Got You Covered With Life Insurance
Who needs life insurance?
How does anyone know if they need it? Advertisements scare you into believing that everyone should have it. Insurance companies make you feel as if you are an awful person for not owning some. And maybe even your mother-n-law gives you dirty looks for not buying life insurance. It can get confusing as to whether or not to buy it. So who needs life insurance? Who needs life insurance all depends upon your financial standing.
If you are carrying a lot of debt, you may consider buying some. If you die unexpectedly, unfortunately, your debt does not die with you. Your family will be released from the burden of dealing with outstanding debts with life insurance. If you want your loved ones to be free from all financial worries upon your death, consider buying some life insurance. Financial worries can range from paying for a funeral to paying off the mortgage to paying for your children’s college education. Life insurance should actually be called love insurance. One way to show love for your family is to protect them financially in the event of your untimely death. Life insurance will pay for those expenses you planned for and those that you could not anticipate.
Now to determine your need a good place to start is to make a list of your expenses. Some of these expenses you may have already planned for or paid off. Most people do not think about the expenses their family will be left to cover if they die unexpectedly. Do you know? Make your list.
Expense #1 – Funeral Expenses
Did you know that funeral expenses can start at $7000? Most people do not have $7000 immediately available to them. Life insurance is most often used to pay for funeral expenses because it is an immediate source of funds. And at the time of death, immediate money is essential. Your loved ones will have to work with numerous service companies in the event of your death. Funeral homes, florists and restaurants can sometimes set up payment plan. They generally need payment for their services as soon as those services are rendered or shortly thereafter. If you buy enough life insurance to cover for funeral expenses, your family is not left in a financial bind.
Expenses # 2 – Your Mortgage
Who needs life insurance? Anyone who has a mortgage is well advised to have enough life insurance to pay off the mortgage in case of an untimely death. Without life insurance coverage, your loved ones are burdened with a mortgage payment which they may not be able to afford. And if they cannot afford the mortgage they could lose the home to foreclosure. Unfortunately, that does happen. If you die unexpectedly, the mortgage company may delay the mortgage payment but will not waive future payments. Mortgage company’s still need their money. If they don’t get their money, they take the house. If anything, you may want to buy enough life insurance to pay for your mortgage, so your loved ones do not lose their home.
Expense #3 – Domestic Tasks
Who needs life insurance? Parents. They can use the life insurance benefits to pay someone else to perform their tasks if they are no longer around. Stay at home parents or working parents perform certain tasks for the family and have certain responsibilities, that value would have to be replaced. If there are children involved, someone would have to be hired to cook, clean, shop, usher the children around, plus other domestic tasks that are handled by parents of the household. These duties do not just disappear because one parent dies. The proceeds from a life insurance death benefit will help settle some of the chaos created from the loss of a parent.
Expense #4 – Raising Your Children
To raise a family nowadays it is not uncommon to need both parents’ income. Life insurance is the perfect solution for replacing any lost income due to an unexpected death of a parent. If you have young children, having enough life insurance to cover lost income is especially critical. You can never truly replace the love and tenderness of a parent, but you can replace the structure that children need.
Expense #5 – Outstanding Debts
If you are in debt, the life insurance payout can help your loved ones tremendously.
You know your own debts. You might still be paying off some student loans or have auto loans or home equity loans. Your debt could be from credit card balances. If you do not provide your loved ones with the money to pay off these debts, they could be saddled with that debt for a very long time. Unless your loved ones are co-owners or co-signers on your loans or credit cards, they are not directly responsible for it. However, creditors have other ways of getting their money. Your creditors could get their money by deducting it from the assets you leave in your estate when you die. So either way, your loved ones will pay for the debt.
Expense #6 – College Costs
You may personally have some outstanding college debt. Life insurance will pay off that debt if you should die while it is still outstanding. Some college debt can be quite substantial, life insurance will spare your loved ones the financial burden of that debt. If you have growing children you need life insurance to pay for the child’s educational expenses through their college years. You can buy a “term” policy on yourself with a term long enough to last through their college years, maybe a 20 year term policy. Or you can buy a life insurance policy on your child when they are very young that will build up value and help pay for their college expenses. The type of life insurance policy that builds up cash value is called a whole or universal policy.
Who Needs It? Who Wants It?
So many questions that need answering. Who needs life insurance? Practically everyone has a need for some type of life insurance. Whether you are a mortgage holder, debt holder, stay at home parents, working parents or college bound kids, you probably have some type of need for life insurance. Who wants it? Your loved ones do. How much do you need? That’s a personal thing, everyone has different insurance needs. What type of policy? That all depends. To help answer these questions, the best place to start is by calling your insurance agent.
Your insurance agent should be able to give you advice and quotes. Ask the agent to prepare a financial needs analysis for you. To determine the amount of coverage you would need, the analysis will use your list of your expenses (oh no, not those). It can also determine the type of policy, term or cash value, that is best for your situation. Who needs life insurance? Your loved ones do. Protect them, buy some love insurance.