It’s one of those ideas you’ve probably had whilst in the shower. “Oh”, you think, “I haven’t got any life insurance, I should probably do that!”, then you wash out the soap suds and by the time you’ve left the shower you’ve already forgotten.
But life insurance is so important you simply can’t forget it. Why is it important to have life insurance? Think of all the children or family members who are financially dependent on you. Or, think of how expensive funeral costs can be these days, where’s that money going to come from!?
That money should come from your life insurance. Below we’re going to cover why it is absolutely essential that you have life insurance in place, to protect you, your family and your business.
Why Is It Important to Have Life Insurance? For Your Family
The first and most important reason why you should have life insurance is to support your family should anything happen.
Today, only 57% of Americans have some form of life insurance. Of this 57%, 32% only have a form of group coverage, which usually isn’t enough.
So why get life insurance if 43% of people in America don’t bother?
If you’re married, you and your spouse will likely have a large number of bills to pay to stay afloat. Think about your mortgage costs, your credit card bills or the running of your car. Could your spouse pay for all of these things alone if you were gone?
If not, you must have life insurance so that they don’t have to.
This is doubly important for people who have children. If you want your kids to have the best chance in life they’ll likely need financial support. Things like childcare and college don’t come for free, they need to be planned and saved for right now.
Losing a parent is traumatic enough for a child, let alone having to worry about how they will be financially supported afterward. You need to prepare for the worst to give them the best.
One important part of thinking about your family and life insurance is the fact that they could also benefit from having insurance as much as you do.
If your children are reaching early adulthood, it may be better to sort their life insurance now rather than later. Equally, if you and your wife split household payments, you both need to have insurance to protect each other.
For Your Business
In addition to supporting your family, life insurance is vital to protecting your business and the hard work you put into it should anything unexpected happen to you.
The last thing any small business owner wants is to see everything they built to go to waste because they didn’t take the time to organize insurance. Protecting your business also works towards protecting your family, as they will receive the benefits of the company after you are gone.
Why is it important to have life insurance specifically if you are a business owner? Because without it there’s no telling what could happen to your company.
Meanwhile, having insurance means you can allow your partner to buy-back your company in case of unexpected death. It can also help you retain staff or intellectual property amongst plenty of other things that are crucial to your business.
Sorting your life insurance should be one of the first things you do as a business owner if you are serious about your business and your goals.
As a business owner, a lot of people rely on you, from employees to business partners. In not ensuring you are covered if anything unexpected happens, you are betraying that trust.
It can often be healthy for people to separate work and life, but when asking why do I need life insurance, you have to consider the impact your death will have on both. For many more examples, take a look at how life insurance can help your business.
To Resolve Debts and Protect Assets
Much like with making sure your family is taken care of, you need to protect your estate so that the living people you love can benefit from it.
If you die with unpaid debts that your estate can’t pay for, its possible your assets will be taken from you. This can include your remaining mortgage debt, which you had every intention of paying off but never got the chance.
This can even in some cases be unpaid student loan debts. It can be very easy for your loved ones to see everything you worked for taken from them because you didn’t organize your life insurance.
Think of it as a safety net; without it, if the worst happens, everything could fall through your family’s hands into someone else’s.
There are also life insurance options that allow you to amass wealth for your family. Known as whole life insurance, you can build up cash savings for your insurance over time.
This can be helpful for those with an unexpected situation when they urgently need cash. This cash value part of permanent life insurance can sometimes be considered an asset to you as an individual.
This can be a beneficial option for certain people in choosing their life insurance. Please note however that it may not be the best option for everyone looking for life insurance. You need to find the life insurance policy that works best for you.
Securing the Future
So then, why is it important to have life insurance? Because it secures the future right now. Life insurance will keep you and your family covered during what will be one of the hardest periods of their life.
This is why life insurance is important, as it offers your family and your employees the chance to rest easy knowing your assets and wealth are taken care of.
Without it, your family will forever be worrying about what could happen, and so will you.
Invest in your life insurance today, so you can invest in your wife’s, your child’s and your business’s future.
