Recently I had the wonderful experience of marrying my High School sweetheart. It was a great experience that I was happy we could finally share together and move our relationship that much further. But now that we are back to work and real life we have the hassle of making sure our license gets submitted and then we will have to go through the pain of changing her last name with the social security division, drivers license division, credit unions and the list goes on and on. There is another thing that will also need changing now, and that is our insurance. We have not been on each others insurance thus far and we are now married so what should we do?
Well first thing is first to be on each others auto insurance or not to be? Technically since you are married and I assume you are living in the same household, both drivers should be listed in a policy. But that doesn't mean both drivers have to be rated in the policy. For us as young couples sometimes being on separate insurance policies and companies is the best choice. With me being a young male and having a couple of speeding tickets, my insurance is going to be very pricey. She on the other hand has no violations or incidents and is usually rated better, simply because she is not a male. I know it sucks, we pay the price for being dudes who like to drive fast on occasion. I could have a policy with my wife on it but excluded from it so that she can be on her own policy and possibly have a better overall rate for the both of us combined since my negative age, gender and driving history won't have any affect on her policy. This is not absolute though, as sometimes having multiple drivers and cars on policies saves quite a bit of money. It boils down to seeing where you can get the best rate for the right coverage, whether that is together or not.
Getting insurance on that bling is also important. Now that you have made it official and have that gorgeous ring you might want to make sure it is going to be covered in your policy in the event of a loss or theft. Most renters or homeowners policies have an automatic coverage for jewelry, but these usually have a sublimit amount of around $1,000 of coverage. Meaning if your ring is worth more than $1,000 dollars you might want to get a floater on the ring or simply increase the sublimit. If you add a floater the specific piece of jewelry will need to be appraised and this appraisal will provide the insurance company with the value of the replacement making sure you are covering the piece for its actual value and not a sublimit amount.
Your interest in your significant others life is now recognized, even by law. Now that you are married you have an interest in that persons life. Meaning getting a life insurance policy on each other is now and option because you have something to lose if that person is deceased. I would highly recommend getting an insurance policy on each other not only to make sure you are financially secure with your assets even without that person, but also having that money in the event that you lose your significant other will allow time to grieve and go through a normal letting go process by not being stressed with work and money issues. Losing someone you love is hard enough without all of the possible financial burdens. Make sure to sit down with an agent and have a needs analysis on both you and your spouse to determine the right amount of coverage for you.
Marriage changes a whole bunch of things, just make sure you're prepared for everything and plan ahead to secure this life you have with your partner. Planning now will save you lots of heartache down the road.
Is life insurance really necessary? Does my family even need life insurance? How much life insurance do I need? What kind of life insurance do I need? These are some of the most commonly asked questions either to an agent or simply questions you would ask your spouse or even yourself. Life insurance like many insurance policies are often times not as well known as they should be. Everyone who has a house, a car, a family, assets and much more, should be aware of what exactly life insurance is and if you need it.
Most people I come across often times inform me that they already have life insurance through their
company they work for or that their spouse already has life insurance. The thing that they don't often know is how much life insurance they have, what kind of life insurance they have and for how long that life insurance will last them. Just knowing you have life insurance isn't quite enough. We are talking about the security of your assets in the future and more importantly your families security. With so much at stake why is it that we don't put more importance on something that can have a radical impact on your future? I think the reason lies within the fact that people don't want to buy things that don't give them something tangible or instant gratification or possession of the item. But people who have life insurance and are well educated know how important it is and know what they have, what they don't have and know why they need life insurance and always will.
Because term life insurance is generally the most popular I will briefly cover it and the reason I believe you need it and should want it. Term life insurance is insurance that you choose for a specific amount of time to be covered, typically 10, 20 or 30 years. You also choose how much coverage you want. This is where people should recognize that your needs are different than Joe next door. If Joe has a mortgage twice the amount of yours and has thousands of dollars of debt, he will most likely need more "face amount" coverage than you. The face amount is the amount of money that you are insured for and the amount that would be paid out in the event of your death. Uh the "d" word. This is one of the reasons most people avoid life insurance and don't give it too much thought or time, because it reminds us that we all will inevitably die at some point. People put themselves in a, "that won't happen to me" category. One where they know that they won't get cancer, or have a severe and life threatening accident, because they just won't. But we never know what is around the corner and we should be prepared no matter what surprise we are faced with. It is better to be prepared for the worst than to be surprised by the worst. That's essentially what life insurance is for, preparation. Preparation for uncertainty and the unknown.
Sift through the obituaries one day and you will undoubtedly see the phrase, "in lieu of flowers". As an agent this breaks my heart. This shows me that the family of the deceased was not prepared for this unfortunate and tragic event. It tells me that they need financial help because they did not plan ahead. Instead of receiving beautiful flowers and not worrying too much about anything except saying goodbye to their loved ones, they have to look ahead and reach out for financial help because they are in a dire situation. One where their home and family security could be at stake. Even though none of us want to think about tragedy it is a completely logical thing that could happen to anyone at any time.
I believe life insurance is more necessary than even auto or homeowners insurance. Instead of covering just your house, or damages to your vehicle, life insurance covers yours assets, mortgage, debt, future income and most importantly your family. Remember that each person needs the right amount of coverage for them, so if your agent suggests a face amount without asking questions about income, mortgage, debt, future plans for college or anything related to those, you might want to sit down with someone who is looking at your situations and putting your interests before their commission.
Don't forget to post some comments suggesting future topics and hope on over to my Facebook page to connect and contact me with any insurance related questions.
