While death and taxes are two aspects of life that are certain, we can’t plan for every event that happens. Luckily, for everything else we have insurance there to offer protection to you and your family night and day.
Life insurance plays an important part in planning for your loved one’s financial future. While you may have found a plan that meets your needs and have achieved peace of mind, it’s as equally important to reevaluate your life insurance plan as your needs may fluctuate along with varying stages of life.
Below we’ve highlighted several examples of how these needs can change throughout your lifetime:
- Marriage
Should you decide to get married, you also agree to share financial obligations. Should one of you pass, a life insurance policy can guarantee the surviving spouse has the means to maintain their current standard of living. Consider also that as the cash value in a permanent policy increases with time, more assets mature to become viable methods to pay down a mortgage and settle any secondary debts or obligations. Death benefits can also serve to help fund a child’s education or go towards a retirement portfolio.
- Having/Adopting A Child
Timing your life insurance investments for each spouse is critical to ensure safety for your children. Ensuring your policy is sufficient enough to adequately cover expenses such as daycare, education, and everyday expenses will give you peace of mind knowing your loved ones will not live with financial uncertainty.
- Mortgage Protection
When a life insurance policy is initially purchased, often times it’s secured in amounts equivalent to a loan total towards a mortgage so that any beneficiaries can then pay the loan in full. However, if you have moved into a home with a larger value, or have remortgaged, the amount you owe the bank may have increased as a result. Additionally, you will want to ensure that if you extend your mortgage length, be sure that your life insurance policy extends past the length of your mortgage.
- Starting Your Business
As a self-starter, you’ve primped and groomed your business intensively to ensure that it meets your expectations. Any business owner knows that substantial investment is needed in order to grow. As you expand (purchasing land, building infrastructure, obtaining machinery), you’ll want to beef up your life insurance policy in order to secure these assets in your absence. The last thing you want to happen is your beneficiaries being tasked with the work of liquidating the business in order to pay off debts.
- Living Single
Separation can prompt timely decision making when it comes to beneficiaries on your life policy. If you and your prior partner don’t have children, updating your policy can be as simple as changing beneficiaries. Though, if children are involved, you’ll want to carefully consider the necessary steps in order to ensure that they are provided for.
As we age, our needs change across the board. At the same time, the cost of buying life insurance increases. Moreover, health complications can make insurance premiums increase and can make it difficult to qualify if you’re shopping for a policy. The key to prepping for the future is to plan early. Investing early could prove to benefit you even now – for the price of a coffee, you can effectively invest in a substantial policy.
