Individual life insurance is arguably the biggest investment you can make in your loved ones’ security. It’s a complicated field, but don’t let that put you off. We’ll be happy to talk you through the options.
How can life insurance protect you?
Use the yellow hot spots and explore how life insurance can help protect against common risks.
Providing for Your Family
Risk Factor
Raising a child can be a rewarding life experience, but it is also very expensive. It costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to raise a child to age 18, with college tuition, fees, room, and board resulting in another potentially enormous expense. If you were to die tomorrow, would funds be available to provide for food, clothing, day care, and educational expenses for your child?
Solution
Having life insurance could secure the future for your children if you have an untimely death. With a life insurance policy, there could be enough income to help pay for everything your child might need while growing up.
Mortgage Payments
Risk Factor
After your death, any outstanding debt and financial obligations do not disappear. Your home is probably the costliest and most significant property you own. A mortgage payment is a large burden for a spouse or partner to carry.
Solution
A life insurance policy would allow your spouse or children to pay off your outstanding debts and spare them the stress of making monthly payments on the home.
Auto Payments
Risk Factor
Many families lease or finance their automobiles these days. If the primary earner in the family were to die, the family could be left with outstanding car payments for years to come.
Solution
A life insurance policy would allow your spouse or children to pay off your outstanding debts and spare them the stress of making monthly payments on your car(s).
Funeral Costs
Risk Factor
An average funeral can cost tens of thousands of dollars, and that’s without unnecessary options or luxurious services. A death in the family is stressful enough; why add the hefty bill of a funeral to that stress?
Solution
A life insurance policy can easily cover the cost of a funeral. Your family will be able to think of you and have peace of mind without being burdened by funeral costs.
Protecting Your Retirement Savings
Risk Factor
Once you retire, you will be living off social security, and if you are lucky to have them, a pension or retirement fund, too. But what if the surviving spouse has been relying on you to fund retirement for the couple? Premature death of an earner can affect sources of retirement benefits such as Social Security.
Solution
Life insurance can help support a surviving spouse during their retirement.
Protecting Your Small Business
Risk Factor
If you passed away, would your business suffer? There are many complications and financial issues that can arise due to the death of a business owner. Many people overlook this predicament.
Solution
A life insurance policy can keep a business moving along even during tough times, such as the loss of the business owner/partner. Key person life insurance is payable to the company and provides money for training and hiring of a new employee. A buy-sell agreement, funded by life insurance, allows the other partners in the business to buy the deceased’s share of the business, which will provide money for his or her family.
Spousal Support / Income Replacement
Risk Factor
Many people mistakenly think that they don’t need life insurance if they don’t have children or if their children are grown. However, your financial responsibilities fall to your family when you are gone.
Solution
Life insurance can replace the income you would usually bring in and help support your spouse or adult children, ensuring your loved ones are able to maintain the lifestyle they’re accustomed to.
First, you’ll need to determine the type of life insurance you want to buy, with the most common types being term life insurance, whole life insurance and universal life insurance.
To put it very simply, with term life insurance you pay regular premiums for a set period and the policy only pays out if you die during this period.
With whole life insurance, there’s no set period. You usually pay regular premiums until you die, at which point the policy pays out. Sometimes you have the option to take a lump sum back while you are still alive, but this will reduce the amount paid out when you die.
Universal life insurance works in a similar way to whole life insurance, but you have more flexibility about taking money early. You can even borrow money and repay it later; although, if there’s any loan outstanding when you die, the policy’s payout can be significantly affected.
The premiums you pay depend heavily on your age and medical history, along with the amount you want the policy to pay out. So, it’s important to seek expert advice before committing to life insurance.
Contact us and we’ll walk you through the options and help you to determine if term life insurance, whole life insurance or universal life insurance are right for you.
