Four reasons you need life insurance

Take care of your loved ones

Taking care of your loved ones – your spouse or partner, your children or your aged parents or other dependents – means their lives will go on, if you are no longer around. To do that, entails preparing adequate cover for your family’s day-to-day household expenses such as housing, utilities, and education.

No matter where you live, the cost of living will only get higher. If you are the primary breadwinner, then life insurance will ease the financial burden and stress that your absence will bring. Even though the future may seem distant and disconnected, it’s always good to have a sound financial plan now to “back-up” your income for your family who will need it.

Pay off your debts

Death doesn’t have to mean debt.

Depending on the type of life insurance – term or whole – the cash value (pay-out) of your policy can be used to service the money you owe to financial institutions or card companies. In this way, you don’t have to worry if your loved ones would face a struggle to pay the mortgage or have to downsize to a smaller, less comfortable home. Online calculators like the dependent protection and liability calculator can help you calculate how much your dependents – whether children or adults – need.

Leave an inheritance

Don’t be discouraged if you find that you don’t have any assets to leave your offspring at the moment. Life insurance allows you to name your beneficiaries so if and when you can’t be there to see them through various milestones, you can set them up to receive a good education, have the capital to start a business or give   them a head start in saving for their own future. Even without owning property or having an elaborate trust fund set up, you too can leave a legacy for your children.

Peace of mind

In the face of life, death can come in the form of accidents, which account for 18.5% of total incidences of death in the region. While it certainly cannot take your place, life insurance will help to ensure that your family’s wellbeing in the short and long term is taken care of. 

Funeral, cremation and burial costs can easily amount to thousands, even tens of thousands of dollars. Life insurance ensures that your loved ones have enough to cover these short-term expenses, and the remainder to help tide them through future need.

There are a number of options you have the choice to consider right now, if not for your peace of mind, then for those who depend on you.