This Buyer's Guide can help you make smart choices when buying life insurance: how much to buy; which type of product to buy; and which one of the hundreds of life insurance companies to choose.

Why should I buy life insurance?

Many financial experts consider life insurance to be the cornerstone of sound financial planning. It can be an important tool in the following situations:

1. Replace income for dependents If people depend on your income, life insurance can replace that income for them if you die. The most commonly recognized case of this is parents with young children. However, it can also apply to couples in which the survivor would be financially stricken by the income lost through the death of a partner, and to dependent adults, such as parents, siblings or adult children who continue to rely on you financially. Insurance to replace your income can be especially useful if the government- or employer-sponsored benefits of your surviving spouse or domestic partner will be reduced after your death.
2. Pay final expenses Life insurance can pay your funeral and burial costs, probate and other estate administration costs, debts and medical expenses not covered by health insurance.
3. Create an inheritance for your heirs Even if you have no other assets to pass to your heirs, you can create an inheritance by buying a life insurance policy and naming them as beneficiaries.
4. Pay federal "death" taxes and state "death" taxes Life insurance benefits can pay estate taxes so that your heirs will not have to liquidate other assets or take a smaller inheritance. Changes in the federal "death" tax rules between now and January 1, 2011 will likely lessen the impact of this tax on some people, but some states are offsetting those federal decreases with increases in their state-level "death" taxes.
5. Make significant charitable contributions By making a charity the beneficiary of your life insurance, you can make a much larger contribution than if you donated the cash equivalent of the policy's premiums.
6. Create a source of savings Some types of life insurance create a cash value that, if not paid out as a death benefit, can be borrowed or withdrawn on the owner's request. Since most people make paying their life insurance policy premiums a high priority, buying a cash-value type policy can create a kind of "forced" savings plan. Furthermore, the interest credited is tax deferred (and tax exempt if the money is paid as a death claim). .

How much life insurance do I need?

In most cases, if you have no dependents and have enough money to pay your final expenses, you don't need any life insurance.

If you want to create an inheritance or make a charitable contribution, buy enough life insurance to achieve those goals.

If you have dependents, buy enough life insurance so that, when combined with other sources of income, it will replace the income you now generate for them, plus enough to offset any additional expenses they will incur to replace services you provide (for a simple example, if you do your own taxes, the survivors might have to hire a professional tax preparer). Also, your family might need extra money to make some changes after you die. For example, they may want to relocate, or your spouse may need to go back to school to be in a better position to help support the family.

You should also plan to replace "hidden income" that would be lost at death. Hidden income is income that you receive through your employment but that isn't part of your gross wages. It includes things like your employer's subsidy of your health insurance premium, the matching contribution to your 401(k) plan, and many other "perks," large and small. This is an often-overlooked insurance need: the cost of replacing just your health insurance and retirement contributions could be the equivalent of $2,000 per month or more.

Of course, you should also plan for expenses that arise at death. These include the funeral costs, taxes and administrative costs associated with "winding up" an estate and passing property to heirs. At a minimum, plan for $15,000.

Other sources of income

Most families have some sources of post-death income besides life insurance. The most common source is Social Security survivors' benefits.

Social Security survivors' benefits can be substantial. For example, for a 35-year-old person who was earning a $36,000 salary at death, maximum Social Security survivors' monthly income benefits for a spouse and two children under age 18 could be about $2,400 per month, and this amount would increase each year to match inflation. (It drops slightly when the survivors are a spouse and one child under 18, and stops completely when there are no children under 18. Also, the surviving spouse's benefit would be reduced if he or she earns income over a certain limit.)

Many also have life insurance through an employer plan, and some from another affiliation, such as through an association they belong to or a credit card. If you have a vested pension benefit, it might have a death component. Although these sources might provide a lot of income, they rarely provide enough. And it probably isn't wise to count on death benefits that are connected with a particular job, since you might die after switching to a different job, or while you are unemployed.

A multiple of salary?

Many pundits recommend buying life insurance equal to a multiple of your salary. For example, one financial advice columnist recommends buying insurance equal to 20 times your salary before taxes. She chose 20 because, if the benefit is invested in bonds that pay 5 percent interest, it would produce an amount equal to your salary at death, so the survivors could live off the interest and wouldn't have to "invade" the principal.

