The burning question: Should you buy life insurance on children?

Do children need life insurance?


No, they don't need it, but I'll give you plenty of reasons why you will want to buy insurance on children.

I know a lot of "experts" out there advise against buying life insurance on children because no one depends on them. While technically true, no one depends on them, there is an expense when a child passes away.

Let me explain. Having a week old son in my life has really made me ponder this question. I can't imagine the heart ache of losing a child. In just over 7 days with my son I can't image being without him now.

So here are the facts:

5 Reason why I am buying life insurance on my son.

1. Funerals are expensive. The average cost of a funeral is now approaching $10,000. Faced with the horror of burying a child, do you really want to have to withdraw cash from your savings account or even worse have to charge a funeral on a Visa card in the amount of $10,000, $15,000 or even $20,000?

2. Life insurance on children is cheap. It will never get cheaper.

3. My son is healthy. Life insurance is not bought with money, it is bought with health. You can have all the money in the world, but if you can't qualify health wise they won't sell you life insurance at any price. God forbid my son faces a chronic illness sometime in his life, at least he will have a life insurance policy to protect those he loves in the future.

4. Guaranteed purchase option. This sort of ties in with number 3. I also added a rider to my son's policy that allows him to buy more life insurance in bunches of $50,000 every 3 years once he reaches from the age of 22 until he reaches age 40 without having to prove insurability. It doesn't matter what his health status is in the future, he has the right (not the obligation) to buy more life insurance. Do you suppose his family will appreciate the forethought if he becomes ill in the future and can't qualify for life insurance?

5. His life insurance policy will be a great money teaching tool. The fact is by the time most of us reach 65 we are either dead or broke. Most seniors rely on Social Security as their means of survival. Our savings rate in this country is a negative number, our government spends money it doesn't have, we all have seen payday loan or car title loan offices popping up. Spending is a disease in this country. The basis of any solid financial plan should be solid life insurance protection. When I teach my son about money I'm going to pull out his life insurance policy and explain how it all works. It will be the basis for a successful financial future for my son.

No, my child doesn't have any one that depends on him now, but when he does in the future they'll be glad he has this policy.