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Not Everyone Needs Life Insurance
by Kimberly Lankford

I am single with no children. I own my home. Do I need life insurance?

Probably not. You only need life insurance if somebody is depending on you financially -- if, for example, you had a spouse, children or dependent parents who count on your income to cover their expenses. Or you may need life insurance if you have a business partner who would need the money to buy out your share of the business if you were to die. Otherwise, you can probably do without the insurance -- at least for now. Be sure to reassess your life insurance needs, however, if your family situation changes. If that happens, check out the How Much Life Insurance Do I Need? calculator to figure out how much coverage to buy.

Instead, focus on other types of protection -– making sure you have enough disability insurance to pay the bills if you become disabled and lose your job, building up a big enough emergency fund to cover any unexpected expenses, and buying long-term care insurance if you’re in your 50s or 60s and worry that you won’t have enough money to pay nursing home or home-care costs if you end up needing long-term care (especially since you don’t have a spouse to care for you).

Also make sure you’re contributing as much money as possible to your retirement savings, which should be one of your top priorities. Some agents may try to get you to buy life insurance as an investment, even if you don’t need the coverage, but with IRAs, 401(k)s and a wealth of other tax-advantaged retirement-planning savings options, you can usually find a better way to save without having to pay the costs of insurance you don’t need.