The process of getting life insurance is not complicated. Policies are much cheaper for young adults than older individuals. The older you get, the pricier they become.
Young adults often fear the unknown and tend not to be too interested on what might happen tomorrow or in the distant future. According to Anorak Insurance, life insurance is perceived by many young adults as expensive, unnecessary, boring, and old fashioned.
When is the best time to consider purchasing a life insurance policy? Should you wait until you get married, have your first child, later, earlier? Perhaps these suggestions will help answer that question.
Are You Single and in Your Early Twenties?
Congratulations, you’re in the bloom of adult youth and probably won’t need to worry about the life insurance matters for a few more years. Although, of course, it’s good to keep track of what is going on in the market and stay up to date with the latest developments.
… and Have a Student Loan?
Having a student loan changes the insurance perspective for young people. It’s an expense that imputes liability on the student’s cosigners. If anything happens to the borrower, their cosigner will bear all costs of the loan.
If you don’t want to burden your student loan guarantor with a hefty debt if something awful happened to you, perhaps you should consider purchasing a life insurance policy. The term guarantor means the person who guarantees your debt, i.e., they will pay it off if you don’t.
So You Decided to Marry Your Sweetheart
Still in your twenties, just married, and in love — living the dream! Getting married means you have already started your very own family, even if you don’t plan to have kids yet or at all. Starting a family means taking care of each other to the end of your days.
Entering marriage is the first distinctive reason to start thinking of life insurance. Even though, at your current age, your and your spouse’s chances of dying unexpectedly are extremely remote, getting life insurance so soon can be beneficial in the long run.
If you are in good health, you will be able to acquire the cheapest policies in the marketplace. This may not be the case if you live with a chronic illness such as diabetes type 2, suffer from hypertension (high blood pressure), or are a regular smoker. If you manage to give up smoking for one year, your insurance policy will get cheaper. The same applies to an obese individual who reaches normal body weight and doesn’t put the weight back on for 12 months.
Baby on The Horizon!
When you have your first baby, your responsibilities suddenly increase dramatically, as do your long-term financial commitements to the new family member. At this point, you should definitely consider getting in touch with an insurance company.
Children require long-term care and financial security, usually for at least eighteen years. A sudden death or serious disabililty in the family can have a devastating effect on your child’s future and your spouse’s ability to cope. This is especially the case if the sufferer or victim is the household’s main breadwinner.
When determining how much life cover you require, consider the following factors:
- Your annual income.
- Your family’s current expenses (e.g., buying a new house, loans, daily life).
- Possible future expenses (e.g., more children, children’s education).
- You current state of health (and perhaps your expected future state of health).
Add up all the expenses and look for a policy that covers the total. You then have to decide whether you want tem or permanent life insurance. Permanent lasts until you die, while term covers you for a specific period such as thirty years.
Can It Be Too Late to Get Life Insurance?
It is possible to reach a point when purchasing a policy is prohibitively expensive. In some cases, it may be impossible to get one. If you wait until the last moment, for example, when a doctor tells you that you have terminal cancer, it really is too late as far as purchasing life insurance is concerned.
If you are a skydiver, bullfighter, stuntman, or racing driver, your life insurance policy will be much more expensive compared to what a librarian or accountant might pay. For the insurance company, it is all a question of risk, which in this case is risk of premature death. The greater the risk, the more expensive the policy will be.
The nearer you are to the end of your expected lifespan the more expensive your life insurance policy will be. It is extremely doubtul, for example, that any insurance company would consider covering somebody in their 80s or 90s.
Taking out a mortgage
Most home loan (mortgage) lenders require some type of life insurance cover so that the borrower’s instalments can continue being paid in the case of his or her death.
Final Thoughts
If you have dependants, such as a partner or children, you probably need life insurance. If your death meant that they could not make ends meet, a good policy would secure their financial future. Don’t rely on the government to take care of your dependants.