There are all kinds of insurance you can get. Generally, there are no laws stipulating that you get any of them. There are a few exceptions, such as minimal insurance policies you require to drive a car in some states, along with your driver’s license and registration.
Because you don’t have a legal requirement to get most insurance types, you can try to get along without them. However, doing so can prove to be disastrous very quickly. For instance, you can injure yourself, and if you don’t have health insurance, you’ll have to pay your hospital bill and any other medical expenses out of pocket.
Life insurance is one variety that some people try to get along without. If you’re an adult, though, and you don’t have it, you should certainly consider getting it. Let’s talk about what exactly life insurance is and the sort of people who should purchase it.
How Does Life Insurance Work?
There are probably insurance varieties you have never heard of before, such as cyber liability insurance, body part insurance, or wedding insurance. All of those are real, though, and you can get them from insurance companies. There is even alien abduction insurance if you want it.
Most people have heard of life insurance, though. They’re just not sure if they need it. Life insurance pays off when the insured person dies or sometimes when other events occur.
Some life insurance policies state that the policy will pay off if the insured person becomes terminally or critically ill. That all depends on the company, the policy, and the specific language you’ll find in it.
Who Needs Life Insurance the Most?
Often, the people who need life insurance the most are those with families. If you’re single and have no beneficiaries, you can probably get away with not having life insurance. You don’t have to fret about leaving anyone behind who will be penniless if you die suddenly.
If you marry someone, then presumably, you care about them, and you’ll probably want to get life insurance for them. They will receive a significant chunk of money after you die, and they can use it to pay for food, rent, mortgage payments, utilities, and other necessities. You’ll probably like the idea that this money will be there for them, even if you will not be.
If you have kids, you will likely wish to get life insurance for them as well. Once your kids have grown up and moved out of the house, you would hope that they can care for themselves. Until that time, though, they depend on you, and you want that money to be there for them if you die.
Are There Ways Your Beneficiaries Won’t Get the Money if You Die?
Some people wonder if there are ways that your family will not get the insurance company to pay out from a life insurance policy if you die. There are several ways that might happen.
Usually, your family will not see any of that money if you kill yourself. Life insurance policies are meant to pay off if you die though means that the insurance company considers natural. Something like cancer would certainly result in the policy paying out, or if you die in a car accident.
Suicide isn’t the only way your family might not see that money, though. If you kill yourself while in the act of committing a crime, most life insurance policies will not pay out.
Some insurance companies might refuse to pay out if you die in what the company calls suspicious circumstances. If it seems like you might have killed yourself, but the coroner rules your death’s cause to be inconclusive, the insurance company might fight your family in court rather than paying them. You should definitely keep all this in mind if you look into one of these policies.
Can You Afford Life Insurance?
If you do choose to get life insurance for your family’s sake, there’s excellent news: it’s usually not all that expensive. You can get many policies for about a dollar per day. Many people can afford that, and then, they have a safety net in place.
Getting one of these policies is something you can do for your family to demonstrate how much you cherish them. It’s a way you can care for them in death if tragedy takes you away from them. If you’re a loving and responsible person, think about looking into it.