- Does anyone other than yourself depend on your income?
- Do you have children?
- Do you have aging parents you wish to care for?
- Do you have a significant other you are supporting?
- In the event of death, do you wish to leave any financial support for those you love?
If you answer yes to any of the questions above, it is a high priority to look into buying a TERM life insurance. I don’t recommend WHOLE life insurance unless you have money flowing out of your ears and no where to put them. Term vs. Whole life insurance discussion will be for another post.
If you wish to care for any loved one in your potential absence (i.e. death), it would be wise investment to purchase a term life insurance. As a pgy2, I have NOT accumulated much net worth to leave behind for those I love in the event of my death. Since I do not have the financial power to self-insure against my death, I decided to look into term life insurance.
I first purchased life insurance through work. For a few dollars a month, my kid and my partner can get 5x my current salary, i.e. 250k in the event of my death. This will allow them to pay off the house and have 50k left.
Then my mother in law encouraged me to look into additional coverage. After some not-too-cumbersome paper work and a simple physical (done at my house), I was qualified for a 1 million dollar term life policy for $359/year. Boy was I excited that $1 dollar a day can give my kid/partner $1 mil in the event of my death. Although I likely will make and save much more than $1 mil living a full life, $1 mil can provide quite a bit for my kid/partner.
For most of us, the TERM of of term life insurance will be covering our working decades, until 65 or so. Premium varies with several considerations, your health status, your age, your gender, the length of the term you desire, the amount of benefit, etc. But general rules are,
- The earlier you purchase your term life, the lower your premium.
- The fewer health issues you have, the cheaper your policy.
- The shorter the term desired and the smaller the benefit you anticipate, the cheaper the policy.
In short, if you have loved ones who depend on you, it’s never too early to purchase a term life insurance. At least get a quote and realize how the absence of YOU & YOUR financial support would devastate those you love. It becomes a pretty clear decision to eat out less and buy term life as early (as cheap) as possible.
- Did you get a term life insurance premium quote?
- Did you purchase a term life insurance? why or why not?
- What have you done to protect/support your loved ones in the event of your death?