However, this simplistic formula implicitly assumes no inflation and assumes that one could assemble a bond portfolio that, after expenses, would provide a 5 percent interest stream every year. But assuming inflation is 3 percent per year, the purchasing power of a gross income of $50,000 would drop to about $38,300 in the 10th year. To avoid this income drop-off, the survivors would have to "invade" the principal each year. And if they did, they would run out of money in the 16th year.

The "multiple of salary" approach also ignores other sources of income, such as those mentioned previously.

A simple example

Suppose a surviving spouse didn't work and had two children, ages 4 and 1, in her care. Suppose her deceased husband earned $36,000 at death and was covered by Social Security but had no other death benefits or life insurance. Assume the surviving spouse is 36.

Assume that the deceased spent $6,000 from income on his own living expenses and the cost of working. Assume, for simplicity, that the deceased performed services for the family (such as property maintenance, income tax and other financial management, and occasional child care) for which the survivors will need to pay $6,000 per year. Assume that the survivors will have to buy health insurance to replace the coverage the deceased had at work, and that this will cost $12,000 per year.

Taken together, the survivors will need to replace the equivalent of $48,000 of income, adjusted each year for an assumed 4 percent inflation.

Thanks to Social Security, the survivors would need life insurance to replace only about $1,700 per month of lost wage income (adjusted for inflation) for 14 years until the older child reaches 18; Social Security would provide the rest. The survivors would need life insurance to replace about $2,100 per month (adjusted for inflation) for three more years when the non-working surviving spouse has only one child under 18 in her care.

The life insurance amount needed today to provide the $1,700 and $2,100 monthly amounts is roughly $360,000. Adding $15,000 for funeral and other final expenses brings the minimum life insurance needed for the example to $375,000.

What's left out?

The example leaves out some potentially significant unmet financial needs, such as:

• The surviving spouse will have no income from Social Security from age 53 until 60 unless the deceased buys additional life insurance to cover this period. It could be assumed that the surviving spouse will obtain a job at or before this time, but she could also become disabled or otherwise unable to work. If life insurance were bought for this period, the additional amount of insurance needed would be about $335,000.
• Some people like to plan to use life insurance to pay off the home mortgage at the primary income earner's death, so that the survivors are less likely to face the threat of losing their home. If life insurance were bought for this goal, the additional amount of insurance needed is the amount of the unpaid balance on the mortgage.
• Some people like to provide money to pay to send their children to college out of their life insurance. We may assume that each child will attend a public college for four years and will need $15,000 per year. However, college costs have been rising faster than inflation for many decades, and this trend is unlikely to slow down. If life insurance were bought for this goal, the additional amount of insurance needed would be about $200,000.
• In the example, no money is planned for the surviving spouse's retirement, except for what the spouse would be entitled to receive from Social Security (about $1,200 per month). It could be assumed that the surviving spouse will obtain a job and will either participate in an employer's retirement plan or save with an IRA, but she could also become disabled or otherwise unable to work. If life insurance were bought to provide the equivalent of $4000 per month starting at age 60 until 65 and $3,000 per month from 65 on (because at 65 Medicare will make carrying private health insurance unnecessary), the additional amount of insurance needed would be about $465,000.

What are the principal types of life insurance?

There are two major types of life insurance-term and whole life. Whole life is sometimes called permanent life insurance, and it encompasses several subcategories, including traditional whole life, universal life, variable life and variable universal life. In 2003, about 6.4 million individual life insurance policies bought were term and about 7.1 million were whole life.

Life insurance products for groups are different from life insurance sold to individuals. The information below focuses on life insurance sold to individuals.

Term

Term Insurance is the simplest form of life insurance. It pays only if death occurs during the term of the policy, which is usually from one to 30 years. Most term policies have no other benefit provisions.

There are two basic types of term life insurance policies-level term and decreasing term.

• Level term means that the death benefit stays the same throughout the duration of the policy.
• Decreasing term means that the death benefit drops, usually in one-year increments, over the course of the policy's term.

In 2003, virtually all (97 percent) of the term life insurance bought was level term.

