Plan for Tomorrow Today

Life insurance is the conversation everybody puts off. It is not complicated, though. It is one question: if your income stopped, what would your family still have to pay for?

Start there and the rest gets a lot simpler.

Term or permanent

Term covers you for a set number of years, usually ten to thirty. It costs the least and it is what most families actually need. You buy it to cover the years where losing your income would be hardest, and those years usually have an end date.

Permanent covers you for life and builds cash value. It costs meaningfully more. It makes sense for specific situations, like estate planning or a lifelong dependent, and it is oversold to people who would be better served by term.

If you are not sure which one you are, you are almost certainly term.

How much you need

Skip the rules of thumb. Add up what would still be owed:

• The remaining mortgage balance
• Years of income your household would need to replace, and for how long
• Childcare, if one parent would suddenly be doing both jobs
• College, if that is something you plan to help with
• Final expenses, and any debt that would not disappear

Then subtract what you already have: savings, an employer policy, and any existing coverage. What is left is the number to insure. It is usually larger than people guess and cheaper than they fear.

Do not lean on the policy at work

Employer coverage is a nice benefit and a shaky plan. It is often only one or two times your salary, which does not go far against a mortgage. It usually ends the day the job does, and that is frequently the exact moment you cannot easily qualify for a new policy.

Treat it as a supplement. Own the coverage your family actually depends on.

Buy it while it is cheap

Two things set your rate: your age and your health. Both are as good today as they will ever be. Every year you wait costs more, and a diagnosis in between can change the conversation entirely.

Locking a thirty year term in your thirties is one of the few financial decisions that gets harder to make well the longer you think about it.

Then keep it current

Once it is in place, revisit it when life moves:

• A new child, or a child who becomes financially independent
• A new mortgage or a refinance
• A marriage or a divorce, which is also when to update your beneficiaries
• A significant change in income

Beneficiaries are the piece people forget. Check them. It takes two minutes and it decides where the money actually goes.

Just ask

You do not need to know any of this before you call. Tell us who depends on you and what they would still owe, and we will handle the rest.