This is a guest post by Hank Coleman who is a staff writer at Online Insurance Quotes.
There are many unscrupulous insurance sales people in the market that prey on people’s fears in order to get them to buy insurance they do not need. Far too often, consumers buy insurance policies for coverage that squanders their insurance premiums a few dollars a month. Many additional policy features that are offered by insurance companies such as cancer insurance, accidental death insurance, and insurance for minor children are unneeded, have a very low probability of occurrence, and often duplicate insurance coverage that you already have through your family’s main life insurance policy.
Three Types Of Insurance You Do Not Need
Cancer Death Insurance
Everyone knows someone who has died as a result of being the victim of cancer. So, many people have specific life insurance policies that will payout to the survivors if they should die of cancer. These types of insurance policies are breading on the fear that people have, but many people do not realize that other illnesses such as heart disease or obesity claim more lives every year than cancer does. But, everyone is scared of cancer and subsequently, cancer insurance is a best seller. You should already have life insurance that protects your loved ones should you die prematurely from any event or illness. There is no need to purchase additional life insurance for a specific disease or event.
Life Insurance On Children
The entire purpose of life insurance is to protect survivors from the loss of a person’s income. Unless your child is a Hollywood star, no one is probably depending on his or her paycheck. Children cost their parents money. They do not add economic value to the household monetarily and should not be insured. The maximum life insurance coverage a parent should have on their children are just enough for funeral expenses and burial costs. No parent wants to lose their child, of course, and many insurance agents prey on these fears of parents.
Accidental Death Insurance
When you die, you are dead. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really matter how you got that way. It happened. But, if you had the proper amount of life insurance, then you would not need to purchase an additional policy for accidental death. You are essentially paying for something twice. You are already covered in the event of your death should you die prematurely with your normal life insurance policy. You do not need to purchase money that will pay you extra in the event your death was an accident. Even though the extra policy may be fairly cheap, your insurance company realizes that they have a very low probability of having to pay the claim. That’s why it is so cheap.
Consumers have the potential to purchase too much insurance and overlap coverage that they already own by falling victim to less reputable insurance firms trying to sell additional features. If you have either whole life insurance or term life insurance equal to approximately ten times your annual income, then your heirs stand a good chance of being protected should they lose you and therefore end up losing your income that they rely on as well.
Samantha A. Gregory is an author, consultant, and speaker. She’s a single-mom lifestyle, money, and parenting expert featured in The Washington Post, The New York Times, Essence Magazine, HuffPost, ABC News, and Mint.com.
Samantha founded the award-winning RichSingleMomma.com™, the first online magazine featuring personal finance, parenting, and personal development content and courses for single moms.
She aims to inspire women who are ready to thrive and not just survive in their single motherhood journey. Connect with her on Instagram @richsinglemomma.
