If you’re a single parent, then the question of whether you should get life insurance is not debatable since too much is at stake.
Being a single parent is challenging and time-consuming which might be the reason why so many single parents don’t give life insurance enough thought.
In fact, 69% of single parents don’t have any life insurance in force according to the 2011 Genworth Financial LifeJacket Study. For a single parent, the most important question is what will your children do if something was to happen to you tomorrow? We understand how busy a parent can be!
Between parenting, maintaining your home, cooking, cleaning, and having a career, all of these job titles don’t really leave much room for a hard working parent to buy life insurance. That doesn’t mean at all that you shouldn’t buy life insurance. As a matter of fact, you should feel obligated to buy life insurance for the sake of your children. That is why we have put together a little something for you to get quick life insurance! The following are some key points from this article;
- Life insurance can help ensure that your children can continue living a lifestyle that you have been providing for them with all your hard work.
- It is super easy to get caught up in your busy life because time literally flies! You probably feel like you’re going 200 mph on the highway every day but you already know that’s the price to pay for having the best parent in the world mug!
- First thing is to figure out how much life insurance you should get and this can be determined either by assuming a face amount where at 5% interest your beneficiaries would get at least 80% of your income replaced.
- Life insurance for single parents is no joking matter and every detail should be taken very seriously. Our agents are highly trained and experienced with advising single parents on their insurance needs.
- In an event of your passing life insurance company will issue a check to whoever you listed in your policy known as the beneficiary.
- One way or another we ask all the single parents out there to do their part and protect your children the best way you can. We are very passionate about this topic because we want your little munchkins to have a great life if anything was to happen to their super parent.
The Importance of Life Insurance
Life insurance can help ensure that your children can continue living a lifestyle that you have been providing for them with all your hard work. It also ensures that your children can go to a college, have shelter and overall have a better shot at life.
If you have more than one child, life insurance can also help make sure the children don’t get separated into different guardians or foster homes. If you have trusted legal guardians it can also help them financially to make it easier to care for your children. It is in your best interest to buy life insurance because when you pass, who will take care of everything?
Let’s face it, you are like the glue that keeps everything intact, without the glue everything will fall apart. You may not be able to leave a part of you to keep everything intact but at least with life insurance, you can provide your family with money to take care of funeral costs and it can even provide income protection for your beneficiaries. This is called death benefits.
If you are a single parent here are some important steps you should follow.
How to get quick life insurance as a single parent
It is super easy to get caught up in your busy life because time literally flies! You probably feel like you’re going 200 mph on the highway every day but you already know that’s the price to pay for having the best parent in the world mug! There are ways to get a life insurance policy quickly and here are some ways to get quick life insurance:
#1. Determine How Much Coverage You Need
First thing is to figure out how much life insurance you should get and this can be determined either by assuming a face amount where at 5% interest your beneficiaries would get at least 80% of your income replaced. Another option is to calculate college tuition, cost of living and a little bit of cushion for each child.
In addition, think about how long you need the coverage to last, so for example, if your child is 5 years old you should get a policy that will provide coverage at least until your child is a legal adult and hopefully has a college education complete. In this case, a 20-year term will do the job. Another quick way to calculate it by simply multiplying your annual income by 10 or 15 times to figure out how much you should have. This is not as good as a needs analysis but better than guessing.
#2 Shop around for quotes, or work with us!
Life insurance for single parents is no joking matter and every detail should be taken very seriously. Our agents are highly trained and experienced with advising single parents on their insurance needs. We will conduct a detailed needs analysis, pick a reputable company and help you pick best face amount disbursement. We always recommend for our clients to shop around for quotes of their own so they can get an idea of how much their life insurance policy will be.
However, if you’re a busy parent you probably have zero time to look around and that’s why we recommend for you to work with us! Working with us means that all your life insurance needs will be taken care of with only 10-15 minutes of your actual time. You don’t have to DIY, do it yourself when you have us to call and do all the work for you!