Whole Life/Permanent

Whole life or permanent insurance pays a death benefit whenever you die-even if you live to 100! There are three major types of whole life or permanent life insurance-traditional whole life, universal life, and variable universal life, and there are variations within each type.

In the case of traditional whole life, both the death benefit and the premium are designed to stay the same (level) throughout the life of the policy. The cost per $1,000 of benefit increases as the insured person ages, and it obviously gets very high when the insured lives to 80 and beyond. The insurance company could charge a premium that increases each year, but that would make it very hard for most people to afford life insurance at advanced ages. So the comapny keeps the premium level by charging a premium that, in the early years, is higher than what's needed to pay claims, investing that money, and then using it to supplement the level premium to help pay the cost of life insurance for older people.

By law, when these "overpayments" reach a certain amount, they must be available to the policyowner as a cash value if he or she decides not to continue with the original plan. The cash value is an alternative, not an additional, benefit under the policy.

In the 1970s and 1980s, life insurance companies introduced two variations on the traditional whole life product-universal life insurance and variable universal life insurance.

How is life insurance sold?

You can buy life insurance either as an "individual" or as part of a "group" plan.

Individual Policy

When you buy an individual policy, you choose the company, the plan, and the benefits and features that are right for you and your family. You might be able to buy the policy from the same agent or company representative who sells you property and liability insurance for your home, auto or business. And although you won't qualify for any discounts by buying your life insurance and other insurance from the same representative, working with a single advisor for all your insurance needs can make your financial life simpler.

Individual policies are typically sold through insurance agents or brokers. If you buy a policy through an agent or broker, you will pay a commission, also called a "load," that is built into the premium rate. The commission compensates the agent or broker for the time spent advising you on how much and what type of life insurance to buy, for facilitating the application process, and for any further service that's needed in future years to keep the policy up-to-date (such as changing beneficiary designations, arranging policy loans or coordinating your financial plans with your lawyer and accountant).

There are two other ways to buy individual life insurance. In Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York, you can buy it from a savings bank. Or you can buy a policy directly from an insurance company or from a fee-only financial advisor-what's known as a "no load" or "low load" policy. Although there is no sales commission on these policies, the company will still have charges built into the premium to cover its marketing expenses, application processing expenses and subsequent services. Finding an insurance company that will sell you a no-load policy isn't easy; typing in "no load life insurance" on Internet search engines will in many cases lead you to an agent or broker.

Group Policy

You might have life insurance automatically from your employer; many large companies do this. Your employer also might offer you the chance to buy additional life insurance under a group policy. And you might be eligible to buy life insurance under a group policy from a union or trade association or other group you belong to (such as a college alumni association or an automobile club).

Compared to buying an individual life insurance policy, there are several advantages to buying life insurance under a group policy:

• Group purchase can sometimes offer you a lower rate for a given death benefit either because the employer or other group sponsor subsidizes the premium or because the rates are averages weighted by people younger than you.
• There are virtually no health qualifications for getting the group coverage.
• Premium payment is usually by payroll deduction (for employer-based group coverage) or linked with other payments (e.g., credit card bills), lowering the chance of missing a payment.

Most employer group plans are term insurance, but if you leave that employer your state may require that you be allowed to convert the policy to a form of whole life insurance with the same insurance company that provides the group life insurance. You would then pay premiums directly to the company and keep the insurance in force. This can be an advantage if you are older, or have experienced deteriorating health, as it gives you the opportunity to qualify for whole life insurance without having a medical exam.

Credit Life Insurance

Credit cards and lending institutions may offer life insurance to pay off your outstanding loans in the event of your death. This is generally made available in two ways:

1. As part of the loan at no extra charge. In this case the cost of the life insurance is borne by the lender and is included in its interest rate or other finance charges. If you have this type of credit life insurance, you don't need separate life insurance to pay off that loan if you die.
2. As an option at an extra charge. In this case, you should usually reject the optional coverage, provided that you have some other life insurance (group or individual) that can be designated to pay off the loan if you die. If you're under age 50 and you don't have other insurance that could pay off this loan, consider buying individual life insurance for this purpose as the rates will probably be better. At 50 or over (or younger with health issues), if you have no other life insurance for this purpose, the optional credit life insurance is likely to be cheaper than individual life insurance.

