Life Insurance Protection for Your Family
There are a variety of protections you should secure to protect your family and estate. In this article, we’ll look at just life insurance- in brief. I plan on expounding on specific topics in future articles.
In the interim, let me ask, “Is your family protected financially if there is the loss of household income due to death?” Life insurance steps in to fill the gap of that loss in income so that the family can continue the same or a similar standard of living. On a surface level, it is income protection that allows surviving family members to still pay the mortgage payment, utilities, taxes, insurances, buy food, clothes, etc. So, even though they suffer the loss of a loved one, they don’t have to suffer a financial hardship as well. You need life insurance to cover final expenses (funeral and burial), too.
You need to cover adults in the household that do not work and or bring in an income. Consider the cost of paying someone to do all the things they do if they were gone. Are they caring for the children, cleaning the home, cooking meals, going to the market, managing appointments and healthcare visits, etc. If you needed to continue to work, how much would it cost to pay someone to help with those things. So, don’t assume she/he only needs a policy for final expenses.
The bible says it’s appointed that we all die, so everyone needs life insurance- adults and children, alike. Yes, children die, too. Every year, tens of thousands of people die without any life insurance at all. Their final expenses become the burden of their surviving family. When they can’t afford it, they borrow the money, go to the church for money, fundraise, or Go-fund me. Things happen, but as an adult, that a terrible legacy to leave behind- especially if it’s due to negligence.
Some people only have life insurance at work. But when they leave their employer or lose their employment, they lose their insurance. Most people don’t even think about it. I know I didn’t- not until much later in life. If the employer offers the option of taking it with you, most times the non-group rate is so high, they/we can’t afford it. You need life insurance outside of work. Consider what happened in 2020 at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Tens of thousands of people lost their jobs and lost their only life insurance, too.
My Story
I remember being told this a couple of times and my husband and I signed up for it. But, every time things got tight, we terminated the policy. I can’t recall all that was going on back then, but I’m sure I didn’t prioritize it over internet services, cell phones and cell phone insurance, jewelry and jewelry insurance, cars and car insurance, my home or mortgage insurance. We were more apt to insure things rather than our lives. Of course, we have private insurance now that we’ve learned better.
There are two major groups of life insurance: Term (temporary)
and Whole Life (permanent). Most people I talk to are off-put by the fact that term insurance is temporary. But term can be a great option for some people. Let me explain.
Term life insurance is cheap. It’s issued for a particular amount and costs much less than permanent whole life insurance. It covers you (the insured) for a specified period of time (i.e. 20 years, 30 years, even 35 or 40 years with some insurance companies). When that time is up, you can renew the term without the need of a medical exam, but at however much it costs for someone at your future age. That can be quite costly and that’s why a lot of people can’t afford to renew at the end of their term.
Whole Life Insurance
Whole life insurance is permanent life insurance. It costs more because it provides a death benefit, while also building up cash value. It covers you for your whole life up until 100 years old. At that time, the insurance agency gives the 100 year old you, the face value of the policy and the policy is terminated. Up until that time, though, as long as you meet the terms of the contract, the policy stays in force. There are wide variety of options available with whole life, that weren’t offered traditionally. Some people will benefit more from whole life insurance.
Conclusion
Everyone needs life insurance. I’ll talk about specific aspects that I purposely avoided today, for the sake of brevity. But don’t wait until then. We all need life insurance outside of our group life insurance at work. Let that be icing on the cake.
So, get with your life insurance agent or CLICK HERE to reach out to me to discuss your options. Reviewing the particulars of your financial portfolio is something that should be done every six or twelve months anyway. If your family isn’t protected, let’s get them protected.
