It’s a day I’ll never forget: June 24, 2021. My childhood friend Kristal — a young wife and mother — died during the birth of her second child. I had helped Kristal get life insurance just two years earlier. No one could have predicted that the policy we set up would be needed so soon.

Kristal and I grew up together. Our parents were neighbors at our lake homes. When we were in our 30s, Kristal reached out to me about setting up a life insurance policy. She was an amazing person. She was extremely organized and proactive in everything she did — and she did a lot. She ran her own dog-walking business, competed in marathons, managed all the family’s finances.

She knew exactly what she wanted in a policy, too. She chose a policy that, in the event of her death, would pay off the mortgage and give her family an extra financial cushion. She also took out a disability policy for her husband, who was self-employed. She did everything she could to help financially protect her loved ones.

Two and a half years later, during childbirth, Kristal suffered a rare complication and passed away. She was only 39 years old. Her newborn son was rushed to Minneapolis for specialized care and made a full recovery. Kristal’s husband was devastated.

Her life insurance policy benefits helped ease the family’s worries and provided a layer of financial stability. Her husband also qualified for temporary disability coverage under the disability policy she had arranged for him, which allowed him to take time off from work to grieve, care for their children and pick up the pieces of his life.

Kristal’s death changed the way I think about life insurance — and the way I’ve talked about it with my customers ever since. Instead of discussing life insurance as an added benefit, I’ve prioritized it more, making a point to bring it up early and often.

This experience also made me realize that people may want to consider getting as much life insurance as they can afford. When I talk to customers now, we carefully review and discuss the amount of money their family might need in the event of their death.

I wish the policy I helped my friend Kristal put in place had been three times larger. Life can change in an instant, and expenses add up quickly. Despite what many people think, a policy with a death benefit in the hundreds of thousands of dollars may not be enough, especially in a dual-income household when one income disappears.

Many people don’t realize the importance of starting early and having a plan in place just in case, especially when they see life insurance as an added expense. However, in some cases the discounts that Farmers^® provides on auto and home policies can help make a life insurance policy more affordable. So right here in Minnesota, it’s more accessible than people think.

But I get it. Life insurance isn’t easy to talk about. But putting off the conversation can leave your family with a financial burden.

When you get right down to it, life insurance isn’t about money. It’s about the security and peace of mind a policy can offer. It’s about giving time — time to grieve, breathe, figure out how things are going to change. It’s about taking care of those we love.

You can replace things in life — cars, homes, material possessions — but life insurance is different. I always tell people that the best gift you can give your loved ones is the foresight to set them up financially, so they won’t have to struggle. We can’t replace those we love, but we can help give families a more secure future. And who doesn’t want that?