Life Insurance

[C is for]

http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/72159/

When I was first hired by my current full-time job and filling out insurance paperwork I asked my parents (since they were sitting right there watching me) if I even needed life insurance because they weren't depending on my income.

They said yes, absolutely. Funerals are expensive.

So I'm mainly a proponent of life insurance as a courtesy to whoever it is shouldering the costs of my burial. It's a significant chunk of change that could really mess up finances if there's nothing set aside.

[Marduk]

That's a good point, C is for. Most estimates put that around 10k, which seems an adequate amount for a non-essential household income-earner (the income being non-essential, not the person. Obviously.)

[Katya]

Although I don't have dependents, I have life insurance sufficient to cover my student loans, since my parents cosigned on some of them. (And what's left is probably more than enough to cover a burial.)

[NerdGirl]

Also, even if you don't have any dependents now, it's a really good idea to get good life insurance now that will cover what you would want in the future while you are young and can get good life insurance at a decent rate without having to pass a medical exam. I have life insurance like that, and it is a good thing I do because I have subsequently had things happen that would make it much more expensive if I was trying to get it now. I was talking to someone I was working with once who waited until he had kids to try to get life insurance, only to find out that no one will insure him now because of a medical condition he has. If he had done it in his 20s, he wouldn't have had a problem.

[Katya]

That's a good point. I'll look into that.