In today’s volatile economy, it is more important than ever to make sure you’re prepared financially for the future. And part of a resilient financial strategy is ensuring your family — spouse, partner, children, and dependent family members — are protected in the event of your death. For this reason, a life insurance policy can be an essential element of a strong, protective financial plan.

While life insurance is not meant to protect you, it does provide peace of mind knowing that your family members will receive much-needed financial benefits if and when you pass away. Life insurance, also known as death benefits, can help to keep mortgages paid — or paid off — care for disabled family members, and help those left behind maintain their standard of living.

 

4 Ways Life Insurance Benefits Your Family

Reducing stress — including financial stress — in the aftermath of your passing is one of the key benefits of a strong life insurance policy. In addition, life insurance also provides the following advantages and help for your loved ones:

 

1. Help with Paying Off Debts

Unfortunately, debts don’t pass away along with their owners. If you have unresolved debt when you die, your loved ones must carry that burden, using money from the estate or even selling off assets such as cars and even a home to pay for them. Debt, including business loans, student loans, mortgages, and credit cards can be a huge stressor for family members that are already having difficulty dealing with loss.

A good life insurance policy provides a financial safety net that can provide monetary benefit to help survivors pay off debts without dissolving critical assets or depleting your estate.

 

2. Help with Covering Funeral Expenses

Funerals and burial costs are expensive, having increased by 6.6% over the last few years. The last thing that family members in emotional distress over your passing need is to be hit with complications and bills resulting from burial and funerary expenses. A life insurance policy will allow you to earmark some of the death benefits to cover these final expenses or allow your family to use death benefit payouts as reimbursement for bills associated with funerary expenses.

 

3. Help in Replacing Income Loss

Life insurance can provide critical assistance in replacing income loss caused by your passing. Whether you are a primary or secondary contributor to family finances, your loved ones will need help making up the difference in income when you pass. If you are a primary contributor, it is likely that your income also helped to cover health care premiums and provided other benefits that your family will still need to cover.

A life insurance death benefit can be a helpful tool to assist loved ones in covering expenses such as mortgages, health insurance, car payments and maintenance, utility bills, and other expenses that are part of daily living.

 

4. Help Covering Education and Child Care Expenses

Making sure your children are well taken care of is an important part of family financial planning and life insurance offers a great way to do this. When you pass, you want your children to be adequately provided for and you’ll want to relieve as much pressure from your spouse or partner as well. If you have young children that still need child care, life insurance benefits can help make it easier for your spouse to return to work knowing that care expenses are covered. And death benefits can be a valuable addition to a savings plan that helps to fund your child’s college tuition in the future.

 

Get the Right Life Insurance Policy for Your Needs

Life insurance is an important tool to help you protect the financial future of your family in the event of your passing. In general, there are three types of insurance policies from which to choose: term life, whole life, and universal life. Each of these has its own benefits, with certain policies even allowing you to borrow against them during your lifetime and providing a potential for financial growth. However, sifting through the details of each can be overwhelming for many, which is why it is important to seek professional assistance when choosing this important financial instrument.

At Schuetz, we can offer expert assistance in choosing the right life insurance policy that will best fit your current needs as well as contribute the most to your future financial planning strategy. Contact us today for an in-depth explanation of each of these policy types and help in choosing the perfect policy to ensure your family is provided for in the future.