How Much Life Insurance Do I Really Need?

I hate to sound like a Harvard Economist, but it depends.

Insurance is a tool, nothing more and nothing less. You don’t buy the tool but the solution to the problem it solves. You don’t buy a hammer, but as a solution to drive a nail in a wall. You don’t buy a saw but the solution to creating two two shorter pieces of wood from one long one. And like any tool, the size of that tool depends on the problem you want to solve. You may need a shovel, but the size of the shovel depends on if you are planting a tree in your yard or digging a foundation for an office building.

The same goes for insurance, you buy as much as you need to solve your problem. The problem you have is if something were to happen to you (and it does not have to just be death) your family will be able to sustain their lifestyle and avoid financial ruin. The trick here is to do quantitative not qualitative analysis on what you need- which is a fancy way of using a systematic approach, using real numbers, to determine your insurable need rather than looking at a shiny big number and saying “I think that sounds like enough”.

Most people are grossly under-insured based on the needs they tell us are important, not what we need we tell them is important. They bought insurance years ago based on a situation that no longer exists or on a benefit amount that “seemed” like a lot of money at the time. With inflation alone, the $250,000 policy you bought in 2008 now has the buying power of $130,000 in today’s world. A family with two kids, is looking at an average of $31,000 per year, per student at a state university, their “insurable need” is much different than a couple with no children. The key is ask the right questions and “quantify” the need, or size of the tool required based on what is important to you.

We use a process that encompasses eight (8) straightforward questions that is pretty darn accurate in determining your insurable need” based on what you say not what we say. This is a personal matter, one size does not fit all.

My job is to make sure we systematically identify the right amount of coverage—not too much, not too little—based on your needs, then go out and “shop” that need over sixty carriers in order to get the best value we can solve your problem. Any other way is just guessing and hoping for the best.