So how do you figure out how much you need? Well, I'm sure there are lots of helpful insurance agents who'll be glad to tell you this but you can also use a little common sense. Basically you're trying to replace the income your family would lose if you were gone. So take your annual income and multiply it by the number of years you'd like to provide for your family. If you make $50,000 a year and want to take care of your family for 10 years you'd need a minimum of $500,000.
There are many different types of life insurance but the simplest is term life insurance. Term life insurance means just what it says, you're covered for a certain amount of time, a term. So if you purchase a 10 year term life insurance policy you're covered for 10 years. Then it ends or you may have the option of continuing the policy.
This is a good strategy because as you get older you're supposed to be saving for your retirement, right? So as you build up your nest egg and the kids get older the need for replacing your income diminishes.
Two things your want to look for in a term life insurance policy are whether you can renew the policy and what options are available to convert the policy into a cash value policy. At the end of many term life policies you have the option to keep it going without a new medical exam. Probably the insurer will renogotiate the amount you pay at this time as well. That's ok, you're a little older now and a bigger risk.
So check out the information on www.all-about-term-life-insurance.com or your favorite insurer's site and dig in... your family will appreciate your forethought.
You can reproduce this article as long as you include the authors name and website.
Robert Tower
www.all-about-term-life-insurance.com
http://www.all-about-term-life-insurance.com/
