Life Insurance: Not Just For Funerals

Life Insurance Not Just for Funerals - picture of bag of money sitting on coins

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This article was sponsored by SelectQuote, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

While working as a mortician for over a decade, I was constantly surprised by the number of people I dealt with who failed to prepare with life insurance. I never did any official tracking, but I’d say that over 50% of the families that I served had no coverage. Honestly, I thought that was crazy!

Here’s the deal: Life insurance, especially for young people, is ridonkulously cheap – especially when you use websites like SelectQuote to compare costs! And, with many funerals costing upwards of ten grand, going without life insurance is really a disservice to your family.

Unfortunately, the costs of dying don’t stop at the funeral! There are plenty of good reasons to jump on the life insurance bandwagon, some of which we rarely think about. Here are a few things life insurance can do for your family in your absence.

3 Reasons to Buy Life Insurance Besides a Funeral

Pay Off Debt

Imagine this: You’re driving home after a long day at work, looking forward to a great weekend of maxin’ and relaxin’ with the fam. Unfortunately, your Ford Focus gets t-boned… and you don’t make it. Oh, and you didn’t have any life insurance. After the shock and pain wears off for your family, they’re still going to find a mortgage bill in their mailbox on the first of the month. How will they pay that? Not not only do they face the loss of their husband and father, they may lose their home as well.

Replace Your Income

If you’re a working adult, and we hope that you are, your family counts on you to make money. But they don’t just count on your income now. They’re also assuming that you’ll be around to pay expenses for the foreseeable future. In addition to keeping the lights on and the cupboards full, your family needs your income to live the lifestyle they are used to living. It’s easy to protect that lifestyle with a simple term life insurance policy.

Even if you aren’t the bread winner, life insurance coverage on yourself can help reduce the financial burdens on your loved ones. After a death, going back to work can seem nearly impossible. Having even a small policy can ease that financial stress, allowing your loved ones the time they need to grieve before dashing back to work.

Pay for Future Dreams and Goals

Most of us have goals and dreams for our the future. If we’re smart, we’re saving for those dreams already. Whether it’s paying for weddings, college, retiring early, or traveling the world, wouldn’t it be nice to know that your family could still reach those goals even if you died? Having enough life insurance can ensure your family is able to achieve and experience all of the dreams that you had planned for them, even after you are gone.

What Type of Life Insurance Should You Buy?

There are two basic types of life insurance – term life insurance and permanent life insurance. Essentially, term life is insurance that remains in effect for a stated period of time (as long as you pay your premiums) and ceases to exist once that term has expired. For example, you may buy a 20-year term policy which stays in effect for 20 years. If you passed away after the term period, no death benefit would be available.

Permanent insurance, on the other hand, is life insurance which stays in effect until you either stop paying the premiums or you die. Permanent insurance includes whole life, universal life, and other products. These policies typically accrue a “cash value” over time, and you can cash out if so desired.

So, what is better? In my opinion, it’s not even a contest. For the vast majority of people, term insurance wins every time. Term insurance is affordable, protects your family while they are young, and expires about the time you should be considering other insurance alternatives (like long-term care). Permanent insurance is outrageously expensive, pays huge commissions to the agent, and is just a bad all-around deal for most consumers. And, if you’re worried about cash value, don’t be. You can save money in a bank account instead.

Buying Life Insurance – A No-Brainer

Of course, there are no guarantees of coverage and term insurance isn’t right for everyone. Be sure to consider all options and contact an agent you trust before making a final decision.

However, if you’d like to shop some different rates, check out SelectQuote.com. After being in business for over 30 years, SelectQuote excels at finding the lowest cost term life options to meet your needs. Quotes are free, and the process takes just 10 minutes or so. Once the process is complete, a SelectQuote advisor will help you compare the best options from the best life insurance companies for your particular situation. The best part is that you can complete the initial interview with a call or online!

Although SelectQuote specializes in term life, that’s not all they offer. You can also use them for quotes on auto, home, and senior care coverage. Just follow the link above for details.

Do you have life insurance? What type of coverage do you carry? Let us know below!

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10 Comments

  1. I think life insurance is incredibly important for younger people too. We are at the point where we are self-insured but we carried insurance for many years to make sure that we could mainly replace our income and do things like pay off our house if needed. People will pay hundreds of dollars for phones and cable TV packages but they ignore a tiny portion of that and what security it can bring.

  2. This is a subject near and dear to my heart. My husband passed away 17 years ago at the age of 35-massive heart attack. We had a 6-month old and a 2-year old and the only life insurance we had was what his company provided, about a year and half of his salary. We were young and healthy and naïve. Believe me when I say that did not go far in raising two little boys. I tell anyone who will listen about the importance of life insurance now and my boys will have no financial concerns if something should happen to me. Thanks for covering this important topic.

    1. Absolutely Holly, and I’m sorry for your loss. As a former funeral director, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen similar situations. It’s really sad. Hopefully, I can spread the message and help others avoid a similar circumstance.

  3. We have term insurance as well. I think it’s a good deal, though it’s probably less important for someone my age than, say, disability insurance. If you can afford both, go for it!

  4. I had one job where I worked in insurance. People take insurance for granted until they need it!

  5. I recently got life insurance. It was one of my “grown-up” decisions on my 30th bday. Life insurance is def one of those things that millennials don’t understand but is a necessity if anyone depends on you or will in the future. Currently, no one directly depends on my income but like you stated, the costs are so inexpensive for young people that I couldn’t turn it down.

  6. Life insurance is definitely a life saver for many. As long as one concerned about their dear ones and security of future they should go for it without any doubt. I\’m on a long term life insurance and I must say I feel secured in case if something wrong happened, I can easily make sure my family is secured and it might help to clear debts and kind of financial needs. I have been following your blog from a quite time and I\’m expecting more posts and keep writing great stuff,
    Have a great day!

  7. Well Sounds like a great insurance plan that I wish everyone would take at some point! These reasons are force to get insurances.

  8. Life insurance IS a no-brainer. My old neighbor just passed away without any life insurance. He left a wife and a few kids. Now the mom is having to go back to work (she has been a full time mom for 20 years) to make ends meet. Such a tragic story that could have been prevented, had they spent just a few dollars each month to have a policy.
    Many just don’t get life insurance because a policy is “too expensive” at the time. Well, I know that the mom in my story now really wishes that they had paid for that “expensive” item.
    Life insurance is a “self-less” expense. It’s definitely a smart thing to do!

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