Why Life Insurance is So Important for Married Women

My dad died on January 1, 2016. And Mom lost the income that came from his pension.  She also lost her Social Security but was able to continue receiving Dad’s. Even so, $1,100 and some odd change each month isn’t enough to live on.  And that is why as a married woman, you need to understand why life insurance is so important for you and your husband to own even after you have paid off your house and the children have all moved out…because you will need more money over a longer period of time if you don’t what to run out of money when your husband passes.

Americans used to start working much earlier in life.  Today many don’t start any serious form of work until their late twenties or even early thirties.  This limits the amount of money that they can save.  Yet, Americans today are living longer.  And that means they need to save more money.  Interestingly, many Americans today can expect to live 30 years after they retire compared to only 5 to 10-year retirement periods of the past.

Because of these facts, personal savings for women becomes even more important than ever because women, on average, live eleven years longer than men.  On top of that, many women live 15-25 years after their spouse dies.

Statistically, women tend to come up short when planning for the future and that means women frequently suffer the greatest when inadequate savings have been set aside.  And that is why life insurance is so important for married women.  It is the great equalizer.

When a husband dies, with adequate life insurance on his life, she can continue to live the lifestyle that she is used to living without suffering the consequences.  And for pennies on the dollar, all husbands, even after they die, can assure that their wives will never be without money.

Beyond the death benefit, the cash values can also be a great asset in retirement for both husband and wife, allowing them to keep more of their Social Security checks instead of being taxed on their Social Security benefit.

But here’s the problem. Many, if not most, financial planners and gurus will tell you that you don’t need life insurance.  And if you do, then all you need is term insurance up until the house is paid off and the kids have moved out.  But that is simply wrong!  No loving husband wants his wife to live off his $1,100 Social Security check after he’s gone.  And no wife today should be willingly ignorant of the fact that term insurance rarely pays a death benefit.  The only way to assure that you will have an income that allows you to keep up with the lifestyle that you deserve once your husband is gone is to make sure your husband is adequately insured with permanent participating whole life insurance (PWLI) before he passes.

Of course, some call PWLI a dinosaur…meaning it is old fashion or out of date.  But that is only because they want you to depend on something that is newer and less reliable, like Indexed Universal Life or Variable Universal Life or No-lapse Universal Life. The problem is that these products are not dependable like the old dinosaur PWLI.  They simply have not stood up to the test of time.  Furthermore, each of these Universal insurance products is built upon the foundation of the ever-increasing cost of term insurance, the kind of insurance that gets so expensive as you get older that most people stop the coverage because they can no longer afford the premiums.

That is exactly what Dad did.  He purchased term insurance coverage, paid the premiums until they got so expensive that he stopped paying them. Not only did he lose all the money he paid in those Term premiums but now Mom is left with only a $1,100 Social Security check each month because he didn’t have PWLI.  Oh, yes, wait a minute, he did have some PWLI that he had purchased when he first married.  He paid 25 cents a week for it.  The death benefit on that policy helped pay off his last hospital bill, but nothing was left for Mom.  If only he would have purchased PWLI when he first retired and took his pension, Mom would have had a comfortable income today.

You see, PWLI has a level premium for life.  One that is comfortable and affordable and will never go up but can be reduced to zero in the future at your discretion.  PWLI provides the kind of assurance that all married women need.  Because if or when your husband dies before you do, you can spend the next 11 to 25 years living the life that he would have enjoyed living with you had he stuck around.

If you, or your husband, don’ t have adequate and permanent PWLI, give us a call today. We can help.  702-660-7000.  Don’t let the new year start without getting the life insurance that you need both now and for the future.