What is a beneficiary?

A beneficiary is the person or entity you name in a life insurance policy to receive the death benefit. You can name:

• One person
• Two or more people
• The trustee of a trust you've set up
• A charity
• Your estate

If you don't name a beneficiary, the death benefit will be paid to your estate.

Two "levels" of beneficiaries

Your life insurance policy should have both "primary" and "contingent" beneficiaries. The primary beneficiary gets the death benefits if he or she can be found after your death. Contingent beneficiaries get the death benefits if the primary beneficiary can't be found. If no primary or contingent beneficiaries can be found, the death benefit will be paid to your estate.

As part of naming beneficiaries, you should identify them as clearly as possible and include their social security numbers. This will make it easier for the life insurance company to find them, and it will make it less likely that disputes will arise regarding the death benefits. For example, if you write "wife [or husband] of the insured" without using a specific name, an ex-spouse could claim the death benefit. On the other hand, if you have named specific children, any later-born or adopted children will not receive the death benefit-unless you change the beneficiary designation to include them.

Besides naming beneficiaries, you should specify how the benefits are to be handled if one or more beneficiaries can't be found. For example, suppose you have two children and you name each one to receive half of the death benefit. If one of the children dies before you do, do you want the other child to get the entire death benefit, or the deceased child's heirs to get his or her share?

If the death benefit goes to your estate, probate proceedings could delay distributing the money, and the cost of probate could diminish the amount available to your heirs.

Choosing beneficiaries, and keeping those choices up-to-date, is an important part of owning life insurance. The birth or adoption of a child, marriage or divorce can affect your initial choice. Review your beneficiary designation as new situations arise in order to make sure your choice is still appropriate.

How should I choose what type of life insurance to buy?

You should consider term life insurance if:

• You need life insurance for a specific period of time. Term life insurance enables you to match the length of the term policy to the length of the need. For example, if you have young children and want to ensure that there will be funds to pay for their college education, you might buy 20-year term life insurance. Or if you want the insurance to repay a debt that will be paid off in a specified time period, buy a term policy for that period.
• You need a large amount of life insurance, but have a limited budget. In general, this type of insurance pays only if you die during the term of the policy, so the rate per thousand of death benefit is lower than for permanent forms of life insurance. If you are still alive at the end of the term, coverage stops unless the policy is renewed. Unlike permanent insurance, you will not build equity in the form of cash savings. If you think your financial needs may change, you may also want to look into "convertible" term policies. These allow you to convert to permanent insurance without a medical examination in exchange for higher premiums.

Keep in mind that premiums are lowest when you are young and increase upon renewal as you age. Some term insurance policies can be renewed when the policy ends, but the premium will generally increase. Some policies require a medical examination at renewal to qualify for the lowest rates.

You should consider permanent life insurance if:

• You need life insurance for as long as you live. A permanent policy pays a death benefit whether you die tomorrow or live to be 100.
• You want to accumulate a savings element that will grow on a tax-deferred basis and could be a source of borrowed funds for a variety of purposes. The savings element can be used to pay premiums to keep the life insurance in force if you can't pay them otherwise, or it can be used for any other purpose you choose. You can borrow these funds even if your credit is shaky. The death benefit is collateral for the loan, and if you die before it's repaid, the insurance company collects what is due the company before determining what's goes to your beneficiary. Keep in mind that premiums for permanent policies are generally higher than for term insurance. However, the premium in a permanent policy remains the same no matter how old you are, while term can go up substantially every time you renew it.

There are a number of different types of permanent insurance policies, such as whole (ordinary) life, universal life, variable life, and variable/universal life.

How can I save money on life insurance?

There are ways to save money when buying life insurance, but they don't always entail paying a lower premium immediately. As your top priority, look for a policy that meets your needs. Buying the wrong benefits for a low premium is a waste, not a saving. Beyond that, here are some ways to maximize your life insurance dollars.

