A little over a year ago, my husband and I opened our first policy right before he retired from the Marine Corps.
Up until then, we had that good old military life insurance policy and figured we were covered. But once retirement became real, we had one of those “okay… we probably need a better plan” moments.
At the time, I did not fully understand how everything worked. Honestly, even for the first year, I still didn’t!
What I did have was trust.
I trusted the people guiding us, and I trusted the process, even though I could not explain it yet.
The understanding did not come until we actually started using it.
The biggest shift for me came when I realized this:
We are not spending the money we put into the policy.
We are using it as collateral and taking a loan backed by it.
In simple terms, our money stays in place and continues to grow. When we need access to money, we are borrowing against what we have built instead of pulling it out and losing momentum.
That was the moment it clicked.
Not long after that, we sold our home and had a lump sum come in.
In the past, we would have immediately used that money to pay off debt and move on.
This time, we did something different.
We put the money into our policy first. Then we used a loan backed by it to pay off high-interest credit cards.
So while it may look like we used that money, the reality is our original money is still there, continuing to grow in the background.
That one decision created breathing room for us right away.
Then more recently, we received unexpected back pay from the VA.
In the past, money like that would have come in and gone right back out.
But this time, we already had a place for it.
We were able to catch up on contributions, prepare for the next cycle, and keep moving forward without stress.
None of these moments were something we could have planned perfectly.
But having a system in place meant we were ready when they came.
And that is really the point.
It is not about predicting when money will show up.
It is about having a place for it when it does.
Sometimes understanding comes later.
Sometimes it starts with trust, and clarity follows once you begin to use it.
That is what it looks like to make room for windfalls.
