Think you don’t need life insurance? Think again!
If you died tomorrow, how would your loved ones fare financially? It’s not a pleasant scenario to think about, but not doing so can have serious consequences.
September is life insurance awareness month and Thrivent Financial wants to encourage you to think about your life insurance needs and make sure your family would be protected if the unexpected were to happen.
If someone depends on you financially, you need life insurance. It’s that simple.
According to LIMRA1 roughly 35 million American households have no coverage at all, and most of those who do have far less coverage than financial professionals recommend.
Life insurance can provide cash to your family after your death. Known as the death benefit, it can help your family pay for your funeral and other final expenses, eliminate credit-card balances and car loans, and provide loved ones with income to live on for a period of time.
Whether a person needs life insurance depends on his or her particular situation and financial objectives. For help determining if you need life insurance, Thrivent Financial suggests thinking of the following seven scenarios:
You’re Married. Married people share a life with one another, but also share financial obligations. If you died suddenly, would your surviving spouse have enough money to pay for your final expenses and be allowed to easily adjust to a new way of life? Life insurance can help ensure that these financial goals will be met.
You’re Married With Kids. Having kids is an important reason to own life insurance. If you and your income were suddenly gone, would your spouse and kids be financially covered? Life insurance replaces lost income to help make sure those who depend on you will be provided for, no matter what life throws your way.
You’re a Single Parent. As a single parent, you’re the caregiver, breadwinner, cook, chauffeur, and so much more. It is critical to make sure that you have safeguarded your children’s future in case you are no longer there to care for them. Make sure you have enough life insurance in place and designate who will take care of your children in case the unthinkable were to happen.
You’re a Stay-at-Home Parent. Just because you don’t receive a financial paycheck doesn’t mean you don’t make contributions to your family that would be expensive to replace. If you were no longer there, could your spouse afford to pay someone to provide the childcare, transportation, cleaning, cooking and other household responsibilities that you handle every day?
You’re Approaching Retirement.
The kids may be gone and the mortgage paid off, but that doesn’t mean Social Security or your savings will necessarily take care of everything that lies ahead. Some life insurance products can provide you with cash in your retirement. If you died tomorrow, would your financial strategy, without insurance, enable your spouse to maintain the lifestyle that the two of you worked so hard to achieve?
You’re a Small Business Owner.
Life insurance can help protect your business in a number of ways in the event you, your partner, or a key employee dies prematurely. A buy-sell agreement funded with life insurance allows surviving business owners to buy the company interests of a deceased business owner at a previously agreed-on price. Key-person insurance can provide business owners with the flexibility to hire a replacement when the key employee dies.
You’re looking to be generous.
Life insurance can be used to leave a legacy to your favorite cause, charity or nonprofit organization. You can make them the beneficiary of a contract you take out and it will provide for the causes you care about and give an additional avenue to continue your generosity after you’re gone.
Life Insurance Awareness Month is the ideal time for a life insurance checkup and we urge you to take a few minutes out of your busy schedules this month to meet with your financial representative to make sure you have adequate life insurance protection.
You can learn more about your individual life insurance needs by using the calculator offered by Thrivent Financial www.thrivent.com/calculators/dinkytown/LifeInsurance.html.
This column was prepared by Thrivent Financial for your local representatives’ use. Thrivent Financial is represented in the Kutztown area by The East Berks Group, which includes Gary E Bond, Scot R Guldin, Jennifer A Weil and Steven T Bond at 102 Tomahawk Drive, Kutztown, 610-683-3564.
