Deon Graveney, Financial Advisor, JN Life Insurance, is urging more Jamaicans to rise above the mindset that each generation must struggle their way to achieving their own wealth and success. She says families must become intentional about building generational wealth.
The Financial Advisor noted that some Jamaicans seem satisfied with having a challenging life and do not focus on building generational wealth. She said some accept struggle as their lot in life and even promote it with their children. She emphasised that if Jamaicans are to overcome cyclical poverty, then financial and estate planning must become priorities.
“As a people, we were taught to struggle and life has not been easy for many of us,” she affirmed. “In contrast, Europeans, Asians and other ethnicities were taught to create generational wealth. In times past, many laws like the Jim Crow Laws in North America prevented Blacks from owning property and even when they did, it would be taken from them, and they were not able to pass it onto their children and grandchildren. So, each generation started from zero to achieve and create wealth for themselves and their families. That psyche of struggle and cyclical poverty has been ingrained in us and our descendants, and we pass it on from generation to generation.”
She continued, “Many of us ‘enjoy’ struggling. I have approached prospects to provide them with insurance protection, and they object to purchasing it because of the mindset that says, ‘If I struggle, then my children should struggle’. One person even said to me once that ‘I am not leaving my children any money for them to buy boats.’ He was using boats in place of yachts and to mean that his children would lead a lavish lifestyle from his sweat and hard work. In his mind, he struggled and so his children should struggle too.”
Miss Graveney was guest presenter at a recent meeting of the Rotary Club of Trafalgar New Heights’ AGM at CRU Bar and Kitchen in St Andrew, where she spoke on the theme “Life Insurance as a Tool for Generational Wealth.
Miss Graveney noted that many Jamaicans were fond of saying “‘I had it hard, my daddy didn’t leave me anything, I worked for everything that I now have, so why should I make their lives easy? They must know what hard work is.’ This perspective confuses hard work with generational wealth because they have embraced the struggle mentality, and do not separate the two.”
“This mindset is very unfortunate… It is very important that we put things in place to ensure that we, or our children do not struggle and one of the ways to do this is to have life insurance,” she explained. “Even if you do not own businesses, land or cash in the bank, having life insurance creates an immediate estate for your loved ones, and is the start of the process of generational wealth.”
The Financial Advisor noted that life insurance guaranteed a sum of money upon the death of the insured person which could be used to prevent financial hardships for those left behind.
“Life insurance is one of the smartest things you can do because you pay ‘pennies on the dollar’ for this coverage which allows you to leave a huge lump sum of money for your survivors. I have been in insurance long enough to see someone pay one month’s premium and their wife and children inherit millions of dollars and a mortgage free house. It is a very effective tool through which individuals can obtain financial security and family security,” she advised.
She explained that, “Life insurance has many uses. It provides a death benefit to your family; it creates an estate the moment you pay your first premium because it will pay out a lump sum upon death, or diagnosis of a critical illness. It provides liquidity for estate expenses. It can also be used to pay funeral expenses, last illness expenses, pay your creditors and many other things. It also provides an income for those left behind. It can be used to secure a line of credit, creditor mortgage protection, key-man insurance and buy-sell agreement for business partnerships and corporations, and even protects future insurability. Therefore, I urge you to make life insurance an necessary and important part of your estate planning because of these benefits.”
