Of all types of Insurance that people need and get, it seems that there is more confusion about Life Insurance than any other kind of insurance. So many questions come up as to this subject and it is difficult to know the answers.
Some of the questions people have are whether or not they need life insurance in the first place, how much insurance they should purchase, as well as which kind of policy they should get.
The main reason people purchase life insurance in the first place is to replace the income of that the person who is insured in case of their death. That way, the person who is the beneficiary on the policy, like their husband or wife, will not be left without any type of income that they have depended on. If you have children that depend upon your income for support, you should consider getting life insurance.
If you are a younger person, say from age 25 to around 35 or if you are single and without any children, then you probably don't need any life insurance. However, if you are single parent or a stay at home parent, you might want to consider getting a policy.
A stay at home parent could believe that it isn't really
important to get life insurance, as they don't earn an income, but if you think about the huge expense that it would be if they had to hire someone to do all of the tasks they do now, it would be considerable. Or if you had a special needs family member at home, living with you, it would cost a lot of money to hire a person to to the daily errands, cooking, cleaning and so on that you now do for that person.
Life insurance for a stay at home parent would allow the family to hire people in the event of your death to continue doing all of those daily tasks that you were formerly doing for the family members.
You would calculate the amount needed for a life insurance policy based on the amount of money you earn now and what is needed to replace that income in the event of your death.
What are the types of life insurance?
There is Term Life Insurance. This kind of a policy is for a certain set term or period of time. You pay monthly toward the coverage and at the end of the term, you do not collect any sum of money, but you are fully covered in case of death for the duration of that term.
Whole Life Insurance is different. A Whole Life policy is when you are fully insured for the entire period of your life.
The money paid into this policy is placed in an investment fund and usually the premium remains the same in the beginning but usually is increased after the first few years.
This kind of policy is more expensive but the benefit is that there is a payout.
You need to carefully calculate the sum insured. You should calculate your assets and debts value and also compare your annual income and expenses. Then find out how much amount your family will need to have so they do not face a financial crisis if something should happen to you.