Legacy Builders

Joyce & Eric Linn
Sauk Rapids, MN
Former Occupation:
District Partner/Fire Chief

Joyce & Eric Linn, of Sauk Rapids, MN, are passionate about their Primerica business and what they can offer to families. For them, the value of life insurance is deeply personal. Both know the importance of life insurance firsthand after suffering the irreplaceable loss of a family breadwinner. They have lived it.

“Primerica’s primary mission, to help families get properly protected with the right kind and right amount of income protection, is personal for us,” says Joyce.1 “No online fundraising campaigns, spaghetti dinners, raffles, or T-shirt sales are going to give surviving family members the power and dignity to put their lives back together that life insurance can offer.”

On July 3, 1992, Eric Linn was a 20-year-old rookie with the Avon, MN, fire department when the first medical call of his career changed everything.

“There I was, new to the job and with little training when I was paged out to my own family’s farm address. The call was for a male who had been gored by a bull, so I knew what I was heading to,” recalls Eric. “My dad, Ronald, was the subject of that call. When I got to our farm, the bull was still on him, but my dad was gone.”

Eric’s then girlfriend, Joyce, was with him when he received the fateful call that day and she joined him at the scene of the tragedy. The couple have built a strong and powerful foundation on the rarity of their relationship and what they’ve been able to overcome.

Life moved quickly. There was little time to grieve. The responsibilities of the farm and cattle, the loss of Ronald’s paycheck, school, jobs, sports, birthdays, holidays – all had to be taken care of and would not wait. Eric had to take over as head of the household for his mom, Irene, and four younger brothers, Steve (18), Phil (17), Sam (14), and Mike (10). “Dad had always handled the decision-making, the finances, as well as being the breadwinner,” remembers Eric. “Mother, distraught and vulnerable, didn’t know where to begin sorting things out.” But there was something that brought some relief to Irene and the boys. Ronald had left his family a gift while he was alive. He’d had the foresight to buy a Primerica Life term life insurance policy.

With the proceeds from the policy, Irene was able to pay off the farm. “That Primerica Life policy, and our determination to love and support each other, got us through. We boys are still close even all these decades later.”

Having lost her own father at the young age of 18, Joyce could relate to Eric’s suffering, and the two would soon build a strong foundation from that commonality, later marrying on Eric’s dad’s birthday.

“A life insurance policy can’t take away the intense loss,” reflects Joyce. “It can’t erase the sadness of losing someone central to your life, but it can give the surviving loved ones a powerful tool to help them pick up the pieces and move forward.”

When Joyce’s father died unexpectedly and without life insurance, her family lost not only a father and husband, but the substantial monetary support he provided. “There were times my family wondered how we were going to get through it all without my dad,” she recalls. “The support that life insurance could have offered would have made a big difference.”

HELPING FAMILIES BE PREPARED
In 2012, after 20 years in the restaurant industry as a District Partner, Joyce decided it was time to go out on her own, so she joined Primerica.2 “I said to myself, ‘You have the knowledge and the experience. You have to give this a shot.’” Joyce has always had a heart for teaching and helping people. “I saw people struggling and not really knowing the rules of the game – what we at Primerica call HOW MONEY WORKS™ principles.” Today, Joyce and Eric, and now their son, Spencer, and daughter, Kallie, have joined forces to serve families in their community by helping them get protected with Primerica’s term life insurance and teaching them how to save and invest for their future.3,4

“It’s a family business for us and it’s something we deeply believe in,” observes Joyce. “We’ve lived it.”

  1. Primerica representatives market term life insurance underwritten by National Benefit Life Insurance Company, Home Office: Long Island City, NY in New York State; Primerica Life Insurance Company, Executive Offices: Duluth, GA in all other U.S. jurisdictions; and Primerica Life Insurance Company of Canada, Home Office: Suite 400, 6985 Financial Drive, Mississauga, ON, L5N 0G3, Phone: 905-812-2900 in Canada.
  2. Primerica offers a business opportunity that involves the sale of term life insurance and various other financial service products. Primerica representatives are independent contractors, not employees. Their earnings are based on the sale of products offered by Primerica and also qualifying product referrals. Importantly, Primerica representatives must be appropriately licensed for each product line before they are qualified to make a sale.
  3. In the U.S., securities and advisory services are offered by PFS Investments Inc., 1 Primerica Parkway, Duluth, Georgia 30099-0001, member FINRA [www.finra.org]. Primerica and PFS Investments Inc. are affiliated companies. PFS Investments Inc. conducts its advisory business under the name Primerica Advisors. In Canada, mutual funds are offered by PFSL Investments Canada Ltd., mutual fund dealer. Head Office: Mississauga, Ontario.
  4. Representatives must obtain all appropriate licenses and appointments prior to making a sale or receiving a commission.

Summary

Primerica Representatives Joyce and Eric Linn of Sauk Rapids, MN, are passionate about the importance of having life insurance, both experiencing the irreplaceable loss of a breadwinner firsthand. Read more of their story at askprimerica.com.