In order to figure out you need life insurance, it might be helpful to learn why other people usually end up getting coverage. Unsurprisingly, life events that often trigger a policy purchase include having a child, buying a home and getting married. In this case, the main reason to purchase coverage is to make sure that certain financial obligations can get handled if the insured person passes away unexpectedly.
Who Needs Life Insurance?
To understand who needs life insurance, it's helpful to consider some benefits of life insurance.
Cash death benefit: The most obvious reason that people buy life insurance is to provide a death benefit for beneficiaries. Most of the time, these heirs are close family members. Common examples of life insurance beneficiaries are children, spouses and parents. Of course, money can be left to people outside of the family, a business or even a favorite charity.
Upon the insured person's death, whoever is named on the policy gets a cash benefit. Different people or organizations that are named on the policy can even receive different proportions of the proceeds. For example, a spouse may get 50 percent and two children might each be allocated 25 percent.
No taxes or probate: These named beneficiaries don't typically have to go through probate to collect their money and are not usually on the hook for any taxes. That makes life insurance a simple and effective way to transfer assets to survivors.
Cash value life insurance: Whole and universal life grow a cash value that can be used as an asset while the insured person is still living. Policy owners might be able to borrow against this cash account, surrender their policy for cash or even sell the policy in a senior life settlement. Since it's difficult for most people to know how much money they will need in the future, this extra asset might come in handy.
Anybody who wants to make sure that their family is protected in case they die unexpectedly might decide they need life insurance. Policies can also provide a sensible way to transfer assets to the next generation. Additionally, cash value life insurance might be useful when policy owners are still alive.
We’ll help assess your needs. Call Deale & Associates Insurance Agency at 410-267-5601 for more information on Annapolis life insurance.