Types of Insurance to Own
While everyone situation is unique, we believe the following types of insurance are critical:
- Life insurance until one’s assets makes them self-insured. Term life is normally preferable as it is much less expensive than permanent or “whole-life” insurance.
- Disability insurance to replace one’s income if we become incapacitated during our working years. Very important when only one person in the household has an income or one has a much larger income than their spouse.
- Property and Casualty insurance for one’s home, cars, property. This should include flood and earthquake insurance as appropriate. Renters—don’t forget rental insurance for your personal goods.
- Health insurance for obvious reasons.
- Umbrella liability insurance to protect one’s assets in case of a lawsuit. Very important for those who might be targets of lawsuits (i.e. physicians, business owners.)
- Long Term Care insurance as one gets into their later 40s and early 50s to help offset the high cost of extended care.
- Permanent insurance for business buy-sell agreements as well as estate planning and occasionally as a supplemental investment vehicle. Seems contradictory to my first bullet, but really isn’t. Whole Life is a poor choice normally for income replacement, but it has its place for other purposes.
For a complete insurance needs analysis contact us or your financial/insurance professional.