Nice article, I wasn’t aware of many tips mentioned in this article. Appreciate the amount of hard work that you put in to creating this amazing article. Thanks for the info!

Hi Linda, thanks for reading and commenting! We're so glad this was helpful. You can find some of our insurance tools and calculators here:

https://www.nerdwallet.com/...

Hopefully those are useful as well. Thanks again for reading NerdWallet!

Thanks for this wonderful article!
Life insurance can be an important part of your financial strategies that helps to ensure a more secure financial future for your loved ones. This a secure option in case of any misshapen. Having life insurance or not totally depends upon your financial condition.

My and wife are going through the process (exam) to get whole life insurance coverage, as I have term life if something happens in the short term, but how I look at all this is and making the final decision to purchase whole life insurance ($100k at $100/mo. per person) is real simple; we all have an expiration date. Why not cover ourselves in another way and financially help out our love ones once we do pass?

Long-Term: there are "way" better investment vehicles out there (401k, Roth IRA) with a better rate of return overall. Every investment broker will confirm.

But no one mentions when someone dies prematurely (just watch the local news), like a car accident, heart attack, cancer, drug overdose, domestic violence, gang activity drive-by and innocent bystander gets killed, hate crime, people getting ran over, school shootings, getting burned up in a house during the holidays, gas line explosion, alcohol poisoning, falling off the roof, slipping in the bathroom, chocking on a piece of meat, stabbing, murder, suicide, skydiving, scuba diving, snorkeling while on vacation, drowning, surfing shark attack, terrorist attack, motorcycle riding, lightning strike, hurricane, earthquakes, floods, tractor flown in your house from a tornado, balcony collapse at a frat party, hiking near a cliff, dehydration, hypothermia, plane crash, STD, food poisoning, walking pneumonia and one passes in their mid 30's, 40's, 50's?

Short-Term: Life insurance maybe the only financial option a person has to pay the mortgage, household bills, funeral/mortuary costs (and burial costs are ridiculous), until the living figure out what to do after their love one has passes on (what about probate?), and all the other nonsense that one goes through?

Death ain't no fun, for the living or the dead, because to build up a savings account through the bank, stock market, 401k takes time (20+ years), and tax penalties for early withdrawal.

Hi...my husband to be is looking for a policy... we are buying a home and he has his own business... also we have children from previous relationships... what type of insurance do you recommend? Thanks in advance

Where are you located?

Where do you live?

There are many articles on using life insurance as a retirement account but strangely, there are almost none about using a retirement account as a life insurance policy. If you save diligently for retirement and die while working, that can become de factor life insurance since you won't be retiring if you are dead. Most people don't consider this as a reason for saving early for retirement-no need for life insurance--but it is.

I have no family, do I need life insurance?

Hi there - Thanks for reaching out to NerdWallet! Deciding whether or not you need life insurance will largely depend on your overall financial situation. Feel free to ask your question (with as many details as possible) on our Ask an Advisor platform https://www.nerdwallet.com/ask and you should hear from one of our advisors soon. Additionally, feel free to use our life insurance calculator which you might find helpful https://www.nerdwallet.com/....

Another example of someone who needs life insurance is an adult with elderly parents who have no life insurance. Many people purchase life insurance on their parents so there is money available to pay for their parents funeral and burial costs. You can buy life insurance on your parents with their permission. In this example you would own the policy, pay the premiums, and name yourself as beneficiary.

Great article. Providing an overview of who should have life insurance is exactly what most people need to see, because many people look at it as more of an optional item, rather than a necessity. If you have a family or any kind of insurable interest (such as the ones listed in this article), you need to make it a point to protect them/it.