Don’t exaggerate.
A study has shown that most people without life insurance think that term life coverage costs three to four times what the average cost really is. Younger adults are likely to go as far as five times overboard in their estimate. So we are here to say to you: Don’t exaggerate. Get the facts. Come visit with your nearest Horihan Insurance agent to go over exactly what it would cost for you.
It will depend entirely on your specific lifestyle and situation, but the odds are very much in your favor that if you are guessing what it costs, that you are over-estimating. We only bring this up because if you are making such an over-estimation and it is not based on sound information from an agent, you are really – unintentionally of course – doing yourself and your loved ones a disservice by not securing the coverage you could have for a cost that works for you.
These are things we must talk about at some point, so why not now? It will require a bit of forethought on your part, but you’re not being asked to predict the future. Just to consider what kind of life you would want for those who depend on you if you were no longer there.
There are a few things you can do going into a meeting with an agent to help expedite the process. The first would be to do a little research on how much life insurance does actually cost so you come into the meeting understanding what you can get for your budget. What you will find is going to be general estimates. Sitting down with an insurance agent is the best way to get down to the specifics leading you to your personal magic number.
When considering how much coverage you ideally should have, a good rule of thumb is to take your current take-home pay and add a zero at the end of it. That is the amount of coverage you should have just to cover the basics. It may look like an imposing figure, but rest assured that is nowhere near what you will pay. It is what your loved ones will get back, should it come to that. You’ll want to add on a bit more for college for your children, but even that amount is much more affordable than people seem to think it will be.
Of course, all of this depends on whether term life is right for you, or if you’d be better served by a whole life policy or a universal policy, each of which have their own pros and cons and particulars which suit certain lifestyles. These are things you can familiarize yourself with if you haven’t already, but we’ll go over that with you to make sure you get the policy that is right for you and your dependents and descendants.
The important thing is that you do initiate the process by getting in touch with your nearest Horihan Insurance agent.