4 Businesses That Have Life Insurance To Thank For Their Success

By Dylan Delhart

Everyone knows that life insurance will pay out a benefit when the insured passes on, but most people don’t know the other benefits of having life insurance. One of the greatest things about life insurance is the ability to borrow money from the policy.

Foster Farms Everyone knows and loves Foster Farms chicken, but did you know that Max and Verda Foster payed for their first farm with money borrowed from a life insurance policy? In 1939 the Fosters borrowed $1,000 from their life insurance to purchase 80 acres of land in Modesto and began raising chickens. This investment led to the creation of Foster Farms.

JC Penney James Penney incorporated his clothing store in 1913, 16 years before the great depression. When the depression struck it destroyed his wealth and almost ended his franchise. He was able to borrow from his Life insurance policy to pay his employees and keep his business afloat. Had he not had life insurance we most likely would not be able to shop at JC Penney today.

McDonald’s Ray Krok bought out the McDonald’s brothers and took over the franchise in 1961. During the early years of the company he constantly had cash shortages. On 2 occasions he had to borrow money from his life insurance to cover the salaries of employees.

Disneyland Walt Disney had a dream to create a nice clean amusement park where families could come together and enjoy themselves. He was unable to get the financing he needed to open Disneyland, so he decided to finance it himself. Most of the money used to create the first Disneyland came from the cash value of his life insurance policy. If Walt had not had life insurance, Disneyland may have never been built.