Facilitates the Purchase of a Home

Facilitates the Purchase of a Home. While this advan-
tage may be considered essentially a business one, it is men-
tioned here because of the enormous volume of outstanding
mortgages on homes and the direct bearing of this situation in
nearly all cases upon the welfare of the mortgagor's family.
One who has purchased or built a home with funds borrowed
on a mortgage which provides for payment at a specified date
is exposed to the danger of dying before a fund sufficient for
such payment has been accumulated. Let us assume that the
head of a family has mortgaged his home for $5,000 and
expects to pay off the same through a series of payments at
fixed intervals, such payments being made out of current earn-
ings. It is apparent that the fulfilment of this purpose is
dependent upon the mortgagor living long enough to earn
the amounts necessary to make the periodic payments. Pre-
mature death, however, after only a few payments have been
made, may seriously jeopardize the welfare of the family, since
the remaining members of the household may be unable to
effect a settlement of the mortgage and thus prevent a fore-
closure on their home at a time when troubles are amply
abundant. Here life insurance, involving only a moderate
cost, affords an excellent protection against such a contin-
gency. A $5,000 life-insurance policy may be taken out by
the mortgagor to hedge his $5,000 mortgage. If his life is
spared he will pay off the mortgage and because of a little
extra thrift, will also be the holder of $5,000 life insurance,
the beneficent purpose of which as family protection will by
that time be appreciated. If death, however, should occur
when only $1,000 has been paid on the mortgage, the proceeds
of the policy become immediately available for the extin-
guishment of the balance of $4,000. The family thus becomes
possessed of full title to the home, while the balance of $1,000
of life-insurance money will prove exceedingly welcome as a
means of tiding over the period of adjustment that nearly
always arises when the breadwinner is removed by death.

The same situation also presents itself on every hand among
the large farmer and retailing classes of the country. Here
a vast volume of mortgages covers the farms and small retail
establishments in which the mortgagors' families have a vital
interest. Foreclosure of the property in case of failure to
meet the mortgage because of the mortgagor's untimely death,
or serious hardship on the part of the heirs in attempting to
pay off the mortgage, can easily be obviated through the use
of life insurance. The possibilities of the spread of life in-
surance among the farmers of this country are exceedingly
great, because as a class they stand sadly in need of its pro-
tection and at present know comparatively little about its
usefulness.


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