What’s a Life Worth?

Talking about the need for life insurance requires someone to think about things that are not always comfortable. It is impossible to consider life insurance without an implied admission that you will eventually die, or that you could die sooner than you hope. The other unsettling part about contemplating the need for life insurance is that we must somehow place a numerical value on our lives, or at least what we think our lives mean to our loved ones. Avoiding the issue, however, does not take care of the very real problem that if we were to die prematurely, we will either leave loved ones, who depend on us, in financial devastation, or we may leave our unfinished financial affairs for some other person to sort out.

Let’s just admit that we know we are going to die eventually, hope that it will be many, many happy years from now, after we have lived a very full and meaningful life; but, just in case, no matter when we die, we want to exit gracefully. The best way to ease our loved ones' emotional loss, in the event of our untimely death, is by things which we can do while we are living. If we openly and frequently express our love to them, they won’t wonder how we really felt, once we are no longer around to tell them. By purchasing life insurance, sufficient for them to pay all your bills, take plenty of time off to grieve, and then resume their lives without having to make huge changes or sacrifices in their standard of living, we can continue to show them what they meant to us, long after we are gone. On the other hand, not having life insurance for those things, and forcing them to fend for themselves and clean up our financial messes, leaves them with a completely different conclusion about our concern for their well being.

I have heard it said that buying life insurance is one of the most unselfish acts we do, because it is typically purchased for the benefit of others. Your goal is to live and prosper and share your success with your family for many years to come. Don’t think of the purchase of life insurance as an exception to that plan, but as an integral part of a secure financial future which helps you prepare for the unexpected. Should your beneficiaries ever receive that money, it will remind them of the thoughtful sacrifices you made during your life, to ensure they would be well taken care of in any circumstances. It is like the proceeds of your policy is working on your behalf to finish what you started for your family; to complete what you would have done, if you were still with them.

Determining how much insurance to buy may require doing a little math, and figuring out what kind of policy you need means getting into some level of details; but doing so does not reduce your worth to a dollar figure. It simply determines how much your family would need to continue on in your absence at the standard of living you are willing to make sure they can afford. And if you make a good plan, what that gift would mean to your family, is absolutely priceless.