When you’re single, it’s hard to envision a scenario in which you might need to get life insurance. After all, life insurance isn’t something meant to benefit you directly. It’s more about ensuring that any dependents you have are provided for in the event of your untimely death. If you don’t have dependents, it’s hard to get excited about life insurance.
Of course, once new life events start piling up, you are more likely to think about life insurance. Indeed, a recent survey conducted by State Farm indicates that four in ten people buy life insurance because of a life event.
Events that Make You Consider Your Finances
Too often, we don’t think about our finances, and what makes sense to protect them, until we are forced to. It’s easy to become complacent about our finances. However, research indicates that there are a few events that prompt you to take a step back and re-evaluate the situation:
- Marriage
- Buying a home
- Having a baby
It’s pretty obvious that marriage and having a baby would prompt discussions about life insurance. After all, these events add new people to your life. All of a sudden, you have dependents. Having these dependents means that now life insurance is very important.
What would your spouse or your kids do if you, as the primary breadwinner, died unexpectedly? Does your spouse have the ability to work and care for the family? Even if you are a two-income family, there is a good chances that your income is an important part of the household finances. If it’s suddenly gone, it’s much harder to make ends meet.
This is where life insurance comes in. If you have life insurance, your family can receive a payout if you pass on. If you have the right amount of coverage, your family will be well cared for, since they will have enough money to replace your income. This allows them to avoid financial hardship, and have security. While it’s not likely that your family will easily get over the emotional turmoil related to your death, it will be one less thing to worry about if your life insurance policy can provide a way for your family to move forward financially.
What surprised me is that buying a house contributes to the desire to buy life insurance. Although, on second thought, it does make sense that buying a home would prompt some introspection about finances. You can’t buy a home without having your finances in order. When you start looking over what you need to do with your finances, it becomes clear if you are missing a few items, and life insurance might be one of those items.
Additionally, buying a home also prompts discussions about homeowners insurance, and that naturally leads to other policies, like life insurance.
These big life events are reminders that not everything will remain the same forever. If you want to make sure that your family is protected, no matter what happens to you, it’s a good idea to make sure have an adequate life insurance policy.
Disclosure: This blog post was written as part of a sponsored program for State Farm to raise awareness about the importance of life insurance. All views expressed are entirely my own, and were not influenced or directed by State Farm. You can learn more about this blogger program and life insurance at GoodNeighbors.com, PlantingMoneySeeds.com, and by following #startliving on Twitter.
After my grandma’s passing, I have just started to really find out how much funerals, wakes, etc really do cost. I have been comparing prices for a while now.