There’s no better time than the present to buy life insurance. Not only is September Life Insurance Awareness Month, but as Donald Fagen famously said, “We’re not getting any younger.” The older we get, generally the more expensive life insurance becomes. Putting a policy off for “down the road” will not only delay in protecting you and your loved ones, but it will also cost you more to do so.
“Life insurance is for ‘old people’ and people with kids”
Raise your hand if you’ve ever said or thought the statement above. Sure, the older we get, the more valuable life insurance becomes especially when we have children for whom we wish to provide financial security. However, life insurance provides layers of protection throughout our lives and can be an invaluable part of your overall financial plan providing much more than a death benefit to your designated beneficiaries. With a whole life insurance policy, for example, a portion of your premium payments goes toward your cash value. Once large enough, that cash value can be used to take out a policy loan with typically lower interest rates than bank loans or credit cards.
There are other living benefits of a life insurance policy. Certain types of life insurance riders allow you to use a portion of your own death benefit under specific circumstances. These include terminal or critical illnesses where your death benefit can be used for palliative care. Long-term care riders are also valuable for when you are no longer able to perform daily activities and need in-home care or are moving to an assisted living facility. Having the right kind of life insurance can help you cover these expensive costs.
While it’s true that life insurance becomes an invaluable asset once we have children, your defendants are not the only people who can benefit from the policy. Different times, circumstances and life events may make considering a policy well worthwhile.
Who Should Consider a Life Insurance Policy
People tend to consider life insurance when they get married or start a family. Both are good times to be thinking about your family’s financial future. However, there are other times you may also want to consider a policy or increase the coverage you already have.
- Primary wage earners – Imagine your family’s primary wage earner died and he or she had no life insurance policy. The financial hardship put upon your family could be significant. Funeral expenses alone cost on average $7,848 in 2021 according to the National Funeral Directors Association. Having a policy is not the only thing to consider. How much coverage you have is equally important. As your income increases and so do your living costs, you may want to consider increasing your policy value as well.Replacing lost income is critical, but there are other household members for whom you should also consider a life insurance policy.
- Stay-at-home parents – Child care is expensive! A Care.com study found that more than half of parents surveyed expect to spend more than $18,000 per child on childcare costs alone this year. A family of five with three children could be looking at childcare expenses in the neighborhood of $50,000 in 2023. Facing these exorbitant costs, many families have opted for a single parent working household with the lower-wage earner leaving the workforce to stay at home with the children. Imagine a scenario where the stay-at-home parent passes away unexpectedly leaving the surviving spouse to work out of the home and care for the children. Life insurance coverage on the stay-at-home parent will help cover the cost of necessary childcare so the surviving spouse can continue working to provide for their family.
- Parents of college students – College is also expensive! According to the Education Data Initiative, the average cost of tuition at a four-year college for an undergraduate degree now exceeds $35,000 a year. Understandably, your child, niece or nephew may need to take out loans with you, the parent, as a co-signer. In the tragic event that your child were to pass away before the loans were paid, the debt would transfer to you as the co-signer of the outstanding loans. Taking out a life insurance policy on your college-bound child would not only cover the cost to repay the loan should tragedy strike, but the policy on a young, healthy adult is often very affordable.
- Business owners/partners – If you co-own a business, you and your partner may want to consider a life insurance policy known as a cross purchase plan. This plan in which the partners buy a life insurance policy on each other, enables the surviving partner to use the payout from the policy to buy the deceased owner’s share of the business, without compromising the viability of the company, or being forced to take on the deceased partner’s spouse as a new partner.
What Types of Life Insurance Policies Should I Consider?
Permanent Life policies offer lifelong protection along with a cash value accumulation on a tax-deferred basis. This cash account can be used for a variety of purposes; from helping you out of a tight financial spot, to providing funds for a personal opportunity, to supplementing your retirement income. Premiums are generally higher than what you would pay for a Term policy with the same face amount.
Permanent Life insurance falls into two main categories. WHOLE LIFE policy premiums remain the same for life, and the death benefit and rate of return on the cash value are guaranteed. UNIVERSAL LIFE offers the flexibility of varying the amount of premium payments and thus the policy’s cash value. It also offers the certainty of a guaranteed minimum death benefit as long as your premiums are sufficient to sustain it. If you do not maintain those minimum premium payments, your death benefit can be reduced.
Term Life policies provide protection for a specific period of time (the term) and are designed for temporary circumstances. They make the most sense when your need for coverage will disappear at some point, such as when your children graduate from college or when a debt is paid off. Level Term policies can provide coverage in increments of five-year periods that can run from ten to 30 year plans. Typically, Term Life insurance offers the greatest amount of coverage for the lowest premium and can be a good choice for young families on a tight budget.
Contact a Brooks, Todd & McNeil Agent Today!
If you’ve been considering a life insurance policy, don’t delay! Life insurance protection is invaluable to you and your family and offers peace of mind that your loved ones will be taken care of when you’re gone. Buying life insurance can seem daunting, but our agents are here to help walk you through the process. Our agents work with multiple carriers and can help find the right insurance company and policy to fit your needs both now and as your life circumstance change. To learn more about our products and services, contact us today at (800) 448-4567.