No one really likes to talk about death, unless you work in a funeral home and that’s how you bring home the bacon.
But for most of the population, we try to avoid discussing it and stick to more cheerful conversations like our favorite shows on Netflix. The problem with avoiding talking about death is that you become unprepared when faced with it since you never planned for it.
Just as you discuss everyday finances with your loved ones, you should talk about the costs you would face in the future if one of the primary earners passed away. When you purchase a life insurance policy, be sure to talk with your loved ones about where they can find the policy and who to contact if they need to file a claim.
If you died unexpectedly, one of the last things your loved ones would want to do is send out a search-and-rescue for your life insurance policy information. Make it easy and tell them in advance. Worse than not telling them where the policy is, is not having one at all. Your loved ones will already been emotionally and physically devastated from losing you, don’t make the situation a financial tragedy as well.
If you are a parent to young children, you have the greatest need for life insurance. Your children can’t fend for themselves if you die pre-maturely. Term life insurance is a great financial product to own while your children are growing up; purchasing enough coverage to last until they are grown and on their own is a wise decision. Term insurance is the “better safe than sorry” life insurance.
Who Should Have Life Insurance?
There are four other people who should strongly consider purchasing term life insurance:
- The spouse
- The stay-at-home parent
- The borrower of a co-signed loan
- The young and healthy future planner
The Spouse
If you are married, or in a committed long-term relationship, you may still need life insurance even if you don’t have children. Do you and your spouse share bills? Do you have a mortgage? If something unexpectedly happened to you and your significant other no longer had your income to rely on, would their standard of living be negatively impacted? You support and care for each other through thick and thin, make sure you are protecting each other’s financial futures as well.
The Stay-At-Home Parent
If you are a stay-at-home parent you do the jobs of multiple people combined day-in and day-out. If one stops to think about how much it would cost to hire someone to do everything a you do, one would quickly realize not only intangibility how much you are worth, but monetarily as well. If you were to suddenly die, your spouse would be quickly in over their head trying to make up for everything you did for the family. Having a term life insurance policy would allow your spouse to take time off work to get everything worked out.
The Borrower Of Co-Signed Loans
Do you have any debt? Did you co-sign a loan with anyone? Do you have any shared credit card accounts? If you answered yes to any of these questions and don’t want to saddle your loved ones with your remaining balance, then term life insurance could help you as well. For example, if your parents helped your through college by co-signing your student loans, then anything you didn’t pay off goes to them if you died. Benefits from a life insurance policy would go toward your debt, paying it off so your mom doesn’t have to. Another student loan example is if you have private loans (versus federal) and live in a community-property state, your spouse may be liable for your loan debt even if they didn’t co-sign it with you. Life insurance would ensure your spouse has the money to pay it without struggling.
The Young & Healthy Planner
Are you still young, but plan on starting a family in the near future? The younger and healthier you are, the more inexpensive your life insurance will be. Your age and health play a huge role in determining your policy premiums. For example, if you are a newlywed 29-year old and want to start a family soon now would be the perfect time to get term life insurance. It would cost less than a dollar a day for you to get enough life insurance to ensure your children are financially protected as they grow into adulthood. Your spouse would not have to worry about managing it all on one income if something unexpected happened to you.
Life insurance is essential and term life insurance is simple, affordable protection. No one ever anticipates needing to use life insurance, but the unexpected does happen and if it does you’ll be thankful your loved ones have the extra financial support.
There are great websites like Quotacy where you can get free online term life insurance quotes instantly without having to give up any personal contact information just to see a price quote.
Don’t wait until tomorrow. Talk with your loved ones about your financial plans today.
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