Before you buy

Once you've determined what type of life insurance product to buy:

1. Focus on financially sound companies. Dozens of companies sell life insurance. Limit yourself to companies with high ratings from two or more independent rating agencies. A low premium from a shaky company isn't a good buy.
2. Shop around to get a sense of the premium you're likely to pay. Quote services on the Internet may serve this purpose, or you can ask an agent or broker to get you a premium estimate.
   
   As part of this research, determine which rate class you'll fit into. Most companies that sell individual life insurance have several different price classes-usually called "preferred (non-tobacco)," "standard (non-tobacco)," "preferred (tobacco)," and "standard (tobacco)." A small percentage of people have health conditions or histories that disqualify them for even "standard" rates. Many in this group will be offered insurance at "impaired risk" or "nonstandard" rates.
3. Look into group insurance. Consider participating in your employer-sponsored life insurance program, even if you have to contribute to it financially. Employers often subsidize their group insurance costs, so it can be less expensive than individual life insurance. You might obtain coverage up to a certain level without providing evidence of good health, an advantage for some people. You'll probably pay premiums through payroll deduction, which can be a nice convenience. However, make sure to compare group and individual rates, as depending on your age and health status, group insurance may or may not provide a savings. In comparing group to individual life insurance, remember that if you have over $50,000 of group life insurance, IRS tables determine how much it costs to provide the amount over $50,000 and charges you taxable income for that cost.
4. Take care of yourself. Find out into which rate class you'll be grouped and, if necessary, consider making some lifestyle changes-don't smoke, maintain a healthy weight and exercise regularly-to qualify for a more favorable rate class.

When you're ready to buy

1. Shop around to get a good rate. Life insurance is a very competitive business, and you'll find differences of hundreds of dollars (for annual premiums) even among financially strong companies for essentially the same policy.
2. Consider the net cost index. How can you compare two policies, one with premiums that start lower than the other but later are higher than the other? Or one with low premiums and a low cash value, the other with higher premiums and a higher cash value? Use a net cost index-a standard method for collapsing these variables into one number. The lower the number, the better, but ignore small differences (since the indexes are approximations based on assumptions, small differences might not signal true differences in values). The agent or broker with whom you're dealing, or the company from which you're considering buying a policy, will provide these index numbers.
3. Be aware of premium discounts for particular amounts of insurance. Most companies offer rate discounts for specified insurance amounts. For example, you might actually pay a smaller premium for $250,000 of life insurance than for $200,000, or for $500,000 of life insurance than for $450,000, because a discount "kicks in" at the higher insurance amount.
4. Beware of "fractional premiums". Typically, you can pay your life insurance premium once a year, once every half-year, once a quarter, or once a month. Although paying quarterly or monthly might seem to be easier to fit into your budget, some companies levy high charges for paying premiums frequently. Others levy quite small charges to do this. If a company levies high charges for paying more frequently, try budgeting so that you can pay your premium only once or twice a year.
5. If you're buying a term policy, look for renewal guarantees. A renewal guarantee gives you the right to start a new term after the current one ends, paying a higher premium based on your current age, but without requiring you to undergo a new health exam or submit any other "evidence of insurability." Without the guarantee, you'd have to shop for life insurance all over again, and if your health has deteriorated, you might have to pay much more or not get it at all.

© Insurance Information Institute, Inc. - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED -

Selecting a life insurance policy that’s right for you is a major decision. This article helps you understand when term life insurance is a good choice.

As the name implies, term insurance provides protection for a specific period of time and generally pays a benefit only if you die during the “term.” Term periods range from one year to 30 years, with 20 years being the one of the more common durations.

A big advantages of term insurance is its lower initial cost in comparison to permanent insurance. Why is term life insurance cheaper when initially purchased? Because with term insurance, you only pay for the death benefit, that is, the cash payment your beneficiaries will receive if you die during the term of the policy. Permanent insurance premiums, on the other hand, are generally higher because a portion of each premium is applied to the savings portion of the policy; generally known as the "cash value."

Term insurance is often a good choice for people in their family-formation years, especially if they’re on a tight budget, because it allows them to buy high levels of coverage when the need for protection is often greatest. Term insurance is also a good option for covering needs that will disappear in time. For instance, if paying for college is a major financial concern but you’re pretty sure that you won’t need life insurance coverage after the kids graduate, then it might make sense to buy a term policy that will get you through the college years.

