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Do You Have Life Insurance?

Last Updated: BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 53 Comments

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Do You Have Life Insurance?

This is my family 🙂

According to the insurance research firm LIMRA, life insurance ownership is at its lowest point in over 50 years. This is a crazy statistic considering that approximately 44% of those who took part in the survey said they don’t have enough money to pay for expenses if their loved one were to pass away suddenly.

This study also reported that around 30% of households do not have life insurance at all. There are many different types of insurance out there, and life insurance always seems to be the one that is skipped.

One major task I have failed at since leaving my day job in 2013 is finding life insurance. When I had my day job, I had a small amount of life insurance provided and paid for by my employer. Nothing crazy, but I never looked any further into it at that time.

Now that I work for myself, I have no life insurance and that is something I would like to change, especially since we plan on having children in the next few years.

Even though finding life insurance is something I think about a decent amount, I actually haven’t done anything to start this process.

When does a person need life insurance?

Okay, not everyone needs life insurance. However, most do.

If you are single, have no debt, and no one depends on you, then you probably don’t need life insurance.

But, just because you are single doesn’t mean you don’t need it. If you have debt and have co-signers on your debt, then you should absolutely have life insurance. This is because if something were to happen to you, you don’t want your co-signer (it could be your parents, siblings, etc.) to have to be stuck paying your debt because you didn’t think of a plan.

I recently read a true story about a young adult who did not have life insurance. They passed away suddenly and left their student loan debt behind to their parents, who were her co-signers. They were left with monthly payments on her student loans of nearly $2,000 a month…

Also, if someone depends on you, such as a spouse, elderly parents, or children, then you definitely want life insurance as well. You want your loved ones to be taken care of if something were to happen to you, correct?

What do I need to do to find the right life insurance for me and my family?

The other day, I heard about a company called Quotacy. They have a great looking website, so I won’t lie, that helped draw me in.

The website is really easy to use. All you do is click on over to “Get Started” on their website. Then, they ask for a little bit of information (such as your zip code, gender, etc.) and then you press “View Your Quote.”

They have easy to use sliders where you can adjust the duration of your coverage and the policy value so that you can try to find a monthly premium that works best for you.

After that, they ask some routine medical questions and then policies from various companies pop up on your screen. This is so that you can find different life insurance policies and how much your monthly premium varies from company to company so that you can find your best price.

Quotacy will take a second look at your online submission, and shop the market one more time to ensure you’re getting the best price. If they find a better one based on your unique lifestyle or health characteristics, they will communicate this with you, and let you decide which company to apply for. The insurance company you select will then review your application, and make the final approval before it goes into affect and Quotacy will keep you informed every step of the way.

Some of the great things about this website include:

  • Quotacy doesn’t require you to log in or register in order to see estimated pricing.
  • Everything is VERY easy to understand.
  • It’s very quick to use and you can get an estimated quote in one minute.
  • They have an awesome blog that can help you understand life insurance better.

Do you have life insurance? Why or why not?

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About Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

Michelle is the founder of Making Sense of Cents, a blog about personal finance and traveling. She discusses how her business has evolved in her side income series. She paid off $40,000 in student loans by the age of 24 mainly due to her freelancing side hustles. Click here to learn more about starting a blog!

Comments

  1. EarlyRetirementGuy says

    I have both life insurance to cover the mortgage and a death in service benefit through my employer. The mortgage protection is important as my partner would be unable to afford the payments on her own.

    Too many people are either massively over insured or have no insurance at all. It’s difficult to get the right level and should be reviewed whenever life circumstances change.

    Reply

  2. Anita L says

    My husband and I just recently discussed how we both have no insurance. I was recently very ill and could very well have lost my life. This has made me realize even more how important this subject is. I’ve never heard of Quotacy until now, but this will come in very handy as we begin searching for the company that we want to use. Thank you so very much for sharing this!

    Reply

  3. Ben Luthi says

    You’ll want to make sure to check the fine print on those policies you find on Quotacy. Unfortunately, not all life insurance is equal and different companies will have different hidden riders and things that will keep you from getting the benefit. When I worked as an insurance agent, I saw a lot of crappy policies people had found on the Internet because they were cheap :/

    Reply

    • TeamQuotacy! says

      Hi Ben, great point! There are sooo many bad life insurance companies out there. The good news is, Quotacy’s parent company, Hallett Financial Group has been a life insurance BGA for over 25 years and has internal relationships at all the large carriers! Quotacy only works with “A” rated life insurance companies for that reason. We wanted to make sure our clients were getting only the best and nothing less! Thank you for your comment!

      Reply

  6. Alicia says

    I’m 28, in a common-law relationship, with no dependants, but I do have life insurance because of the mortgage. I have enough to pay off the mortgage in one lump sum (assuming that was possible), and about another year of my salary. I also have 2x my salary at work (and basically 1x salary on my fiancé through my work), so that would give plenty of funds to straighten out a life for my fiancé should something happen to me. I think it’s especially important for me to have insurance because I make more than him. So he would feel it financially much more than I would if something happened to him. It was just a preventative thing.

    Reply

  9. Brian @ Debt Discipline says

    I do. With 3 children under 18 and I’m the main wage earner. I want to have the insurance for my family just in case. I got a very sad reminder of how important life insurance is just yesterday. A neighbor 45 passed away unexpectedly, he left a wife and 4 children.

