This one was painful.

There are some clients we only talk to every once in a while.

Then there are those that we see every month or so — to pay a bill, answer a question, whatever.

J and her husband were ones we’ve seen a lot over past year or so. They came in to pay their bill in cash most months — a lot of times with their kids, including a newborn, in tow.

They also owned a business. She handled paperwork and he handled the manual labor.

She came in earlier this week and apologized for not coming by to pay the bill last week when it was due — there had been a family emergency.

“Family emergency” can cover a lot of ground so I hoped for the best.

It was the other kind of family emergency.

Her 27-year-old husband had been drinking, then grabbed his stomach and fell over.

He’d been in the hospital, unresponsive, all weekend.

They still didn’t even know what was wrong with him.

I can’t blame her for the question she asked as she held back tears.

Was there any way we could get the life insurance on him that she and I had been talking about since she first became our client?

Like I said, this one was painful.

You can’t get insurance — home insurance, auto insurance, business insurance — after you need it. You have to get it in place beforehand.

Life insurance is no different.

That’s a conversation I never want to have again. So please, if you don’t have life insurance right now, call someone.

Your family is depending on it.