting to get married and start families — he pretty much made all of us buy whole life insurance,” recalled Daly. She was in her late 20s at the time and just getting married. “At the time, it was direct deposit monthly payments — really an inexpensive financial vehicle. I think I paid 250 bucks a month for 20 years.”
So why did her dad make such a big deal about it? “He really believed that whole life obviously served the perfect purpose of protecting somebody’s life and providing their family and heirs with financial resources in the event of an untimely death,” Daly said. “But he also knew that whole life would be an excellent vehicle for retirement, especially for people who may not have had other resources to save money, or employer retirement plans.”
The insurance products of course spoke for themselves; all Daly and her siblings had to do was take a look at the community around them and the esteemed place her father occupied in it. “Over a 30-year career, he became one of the most beloved life insurance agents in greater Youngstown,” she said. “And actually, when he tried to retire, the company and his customers would never let him.”
In fact, his career at the Knights of Columbus lasted until he passed away at 79. For the legacy of success he left behind in his career and as a family man, other testaments to his caring and vision make an impact to this day.
Given his work as an agent, it makes sense that provided for those around him through multiple layers of insurance. “He still had his employer’s life policy, but he had other policies, too,” Daly said. Those continue to help Daly’s mother, now 91.
But Daly also inherited something more than financial acumen and security: the mantle of insurance evangelist. Looking back on her own journey as a policyholder, Daly is convinced that starting when she did built a foundation for wealth and security. Today she looks at millennials and urges them to take a similar path.
“I’m an advocate for buying life insurance when you’re 25 or 30 vs. when you’re 50,” Daly said. “You get much more value out of it. “Life insurance is really like another asset class, and it’s a great asset to hold for many years.”
At the very least, it’s an option she’s made possible for her daughter. Daly purchased a $50,000 whole life policy for her when she was 16. Today it’s a $100,000 policy “and by the time she’s 40, she won’t have to pay for it anymore.”
That daughter, by the way, is in her 20s. Sound familiar?
EIS is a proud sponsor of a Life Lessons Scholarship organized by non-profit Life Happens.
For more information on to apply for or sponsor a scholarship, please visit www.lifehappens.org/scholarship
Life Happens is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping consumers take personal financial responsibility through the ownership of life insurance and related products. The organization does not endorse any product, company or insurance advisor. Since its inception in 1994, Life Happens has provided the highest quality, independent and objective information for people seeking help with their insurance buying decisions. To learn more, visit www.lifehappens.org.
