For many of us life insurance seems like such a waste of time. Many believe that life insurance is for “other people” not realizing that it can be such an important tool for all of us. Even more so, anyone can plan for the future of their loved ones, even if they do not currently have a whole lot saved up.
The first, and probably most common, role of life insurance in your estate plan is the overall need for it. It can help financially by offering your family long term replacement of lost income and benefits and by providing liquidity for immediate costs such as medical bills and funeral expenses. It can also provide the emotional benefit of peace of mind, knowing that if something happened to you, your family wouldn't be left financially insecure. For many families, the loss of a loved one that is a primary wage earner can be financially devastating. What may seem like a lot of money to us during life, can become small in such a situation.
If you have minor children, then probably the most important decision that you'll have to make with regard to your estate plan is who should take care of your children if you die while they're still minors. In legal terms this is called a guardian of the person. While you may be planning for the care of the children, don’t neglect their financial care. Life insurance can properly accomplish this goal even if you do not have a lot of money. It would be wise to establish a trust for the care of the minor and the distribution of the finances from the life insurance policy.
Another and often overlooked role of life insurance in your estate plan is its use to reposition or leverage your assets in order to provide additional financial security for your family. If a life insurance policy is purchased and owned by an Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust, the proceeds will pass to your loved ones estate and income tax free.
Most advisors, agents and brokers will complete a life insurance analysis for you free of charge. Even if you currently have life insurance, regular reviews of existing policies are extremely important. These days, people are often surprised that a fairly modest premium can buy a decent amount of insurance. Regular reviews will also reveal if and when you'll need to purchase additional insurance. This is well advised if you have assets like land, which you wish to remain in the family, and not a lot of cash. Talk to your agent or broker and ask them if they can have an estate planning attorney involved in the discussion to help you put a good game plan together. I personally know and work with several helpful agents and brokers that care enough about their clients to ask me to take the time to sit in and discuss these matters in a comfortable group setting with them and their clients. When it comes to estate planning decisions, go with a team approach and obtain all of the information that you can and you will have the peace of mind that comes from doing it right.
By Mike Romero
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