Why Buy Life Insurance?

Life Insurance for every stage of life.

Life insurance is about protecting your family and financial interests. Although no product can replace the loss of a loved one or valued business relationship, life insurance is meant to keep people, financially speaking, in the world that they are accustomed to and prevent lifestyle and or financial regression in the event of an untimely death of a loved one or business partner.

As one passes through life the need for adequate life insurance coverage is always there, but the purpose, amount and type of the coverage changes as you pass through the various stages of life.

Single People and Life Insurance

You are young, you might think you are bullet proof or even immortal, but the fact is that anything can happen at any time. Right now you are likely in the best physical condition and have the longest life expectancy out there. This situation creates the lowest cost of insurance over a life cycle or lifetime if you lock in now. Think about protecting those who will eventually depend on you in the future; they might include aging parents, your future wife and possibly a family.

Married Couples and Life Insurance

Marriage, by definition, means sharing and taking responsibility for making the union work. While you might both have jobs, all of the income is being utilized and is creating your current lifestyle.

What happens if one of you dies? There are mortgages, loans and debts to pay off, unfunded retirement plans, medical expenses, caregiver expenses and funeral expenses. Life insurance is meant to keep people in the style that they are accustomed to and expect to have in the future in the event of a tragedy.

New Parents and Life Insurance

Your children depend on you. If you don’t have insurance yet, this is when you really need to purchase it. You want to know that if something were to happen, your family has the resources to keep your home and take advantage of all the future opportunities for your children even if you are not there. Sending a kid to college is a big investment but gives your child a head start in today’s world. There should be life insurance in place to protect that if something happens to mom or dad.

Job Change or Laid Off and Life Insurance

Starting a new job is a good thing, being in between one, not so much. This situation has you examining what group life insurance is really worth. Most employers sign on for a package of employee benefits to their employees that includes life insurance.

Your group life insurance is typically a multiple of your salary; usually between 1-3x’s your annual earnings. What does this actually mean? If you only rely on group life insurance to protect your family or business and something happens, you have 1-3 years of protection (income replacement) and then you are in a financial pickle.

Owning your own life insurance outside of the workplace ensures that you will always have life insurance coverage and the amount of benefit that you know will do the right job if something were to happen.

Domestic Partnerships Life Insurance

If you are financially interdependent or dependent on your partner’s income, you will need life insurance to prevent financial distress in the event of premature death. Coverage amounts depend on lost income and outstanding debts and estate costs.

Retiree’s & Seniors Life Insurance

A common reason to obtain life insurance is to replace income for the family in the event of premature death. Retired people and seniors are not usually not dependent on employment for income. Therefore, it seems that life insurance would be unnecessary. But life insurance for retirees and seniors has other uses and solves other problems at this stage of life.

Owning life insurance later on in life provides liquidity at death for ease of estate settlement and division, creates an estate or pool of money for special needs or charity, may complete an estate plan and pay estate death taxes.

Divorce and Life Insurance

When people are in the process of getting a divorce there are still debts and obligations to be met. In fact, in most states, life insurance is considered a part of the final divorce decree. Before you change existing life insurance policies, talk to an experienced broker to understand all of your options.