When you buy life insurance, it’s hard to determine how much you’ll need later on in life. Each year our lives can drastically change, causing us to review and rethink some of our expenses and insurances. Life insurance is one coverage that should evolve as you evolve.
Depending on your coverage, you may want to consider either increasing or decreasing your coverage according to where you’re at in life. There are certain signs to pay attention to that may tell you to reconsider what your life insurance policy is.
You Have Children
If you bought life insurance before you had kids, it might have been suitable for that moment in life. However, if later down the road you started to have children, your insurance may be outdated.
When we buy life insurance, it’s more for your family’s protection than anything. They would be the ones who utilize the death benefit if you passed away. If you have children, they’ll likely need more money to help cover costs and continue with life.
Your Health and Lifestyle Changes
Your lifestyle and health could be a sign that you need to either increase or decrease your insurance. The downfall, however, is that if your health declines, it will cost you more in monthly premiums. Americanterm.com has more information on how your health, like weight, affects your life insurance.
You Purchased a Home
If you recently moved into a new home, that is a good time to review your life insurance policy and consider increasing the death benefit. Moving into a new home can be expensive for quite some time. If you suddenly passed away, would your family be able to afford the mortgage and continue living there? Would they have to move out and look for something smaller?
The death benefit can help your family cover costs that your income used to help with. By increasing your coverage when you purchase a new home, you’re helping to guarantee that your family will continue to live in the family home.
Increase in Income
Have you gotten a raise recently? That is a good sign that you should look at increasing your life insurance policy.
Ask yourself this – would your family be able to live without your income? If the answer is no, you know that you need life insurance to cover the loss of the primary income. So, if you got a raise, you’ll want to increase the death benefit so that it matches you and your family’s lifestyle.
Fell Into Debt
Debt is one of the main reason why some families get life insurance. The death benefit could help cover the debt left behind a family member that passed away. Even though that family member is gone, the debt still has to get paid.
If you fell into debt recently, you may want to consider increasing your coverage for the time being. The more debt you have, the more that will fall on a family member if you suddenly passed away.
