Do single person with no dependents need life insurance?

Question

I'm 37 years old single no children do i need to purchase life insurance i have no other family so if i get life insurance who will be the beneficiary and according that finance lady suze orman on tv says i do need life insurance whos right

Answer 1

Insurance doesn't benefit you but only your beneficiaries. You can put your parents as beneficiaries or spouse if you have. If for some reason you are truly a single entity with no relatives then you don't need it. Invest your money in investment tools instead so you can get loads of cash when you get old. Insurance are for beneficiaries, Investments are for you.

Answer 2

If you are single, you will still die eventually and there is a cost to dying refered to as final expenses (funeral, casket, previous years taxes, etc).  This cost will be passed on to someone.  If nothing else, buy at least enough to cover your final expenses.

When you say you have 'no other family' if you mean no parents, siblings, neices, nefews, relatives of any kind or any friends for that matter that would want to see a proper burial for you or would be effected by your estate being bankrupted and in debt, then you may not need insurance.  Your best bet is to seek a trusted financial professional and ask them to do a full needs analysis and then you decide is buying insurance to cover that size of a need is nessesary.

One other thing, some single people use insurance policies as a legacy fund or to donate to charity...depends on your personality.

Suze Orman is knowledgable of something, but not everything.  Seek more than one opinion about any financial ideas, before implementing it.

Answer 3

The idea behind life insurance is to help your dependents cope with the sudden loss of income if you die prematurely. If you have no dependents, there is really no reason to have life insurance. If you do marry and have children in the next few years, you will need life insurance, but the cost will not rise that much. For example, according to the latest survey by Insure.com (see article below), you can get a 30-year term life insurance policy with a death benefit of $250,000 for around $300 a year at age 37. If you marry and take out the same policy at age 45, the same policy would cost you $520 year. By locking in now, you could save $220 a year—but of course you would be paying $300 a year for eight years of coverage you don’t need, a total of $2400. So you would not realize any savings until the 11th year of a policy started at age 45. That might make sense, but only if you know for sure you will have dependents by them, which you do not. So, no, I would wait and see what unfolds in your life. If you do happen to marry and have kids, you won’t be fretting about much you could have saved in the 11th year of a life insurance policy.

Answer 4

Despite the convincing sales pitches of insurance sellers, single people with no dependents have no use for life insurance. Insurance companies try to sell policies that include an investment feature, but such policies cost far more because  part of the premium is for insurance you don't need, and the other part is invested at much lower returns than you can get elsewhere.

Answer 5

No, you don't need any at all except to pay for a funeral if you have no assets.

Suze Orman is wrong girlfriend. Life insurance is to take care of people financially after you aren't there to do it. If you would leave a dependent child, parent or spouse you should have enough to cover your obligation.

I don't have any at all I even turned down the life insurance at work. I will leave investments and house to my boyfriend, mother and nieces and nephews so they can pay for my funeral. I don't support them now and won't when I am gone.

Answer 6

I would say yes. Estates take forever to untangle after a death, and taxes can be horrendous.

Life benefits payout immediately. Those funds can be used for your funeral, as well as time off and travel for loved ones to get to funeral and wrap up your affairs.

Most people do not have a valid Will filed with an Attorney, and even when they do, the debt, tax issues and estate issues remain, especially if there are problems between survivors and interpreting the Will, asset distribution and debt claims.

I recommend that even single people have at least $50K (USD) in life, or 1x annual salary, depending on how much you can easily afford and how well your relatives can cope with your expenses after you die.

The cost of 50K in term life is usually so small, that many agents don't even bother selling such small amounts, so it is really not a matter of "greedy agents' inventing the need. For instance, I usually do not sell life, because clients MIGHT think I might be pushing something, and it's really not worth the hassle at all for the tiny, tiny commission (Usually about 20% or so for a cheap plan).    

Many financial advisors feel the same way, so you must ask to buy it and then keep it.  

I have had clients die, so I know that a significant check at the time of death smooths over many family tensions and financial issues during the high stress of a death.  It also helps settle out debts and the costs and time of estate liquidation.

Answer 7

No you don't. The only reason I can possibly think of (and the life companies throw this out all the time) if you're insurable today, you may not be insurable tomorrow. If you buy insurance now, that is not a problem down the road. Take the money you plan on paying life insurance premiums with now and put it into a high yielding account or mutual fund. If you live long (which is what I'm sure you plan to do) you'll have a lot more money available than if you had bought the life insurance. Good luck.