Death is not a pleasant thought, which means most people often don’t allow it to cross their mind. I don’t personally consider myself to be morbid, but at the same time I have a family and need to be realistic about their well-being. I have always been financially responsible, saved up emergency funds in a bank account, and invested the rest. I’ve taken a great deal of time and effort in order to prepare for retirements, college funds, even purchasing a new home. So I find myself asking, what happens to my loved ones if I die? Unless you have life insurance then the answer can be less than pleasant.
If you have worked as hard as I have in life then you want to make sure that your family can continue living the same lifestyle if you aren’t around anymore. By having one of these policies you can designate a beneficiary, or multiple beneficiaries in order to determine so that they can continue their quality of life. There are even policies that can be defined by age group, for instance there is coverage for those over 50 who may only have a partner who relies on them rather than their adult children.
Now regardless of the importance of life insurance, there is no need to overpay for it. By using online life insurance comparison tools like the one Choosi has, you can make sure you receive the best possible rate for the type of coverage by suited to you. Also, it is important to note that life insurance isn’t only for employed within the family, it can also cover your non-working partner or children. As I stated before, considering life benefits aren’t always pleasant, but they can ease financial burden on a family in a less than ideal time in their lives. So make sure you do yourself a favor and shop around for coverage if you don’t already have it.
Not only is insurance important to take care of the people you love, but a living will and funeral arrangements are important too. I was real glad my mother took care of these end of life issues before it was needed.
@Krant: Good thinking; these things cost a fortune.
I don’t have life insurance since no one depends on my income, but for once am not really convinced that online is the place to go. This is such an important matter you want to make sure you have the exact cover to protect your family and it is so easy to go wrong with a standard quote. I went wrong once with a car insurance but this is serious stuff.
@Pauline: I would agree that this is important the first time; after that one has a comparison base.
My wife and I have our life insurance policy tied up in our retirement fund. It only costs us a few dollars a week, but it is nice to know that if one of us passes away that the other one will not have any money issues.
@Glen: Usually people get more serious with this one after having a baby; and a will. I remember getting very ill and realising that were I to die my part of the estate would not have gone to John (a strange piece of legislation from the Middle Ages). I survived and we have a detailed will.
We actually tackled the subject of non-working spousal life insurance on our podcast this week! Great minds, huh? It’s definitely important to cover the expenses you’d incur if the non-working spouse were to pass away. It might not be a ton of insurance, but it’s well worth the piece of mind if you don’t have the cash or assets to cover the jobs the non-working spouse performs.
@AverageJoe: Great minds and beautiful ones at that :). Yep, one has to think two ways with insurance – about others and about themselves.
My wife and I both have level term insurance. I think we got it about 3 years ago so we should still have about 17 years left on the policy. I’m hoping we’re self-insured by then, but if we’re not progressing (financially) quickly over the next few years then I’ll look to take out additional coverage while the prices are still cheap.
@WorkSaveLive: Interesting issue you are raising. John and I found that we had been paying very expensive and insufficient premium for live insurance and did this for 20 years; now we have better cover that costs less. What I am saying I suppose is that even with life insurance it is worth shopping around – age is not the only issue and not an issue for sometime (only difference is that we had to have health tests).
I don’t have life insurance at the moment. I think it will probably be one of the first orders of business if/when I get married though.
@TFMH: Yep; and mainly when you have children.
Life insurance is at the cornerstone of sound financial planning. For young families, it is used as an income replacement. Be aware that in our low interest environment more face value insurance is needed to cover living needs. Secondly, insurance is needed in some case to cover estate and inheritances taxes, especially in illiquid estates.
Most importantly, many buy insurance but fail to understand the implications of a simultaneous death of parents and the need to have a trust as a beneficiary of the policy proceeds.
Estate planning is an essential process when in comes to how to deal with life insurance. Those interested can read many articles at my website and blog on these issue.