Do you need life insurance if you are single?

Do you need life insurance if you are single? 

Find out why you want it.

At work one day, an employee mentioned that he did not see the point of life insurance. He was single, so why bother?

life insurance

My first inclination was to argue the point, but I held back. Not just because the discussion with him was tired, but I began to wonder if what he said was true? Do you need life insurance if you are single?

The conclusion that my cautious self came to was perhaps. There are many reasons to have a certain amount of life insurance, and at least one scenario where there is a reason not to have insurance.

Reasons why you need life insurance even if you are single

Payment of funeral expenses

Funerals and their associated expenses cost people on average between 7,000 and 10,000 US dollars. Remember that funerals are more than just a coffin. There are expenses such as rent for the place where the service takes place, land fees, transportation, memorial costs, tombstone, embedds, flowers and possibly even food.

If you haven't saved enough money to cover funeral expenses, you'll want a life insurance company to cover those bills. Your death should not cause your loved ones to get into debt. [clickToTweet tweet="Your death shouldn't cause your loved ones to get into debt. #reasonsforlifeinsurance" quote="Your death shouldn't make your loved ones in debt."]

You have co-signed debts

If you have debts, if someone else has signed the loan, they would probably be looking for your debt when you died. Examples include your student loans, a common credit card holder, or if someone has co-signed your mortgage. You probably don't want your parents to give up their retirement because they end up on the bar for your student loans.

At the very least, you will receive a conceptual policy that will cover you until your debts have been settled. The last thing you want is to make your loved ones mourn while you are also being chased by debt collectors.

Others depend on you

Do I have to say it? Children are expensive. If you have a child, whether you are the primary caretaker or not, losing money for childcare is a big blow. If there is insurance that covers the cost of childcare, it greatly facilitates the child's education for the surviving caretaker.

Children are not the only dependants you can have. If you have parents or siblings who need special care and need them to care for them, you will want to make sure that their care continues if you die.

You are young and healthy

Are you young and healthy? If so, life insurance is probably incredibly cheap for you at the moment. If you don't have trouble paying off debts and creating an emergency fund, I would still recommend getting something like a lifetime life insurance on one level.

Along the way, you can get married, have children or get sick and life insurance will be more expensive or almost impossible to get. You can add additional coverage later, but even a small policy will be something your loved ones will have to resort to in the future.

Reasons why you don't need life insurance

The only reason I can imagine not needing life insurance if you are single is if you don't have joint or co-signed debts, no dependants and enough money to cover funeral costs.

If that's the case, and you're willing to bet that if you want insurance in the future, you'll be able to get it, then you probably don't need life insurance.

You can also delay taking out life insurance until you have set up an emergency fund and are living on your own.

Paying for life insurance while you're broke and living in your parents' basement shouldn't be your primary money target if that's your situation. Get up and down on your own and get a grip on your finances before you start taking out life insurance.

The bottom line is if you have loved ones who would be financially affected, if you died, you should have life insurance

You should also consider the spouses who live with you that don't work as well. If your spouse takes care of daily tasks such as cleaning, cooking, taking the children to school, etc., you should consider the financial impact of losing these contributions. If this spouse were no longer there to contribute to the household in this way, how much would it cost if someone provided these services?

The amount of insurance you should buy can shock you and make you feel that life insurance is not affordable.  However, it is more affordable than you think, which we will discuss more in a minute. First, you should understand the difference between the two most popular types of policies – life insurance and total insurance.