Why Good Advice Can Give Sad Stories Happy Endings

I have been a Financial Advisor since 1983 and over this time I have dealt with many different types of claims.

There were some where clients unfortunately either fell on hard times and needed to cash in some or all of their investments to survive, while others were unfortunate enough to suffer serious illness or even pass away.

One particular claim comes to mind. A few years ago a client called Peter contacted me. He was in his early forties, married with two young children aged 3 and 5.

He was a marketing consultant in Dublin and his wife Siobhan worked part-time as an office administrator. They both earned good salaries and were doing well …or so I thought as I hadn’t seen him for a few years.

Previously in 2004 I had arranged two mortgages for Peter and Siobhan – one on the family home of €500k and another on an investment property for €150k.

At the time both were in excellent health as they were non-smokers who led active lives. Peter was into triathlons and was in fact a super-fit guy. Despite that though, I arranged a mortgage protection policy to pay off both mortgages in full in the event of untimely death which was a condition of the loan offer.

However as an optional extra I also added serious illness cover to the policy which would also clear off the mortgages in the event of either one of them getting a serious illness but surviving.

As soon as I heard the tone of  Peter’s  voice when he rang me, I knew something was wrong. He confided that he had recently been diagnosed with cancer and was about to start six months of chemotherapy treatment.

I was shocked to hear this news but when he asked me how he was fixed cover-wise, I was delighted to be able to tell him that the policies we had taken out in 2004 would pay both his mortgages in full.

Immediately I could sense his relief as he explained that he would probably be off work for up to two years and he was concerned how he would manage financially with a young family to support.

Peter has got good news recently after getting the all clear and now  he can get back to normal life. Already he has resumed work at his old job and is now debt free for the rest of his life.

Not alone have they no mortgages they now have rental income of €12k per annum from their investment property which we are now investing into an educational savings policy to provide for their children’s future college fees.

It’s good to be able to relate a happy ending to what was a very sad story.