Buy an insurance policy with time not money

Sort of.  Let’s talk about life insurance for a minute.  Definitely needs to be at or near the top of the list for everybody.  Key here is getting something because reality is that something is better than nothing.  The majority of the population can use some financial help when a loved one dies.

This help can be to cover a funeral or other last wishes.  It is also important to take some time to grieve.  Then of course there are all those household expenses that might be your responsibility.   Maybe you have just taken out this policy just so you can leave money to family members because there is no one depending on your income.  These are all great reasons to have it in place.

What about the emotional part.  What if your actions on this planet were actually being invested for you?  The return would then be an almost immeasurable amount of love and support when it is needed most.  Now those do not amount to  dollars and likely cannot be used to pay bills but there is something to be said for good feelings and support.  Is that “policy” as important as the one that gives actual dollars?  Depends on who you ask.

Can you have one without the other?  Sure, it is easy to simply buy a life insurance policy.  The other one actually requires effort and time.  See you cannot buy genuine support and feelings.  You cannot buy genuine, unsolicited emotions and support…but you can earn it.  Since you cannot buy this kind of policy and can only earn it doesn’t that immediately make it more valuable.  Money cannot purchase unsolicited, genuine feelings.  It cannot make people choose to share and be there for your family when they do not need to be there.  You can spend(see donate) a lot of money and probably get a church full of people there.  Can probably even get some nice post death awards.  But what are those worth?

Key here, I guess, is you can have one without the other but why would you want just the one.  I think your family would want both.

Just some ideas.

Supporting local, could be the next Walkway over the Hudson

Mount Beacon Incline Railway Restoration Society

receives donation from Birchyard LLC

Wappingers Falls N.Y. (August 9, 2013)– Birchyard LLC donates to the Mount Beacon Incline Railway Restoration Society. The donation was presented on August 4, 2013 at 9 a.m. The funds will help support and repair the Incline Railway on North Beacon Mountain. Scenic Hudson’s Mount Beacon Park currently serves as a nature park, and the incline restoration is intended to preserve and enhance that role.

The Mount Beacon Incline Railway Restoration Society was founded in 1996. It consists of volunteers from all around the New York State area. The society is committed to returning incline railway service to the summit of Mount Beacon. This is creating a nature park for people of all abilities.

“Thanks to the support of our trustees, volunteers, members, friends and donors, we’ve made terrific progress towards our goal in the last two years,” Mike Colarusso, president of the Incline Society said. “It’s heartening to see and I’ll do my level best to help maintain the momentum.”

Birchyard develops customized property and casualty insurance plans that fit the needs of individuals, family’s, and business owners they serve. The Beacon Incline Railway Restoration Society is a non-profit historical society with a goal to restore the historic railway on Mount Beacon. For additional information about the rebuilding of the Mount Beacon Railway, visit www.inclinerailway.org.

 

What do I support?

Passion.  If it is passion with purpose even better.  See this gives me energy, the influence of these things and the subsequent ideas and inspiration that comes from them is a piece of my why.

When it finally came time to find something new and start my own firm the search for how I would do it began.  Somewhere along the line I caught this article in Mens Journal.  Shortly there after I did some more research and read this piece  and was even more hooked.  I now had some more ideas thanks to Yvon Chouinard.   Then I sat and watched 180 South , in my case this was one of those movies that was on in the background and quickly grabbed me.  These stories as well as some more positive influence from Clif and Gary Erickson helped me decide that one of the first steps of my company would be that a piece of the foundation would include 1% for the Planet .

Fast forward a bit and it is time to make a donation.  My household and subsequently my business will not donate to general funds.  We are not against them, I suppose they serve a purpose,  I just want to know that my money is specifically influencing a project.  Last year it was helping a school bus of kids have a field trip.  This year I focused my money to the Joppenbergh Mountain project.  Fortunately Friends of Shawangunks, a 1% not for profit partner, is a partner in this cause.

See I drive through this area frequently which helps but I also live in Poughkeepsie and have seen first hand the massive impact of  The Walkway .  Which is essentially a massive re-purposing project that has positively affected the environment as well as the economy.  If it works here it will work in Rosendale which is where Joppenbergh is located.  I also see the uphill battle that the passion filled supporters have ahead of them and gain a huge amount of energy from their determination, persistence and passion.  See charity is wonderful, supporting not-for-profits is nice and I do that as well but when I support a project that is essentially run on passion that is what works for me.  That is why I directed most of this years donations toward this cause and look  forward to my walk over the trestle as I look out at the creek below.

P.S. I also adopted some goats after reading about it on the 1% blog.  That is just another example of passion with purpose that I was thrilled to support.  Hopefully Fullmore and his kids did a great job 🙂

Thanks for reading, stay well.  Just some thoughts.