15 Types of Insurance It Pays to Have

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Life insurance

If anyone counts on you for anything, you need life insurance coverage. Life insurance could replace the income your surviving family members depend on. It could allow surviving loved ones to hire a caregiver if you’re a stay-at-home parent or care for your own aging parents. Or, it could allow your business partners the money to buy out your interest in the company and continue operations if you die.

Life insurance is a relatively affordable way to protect the people who count on you. You can buy a policy to pay out a lump sum of money to your beneficiaries in the event of your death. You could buy a policy just big enough to cover funeral costs or could buy millions of dollars in coverage so your family doesn’t face any financial hardship if something happens to you.

There are different kinds of life insurance, including term and whole life policies. Term life policies are much cheaper and only provide a death benefit for a limited time. They’re usually the right choice, because the assumption is that no one will be depending on your income or services anymore by the time the term ends.

Whole life policies are much costlier and have an investment component. You’re usually better off just opting for a term policy and investing yourself, but there could be exceptions such as if you have a disabled child that will need a lifetime of care and support.