Saturday, July 31, 2010

Marriage, Children and Divorce all Affect Your Life Insurance Needs

Although they are not necessarily immediately obvious, there are a number of life-changing events that may require you to examine and reassess your family’s life insurance needs. Insurance Expert, Rene Lacape, suggests that any time one of these major events takes place in your life, you re-examine the status and terms of your life insurance policy. “It’s important to be sure your insurance coverage meets your current needs,” he said.

Marriage

Marriage is an exciting event that means many things are about to change in our lives. One of the changes in moving from a single status to a married status is that life insurance becomes more important than it was when you were single.

In fact, said Rene Lacape, “Life insurance moves from a luxury to a necessity when you are a married couple With two people in a cooperative relationship like marriage, it is vital that you think of the other person’s well being and how you could continue to help provide for them financially if you were to pass away.

“Death is the last thing any couple even considers when they are starting out in marriage,” said Rene Lacape. “Still, it is one of those vital things that must be addressed right away to avoid problems and disappointments.”

eQuote’s Rene Lacape said couples should consider things like whether to get term or whole life insurance, how much annual income each person makes, and what large expenses a family has when determining how much insurance to get .

Having a Child

Although you may have taken into account how much you’d need to have in order to pay off a mortgage or retire any other obligation when you chose the amount of your life insurance policy, you need to consider the increase in monthly expenses when a child comes into the home.

“It becomes important to consider how your child will be taken care of in the event of your death. How would the child’s college education be funded? How will the surviving spouse continue working, and what help will need in terms of a nanny/babysitter in order to let them do so?” These are some of the questions you should be asking yourself, emphasizes, Rene Lacape.”

If you or your spouse stops working when a child is born, then the life insurance from that company will likely expire. It’s important to replace the insurance on your own so that you have the level of coverage necessary in the case [/spin] of a death | you suddenly pass away [/spin]. “You never want to think about you or your spouse dying,” said insurance authority Rene Lacape, “But it’s even worse to think about what might happen if a spouse dies and your finances are out of order leaving your family without care or help.”

Divorce

Divorce is a very sad and emotionally draining event. “The reality is that your life insurance needs change with a divorce,” Rene Lacape, said. “You’ve got lots to think about during a divorce, but don’t leave life insurance out of the plan,” he said.

This attention may be examining and changing beneficiaries, adding coverage for the small children, or removing coverage because children are grown and on their own.

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