Farm insurance agents understand better than all the rest of your farm or business advisors put together that cash money delivered at the death of a key person is often the only thing that keeps your enterprise alive. They know that key person life insurance proceeds are likely to be the only money coming in at a time when so much money is going out.

The definition of key person life insurance varies, but in a nut shell it is life insurance designated to replace the loss of an individual whose value is important to the business. Typically this is meant to be someone other than the business owner, such as one or more employees whose role is important. These are the people you'd say, "I don't know how we'd get along without..." and whom you will have to replace if they leave.

Who are your key people? Why …show more content…
If they really are key people they must be replaced - because their important jobs must still get done by someone. Everybody else is already working flat out doing their own jobs.

How long will it take to find their replacement? How much will you have to pay the new person? Will it be more or less than you are paying your existing key person? How long will it take to train them and how much will training then cost? Who will train them and who will do their job while the training takes place?

The risks associated with having a key person stuck down with a long term illness or death, are real indeed. Farm insurance agents have charts and formulas that can put actual numbers together based on the loss your business will face in the event one or more of your key people leaves.

What are the odds, given the ages of your key people - that one or more of them will leave before you want them to? Farm insurance agents also have actuarial tables that will tell you the odds? When you understand the odds you can make the decision - can we afford to take the risk or should we insure some or all of