What is life insurance?

The best way to answer that is for you to think about who depends on you and for what. Your family may count on you for such things as house payments, education expenses and a certain lifestyle. The right amount of life insurance (it might be term life insurance, universal life insurance, whole life insurance or a combination) can help guarantee all these things for your family in the event of your untimely death.

Why do you need life insurance?

Life insurance can help:

Replace income your family would need to maintain their standard of living.
Pay off your mortgage loan or other personal and business debts. If you rent your home, it can create a fund for future rent payment.
Create an education fund for your children.
Pay final expenses, such as funeral costs, credit-card debt and taxes.
Create a family emergency fund.
Protect future insurability – no matter what your future health, your policy will stay in force as long as premiums are paid.
Build cash values on a tax-favored basis – in permanent life insurance plans. When the policy is properly funded, these cash values can be borrowed through policy loans.