All too often, people think of life insurance as something that only married people with children need. But the fact is, life insurance can fit many different needs and life situations that perhaps aren't always considered. For example:
The stay-at-home parent
Many people think that life insurance is only for the primary wage earner in the household. But when one parent becomes a full-time caretaker, their role can be just as important as the parent who goes off to work every day. What you need to consider is that that stay-at-home parent were to die, you would most likely have to cover expenses associated with responsibilities such as childcare, cooking, cleaning, and shopping.
If you're single with no children, but supporting family
It's not out of the ordinary for single adults to financially help their families. Life insurance can help continue to provide the financial assistance that they'll need should you die unexpectedly. It can also be used to cover your final expense, as well as any debt you might leave behind.
When you become an empty nester
As you get older, your children leave home and hopefully become self-sufficient. It may also be a time where you're relying on your retirement savings and/or Social Security benefits to meet your monthly expenses. But even though you may not have dependents living at home or feel that you've got enough income funneling in, you'll still leave behind final expenses such as funeral, burial, and possibly medical bills that your family will be responsible for.
At retirement
Your retirement plan has many components to it - including estate planning. As part of your estate plan, a life insurance policy can ensure that your heirs not only have the readily available cash to cover your final expenses, but to help cover the possibility of estate taxes that could take a big chunk out of the money you wish to leave to them.
These are just a few scenarios in which some people may not have considered purchasing a life insurance policy.
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