Financial Planning, Estate Planning, Financial Planning And Investment, Charitable Donation, Beneficiary


		Honey, I Insured the Kids! Some people are superstitious about insurance. They’re afraid to buy life insurance for their children, just as some older people are afraid to buy it for themselves. Others are convinced that nothing bad could ever happen to their children, so they avoid spending the money to insure a child’s life. Realists, however, know that there are reasons beyond the unthinkable to insure a child’s life. They know that a good life insurance policy, purchased when the child is young, healthy and far from any negative events, can pay big dividends for the child later. (And, as little as we like to think about it, if something awful happens, how much more awful would it be to have financial stress added to disaster? Peace of mind can make life as a parent much easier, too.) In fact, most of the ample reasons to insure your child’s life are really about ensuring that your child can have a long, happy, prosperous life, regardless of what he or she encounters in terms of illness or accident later. Here are a few of those reasons: Permanent life insurance accumulates cash value, and that value is generally tax-deferred. When the child is ready for college, the cash could help pay for it. Or, it could help the child purchase a first home. If the policy was left untouched through those life transitions, it could even help fund your child’s own retirement! Buying whole life or universal life insurance now guarantees your children will not be without insurance later, when they are more likely to need it. Later in life, if they should develop an illness or sustain serous injury, it could be prohibitively expensive, or even impossible, to obtain coverage. Insuring a child’s life with whole life or universal life also means that the child’s coverage can continue regardless of military service, health conditions—or taking a college major in skydiving! When you shop for insurance for a child, there’s still more you can do. You can make sure the plan you buy offers a rider to purchase additional insurance. With that option, at such specified times as marriage or the births of your own child’s children, your child may buy additional insurance at standard rates, without reapplying. An additional insurance rider might be even more valuable as science makes advances in genetic testing. As medicine is able to identify genetic ‘time bombs’ at ever-earlier ages, this rider offers some protection against becoming uninsurable because of such findings. Such a rider generally offers the opportunity to increase coverage on a no-questions-asked basis. Advances in the science of statistics, too, will more firmly establish the mortality rates of various physical conditions, hobbies and professions. Your child becoming a member of any of those identified groups would also result in a premium hike, or the inability to purchase insurance at all. When you buy life insurance for your child, your main intent—especially if you are a young parent with limited resources—may be to cover expenses you’d incur if you did lose a child to illness or accident. And that may be enough. But it’s also nice to know that there’s so much more that coverage can do to help your child start—and continue—the good life you provided.

Honey, I Insured the Kids!