How Much Is Enough Life Insurance Coverage?

photo credit: bluemodern

One of the hardest decisions to make when trying to purchase a life insurance policy is the amount of coverage you should have. You want to make sure that your family is well taken care of after you’re gone and not having to scrape by – because you didn’t choose a large enough life insurance policy in the first place. Having a plan in place that will allow them to vacation on the French Riviera every year isn’t necessary – though it is possible to have such a plan set up. You basically just want enough of a plan in place to keep them comfortable and not having to worry about their futures after you’re gone.

Hopefully, your estate will have far more investments in it besides a good life insurance policy. You need to have your other financial investments in place to make sure that the life insurance policy isn’t your family’s sole source of income from your estate. Of course, if you’re not married and have no family, your life insurance policy will be tailored completely differently. You may opt to have a smaller policy to take care of a relative or even a special pet – that part is entirely up to yourself.

Too Much or Not Enough?

If you over insure, you’ll probably be throwing money away on the unlikely chance of an early death. That is, unless you’re working in an industry where there are more workplace hazards than normal, such as a mining operation or working at a job in a volatile country. But if you under insure, you will always be worrying about whether it’ll be enough for your family once you’re gone.

Imagine yourself out of the financial picture of your family. If it doesn’t seem like your family will get by with the level of life insurance you chose, raise it until you’d be comfortable stepping out of the picture. The key is to balance what you can realistically afford to pay for now, to get the highest amount of coverage for later.

Tags: coverage levels, estate planning, how much is enough, investments, Life Insurance, tips

This entry was posted on Friday, November 14th, 2008 at 3:47 pm and is filed under Life Insurance & Finances. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.