Life insurance is an uncomfortable topic to talk about because it usually involves thinking about an unpleasant worst case scenario, living through the death of an extremely close loved one. Because it’s such an unpleasant topic, many people just avoid it altogether.
The problem is that far too often people die too young. For too many of those left behind, if they don’t have coverage, they’ll end up in a situation where they won’t have enough to get by.
Genworth released stats showing just how many people don’t have life insurance, or don’t have enough.
52 million American adults with household incomes between $50-$250k don’t have life insurance coverage. Of those insured, it will only cover them for 3.6 years.
52 million American adults with middle to high incomes don’t have life insurance coverage! And even when they are covered, most don’t have enough to get by for more than a few years!
September is life insurance awareness month, and to help give it a boost, Jeff Rose of Good Financial Cents and a list of 100+ personal finance bloggers are taking to the streets to proclaim the importance of having life insurance. To find out more about the life insurance movement, or to read articles from some of the other participants, head on over to the site’s page, or follow it on Twitter Hash Tag #LifeAWARE:
Life Insurance Movement At Good Financial Cents
Can’t see video? Click here to watch it on Youtube.
8 Reasons You Need Life Insurance
There are a lot of reasons why you should buy good term life insurance, and not put it off for another day. Let’s look at a few of them.
- You do a lot of stupid stuff: Yeah, I’m looking at you, dear reader. Remember that time you tried doing electrical work on the new house without first turning off the power while standing in a puddle of water? Or that time you almost stepped in front of an oncoming bus? Or how you fell off your ladder while cleaning out the gutters? Next time you (and I) might not be so blessed!
- Your loved ones will still need to be provided for when you’re gone: While losing a loved one is hard enough, not having enough money to pay the bills when they’re gone will just add to the pain. Make sure your loved ones are provided for in their time of need.
- You never know when your time is up: Even people who appear healthy and in the shape of their lives can have unseen medical issues, or have a freak brain aneurysm. My wife was a healthy 26 year old when she had a massive blood clot and almost died. Thankfully she pulled through, but it can happen to anyone. Prepare for the worst case, just in case.
- They younger and healthier you are when you buy it, the cheaper it is. When you’re young and healthy, you may not think you need life insurance as much, but the fact is that if you buy it when you’re younger and healthier, it’ll just be cheaper.
- You never know when you may develop a health issue that could keep you from getting coverage: Health issues have a funny way of just popping up when they’re least expected. Buy that insurance before it pops up!
- You don’t have 10-20 times your annual salary saved.. yet: Most people don’t have 10-20 times their annual salary saved yet. That’s about what would be needed to pay expenses for your family if you’re gone
- Term life insurance is super cheap: Term life insurance is amazingly affordable. You can get hundreds of thousands in coverage for $20-30/month in many cases.
- You probably need more life insurance than you already have: While some of you may already have life insurance, in many cases it may not be enough. Figure out how much life insurance you need, and buy more before you regret it!
2 Reasons Why You Might Not Want To Buy Life Insurance
What are some reasons why you shouldn’t buy life insurance? I struggled with it, but came up with a couple:
- Your spouse has been hinting that you should buy insurance and has been giving you the evil eye. Oh, and they have 4 previously deceased spouses. Run for the hills!
- You’re already independently wealthy, and you don’t need to have insurance to provide for your family when you’re gone. (In some cases, even the wealthy might buy life insurance because it’s so cheap!)
Term Life Insurance: Buy It Today!
So there you have it, 8 reasons to buy insurance today, and 2 unlikely reasons why you shouldn’t. I think it’s pretty clear that buying term life insurance is a good idea for just about everyone. We’ve already got ours, and we’ll probably buy some more. How about you? Are you covered?
Still have questions? There are plenty of great insurance resources out there for you to get your questions answered. Buy it today!
You’re right. I know several wealthy people who have life insurance policies. Not because their family needs the money but, instead, to help offset some of the estate tax concerns.
Great post Peter. I certainly do plenty of stupid stuff… I err on the side of being over insured (right below the point when I’ll need to sleep with one eye open…) and reprice it every couple of years. It’s amazing how much the price has dropped even since three years ago when I bought it first. I’ll be adding 25% to my death benefit for the same cost three years later (and older) in the next couple of months. Great stuff.
Life insurance is a part of growing up, I suppose. When it comes to that point in our life, life insurance is an affordable way to make good on the promises you made to your spouse when you decided to be together forever. So is paying off debt and saving for retirement. Glad to be a part of the movement.
Haha love the first reason for why you shouldn’t get life insurance! I currently have around $100K that is paid for by my work. And I will increase it once I have children.
So funny! My better half is always giving me the stink eye. I should run for the hills.
These are all really compelling reasons to buy life insurance (and yeah, I’m a klutz so it definitely makes sense for me). It’s so easy to put this off but and I think it’s awesome that Jeff started this movement and people like you are writing awesome posts to spread the word. Not a fun topic but important to prepare!
Yep definitely have life insurance and I can’t imagine not having it. The last thing I want my wife to worry about if I passed away was how she was going to pay the bills next month.
I have known the importance long before and it really gives me peace of mind knowing that my family will still be provided in my absence.
Great article!