How Much Term Life Insurance do you Need?
The fact is that most people fall into one of two categories. They either have too much life insurance and pay high premiums -because a life insurance representative has done a great job of earning their salary-or none at all because they think that they can't afford it.
The truth is that practically everyone who needs term life insurance can afford it. It's simple and the easiest type of life insurance you can get.
Term life is determined by how much you need. You can go online and find out about getting both quotes and coverage for term life by taking a need assessment. This is a needs calculator that determines how much term life insurance you will need based on how much you make annually, how much you have in liquid assets( assets that can be converted into cash within three months) and how long your dependents will need after you are gone to get back on their feet financially.
Be aware, though. I researched four different online sites with the same exact information on four different need assessment calculators and got a three thousand dollar spread between the highest and lowest amount needed in life insurance. It pays to research side by side. This is what I found out:
A single, 40 year old female with two school age children should have approximately $200,000 in a 10 year term life policy. They did not ask me if I smoked or any other questions about my health. Typically term life does not require a medical exam-at least that's what virtually all of the TV commercials will tell you, and I found no evidence to support the contrary.
A married couple with two school age children who make over $50,000 a year need far less. A $100,000 policy on each of them is good because they have assets that can be converted to cash more readily. They would probably do better to go with a permanent whole life insurance policy, anyway. Once again, no one asked how my health was.
The typical term life insurance policy premium can be as little as under $10.00 a month for a 35 year old woman. I didn't find any policies which were more than $20.00 a month, regardless of age, sex, or income level for term life insurance-another reason that it the best choice for people with lower incomes or more immediate things to spend their money on-like diapers.
So how much do you need? Gather up all of your assets and expenses and go online to one of the calculators and find out. Go to several, and check the point spread. Lastly, choose the best one and talk to an unbiased representative to get the goods on the reality of life insurance. You shouldn't be paying more than you need to. Happy hunting!