• How do insurance companies classify individuals for rate purposes?
• What questions should I ask my life insurance agent?
• What should I watch out for when buying life insurance?
• How do I compare the cost of several insurance policies?
• Do I really need life insurance?
• How much life insurance should I buy?
• What type of life insurance should I buy?
• Should kids have life insurance?
• How do I balance life insurance with my other investments?

How do insurance companies classify individuals for rate purposes?

In order to be able to shop for the best premiums, it’s a good idea to know how premiums are calculated by insurers. Bear in mind that premiums vary among insurance companies, and it is a good idea to ask several insurers for their rates.

Insurance companies place individuals into four risk groups: preferred, standard, substandard, or uninsurable. A terminal illness at the time you apply for insurance will render you uninsurable. Having some type of chronic illness will place you in the substandard category. People with conditions such as diabetes or heart disease can be insured, but will pay higher premiums.

If you have a high risk job or hobby, you will be considered substandard, a high risk.

The premiums charged will be commensurate with the category you are placed in. Thus, a standard risk will pay an average premium for similarly situated insurers.

Tip: One company’s category for you may not hold with another company. Thus, it still pays to shop for insurance with other companies even though one may have labeled you "substandard."

Tip: Once an insurance company approves you for coverage, you cannot be dropped unless you stop paying your premium.

What questions should I ask my life insurance agent?

Here are some questions to ask about policies:

• How do cash values accumulate? An early, rapid build-up is generally preferable.

• How has the policy’s cash value performed in the past? You can get this information from a publication called Best Review, Life and Health. Determine how the policy performed in comparison with the company’s projection and with other insurers.

• Are any special features merely bells and whistles, or do they add value for you?

• What is the company’s rating with Best, Standard & Poor’s, and Moody’s? You can find these publications in public libraries. The rankings should be in the top three to ensure that a company has financial stability.

What should I watch out for when buying life insurance?

Many insurance agents work on commission, and therefore may tend to promote those policies or other investments that pay the highest commission, investments which may not be suitable for your needs. The cost, buried in commissions, can be quite high. Here are some things to watch out for.

Policy provisions that are hard to understand and compare. Many insurance company products contain investment features as well as insurance elements. Because these insurance products are very complex and have many variations, most clients cannot understand them. As a result, rates cannot easily be compared.

Pushing inappropriate policies. Often, agents will try to sell a policy that provides the largest commission to the agent. The investment may be completely inappropriate for your needs. Make sure your agent carefully identifies your needs and explains why the policy is suitable for you. You may want to have your other financial advisors, such as your accountant, review recommended policies before purchase.

High commissions and overhead. Sometimes 50% of your first year premium goes into the pocket of the insurance agent. In addition, insurance companies can have very high overhead (and, usually, advertising budgets). These costs get paid from only one source: your investment return. Make sure your review the costs of any recommended policy.

Low returns. Insurance company investments usually provide low rates of return due, in large part, to the company’s need to have a large buffer against any miscalculations and also because most insurance companies are not very good at selecting investments. (After all, their primary emphasis is on insurance.)

Tip: If you want both insurance and investment returns, un-bundle your needs. Get your life insurance from the insurance company (at the lower premium for pure, term insurance) and put the premium savings (the investment element) into a more profitable investment vehicle, where your return at age 65 will be substantially higher than through the insurance company’s annuity.

Safety of investment. Many insurance companies have shaky foundations. (Even the venerable Lloyd’s of London is in financial difficulty.) And because unexpectedly high claims can wipe away the financial foundation, the insured’s investment (as well as life insurance proceeds) can be lost. Check an insurer’s rating before purchasing a policy.

How do I compare the cost of several insurance policies?

In most states, there are rules, set by a group of state insurance regulators, requiring the agent to calculate two types of cost indexes that can help you to shop for a policy. You can use the indexes to compare policy costs.

One type of index, the net payment index, gauges the cost of carrying your policy for the next ten or twenty years. The lower the number, the less expensive the policy. This index is useful if you are most interested in the death benefit aspect of a policy, as opposed to the investment aspect.

