Why Your Family Needs Life Insurance

If a breadwinner in your family dies, a life insurance plan will help ensure the financial survival of those left behind. Read on to learn why a family life insurance plan is necessary.

• To cover funeral expenses. Funerals are not cheap nowadays. In fact, it's fairly typical for a funeral and burial to cost about $10,000. Caskets, cremations, burial plots, flowers, and other typical burial expenses will drain your loved ones' finances unless you have a family life insurance policy in place to help out.
• To pay off the mortgage on your home. If you die prematurely, it's unlikely that you will have paid off your mortgage at the time. You don't want to leave your spouse and children with crippling monthly house payments, which is another reason why a family life insurance plan is so critical.
• To put your kids through school. With most families, the death of a breadwinner means that the remaining spouse will become a single parent. The likelihood that a single parent would be able to put all of his/her children through college is slim. Family life insurance coverage can help pay for your children's college educations.
• To pay off your credit cards. Credit card debt is enough of a burden on a household with two incomes, let alone one. When you die, you don't want your family to have to deal with the enormous financial burden of high-interest credit card debt. Allow enough coverage in your family life insurance plan to take care of all of your credit card debt.
• To help your spouse retire comfortably. One day, your spouse will need to stop working and retire, but your death could make this difficult if not impossible. With the right family life insurance policy, your spouse should have enough of a nest egg to retire on time and in comfort.
• To pay health insurance premiums. If your spouse does not work or does not have access to health insurance at his/her job, your family probably relies on your employer's benefits for health insurance. If you died, your family would lose this insurance, which means they would have to buy a family policy out of pocket. Individual health insurance policies can get very expensive, which is one more reason why a family life insurance plan is a must.
• To replace the services you performed. Perhaps you mow the lawn and handle the landscaping for your family currently or maybe you take care of all the cooking and cleaning. If you passed away, your family would have to pay to replace these services. Family life insurance coverage could assist with these expenses.