3 reasons why you need life insurance

For most of us, our first encounter with life insurance is when a relative, a friend, or in my case, a relative of a friend approaches us to buy a plan. We do not shop for it – rather, it is offered to us and more often than not we buy it out of accommodation without understanding its value.

Is life insurance so important that we need to proactively seek for it, or is it an unnecessary cost that insurance people sugarcoat as an investment? While you may be leaning toward the latter, there are actually 3 vital reasons why life insurance should be part of your financial plan.

1. Settle all immediate financial needs. 

Apart from the emotional burden, families that will be left behind when someone dies will incur immediate financial burden such as funeral expenses, hospital bills, estate taxes, and unpaid debts.  These things can put a heavy toll on your family’s finances. 

If you are single, the “immediate financial need” item can serve as good starting point to gauge how much insurance coverage you initially need. This will be the amount of economic loss that your parents or family members will have to absorb in your untimely passing.

2. Secure child’s education. 

Parents, this is one of the compelling reasons why we need to have life insurance.  As a parent, one significant life goal that we have is to provide the best education possible for our children. If you have saved up enough to cover your child’s future education needs, then you can cross this off your list. 

However, the fact remains that majority of us are still in the process of building our education funds and the haunting question remains: “if I die tomorrow, will my savings be enough to ensure the continuity of my child’s education?” If the answer is “no,” consider life insurance as your safety net while building your child’s education fund.

Recently, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) announced its approval of tuition and other school fee hikes of 283 schools by an average of 6.44% for the school year 2015-2016. 

Assuming your child is one year old, and we project that he or she will enter college at age 18 and the current tuition of your dream school for your child is P100,000 ($2187.20) yearly for a 4-year course, how much education fund do we need? 

If we are to make a conservative estimate and take the 6.44% increase as yearly benchmark, the future cost of P100,000 ($2187.20) when your child enters college:

If you do not have that amount stashed in your bank or investment account yet, consider getting life insurance coverage for that amount and sleep sound at night knowing whatever happens to you, your child’s education is secured.

3. Replace contribution to household income. 

I am a husband and a father. If I die, my family will grieve for 3 losses: my wife will lose a husband; my daughter will lose a father; and my family will lose the income I contribute on a monthly basis.

The first two are irreplaceable but the third one is something that can be replaced by life insurance.  If your family relies heavily on you to provide for their financial needs, consider yourself as the most important income generating asset in the family and it is only fitting to protect that asset and the income it provides in every way that you can. 

Assuming your contribution to your household income amounts to P20,000 ($437.30) monthly or P240,000 ($5,247.59) yearly. If you expect to support your family within this amount level for the next 20 years, then the life insurance coverage you need for income protection should be at least P4,800,000 ($104,952.11). This amount will take care of your family and ensures the continuity of their lifestyle even when you are gone.

Next move

There are a lot of insurance plans out in the market right now, ranging from term insurances, whole life plans, and investment linked insurance products. Each product has its own place in your insurance need. Make sure you shop around and remember to get the plan that will cover you the most with the least possible cost.  – Rappler.com

Jesi Bondoc is a Registered Financial Planner of RFP Philippines. He is currently the Director of My Wealth MD and Partners, Incorporated, specializing in investment advisory and oversight. He also conducts wealth planning seminars and workshops for various corporations in the Philippines. You can reach him at jj_bondoc@yahoo.com or jbondoc@mywealthmd.com. To connect with an RFP, visit www.rfp.ph or email info@rfp.ph.

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$1 = P45.74

Life insurance policy image from Shutterstock