The other type of index, the surrender cost index, is useful to those who have a high level of concern about the cash value. This index may be a negative number. The lower the number, the less expensive the policy.

These two indexes apply to term and whole life policies. With universal life policies, focus on the cash value growth and the cash surrender value to make comparisons. "Cash surrender value" is the amount you receive if you cancel the policy. It is not the same as "cash accumulation value.

If you are shown two universal life policies, and they have the same premium, death benefit, and interest rate, then the one with the higher cash surrender value is generally the better policy. Be aware that the projections of cash values given by some insurers may use unrealistic assumptions, and therefore might be misleading.

Do I really need life insurance?

The purpose of life insurance is to provide a source of income for your children, dependents, or whoever you choose as a beneficiary, in case of your death. Life insurance can also serve other estate planning purposes, such as giving money to charity on your death, paying for estate taxes, or providing for a buy-out of a business interest.

Whether you need to buy life insurance depends on whether anyone is depending on your income. If you have a spouse, child, parent, or some other individual who depends on your income, you probably need life insurance. Here are some typical families and a summary of their need for life insurance:

1. Families or single parents with young children or other dependents. The younger your children, the more insurance you need. If both spouses earn income, then both spouses should be insured, with insurance amounts proportionate to salary amounts.

2. Adults with no children or other dependents. If your spouse could live comfortably without your income, then you will need less insurance than the people in situation (1). However, you will still need some life insurance. At a minimum, you will want to provide for burial expenses, for paying off whatever debts you have incurred, and for providing an orderly transition for the surviving spouse.

3. Adults with no children or other dependents. If your spouse could live comfortably without your income, then you will need less insurance than the people in situation (1). However, you will still need some life insurance. At a minimum, you will want to provide for burial expenses, for paying off whatever debts you have incurred, and for providing an orderly transition for the surviving spouse.

4. Single adults with no dependents. You will need only enough insurance to cover burial expenses and debts, unless you want to use insurance for estate planning purposes.

5. Children. Children generally need only enough life insurance to pay burial expenses and medical debts. Many advisors recommend self-insuring for children rather than buying an insurance policy.

6. Retirees. There is less of a need for life insurance after retirement, unless it is to be used for estate planning purposes. You may need to provide an income for the second spouse to die if your retirement assets are not large enough. Further, you will need some insurance to pay burial expenses, final medical costs, and debts.

How much life insurance should I buy?

Determining how much insurance to buy requires you to invest some time in calculating, first, your current annual household expenses, and then your assets, debts, and other sources of income. Your financial advisor can assist you in this computation.

The ideal amount of coverage is the amount that would allow your dependents to invest it after your death and maintain their desired standard of living without touching the principal. Although the old rule of thumb—to buy five, six or seven times your annual salary—may serve as a starting point, it is no substitute for making the calculations to find out how much you really need.

It’s important to be as accurate as possible in estimating your family’s needs, since an underestimation could lead to your being underinsured, and an overestimation will lead to money wasted on unnecessary coverage.

Tip: To accurately estimate your family’s annual income needs, it’s helpful to have the following documents with you: A checkbook register for one year, a year’s worth of credit card statements, and last year’s tax return.

What type of life insurance should I buy?

Once you have an idea of how much coverage you need, you can decide which type of insurance product would be best to fill those needs. Although the array of insurance products may seem confusing, there are really just two types of insurance.

Term Insurance—, in which you pay for coverage for a specified amount of time, and if you die during that time the insurer pays your survivors the death benefit specified.

For individuals age 40 or less, a term policy will almost always be less costly than a whole life policy. Although term policies do not build cash values, many are convertible to whole life policies without a physical exam. Thus, a term convertible policy may be a good option for someone who is under 40. There are various types of term insurance.

Renewable. With the typical renewable term policy--the most common type--the policy renews automatically every year. You do not need to take a physical or verify the fact that you are employed. The premium goes up at the beginning of each new term to reflect the fact that you are older. Most renewable term policies can be renewable until you reach age 70 or so.

Re-entry. With this type of policy, you must undergo a physical exam after a certain period, or pay an extra premium.

Level. With level term policies, the premium is guaranteed to stay the same over a certain period. This period may be shorter than the term of the policy.

