Simplificando, você precisa de seguro de vida, se alguém está dependendo da sua renda. Geralmente isso significa seus filhos, mas também pode ser usado para saldar a dívida para o seu cônjuge ou pais.
Seguro de vida não é geralmente na lista de um vinte e poucos anos de prioridades financeiras.
E isso é bom. Talvez.
Se você é feliz solteira e sem filhos, você provavelmente pode pular este post (por agora). Mas se o casamento ou uma família está no horizonte, a ler.
Embora a idade pode desempenhar um papel em quanto o seguro de vida que você precisa, a decisão de comprar o seguro de vida não tem nada a ver com a idade. Então, quando você precisa de seguro de vida? Aqui é a regra simples:
Você precisa comprar um seguro de vida quando alguém depende de sua renda.
Aqui estão alguns exemplos comuns:
- Se você é 25, com uma esposa que é ficar em casa com um recém-nascido, você precisa de seguro de vida.
- If you’re 29 and single, you DO NOT need life insurance.
- If you’re 27, married, and both you and your spouse work, you might not need life insurance yet, but you may want to start thinking about it anyway.
Starting a family means buying life insurance!
In most cases, you need life insurance when you start a family. Because life insurance isn’t for you—it’s to provide for your family in case you die and can no longer take care of them.
In addition, there may be special situations in which you don’t have a family of your own but may still want some life insurance protection. For example, if a parent has cosigned a large student loan or a mortgage for you, a modest life insurance policy could pay their share in the event something happens to you. *See footnote.
Most of us begin to think about life insurance when we have children. That’s what my wife and I did. Shortly after our daughter was born, we both took out term life policies in amounts that would replace each of our individual income for 20 years and cover the expected cost of our daughter’s college tuition. When our second children was born, we increased our policy to take our son’s expenses into account.
If you’re wise, you might start planning for your life insurance needs before your first child is born. For example, if you’re married, you and your spouse may want to take out life insurance for each other, even if you both work. Many couples rely on two incomes to pay monthly expenses, and if one spouse dies, the other would have to cover those same expenses on their own.
Another advantage to buying life insurance sooner is that insurance gets more expensive as you age. And, if you develop a medical condition, you may not be able to get life insurance at all. So if you think you might need life insurance in the future, the best time to get it may be now while you’re young and healthy.
How to buy life insurance
When you decide you need to think about life insurance, determine how much life insurance you need:
- Multiply your annual income by the number of years you want the insurance to cover.
- Add any fixed expenses (like kids’ college tuition).
- Finally, subtract any non-retirement savings or investments you have that could cover some of these costs in lieu of an insurance benefit.
Next, talk to your local insurance agent or get free life insurance quotes online.
You should also take time to learn more about the differences between term life insurance and whole life insurance, which is sometimes sold as a combined insurance and investment product. Lauren and I stuck with simple term life insurance, and recommend you do, too.
Summary
Life insurance is an important part of your financial toolkit—but it’s not a tool that everybody needs at the same time. It depends on your age, your family situation, and whether you have people who depend on your income.
* Neste caso, você não precisa de uma tonelada de seguro, apenas o suficiente para cobrir o saldo devedor do empréstimo. Embora as empresas de finanças vender políticas que recompensa um empréstimo se você morrer, essas políticas não oferecem tanto valor como uma política de vida do termo tradicional. Por um lado, o benefício é limitado ao saldo do empréstimo no momento da morte, não uma quantidade fixa do dólar. Além disso, é importante notar que você não precisa deste tipo de política a menos que tenha um fiador que ainda seria legalmente responsável pela dívida após sua morte.
Ahmad Faishal is now a full-time writer and former Analyst of BPD DIY Bank. He’s Risk Management Certified. Specializing in writing about financial literacy, Faishal acknowledges the need for a world filled with education and understanding of various financial areas including topics related to managing personal finance, money and investing and considers investoguru as the best place for his knowledge and experience to come together.