Everyone wants to do their best to provide for their family. This is simple to do when you are able to go to work, pay your bills and manage your lives. But what happens when you are gone? No one wants to think about what happens to their family when they die. But it is an important discussion every family should have. Thankfully, there are some simple ways you can provide for your family after you’ve died. The solution is life insurance.
Life Insurance Quotes
There are quite a few places where you can obtain life insurance quotes. They are found both online and off. Where do you have your home insurance or vehicle insurance? Typically, the same agents can assist you with your life insurance quotes and questions. Of course, they may not offer the exact type of life insurance you need, some may only carry short term or accidental death insurance. In either case, you should be prepared to shop around, not just for better prices but better coverage as well.
Know Thy Self
It is very difficult to choose where to get your life insurance when you are unsure of exactly what you need. You should start making this determination by figuring out what the dollar amount of your policy should be. There are a few ways you could do this, but the best rule of thumb is to take your current annual salary and multiply it by 5-10. If you have few or no dependents and little debt, use the lower number. In cases where you have a mountain of debt and several dependents aim for the higher.
At the end of the day the goal is to have a large enough insurance policy to pay off your debts, cover the funeral and leave approximately one year’s worth of living expenses to your family. Of course, the size of your policy will also be dictated by what you can afford to pay monthly as well.
Options
The more options for life insurance you have, the easier it will be to find policy that works best for your family and financial situation. As mentioned above, there are companies that only offer a few choices which could mean you are missing out on the best right life insurance policy for your needs. Do you want just a basic life insurance plan with no savings option? Perhaps you are looking at your insurance as more of an investment vehicle; you should know about all these options and understand them well. Keep this in mind when you are gathering life insurance quotes.
Final Thoughts
It is never a good idea to purchase life insurance based on the results of a single meeting. Take your time to look all offers over carefully, weighing the pros and the cons. This is a very important decision in your life, your dependents and/or family members need you to make the best decision possible.