Decreasing. With a decreasing term policy--a good option for insuring mortgage payments--the face amount of the policy decreases over time while the premium payments remain the same.

The second type of insurance is Cash value—whole life or universal life—which, in addition to paying a death benefit, also provides you with some other redeemable value.

Term life insurance is most effective when you do not need coverage for your entire lifetime, while cash value or whole life insurance is generally considered to be permanent insurance.

The two most common types of cash value life insurance are whole life and universal life.

Whole Life. This is the traditional life insurance policy. It provides a death benefit, has a cash value build-up, and sometimes pays dividends. You do not need to renew a whole life policy. As long as you pay your premiums, you will have coverage, usually until your death.

The premium for a whole life policy remains the same for the amount of time you own the policy; the premium is "level," in insurance parlance. Thus, when you are younger, the premium you pay for whole life will be greater than what you would pay for term, but when you are older, the premium will be much less than a term premium.

Part of each premium goes into the cash value of your policy. Your cash value, which is actually an investment, is guaranteed to grow at a fixed rate. You do not have to pay current income taxes on the growth in the cash value—it is tax-deferred.

You can borrow against your cash value, at a rate that is usually better than the prevailing consumer lending rates. If you die with an outstanding loan amount, the loan amount, plus interest, will be subtracted from your death benefit.

Dividend-paying whole life policies—termed "participating" policies—are usually offered by mutual life insurance companies. Mutual life insurance companies are generally owned by policyholders, while other insurance companies are owned by shareholders. The dividends are refunds of insurance premiums that exceed a certain level. They are paid when the insurance company does well during a quarter or a year. Of course, premiums for participating policies are usually higher than those paid for non-participating policies.

Note: Term policies can also be participating, but the dividends paid are usually minimal. Term policies can also be participating, but the dividends paid are usually minimal.

Universal Life. Universal life, also known as "flexible premium adjustable life," is similar to whole life, but offers more flexibility in terms of payment of premiums and cash value growth.

With a universal life policy, your monthly premium amount is first credited to your cash value. The company then deducts the cost of your death benefit and the expenses of the policy. These costs are about equal to what it would cost to buy term coverage. As with whole life, your cash value grows at a fixed minimum rate of interest. The growth of the cash value is tax-deferred, and you can borrow against it or make partial withdrawals.

A special feature of universal life is that you can vary the premium paid from month to month. You can pay more or less—within certain limits—without jeopardizing your coverage. You can let the cash value absorb the premium. If the premium payments fall too low, your policy may lapse. Some states require the insurer to tell you when your cash value is at a dangerously low point; in other states, the insured will have to maintain a careful watch on the amount of cash value if premiums are skipped.

Other Types

In addition to the two types of cash value life insurance discussed, there are other variations.

Variable Universal. Variable universal life allows you to choose the investment for your cash value. You have a potentially greater cash value growth, but you also have added risk, depending on the type of investment you choose.

Variable Whole Life. With variable whole life, the death benefit and cash value will depend on the performance of an investment fund that you choose. Again, you have potentially greater reward, with its accompanying risks.

Should kids have life insurance?

Since the purpose of life insurance is to provide for dependent survivors, children generally need at most enough life insurance to pay burial expenses and medical debts. Yet 25% of cash-value life insurance policies sold covers the life of a child under 18. (Note: Cash value life insurance—i.e., whole life or universal life--combines a death benefit with a savings or investment element.)

Alternatives. Other ways of covering the costs of a child’s death include (1) using funds already set aside for college and (2) taking out a rider on a parent’s policy (if available).

How do I balance life insurance with my other investments?

Get term life insurance if you haven't bought a policy yet. Then invest as much as you can in tax-deferred IRAs and 401(k) plans. Especially if your money is in stock funds, you should have bigger gains than with a cash-value policy.

If you already have a cash-value policy, don't sell it. Just realize that it is a conservative, long-term investment. The cash value eventually may be substantial because it is a tax-deferred investment. It may take 15 years or more, however, to produce a respectable return, similar to high-quality corporate bonds or long-term CDs. Balance your policy with investments, such as stock funds, that have a higher, long-term return.

Source: CPA Site Solutions