At what age should you get life insurance?

Question

Healthy 24yr Female no kids. Just wondering when should I invest in a good life insurance.

Answer 1

in my opinion, when you get your first job and consider yourself an adult.its importand and relieves your family of the awful expense .

Answer 2

You dont get it based on age, you get it based on that if you die, will someone else be affected financially. If you have no dependents, save your money for now.

Answer 3

Age is not a determining factor in whether you need life insurance or not.  If you have no debt or dependants you probably don't need life insurance at this stage in your life...

HOWEVER....If you plan on having a family someday or having substantial amounts of debt (like a big mortgage or business debts) or a large estate, it would be advantageous for you to buy insurance now.  The younger you purchase it, the cheaper it is.  Not only that, you are healthy now, whereas you never know what illness can hit you in the future that might make you uninsurable.

I'm 29, have very little debt that needs to be insured and no kids and I still have a very large insurance policy as a tax shelter and to preserve my estates assets (creditor proofing, tax sheltering/minimization, legal fees, etc)

Insurance wise at your age, I would be more concerned with getting disibility/Long Term Care and/or Critical Illness insurance.  The odds of you getting disabled or seriously ill are far bigger than the chances of dying.  Plus if you are very independent, not married, no kids...who is going to take care of you if something happens?  Sure you're parents might, but there is no dignity in a parent having to spongebath their 24 year old daughter or wipe her butt for her becuase she can't do it herself.  Just something to think about.

You're best bet is to contact a Financial Advisor/Broker who deals with insurance and investments from mulitple companies.  If you full out own your home, you can also leverage it to build some wealth over and above what you have...just a thought...

Answer 4

At what age should you buy a table saw?  Same difference.

Life insurance is a FINANCIAL TOOL.  If you have no goal, for the insurance to achieve, it's stupid to buy it.  Just like a table saw.  No goal, don't buy the tool.

Whoever is pushing it on you, is either bad at math, or trying to make a big fat commission off of you.  

Answer 5

Age is not the criteria.

If you are the only earning member & there are people dependant on you, only then you require insurance.

Another thing, purpose of insursnce is not investment.

The thing to consider is what your dependants will get in case you die & not how much you will get back in case you survive.

The thing to consider is 'Adequate Risk Cover'.

'Adequate Risk Cover' is different for different families. Factors to be considered in order to figure out how much insurance you need:

1. No. of dependants – Higher the no. of non-earning dependants, higher is the insurance need.

2. Future expenses – They are usually education and marriages. No. of children will determine this expense.

3. Debt – If you have borrowed for buying a home, your survivor has to repay it.

4. Your present financial position – If you are very rich than you will require very little risk cover.

Answer 6

It's not what age, it's what your financial status is. Generally, insurance is a good idea whenever your death would leave your survivors with outstanding financial obligations. (Children to raise? A house that your spouse would have to pay for?)

Answer 7

A good time to consider getting life insurance is when you acquire family responsibilities or debt.  If you're married, for example, and buying a house, it's common sense that both spouses have enough life insurance to at least pay off the mortgage on the house if one of them passes away.  Likewise, if you're in a relationship, it's common for the spouses to have enough life insurance to get the survivor through a year or two of life after their death.  Like for example, suppose you work but your spouse has no real employment skills?  If you die, your spouse is going to need to learn how to make a living, which might mean paying for school for a certain number of years, plus pay the rent/mortgage, plus pay car insurance and living expenses.  That gives you an idea of how much life insurance to get.  But suppose your non-wage-earning spouse dies.  Of course he/she does a lot of other stuff that you may have to hire out now, such as a maid or a housekeeper.

Similar calculations enter the picture when children are involved.

Life insurance is for the living, and you need to balance their very real needs against the low chance that at your age you're going to die anytime soon.

Answer 8

NOW is the time to buy life insurance. Life insurance is a good thing! You said your healthy, young, and so on so you don't need it now. WELL will you "qualify" for it after you go to your doctor and find out you have diabetis or some form of cancer? You think it's expensive when your young and healthy? You many never have the chance to get it in the future. Besides, the younger you are, the cheaper it costs. The day my 2 childeren were born, I had to wait 7 days but I did a one time premium payment of $2,000 that bought my kids $40,000 of life insurance that will never have to be paid for in there life time and not only that, It builds cash vaule every year the policy is in force. which in this case is FOREVER!... The answer to the question "when should I buy it?" The answer is "the day before you die"... since it's not certain when you will die, I would say, buy it today!  

Answer 9

Let me ask you a few questions of the same questions I'd ask anyone in a similar situation to determine whether you really need it or not.

1. You say you've been working since 14?  How much have you saved?  Are these savings in tax deferred or tax advantaged areas or are they in areas where they are regularly taxed as they grow?

3. If you died today, would your family, parents and/or siblings be able to bury you without incurring financial hardship?  Would they or your estate be able to handle any estate taxes necessary?  If so, are you in a state where they might have to deal with probate costs as well?

4. Are you making too much money to qualify for using a Roth IRA? Or are you making so much money that while you do qualify for one that you can't put away as much as you would choose to do so?

Life insurance is a tool.  It can have many functions.  It can replaces income and/or it can also make it easier to pay off final expenses for those left behind.  In addition, a properly structure VUL or EIUL policy may also allow you to have extra money for retirement, for other expenses or desires before retirement.  There are some great possible tax advantages to that as well.

As for your age.  Get the insurance now.  If you lock in a permanent policy you can keep your costs low.  At some point you may decide to have kids or a family.  I can't tell you how hard it is to have to tell someone in that situation that, "No, we can't insure you" for whatever reason.  A reason that happened after they hit their 30's or 40's and were not worried about kids.