Life insurance is not for the living, but for those left behind. Only you can answer the question, "Do I need life insurance?".
The most common purpose of life insurance proceeds is to replace lost income of the decedent and pay debts of the estate. But personally owned life insurance is much more.
Large estates with complicated and non-liquid assets should consider life insurance to cover estate shrinkage and add liquidity. Larger estates also usually incur tax liabilities that can be paid with life insurance proceeds.
Some individuals like to endow charities or educational institutions with life insurance proceeds.
One of the most debated life insurance needs is on the life of a child. Many will argue that children do not incur debt nor do they generate income, so there is no need to buy life insurance on a child.
As a parent I can think of nothing worse than the loss of a child. Feeling pressure to return to work the day following services because of financial needs would only compound the loss. Parents need time to grieve the loss of a child and do so with dignity.
Everyone can "benefit" from having life insurance but not everyone "needs" life insurance.
If you are lifelong single, have no debts, have prepaid all your final expenses (funeral, cemetery, cremation) no dependents what so ever, have no charities, people or organizations that you want to transfer money to upon your death....you have the least need for life insurance.
But even then you could benefit from the tax-free cash accumulation of a dividend paying whole life policy.
You just have to assess you wants and goals and measure them against the cost.
Owner, Wright Insurance Agency, Great Pittsburgh Area
It is the single most important form of insurance and everyone regardless of single, married, kids, age, etc should have it. Think of it like this. You have auto insurance to protect a car, home insurance for a home, etc, but why would anyone not protect the only thing you really own and the loved ones that care about you with life insurance? You can easily replace a car or a home with another, but how do you replace a life and the financial burden placed on the ones you love? Life insurance allows you to do that and if you don't have it I recommend contacting your local independent agent.
Agent Owner, Gilmore Insurance Services, Marysville, Washington State
As someone who has owned a life insurance policy since age 19 let me express it this way. You need life insurance if there is somebody in your life who will have to pick up your mess and settle your affairs. At 19, the purchase of life insurance made perfect sense to me as I had a mom and a dad and if something happened to me, It would fall upon them to take care of my loose ends, arrange my service and maybe need some time off. This was long before I entered the insurance world as an agent.
It just seemed to me, if I had died, it made sense to help my parents with the cost of dealing with my death. I figured my death was bad enough for them to deal with, my bills, my apartment and my service would just be piling on to a bad situation.
So this is how I look at this situation "does everybody need life insurance?" No, they don't, but I feel sad for the person who has no need for coverage as it means there's nobody that matters in their life enough to protect from their passing from it.
.JPG){kind=avatar}
The most common purpose of life insurance proceeds is to replace lost income of the decedent and pay debts of the estate. But personally owned life insurance is much more.
Large estates with complicated and non-liquid assets should consider life insurance to cover estate shrinkage and add liquidity. Larger estates also usually incur tax liabilities that can be paid with life insurance proceeds.
Some individuals like to endow charities or educational institutions with life insurance proceeds.
One of the most debated life insurance needs is on the life of a child. Many will argue that children do not incur debt nor do they generate income, so there is no need to buy life insurance on a child.
As a parent I can think of nothing worse than the loss of a child. Feeling pressure to return to work the day following services because of financial needs would only compound the loss. Parents need time to grieve the loss of a child and do so with dignity.
If you are lifelong single, have no debts, have prepaid all your final expenses (funeral, cemetery, cremation) no dependents what so ever, have no charities, people or organizations that you want to transfer money to upon your death....you have the least need for life insurance.
But even then you could benefit from the tax-free cash accumulation of a dividend paying whole life policy.
You just have to assess you wants and goals and measure them against the cost.
It just seemed to me, if I had died, it made sense to help my parents with the cost of dealing with my death. I figured my death was bad enough for them to deal with, my bills, my apartment and my service would just be piling on to a bad situation.
So this is how I look at this situation "does everybody need life insurance?" No, they don't, but I feel sad for the person who has no need for coverage as it means there's nobody that matters in their life enough to protect from their passing from it.