Raising a Family

We can help you protect the life you’re building.

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Life transitions offer the perfect reminder to consider your life insurance coverage.

If you are getting married or welcoming children, congratulations! Marriage, birth, and adoption, should all prompt a review of your family’s life insurance coverage (and your beneficiary designations) for a couple of reasons:

• Married couples often rely on each other’s income, and a life insurance policy should reflect that – providing income replacement if one of you were to pass away.
• The birth or adoption of a child brings new financial obligations. Children are expensive to raise, and if you also want to ensure that each of your children has an education fund, you’ll want to update your coverage amount accordingly. You may also want to consider adding a child rider to your policy – this allows you to add on life insurance coverage for your dependent children at a low cost.

Think about the costs that your new family might bring.

Life insurance is especially important if you plan to make large purchases together with your spouse, like buying or renovating a home, buying a car or boat, or otherwise spending large sums of money. These debts will need to be repaid even if one of you passes away, which could put the survivor in a financial bind. Material considerations in choosing your coverage amount include your salaries, the amount of debt you have acquired, and your assets. Knowing you have enough coverage in place can provide peace of mind for years to come.

Purchasing a term life insurance policy to cover child-related costs as well as the cost of higher education can ensure that your child’s standard of living is maintained even if something were to happen to you or your spouse while they were young. Once your child is out of the house, has graduated from college, and is no longer relying on you financially, that specific need for life insurance coverage may lessen. Note that if you have a child with special needs who is a lifelong dependent, you may be better served by a permanent insurance policy. This type of policy will pay a death benefit upon your death no matter when it occurs, and you can designate the beneficiary of your policy to be a Special Needs Trust with instructions on how to financially care for your child.