Have Life Insurance
It isn’t a question that most people ask each other but maybe we should. If you have a family them it is something you should be talking about. Read some of the statistics here and see if they make you think about life insurance. 

No Life Insurance at all
In 2010 it was reported that as many as one third of all households in the USA did not have any life insurance at all. So if the main breadwinner dropped dead tomorrow what would happen? Well the chances are that there would be financial disaster. Homes could well be lost and life would be thrown into dissaray. Realistically times are tougher now (mid 2011) for most Americans than they were in 2010 so the chances are that even more people are living without any kind of life insurance.

Life Insurance Is For Them Not You

Have Some Life Insurance
As well as the over thirty million households that have no life insurance at all there are a further third that are knowingly under insured. Having some life insurance is better than having none at all of course but it still means that in the event of death there is going to be financial hardship that could probably be easily avoided.

Money Is Tight
There is no other way to describe it, people are struggling to get by in this recession and everyone is looking for ways to trim their budget. If you are paying out large premiums every month for whole life insurance it is tempting to drop it. There are more outgoings than there is money every month so any money you cna save is good news right?

Ask About Your Life Policy Options
It is understandable that you want to save money wherever you can, and if you can save a hundred dollars a month by dropping your life policy then that seems an obvious thing to do. Before you go ahead and stop paying you should contact your insurance company and see if the policy has any cash in or surrender value, the other thing to ask about is a payment holiday. If they can give you a six month or more payment holiday (while still covering you, make sure that is the case) then it is a option worth considering

Look For Cheaper Insurance
Yes it is nice to have a policy which will make your wife the wealthiest widow in the street should you pass on, but does she really need all that money? If your mortgage is paid off and your kids are through college (or their college funds are fully funded) then you do not need as much money. Mortgages and college are the biggest expense for most people so if they are both covered you can get a policy with a much lower pay out. The best way to do this is to look at term life insurance rates. Term insurance is always cheaper than whole life because it covers you for only a specific amount of time and a specific amount of money, these factors make it much easier for the insurance company to work out the risk factors and thus the premium they should charge you.

Don’t Be Sentimental
Many people keep paying their life policy just because they can’t face losing all the money they have paid in each month. This doesn’t make any sense, the money is gone and unless your policy has a cash value there is nothing you can do about it. The idea of life insurance is to look after your family when you are gone so you should be looking at the best financial decisions for them and not worrying about money that has already been spent.

Term life insurance will give you the best bang for your buck and policys start very cheaply, but you should still shop around and get quotes as even a few dollars a month in the premium price can make a difference.