By Jim McCoy
Young married college students now have something else to worry about: life insurance.
“If you owe somebody or you love somebody, life insurance is a necessity,” said Michael Frandsen, a financial consultant with AXA Advisors.
Frandsen said one of the advantages of having a life insurance policy is one can have the security and peace of mind that whoever is left behind, gets money to pay off the debt, and they will be able to enjoy or maintain the same standard of living you created before you died, said Frandsen.
Other specialists, such as Ryan Englund, a financial service agent for Farmers Insurance, and Joe Evans, manager for Guardian Life Insurance, agree.
“Once you are married, you have an obligation,” said Englund. “Maybe you are young and don”t have a lot of debt, but there is still a need for insurance,”
Most students and young families do not carry life insurance because either they cannot afford it or do not feel they need it.
However, it is most beneficial to get a life insurance policy started when young. Life insurance rates and coverage are determined based on a person”s family medical history and his or her current state of health, Englund said.
For example, if an older man or a woman seeks a policy later in life, they may not become insured, but that they could have been at an earlier time in their life.
“Insurance should definitely be obtained for a married student,” Evans said. “You should consider yourself as always having one child, because you don”t know if she is pregnant, right off the bat,”
Ryan Oliver, 26, a senior from Barnwell Alberta, Canada, majoring in public relations said, “once you are married, you have to wonder about what is going to happen if something happens to you, and if your wife is going to be able to provide for herself as well for your children.”
Oliver recently opened a substantial policy for $25 a month. The rate is locked in and coverage is guaranteed for 30 years. Shorter-term policies lasting 5, 10 or 20 years are also available at prices ranging from $9 to $20 a month.
“If I waited ten years to get the policy, it would cost almost double what it is costing now,” Oliver said.
Permanent policies are also available that last one”s life span, but these are considerably more expensive, averaging from $100 to $125 a month.
“I don”t have insurance because of laziness, lack of money and not being educated about the cost and benefits it could bring,” said Joel Horton, 25, from Corona, Calif., majoring in communications. “People like me should know these kinds of things so they can take advantage of the opportunity.”
