Life insurance helps keep life going, protecting your loved ones’ financial future. It’s something you should have if there are people in your life depending on you for everyday living expenses, college tuition, or retirement income. Shopping for the right coverage can be intimidating, but it can make a huge difference for you and your family, not just financially but emotionally, too. Purchasing a policy sooner, rather than later, will give you more options and flexibility as well as the financial security you’ll need in the future.
All life insurance policies have one thing in common – they’re designed to pay money to the “named beneficiaries” when you die. The beneficiaries can be one or more individuals or even an organization or charity.
In most cases, policies are purchased by the person whose life is insured, but can also be taken out by spouses, grandparents, or anyone who is able to prove they have an insurable interest in the person.
Most likely, yes. Especially if you have someone depending on you for financial support.
Life insurance is an agreement between you and your insurance company. You make regular premium payments, and the insurance company pays your beneficiaries a tax-free and probate-free lump sum of money when you pass away.
With some policies, you get additional benefits to use during your lifetime, like accessing the policy’s cash value, which can be used for a down payment on a home. However, accessing the cash value will reduce the policy’s available cash surrender value and death benefit. You can also accelerate death benefits and use them for health care needs upon being diagnosed with a terminal illness etc.
There are a number of different types of policies, but basically just two broad categories of life insurance: term life and permanent life. The one that’s best for you depends on your needs and may even be a combination of coverage.
Term life insurance provides a death benefit for a set period of time, typically between five and 20 years. Certain term life policies can be converted to a permanent policy at a future date, which is a useful benefit if your life changes and you need additional coverage. Term life insurance policies hold no cash value.
Whole & Universal life policies all provide protection for the long-term. In fact, whole life even provides permanent coverage. Some policies have more guarantees than others, and some give you the opportunity to grow your cash value based on stock market performance with no downside risk.