Life insurance for newlyweds is usually not your focus as you prepare for the on the big day But after you are married, it’s an important topic for young couples.
Many people don’t think about getting life insurance until they have children. You may not need a lot of life insurance as a newlywed couple without children, but you at least need some basic life insurance coverage.
Marriage means accepting responsibility for another life. Once the honeymoon is over, it’s time to get back to real life and what that responsibility really means.
Life insurance for newlyweds should be on your agenda because it gives you peace of mind knowing you will be able to take care of your new spouse if something happens to you.
Most newlyweds are enthusiastically looking forward to a happy and healthy life together and this can easily obscure the unfortunate reality that bad things happen to people every day. Being prepared is a selfless act that makes it possible to support a surviving spouse as well as any children so they can continue without a financial burden. Read below to learn about Term vs. Whole Life Insurance.
Term life insurance is the most affordable type because the coverage does not last a lifetime. Instead, your insurance will last for a term of 10-30 years. This type of policy has no cash value accumulation. That means you will need to pay your premium every month but you will get nothing back if the policy eventually expires.
You will have guaranteed death benefits for as long as the policy is in effect. The premium you pay will likely be fixed for a certain period of time and then it may get higher.
Cash Value Life Insurance
How about cash value life insurance? This type of life insurance does cost more to begin with, but will remain in force for the insured’s entire life as long as the premiums are paid. This type of insurance has a built-in savings account that grows tax-deferred over the life of the policy, which can then be used as retirement savings. Though more expensive, more of the cash value policies pay out their death benefits than term policies. Plus, cash value policies can eventually accumulate to the point where they become paid up, which means that you won’t have to make any more premium payments to keep the policy in force.
Cash value accumulation can eventually become a substantial asset for you after you have paid premiums into the policy for many years. And policy loans may not need to be repaid, but rather they will simply reduce the amount of cash value and face value remaining in the policy. There are several types of cash value policies.
Whole Life Insurance
Whole life insurance is more expensive than term insurance because it lasts a lifetime. Whole policy premiums are fixed for the rest of your life, as long as you make your payments, and the policy has guaranteed cash value. This means your policy will actually build value that you can borrow against.
Universal Life Insurance
Universal life insurance has flexible life insurance premiums and pays interest to the policy’s cash value. It is different in that its death benefit can fluctuate. The rate of interest that it pays will also fluctuate according to prevailing interest rates. Some universal life insurance policies pay interest that is calculated according to the performance of an underlying financial benchmark, such as the S&P 500 Index.
Variable Universal Life Insurance
Variable universal life insurance invests its cash value in a collection of mutual fund sub-accounts, which invest in stocks, bonds, cash and real estate. The cash value in this type of policy is not guaranteed and will rise and fall with the stock and bond markets. Regardless of the type of cash value insurance you have, you will be able to access the cash value in your policy at any time. You can do this either by direct withdrawal or by taking out a loan against the policy, but the death benefit will be reduced by any outstanding loan amount when the policy pays it out.
Which One to Choose
When it comes to deciding which life insurance policy is best for you, you’ll want to consider the different factors. For instance, what is your disposable income? Do you have debt obligations? What are your financial needs? Be sure to shop around online, as well as in person, so that you get several life insurance quotes from different companies before you purchase any type of coverage. Doing this will give you a better idea of what’s available. Your financial adviser or life insurance agent can also help you find the policy that works the best for you. Make sure to check out this life and viatical settlement calculator.
What are your plans for choosing a life insurance policy?
