Linda
Benders and Jeanne Rizzotto had recently purchased a realty company
in a small town in Montana. Linda was a wife and mother of four
who also cared for her elderly mother-in-law. Jeanne was a single
parent, raising two sons. Linda and Jeanne's busy lifestyles and
growing business commitments led them to consider purchasing life
insurance through their business. They met with New York Life
agents Stephanie Walter and Patti Larsen, CLU, to have their insurance
needs analyzed. Acting on their agents' recommendations, the businesswomen
purchased life insurance to fund "buy-sell agreements" that would
protect their business interests should something happen to either
one of them.
As
time went by, their business took off. They moved into a much
larger office space and added staff. In February 1997, Linda and
Jeanne met with their agents for an annual review of their financial
situation. Linda and Jeanne had become concerned about investing
for retirement. Their agents, however, felt that the two women
were now underinsured due to their increased financial commitments.
They strongly encouraged Linda and Jeanne to purchase more life
insurance first and to invest the remainder of their available
monthly earnings in IRAs.
After
several weeks and considerable deliberations with their agents,
Linda and Jeanne agreed to their recommendations.
Days
later, on March 15, 1997, Linda and one of her daughters were
involved in a tragic car accident on an icy road. Linda was killed.
Jeanne called her agent Patti at 6:00 a.m. the next morning to
tell her about the accident, "I'm scared. I just need to know
if Linda's family will be all right and if I'm going to be all
right," she said.
Because
of the insurance, Linda's husband is able to care for their 3-year-old
daughter and elderly mother, and their other three children can
stay in college.
"For
months, Patti and Stephanie implored us to get the right type
of insurance to protect our business interests. We weren't exactly
an easy sell. We were focused on the realty business and couldn't
be bothered dealing with insurance," said Jeanne, "We could have
lost it all. Because of the insurance, Linda's family has security,
and I didn't lose the company."