We are an independent life insurance brokerage who work with over 60 top A rated companies and we will not give up until we have found you the best life insurance company to buy coverage from. Once we find that company and they are offering you the best rating, cheapest premium, but with a fat face value, then we will do the whole application for you with you on the phone and in 10-15 minutes it will be over and we will send in the application for you.
#3. Buy a no medical exam policy!
In case you don’t already know a no medical exam policy is exactly as it reads, it is a policy that doesn’t require a medical exam to get the coverage you need. Without a medical exam you can receive coverage of up to $500,000 and the best part of this policy is that you don’t have to schedule an appointment for your medical exam knowing that you’re a busy parent you really don’t have the time of day to spend the whole day waiting for your nurse and undergoing the whole procedure.
That’s why your best option as a single parent is to go for a no medical exam policy. Another upside to getting a no medical exam policy is that your whole coverage process will take from 15 minutes to 72 hours rather than 6-8 weeks!
It is also important to note that within the last few years no exam options cost almost the same as a traditional plan so if you need less than $500,000 of life insurance you should go with no exam anyway.
#4. Who gets the check? Time to list your beneficiaries
Now that we know how much coverage you will need, who to work with, and what policy to get we can move on to the next topic. Even though it’s listed as a fourth step, this is the most important one. In an event of your passing life insurance company will issue a check to whoever you listed in your policy known as the beneficiary. Here are some ways people set up their policies and our professional advice on them:
A. Name a legal guardian-this can be the easiest and most cost-effective option if you truly trust the appointed guardians with allocating the fund in the best interest of your children and not their personal use. This is our least favorite option unless like stated before the guardian is an absolute saint(usually grandparents). Reason for the guardian is that if your children are under the age of 18 they won’t be able to receive the proceeds and the decision will be in courts hands.
B. List children– A lot of people just put their children as the beneficiaries which are usually done without knowing the specifics pertaining to minors getting life insurance proceeds. In most states a person under the age of 18 sometimes 21 cannot receive any life insurance proceeds until they reach the legal age. This sometimes will also create a lengthy legal process for the court to assign a guardian which can lead to that person getting the life insurance money. The benefit in this situation is that at least the court will go through a process to determine who will take care of proceeds.
C. Trust as beneficiary– In our professional opinion, this is by far the best option since it is the best way for you to set how and when the proceeds will be distributed to the trustees. For example, you can set a trust to provide a portion of the proceeds to the guardian to help with the cost of raising your children but then have the trust release a separate amount to your child when they turn 18 for college and maybe another portion at age 25 for a home purchase. What’s even more perfect than you leaving a set of instructions on how the money should be used if you die. Setting a trust up can cost you a little bit of money, it is in your best interest to use a lawyer to get this done. It is also important to notify your life insurance agent and company that a trust has been set up.
D. UTMA– If setting up a trust is too costly for you, there may be another cheap alternative known as Uniform Transfers to Minors Act. This act allows you to name a custodian on the account who has no right to the money but rather can guide your child in what gets approved or denied as a purchase. You can set this up free or at very low cost and it can be a great way to protect your beneficiaries.
Work with us!
Many people hold off on purchasing life insurance because they believe life insurance is expensive but the truth is that term life insurance rates are at an all-time low. Many people can secure a term life insurance policy for $10-$50 per month depending on the amount of coverage. Now before we forget to mention that having no money is no excuse for not getting life insurance coverage.
Even though we are not affiliated with this carrier since they are a captive company. MassMutual offers free life insurance for people with certain income levels and this program is called LifeBridge. You should be able to get $50,000 life insurance that will be paid out to your children if anything was to happen to you. If you earn between $10,000 to $40,000 and are between ages of 19 and 42 then you most likely qualify. By the way, this is a very honorable thing that Mass Mutual is doing and we want to give them kudos for that!!! For more information here is the link: Mass Mutual
Life Insurance for single parents may not be an easy topic to face but its one that’s more important than ever. One way or another we ask all the single parents out there to do their part and protect your children the best way you can. We are very passionate about this topic because we want your little munchkins to have a great life if anything was to happen to their super parent.
Call us for any questions at 888-492-1967 or compare term life insurance rates online.
