When death strikes...

There has always been death in the running community. It is so common to hear of people dropping dead from a 2.4km run or after participating in a race. Most time, when we hear of such news, we check the identity and if it is not a known name, shrug and said “too bad” and we move on to the next topic of interest.

But 2 recent deaths in as many weeks brought the matter closer to home as these 2 gentlemen were better known to the Singapore Running Community at large. I myself, while I do not know them well, count them as my acquaintances as I had the honor and pleasure of meeting them over the course of the past years. So while I wasn’t really close to them, their death hit me rather hard especially since they are also around my age group.

Anyway, much has been written about them on Facebook and social media so I shall not go into that. But their death sent me scrambling to do something – check my insurance coverage. As a family man, although the kids are now grown up, still when death strikes, the one to suffer most is always the family since I figure the dead can’t suffer any more unless there really is really a hell or a 地狱.  

After reviewing my policies and taking into consideration the age of the children, I think I have prepared enough but have you?

If you are running or swimming or biking or whatever and drop dead today – how will your family cope? Apart from the emotional and mental stress, will they still have to figure out where to get money for the funeral expenses, where their next meal is going to come from now that the sole/main breadwinner is gone? Do they have to rely on the goodwill of newspaper readers for donations and charities and social welfare agencies for handouts?

So for those of us still running around, engaging in ultras, diving, biking and activities that are more prone to accidents, maybe it is good to pause a bit, take stock of what we have and whether we have prepared and made adequate provisions for the family before  continuing with our current lifestyle.

PS: I am not an insurance agent, financial consultants or advisor and do not promote any insurance companies or their products but if anyone out there need an intro to a financial advisor, I be happy to do so.