04 Sep Life Insurance: How Much is Enough?

When it comes to buying a life insurance policy, you have a lot of choices to make. Do you want a term or a whole policy? Who should be your beneficiaries? And mostly importantly, how big of a policy do you need? What is the dollar amount that will be enough to support your family and pay for your burial expenses? As you can see, there are a lot of factors to consider when it comes to choosing the right life insurance policy. While many of these questions are easy to answer, the one regarding policy amount often gets tricky.

So, how much life insurance is enough? There are plenty of factors to keep in mind when making this crucial decision.

Burial Costs

The price of a traditional burial, which includes a wake or memorial session, a full funeral, burial in a cemetery, and an after-funeral lunch, keeps rising each year. The price is currently estimated to be around $25,000, and that number may continue going up as the years go by. A non-traditional funeral arrangement, such as a cremation and urn with one memorial or wake that allows loved ones to say goodbye, is a fraction of that. Why does this matter? Your ideal funeral needs to be one of the factors examined when choosing a life insurance amount. Your loved ones need to be able to take care of everything without hardship.

Family Support

Are you the sole provider for your family? If so, then you’ll need to consider a life insurance policy that has enough funds to get your family back on its feet after your untimely demise. You should think about things like paying off the house that you live in and any vehicles that your family owns. Another thing to think about is considering how much money you make each year. A good rule of thumb is to provide your family with enough funds to live off of for several years, or multiple years, if your children are young. A the new sole caretaker of your children, it might be difficult for your spouse or partner to go back to work immediately, so they’ll need enough to live on until the kids are old enough.

Medical Bills

Whether you plan on leaving your partner with unpaid medical bills or not, this is something that’s really out of your control. You don’t want to leave your loved ones saddled with thousands of dollars in medical bills, so consider adding any potential ones to the overall amount of your life insurance. This way, you aren’t leaving them stuck paying for procedures and other things for years on end.

Choosing a Life Insurance Amount

As you can see, there are a lot of varied factors to consider when making that crucial life insurance decision. It’s best to sit down and write it all out before contacting your insurance agent to purchase a policy.

Contact Spivey Insurance

Are you ready to purchase life insurance? Do you have questions on how large of a policy is enough? Reach out to Spivey Insurance. Our knowledgeable and well-trained agents can help you make the best life insurance choices for you and your loved ones.