Life Insurance for People with Grown-up Children

A common question that lurks at the back of many individuals’ minds is whether they should buy life insurance when their kids have grown up? The answer is yes. Below are 10 reasons to buy life insurance after your kids have reached adulthood:

1. Funding Kids' College Education

As soon as the kids graduate from high school, social security benefits are no longer paid to the living spouse. If your kids are still in college, you will still need some kind of financial support to help them finish their education. If you have a life insurance policy, it will take care of your child's needs until they become capable of looking after themselves.

2. Looking after Other Dependents/Family Members

If there are other dependents in your family such as handicapped parents or children, they will require financial help after your death. A life insurance policy will make sure that they don't experience any kind of financial difficulty when you or your spouse expires.

3. The Social Security “Blackout Period”

According to a recent study, 20% of elderly widows/widowers live below the poverty line, compared to 5% of married women. One way to ensure that you are not among this statistic is to secure a life insurance policy early on. As we have already discussed, social security benefits are applicable only until children turn 18. After that the surviving spouse will start receiving benefits at the age of 60. The 42 year interval when the spouse doesn't get any benefit is known as the “blackout period”

4. Subsidizing Lost Retirement Savings

A life insurance policy helps to make up for the financial loss that a surviving partner might face in the absence or reduction of retirement savings.

5. Subsidizing Decreased Social Security Survivor’s Benefits

When a surviving spouse starts receiving social security survivor’s benefits prior to the full-benefit age limit, he/she gets reduced Social Security survivor’s benefits. In such cases, a life insurance policy makes up for this loss.

6. Meeting Financial Commitments

Some couples take out home loans with the intention of paying them off using their combined income. When one of them dies, a life insurance plan helps the surviving partner to honor their loan repayments.

7. Paying Unpremeditated Expenditures

Generally, most people do not save money to cover burial or funeral costs, final medical bills, state and federal income and estate taxes. By taking out a life insurance policy, these expenses can be taken care of with ease.

8. Saving for the Future

In order to meet unexpected expenses, every family should save up to half a year's income. In the absence of such savings, the family of a deceased earner can land up with financial problems. A life insurance policy can help a great deal to overcome this financial loss and leave the grieving family in peace without having to worry about loss of income or meeting repayments.

9. To Create Inheritance for Offspring and Charities

A life insurance policy can be used to create a legacy for heirs and/or charitable organizations. After the death of the insured, the death benefit is paid to these beneficiaries.

10. Supplementing Social Security Retirement Benefits

After a couple retires from work, each one of them starts getting social security retirement benefits, provided they are 60 years of age or over. The partner who used to earn more gets a larger benefit. In this instance, when one of the partners dies, the bigger benefit is passed on to the surviving spouse but there is a drastic decrease in overall income. A life insurance policy can be of vital help to make up for this loss.