How much Life Insurance do I need?

How much Life Insurance do I need?

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”

~Benjamin Franklin

 Constantly, clients ask me, “How much life insurance do I need?” because they think that, even without knowing their particular situation, I can magically conjure an amount that fits their needs. I am not Nostradamus, but seeing into the future could be beneficial.  To make this a reality with my clients, though, we must discuss their specific personal and financial needs.

Just grabbing a number out of the air and stating, “This is what you need in terms of a death benefit,” would be inadequate and unfair because it wouldn’t be based on facts. People need to consider their futures for themselves as well as for their families. A few major questions they must ask themselves before a discussion about their insurance needs with their agent are:

· How much debt do I hold, including mortgage, credit card, car loans, school loans, etc.?

· How much money should I set aside for burial costs and other final expenses?

· How much money will I need to leave to cover my children’s college expenses?

· How much money will allow my spouse to sustain the same level of living he/she is used to? Simply put, how much income replacement do I need?

· Am I saving for retirement? How much do I have in savings, stocks, mutual funds etc.? How much am I expecting to have accrued by my retirement?

· I must consider the grief aspect. When I pass, will my spouse need to take a leave of absence from work to grieve and to heal? What about my children? Will my spouse have to take time off of work to care for them in their grief? As difficult as this is, I must consider the loss of income that will need to be replaced. My family deserves this.

Everybody has different individual life insurance requirements because each person’s situation is exclusive to him or her. Although your neighbors and you seem to share the same economic experiences because of where you live, this is, more than likely, an inaccurate assumption. Each of you holds a financial folder unique to your circumstances.

Understandably, this is not a fun conversation to have because who wants to talk about death? It is beneficial, though, to spend that half hour or so figuring out your needs and making sure that you have the proper life insurance coverage in place. Adequate always beats inadequate.

In my experience in the insurance business, no clients have ever told me that their spouses have left them too much money. To the contrary, I have often heard them mention that their spouses have left them nothing or not enough.

As for me, I’d rather fall into the Too Much category.

This is not the end-all be-all list of questions that are discussed during an informational meeting about life insurance, but just a few that should be foremost in any session.

I look forward to helping everyone on their journey to learn more about life insurance.

Regards,

Matt Casserly

Owner, http://casserlyinsurancegroup.com/

matt@casserlyinsurancegroup.com