Many Filipinos are unaware of estate planning. Many would have vague ideas of what estate planning is, and to those who do, they would automatically associate estate planning with inheritance taxes.

For those who do some form of estate planning, we notice that many of them forget one estate-planning tool: life insurance.

I have asked my good friend, a legal expert on financial services, lawyer Carlo Carino, to help me write this article. Carlo is also a recent graduate of the Registered Financial Planner’s program and is one of the featured experts at www.income-tacts.com.

Let’s try to have a more powerful (and creative) introduction for today’s article (wink).

Thousands of years ago, and up to the relative present, man has always thirsted for immortality. This has been his greatest quest. The Egyptian pharaoh believed he can achieve it and, thus, prepared for his next life by bringing his riches, women and faithful servants with him into the grave. Hundreds are taken along with him, his riches and favorite earthly possessions delivered in his grandiose and mythical grave.

Chinese emperors, likewise, held this devotion.  The fountain of youth, however, was nowhere to be found, albeit Madonna, with her youthful looks and stunning dance repertoire, may have found it.

Now, immortality is achieved figuratively through halls of fame or burning a page in the annals of history. Some try to achieve immortality by writing songs, as Barry Manilow puts it. Some write poetry, poems, literature.

To thwart history and immortality, Xerxes of Persia threatened to erase the Spartan king Leonidas by burning every Spartan literature, cutting the tongue of every Greek and sentencing to death any person who spoke his name. That probably never happened because I just saw the movie on HBO.

I also remember a movie starred by Peter O’toole entitled The Wings of Fame. The movie is set in a limbo-like place where those who were famous remain in this limbo until the mortals forget their name. Once forgotten, he or she disappears, never to be seen again.

Fortunately, our law has brought forth a similar solution for man’s quest for immortality: succession.

Our law on succession helps a man achieve immortality through the passage of wealth from one generation to another. A person’s wealth is just like a hero in a movie. It is the same character, but the actors who portray it have been several…

Catch part 2

Insurance has been something people felt they do not need. The Philippines is one country that is severely under-insured in both Life and Non-Life (Property & Casualty).

Insurance is still the best tool for risk management by virtue of a risk transfer mechanism. For those who are wondering if their cars and properties are covered by insurances… yes, if they have the proper coverage such as Flood and AOG (Acts of God).

Loss of life and property is crippling, financially and insurance can really help — despite not being popular among us Pinoys. Maybe it’s time we look at insurance in a new view.

Insurance companies that do not ‘re-insure’ will be in trouble, that’s for sure!

Check out my old blogs about Motor Car Insurance

Part 1

Part 2

We must always be prepared… financially, and more importantly, spiritually. My 2 cents.

“For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.”

(Matthew 24:38-39, NIV)