Everything you need to know about life insurance, in one place - Business Insider

Personal Finance Insider writes about products, strategies, and tips to help you make smart decisions with your money. We may receive a small commission from our partners, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.Shopping for life insurance can be intimidating. There's so much information out there that it's hard to know where to start.If you want to learn more about life insurance, figure out if it's for you, and get some tips on where to start (comparison site Policygenius is usually a good move), you've come to the right place.We've gathered some of Business Insider's most helpful articles to answer your burning questions, from who needs life insurance, to how much, to where to get it.Life insurance seems like a big deal.But setting it up is surprisingly easy, and paying for it can be surprisingly affordable.If you think you might need life insurance, but you're intimidated by the seriousness of it all or don't know where to start, we've gathered some of Business Insider's most helpful articles in one place. If you want to learn more about life insurance, figure out if it's for you, and get some tips on where to start, you've come to the right place.Who needs life insurance？If you have dependents — that's people who rely on your income, like children, a non-working spouse, or aging parents you support — you need life insurance. If you don't have dependents but do have debt or own a business, you might also want to consider it.Read more »How much life insurance do I need？Traditionally, the rule of thumb is to get life insurance worth 10 times your annual income — so if you make $75,000 a year, you'd get $750,000 worth of coverage. However, some experts consider that to be a low estimate, especially if you'd want your life insurance payout to cover your child's college tuition, or if you have a mortgage on your home you'd want to pay off. Some people choose to get millions in coverage.Read more »How much does life insurance cost？There are two types of life insurance: term life and whole life. Term life, which covers policyholders for a set term (like 30 years), is our recommendation for most people primarily because it's much more affordable than whole life.Depending on your profile and your coverage needs, it's possible to get term life insurance coverage for as little as $25 a month or less. When you sign up for a term policy, your payment is fixed, meaning unless you change your coverage needs, you'll be paying that $25 a month for the entire 30 years.Read more »Does life insurance cost more now that there's a global pandemic？In short, no. Business Insider's Liz Knueven reports that online life insurance agencies — despite a surge in applications — say getting term life insurance is just as easy, and just as cheap, as it was before the pandemic.“If you're a healthy young person and you're applying for life insurance, your rates shouldn't be changed due to this coronavirus,” Allison Kade, a marketing director at online life insurance agency Fabric, told Knueven. “The underwriting process is the same if you were to apply today as if you were to apply two months ago.”Where should I get life insurance？Every insurer evaluates potential applicants slightly differently, so you'll want to get multiple quotes to see who can offer the most coverage at the best monthly price. You can start by getting quotes from:Policygenius, a life-insurance comparison site. Read more about Policygenius »Bestow, an online insurer which offers term life policies for as little as two years at a time. Read more about Bestow »Haven Life, an online company which offers coverage without a medical exam Read more about Haven Life »Fabric, an online insurer geared toward parents with kids living at home.

I already have life insurance through work. Is that enough？As financial adviser Jeff Rose says, “the only people who have enough life insurance through work are the ones who don't need it.” Employer-sponsored life insurance policies tend to offer limited coverage, and their chief drawback is that generally you won't be covered any longer if you leave your job.That's not to say you shouldn't sign up for the policy offered by your job — only that you'll want to strongly consider adding an independent policy as well.Read more »I'm going to have a baby — when should I get life insurance？For life insurance, the sooner, the better. Life insurance coverage typically gets more expensive as you age and become riskier — in the eyes of an insurance company — to cover. If you can, you'll want to get life insurance before you have a child, if only because you're currently younger and presumably healthier than you'll ever be (plus, it's nice to cross a chore off the list before you have a newborn).Read more »What if I don't have children？ Should I have life insurance？Most people think about life insurance in terms of leaving money to their children should they pass away, but really it's for leaving money to dependents. That's anyone relying on your income to live, including aging parents you support or non-working spouses.Some people choose to get life insurance even if they don't have dependents, for a variety of reasons:They have debt they don't want their family members or cosigners to have to assumeThey want to leave money to pay the full cost of a funeral and burial so their loved ones don't have to pay for itThey own a business and want to use the policy as collateral to borrow money or to keep things running if they pass away They want to help their same-gender spouse is taken care of, even if the courts overturn their marriage in the future