My birthday is this week. I welcome birthdays, they are pretty fun. My grandma always said she loved her birthday because it was the special day Heavenly Father gave her to come to earth. I love that perspective.
Not all my birthdays have been great. 16 stands out as probably the worst. I was so excited to turn 16--driving, dating...it was going to be amazing! I had everything in line to get my driver's license that day, and I did. Later that evening, I had to run to the store to get something for school. YES! First time going all legal by myself. All was great until I turned in front of another car and...suddenly my birthday was ruined. Yep, I wrecked my dad's car (thankfully no one was hurt). The cars weren't totaled, but definitely wrecked. And, my dad is an insurance agent. Let's just say it did not go over well. My dad told me that night that he was taking my license away and I wouldn't get it back until I was 19--until that wreck was off my record. I tearfully agreed, convinced that any punishment he gave me was still too light.
The policeman who responded to my accident gave me the best birthday gift ever, no ticket. My dad, meanwhile, was trying to figure out how to get around the system so that accident would not skyrocket the insurance premium. One idea he had for a few days was try to pay for the car repairs out of pocket instead of having the insurance cover it (and have me somehow work it off). I fretted, worried, didn't eat, and was sure my life was over as how could I ever cover those repair costs with my minimum wage job at the mall candy store?
A bit later, my dad shared with me the conversation he had with our insurance company. The gist of the conversation was that the insurance adjuster reminded my dad why we have insurance. It is there to be used when needed, to cover costs that we cannot possibly cover on our own. And this was a case when it was needed. The insurance company repaired the other car, and my parents covered the costs to fix ours.
My dad didn't take away my license, and he gave me that car just after I turned 17. But, I also got to pay the insurance premiums from that time forward. I took that car into our marriage and we had it until we saved enough to buy our minivan...but that's another story.
Elder Ashton in One for the Money talks about the importance of being properly insured. Insurance is there to cover costs that we cannot possibly cover on our own. Just like there was no way I could have paid for all my accident repairs, insurance helped out. I was, however, able to pay the insurance premiums with my candy store wages, so insurance did its job.
One for the Money also talks about the influence outside factors has on your money, and how to wisely prepare for situations that can and will arise.
I challenge you to read sections 10 and 11 of One for the Money and talk with your spouse about these important topics. Make wise decisions and move forward with any changes you may need to make. These are important topics to help the family budget, and therefore the family.
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