One of the most common questions asked is how much life insurance should I purchase. While there is no set answer, each individual and family needs to look at their exact needs and situation. Here are some broad factors to consider.

 

Look at your current and future needs. If you have a family or a spouse that is largely dependent on your wages to live, you might want to make sure that you have a life insurance that will cover your family and spouse for 20 years or more. Some people usually go with the philosophy that you are better off over insured, then not having enough insurance.

Some financial planners state that at minimum, you should at least have a policy of 15K to cover burial and all final expenses. In addition, some financial planners advise you to purchase life insurance by multiplying your salary, for instance, purchasing 5 times or 10 times the amount of your salary.

Other financial planners, advise you to look at your family or spouses expenses for the amount of years that you want to cover them and figure out how much money they will need to live comfortably. Many financial planners and life insurance agents have special formulas that can figure out how much insurance you need for your age and level of coverage you want to provide your spouse and children.

Many people want to make sure that their family is very comfortable in the event of a death. For instance, a policy might take into consideration the cost of a home, car loans, maintenance of assets and education costs for children. Usually the more dependents, the more insurance is necessary.

Some consumers that are buying life insurance don’t necessarily purchase it to care for dependents, but to cover estate taxes or to give an inheritance to their heirs. Usually these types of policy holders are already well off or no longer have bread winning responsibilities that make it necessary to care for small children or a spouse.

Lastly, if you are single, do not have any dependents and have an adequate amount of savings to take care of any final expenses such as funeral costs and taxes, you might decide you do not need to purchase life insurance at all.

One thing is for certain, make sure you put lots of thought into the amount of life insurance you do purchase and talk to a financial planner, accountant or insurance agent to learn more about how much life insurance, you personally should purchase.