Term Life Insurance

It’s easy to feel like disasters only happen to other people—after all, it’s a lot more fun (and sometimes beneficial) to be an optimistic go-getter who doesn’t worry about the future, especially when you’re young. But if 2020 and the Coronavirus pandemic have taught us anything, it’s that nothing in life is guaranteed and the unexpected can happen at any moment. Of course, there’s a difference in worrying about the future and preparing for it.

If you have someone depending on you financially—whether that’s your spouse, your kids, or maybe even your parents—it’s important to think about what their life would look like without you. With the pandemic, you’re probably already thinking a little more about your own mortality, no matter how old you are. If you passed away suddenly, would your family be taken care of financially? Would they be saddled with your student loans, funeral costs, or medical expenses? These are the consequences you need to consider when thinking about term life insurance and how to prepare for your family’s future.

If you don’t prepare for your own death—however unlikely or far in the future it may be—your family could end up paying the price. That’s why it’s important to set up safeguards like life insurance.

Term life insurance is a simple, affordable way for young families to ensure their beneficiaries are financially protected if they pass away. With a term life policy, you as the policy holder pay a premium that covers a limited number of years—typically 10, 20, or 30, depending on what you purchase. If you pass away during the life of the policy, your beneficiaries receive the amount specified.

Depending on what your family’s expenses look like for the next few years, a term policy offers an affordable way to not only help cover major expenses should you pass away unexpectedly, but also provides peace of mind. Your payment on a term life policy will typically cost less than a whole life policy, and your beneficiaries can use the payout to help cover costs like remaining student loans, medical expenses, or as an emergency reserve after your death. At Parkes Financial Group, and through Pacific Advisors and Guardian, you also have the option to convert a term life policy to a whole life policy (one that grows in cash value and provides coverage for your whole life, rather than a set number of years) as your family’s needs change over time. If you’re on the fence about life insurance, term life policies are a great way to set up a safeguard now with relatively little effort.

Last year, the Coronavirus pandemic quickly incentivized a lot of people who had been delaying securing insurance coverage to take the next steps. Suddenly, the facts were in our face—our lives aren’t guaranteed. And thanks to the barrage of people purchasing life insurance at once, companies needed to simplify the enrollment process to meet the growing demand. Luckily, the end result is a streamlined, simplified experience that is designed to be easy on both the folks purchasing the insurance, and the team helping them secure it. Now, safeguarding your family’s future is too easy and too necessary to ignore. Between life’s uncertainties, skyrocketing student loan rates, and more and more credit card debt, it’s more important now than ever to get coverage for your family’s future.

If you’re young and healthy, purchasing term life insurance could cost you less than opting for a group insurance plan offered by your employer. Compared to the potential payout (or potential consequences if you don’t purchase a policy at all), the price you pay now is relatively small. You’ll want to take action sooner rather than later because the younger you are, the less you’re likely to pay.

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Additionally, if you have any liquid assets that are quickly transferable to cash value (aside from your home) and that won’t affect your family’s lifestyle, you can factor in those as well as a possible source of income after your death. When you look at it this way, a basic method to determine how much coverage you need is to combine your family’s needs and living expenses with your obligations (like student loans), and then subtract any liquid assets that could be used to offset those expenses in the future. The remaining balance is what you need to account for in your policy.

We get it—thinking about death and weighing options for life insurance policies can be overwhelming. That’s why we’re here. We’ll sit down with you to discuss your unique needs, your family’s situation, and any concerns you have for the future, then help you determine the right fit for you. In the meantime, you can get a quote now—just fill out our free Quoting Tool or give us a call.