Life Is Important

If you’re like many Americans, you may spend substantial time and energy on general financial planning while overlooking the various ways life insurance may fit into that plan. Life insurance has wide-ranging benefits for people of all ages that you should consider, say experts.

“There is a significant opportunity for life insurance to help you achieve financial security during any age of saving, and for the many concerns you face throughout your lifetime,” says Andrew Bucklee, senior vice president and head of Insurance Solutions Distribution for Lincoln Financial Distributors. “It should be part of most consumers’ long-term financial plan.”

September is Life Insurance Awareness Month and the perfect opportunity to learn more about how it can help you protect your financial security. Here are a few things to consider.

• If you only associate life insurance with helping address funeral expenses or estate planning, take note, depending on the type of policy, life insurance can potentially be used to protect against concerns like retirement savings, loss of household income due to illness, children’s college tuition expenses and long-term care in retirement. What’s more, life insurance can be used as an overarching vehicle for wealth protection.

• Some carriers are stepping up their technology to make life insurance easy to research, purchase and manage in the same way you may have come to expect from other businesses in today’s digital world. Lab free underwriting, electronic policy delivery options and telephone application processes are all a reality in today’s marketplace, and are eliminating much of the time consuming paperwork and correspondence typically associated with obtaining a life insurance policy.

• Each generation has a different set of financial priorities. Younger generations are focused on paying off student loan debt or credit card debt. For Baby Boomers, one of the greatest worries is the cost of healthcare in retirement, with 66 percent citing that as a pressing concern in a recent study by Lincoln. Because life insurance can potentially help address all these concerns, people of all ages should evaluate their life insurance options.

“Studies show that people are beginning their financial planning sooner, which is great to see,” says Bucklee. “No matter what your age, it’s important to fully understand your life insurance options available through both financial advisors and workplace benefit packages. Advisors and employers are great resources that can help individuals unleash the full potential of life insurance.”