Why They Don't Buy

Even if no one else is depending on a worker’s income, he or she is still likely to leave behind bills, credit card balances and final expenses such as funeral costs. These expenses could be an unnecessary burden on parents or siblings at a difficult time.

–My spouse has a good income, so even if I don’t have coverage, it wouldn’t have a major impact on my family.

Widows and widowers say it takes four to five years before their financial circumstances returned to what they were at the time of their spouse’s death. Between one and two years after the death, half the widows and a third of the widowers were just getting by financially.

–My spouse doesn’t work outside the home so we don’t need life insurance for him or her.

Spouses usually depend on each other for many things they might have to pay someone else to do: child care, laundry, cooking, shopping, cleaning, home maintenance, transportation, errands, etc. Adequate life insurance for a nonworking spouse can provide the income needed to protect a family’s way of life.

–There’s no need to buy life insurance for my children.

Children who die prematurely will still leave behind final expenses such as medical bills and funeral costs. In addition, buying and keeping coverage for children while they’re young protects their insurability if they should develop a health condition later in life that could make it expensive or impossible to get coverage.

–I’m healthy–I can worry about life insurance when I get older.

It’s usually more cost-effective to buy life insurance at a younger age, since the cost of buying it tends to increase as workers age. And buying a policy when young and healthy means workers will already have the coverage if they develop a health condition later that could make them uninsurable.