Does a Single Person Need Life Insurance?

6. Life insurance is essential if you’re a business owner.

A small business owner has many reasons for life insurance. If you die unexpectedly, what happens to your business? Your employees?

You can buy a life insurance policy on yourself and name a co-owner or the business itself as the beneficiary. The death benefit can help keep your business running, even if you die suddenly.

If you need funding for your business, taking out a small business loan is common practice. However, lenders want collateral. They want to make sure they’re paid, even if something happens to you.

Lenders often gladly accept life insurance as collateral. For example, if you apply for a $250,000 SBA loan with a 30-year repayment schedule, you can buy a $250,000 term life insurance policy with a 30-year term and collaterally assign it to the lender.

» Learn more: Small Business Administration (SBA) Loans and Life Insurance

7. Buying a policy now may be wise if family members have significant health histories.

Some health conditions are hereditary. If you have an immediate family member who has been diagnosed with or died from a serious condition, such as cancer or heart disease, it can be more affordable for you long-term to buy a term life insurance policy now versus waiting.

Once a person’s health begins to decline, life insurance can become very expensive to buy. In some cases, you become uninsurable.

If you’re concerned you may not be able to qualify for life insurance in the future, look into it now.

Takeaway: If you have people depending on you, you definitely need life insurance. If you don’t, there are only a few cases in which life insurance makes sense.

Things to Consider When Buying Life Insurance at a Young Age

Your Insurability Limit

Depending on how young you are and where you’re at in life, you may not be able to buy a large life insurance policy right now. This is because the underwriter needs to confirm that you’re actually able to pay for the coverage you apply for before they’ll be willing to give it to you.

The maximum amount of life insurance you can have active on yourself at any given time is known as your insurability limit, and is determined based on your age and annual income.

This limit also means that you may not be able to purchase a large policy if you’re not working full time. For example, if you’re a student working part-time, you won’t be able to get approved for a $1,000,000 life insurance policy unless you have a strong financial argument to present to the underwriter, like a positive net worth or assets that you need to protect.

Smaller policies, like those within the $100,000 to $250,000 range, are much easier to purchase. Once you’re in the workforce and making money consistently, you can quickly begin to purchase larger policies if and when you need them.

Insurable Interest

Additionally, when you apply for a life insurance policy, you’ll need to choose a beneficiary, the person or people who will get the money if you pass away and your policy pays out.

As part of the buying process, you’ll likely need to justify your chosen beneficiary by explaining how they’d be impacted by your death. This is known as insurable interest.

If you’re naming your parents as beneficiaries, you likely won’t run into any issues when purchasing a small policy. However, if you’re naming a sibling or friend as the beneficiary of your policy, you’ll likely need to provide a reason that they would be impacted financially due to your death.

For a single person, naming a parent as your beneficiary is often the best move, since they will likely be the ones who will end up paying for your end-of-life expenses, like your funeral.

Even if you don’t need life insurance now, you probably will in the future. It’s easy to get term life insurance quotes online. Run some numbers to get an idea on how much it costs. It may be worth it to lock in a low rate now and be glad you already have coverage once you need it.

Unsure about how much life insurance you need? Check out our free and easy-to-use life insurance needs calculator.