Decide Whether You Should Purchase Life Insurance or Not

Getting life insurance is often seen as the responsible thing to do. After all, we don't want our death to cause a burden to anybody else, especially to those we love. While many people do need life insurance, not everybody does. Find out whether you should purchase life insurance or not.

Reason to Insure: People Depend on You

If people depend on you, chances are pretty good that you should get life insurance. If you have a job, your spouse or children depend on your income to live off of. If you stay at home, you still need to have life insurance. Stay at home parents provide child care and other services to their family that would require money to replace. Without a life insurance policy, widows and children might have difficulty paying their mortgage and might lose their house. Children might not have the money to go to college. In all likelihood, your family needs insurance in case you die.

Reason to Insure: Your Death Would Be Costly

If your children have already left the home and your spouse is already deceased, you might think that you don't need insurance. While it's true that you don't need enough insurance to provide an income to anybody, your death could be costly to other family members. Funerals cost money, and if you don't have some money set aside, your children might have to come up with the money themselves. If your estate has valuable assets such as a house, parts of your estate might have to be sold in order to pay the inheritance taxes. While your insurance needs might be different than someone elses, you still might need some insurance.

Reason Not to Insure: You Have Enough Money

If you have been frugal for several decades and have saved up a lot of money, you might not need any insurance. Do a quick check to see how much money others would need at your death to see if you are one of those rare Americans that don't need insurance. Would you leave enough money so that your family could live comfortably? Would your funeral expenses be paid for? Could your children go to college? Would family members get to keep your assets, rather than selling them off to pay for taxes or debt? If the answer to all of those questions is yes, congratulations! You are one of those rare individuals who is self-insured. Although you or one of your family members may like you to have insurance for peace of mind, you don't actually need it. If you answered no to any of those questions, you need to purchase insurance.