When Should I Buy Life Insurance?

“I’m young; I’ll get life insurance when I’m older.” If you are telling yourself this, when is “older”? Do you know when your final round in life is? Are you going to wait until you are plagued with health issues and can’t qualify?  The fact is, it does not matter where you are in your adult life, you should have life insurance. Someone who is in their 20’s or 30’s will most likely have a different need for life insurance versus an individual in their 50’s or 60’s. The truth about life insurance is that nobody really wants to talk about it, especially when we are in the middle of our lives and still planning the rest of our journey. We must keep in mind that life is fragile and freak accidents happen. Having a life insurance plan in force is fulfilling a responsibility we have to our loved ones. You cannot be replaced, and your family would be devastated if something tragic were to ever happen to you, but they don’t have to be financially devastated too.

If you are just starting to raise a family and just purchased a home, you should seek out an amount of life insurance that will cover at least your final expenses, mortgage and will replace your income so your spouse can continue to pay the bills. There may also be extra expenses that a single parent would have to take on, such as child care if a once stay at home parent now has to work to provide for their children.

The need for life insurance may change at later stages in life when people usually have less debt. Individuals in their 50’s and 60’s may now play a new role of grandparent. A lot of people look to life insurance as a way to leave new members of the family with their legacy, like a gift to assist their grandchildren when it’s time for them to enroll in college. The responsibility may still exist at this age to cover the cost of final expenses if it has not yet been taken care of.

We all have responsibilities in life to our loved ones, to look after their well-being and make sure their life needs are met. Putting a life insurance plan in force is part of our responsibility to ensure their needs continue to be met when we are gone.

The following video is a true life story from the Life Foundation: A Nonprofit Organization