    Reply

  10. Michelle says

    I have life insurance and AD&D. Both combined is a large amount of money for my beneficiary. I don’t plan on leaving this earth for a long, long while but I’m glad that’s sorted out.

    Reply

  11. Angie says

    Thanks for the info! I used the site, but wasn’t sure how many years I should do for the duration. If I did something like 10 years, I would have to renew after that amount of time, correct? Or, what if something changed during those 10 years (mortgage, kids..), could I change the details of the plan?

    What plan did you end up doing?

    Reply

    • TeamQuotacy! says

      Hi Angie! Excellent questions, it’s great to hear you thinking through the possibilities. First, you can always convert your policy to something more permanent, typically within the first 5 years. But one of our main goals at Quotacy compared to many other direct to consumer life insurance companies is we will be here for life (no pun intended!). Once a year, we contact all of our clients via email and do a quick review to see if they have had more children, purchased a more expensive home, or changed their children s college goals and so on. This way we keep you current on your life insurance policy. Lastly, as far as the length of time, I always suggest buy as much as you can afford up to your target need which you can determine from our needs analysis calculator on Quotacy.com!

      You will be 30 years older at some point, and the cost to insure you goes up every year. So if you buy a 30 year term today at a young age, for 30 YEARS your price stays the same! You can figure out the difference if you run a 10 year quote, then run another ten year term quote with an age 10 years older than yours now and see the cost difference over time compared to if you paid all years at the 30 or 20 year term price with your current age. Hope this helps!

      Reply

  12. Mrs. Frugalwoods says

    I have a small amount of life insurance through my employer, as does Mr. Frugalwoods. We might explore getting something more comprehensive once we have kids, but, we’re pretty comfortable with just this for now. Thanks for the resources–I may need them in the future!

    Reply

    • TeamQuotacy! says

      Hi Mrs Frugalwoods! I hope that is your real last name!

      it’s so great to hear you have life insurance through work, many people don’t have any life insurance or DI offered at work since it’s not required. But even without children yet, you may want to consider private life insurance, even a small amount, $100,000 or so if your trying to ensure your income and financial contributions would be replaced if the unexpected happened. Keep in mind, group benefits typically end after 30-90 days of last day worked, so if you came down with an illness or injury that left you unable to work for a period of time, which is most often how it starts, you’re left at the end with no benefits from your employer beside health insurance with the COBRA option after 30-90 days. It’s terrible, I know, but it’s the reality of relying on employer sponsored plans for life insurance specifically. There is a great article on Quotacy.com about relying on life insurance through your employer and the risk no one talks about, but we have seen happen too often when the unexpected happens.

      Thanks for commenting!

      Reply

  13. Aldo@MillionDollarNinja says

    We have life insurance through my employer, but I should really get some type of umbrella policy since my current life insurance is really not enough. I haven’t gotten more because I really don’t have anybody financially depending on me.

    Reply

  14. Samantha Feldmann says

    We currently don’t have life insurance. My fiance has been getting pressured into it by our insurance company for a while now, but we just don’t have the money for an extra bill right now. 🙁

    Reply

    • Michelle S. says

      If one of you depends on the other or if you have co-signers on any of your loans, I would definitely look into it. It usually isn’t too expensive if you’re young and healthy.

      Reply

    • TeamQuotacy! says

      Hi Samantha!

      The average person thinks life insurance is at least 3 times more expensive than it actually is! I hate this reference because it’s so over used in life insurance, but truly, for the cost of 3 cups of coffee a month, you could get a HALF a MILLION DOLLARS in coverage, or more! Take a look and run some quotes on quotacy.com, it’s the most selfless gift you can give your loved ones, the gift of life insurance!

      Visit Quotacy.com and do a needs analysis to see how much life insurance you need!

      Reply

  15. Kipp says

    I do have life insurance. I am married, but currently no kids. The policy my wife and I have in place was more of a guess at the time to how much we would need to clear out all debts once we had a house. It will do so and we have a fixed rate term for 30 years… I don’t think I need a term this long so it is probably a bit pricier than needed. I am considering looking at group insurance options at work since they are cheaper per coverage. The group coverage has it’s draw back of losing it when you leave your employer, which is bad for a slow death from illness as you may lose coverage. There is always something to consider… at least it would mitigate the risk otherwise.

    Reply

  17. Shannon @ The Heavy Purse says

    Yes, we have life insurance and that is probably the least shocking news you’ve heard today. 🙂 I definitely agree that if you have family or co-signed debt that you should have life insurance. It’s very inexpensive peace of mind and I have seen too many families suffer because they did not insure their most valuable asset – themselves.

    Reply

  18. Amy says

    I don’t personally have any life insurance, but we have it for my husband. We got it right before our daughter was born.

    We used a local agent, but Quotacy sounds great!

    Reply

  19. Cami says

    After our first child was born life insurance became a priority. It gives me peace of mind that our family will have what we need if something awful were to happen.

    Reply

  20. Will @firstqfinance says

    I don’t have life insurance because my life is pretty self-contained. If I die, no one will suffer financially. But what I need to look into is disability. What if a bus runs me down tomorrow and I can no longer work? I don’t want the state to have to take care of me! Something to look into…

    Reply

  25. F.H says

    i do have life insurance i think its very important and the thought of leaving loved one with nothing but mess scares me! i think its important for peace of mind

    Reply

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