Shopping for life insurance can be prompted by life events. A marriage, your first home, the first pregnancy or the arrival of a new baby are examples of such motivational life events. Regardless of which life event it is that motivates the search, I thought it was appropriate to visit this question, “Which member of a couple should have a life policy?”
I was curious what people’s answers would be when presented with this question, so I posted it to our Twitter followers, on Google +, Linkedin, and on my personal as well as our agency Facebook pages. The answers were all over the place and included;
- The husband
- The wife
- Both
- Ideally both but if that’s not an option, the primary bread winner
- The older one of the two
These answers are very interesting. In many ways, they represent the movement of the family from baby boomers to today. If we use that as a timeline then,
- In the traditional nuclear family, the dad or husband was the sole bread winner as mom usually stayed home with the kids. Dad had the life policy to replace his income if he died prematurely.
- Women enter the workforce in greater numbers starting in the 60’s and 70’s. Families became increasingly two income families and in this case, the need for both people to have a life policy has become a necessity.
- Both parents may have careers and increasingly both parents are involved in child rearing
I recommend both people have a life policy whether one or both have a career outside the home or if one is the primary child nurturer. The reasons are straightforward and economic.
- Life insurance can be used to replace a lost income in one or both parents
- Life insurance can also be used to cover the cost of child rearing and education enabling the surviving parent to continue to make a living
- If income replacement is not needed, the life insurance can be used to fund education needs at a later date
Now that you know that, go back to last Friday’s blog on the 3 questions you need to answer before you shop, and work through those questions for both parents.
What do you think and how have you approached this? Let us know in the comments section below or on our Facebook page. We’ll all learn from each other.
