Whole Life Insurance for Married Couples

Married couples should investigate life insurance solution information to help them choose the right policy–whether as a couple (joint) or as individuals (separate).

Couples should think about having life insurance for several reasons, including to help with financial security. Here are some reasons why you may consider getting a policy with your spouse: 

Financial Protection

Many couples may need life insurance to help protect their family financially, especially if one partner is the primary earner. That way, if the primary breadwinner dies unexpectedly, life insurance can help the surviving spouse keep up with some of the household expenses and costs. This is one of the reasons why whole life insurance can be seen as a good life insurance option for self-employed individuals.

Death benefits can help replace lost income and pay for other services that may have been covered by the income of the primary wage earner. 

Debt Repayment

If you and your spouse share debts, such as a mortgage, car payments, or student loans, life insurance can help act as a safety net in case something happens to one partner and the other has to assume payments.

Final Expense Management

End-of-life expenses such as funeral and hospital bills can be costly, and when a partner dies, the widowed spouse often has to cover all these payments. Having life insurance can help lighten the financial load.

Monetary Legacy

When you have a permanent life insurance policy, such as whole life insurance, your policy includes a death benefit as long as the policy remains paid up - which you can leave to the people or causes you love.  

When choosing life insurance, married couples should consider the following factors:

Coverage

The coverage amount you want to obtain in a life insurance policy will depend on your income and lifestyle, as well as policy affordability. It’s a good idea to consult an insurance agent to find the right mix of benefits for a premium you can afford. 

Timeline

Permanent life insurance lasts a lifetime, but it’s good to know the different timelines involved, such as how long you can expect to be paying premiums out of pocket (versus payments being subtracted from your cash value amount) and when or if you can make loans or withdrawals. It’s also important to note policies have a maturity date, which can be advanced and well past life expectancy. However, some policies have maturity dates as low as age 85 or 90. 

Savings

Life insurance can act as another form of savings. Some couples may use it as a way to diversify their retirement portfolio, so it’s advisable to choose a policy to help maximize these added benefits.

Whole life insurance is a type of permanent life insurance that covers the policyholder’s entire lifespan–as long as premiums are paid consistently. It comes with fixed premiums and cash value accumulation, which increases with policy age and becomes accessible through loans and withdrawals. And with most whole life insurance policies, there are no restrictions on how you spend your cash value.

When opting for whole life insurance, it’s important to consider the following: 

• Budgeting: Whole life insurance is usually more expensive than term life insurance. 
  
• Flexibility: Whole life insurance comes with fixed premiums, unlike universal life insurance, whose payments are adjustable. 
  
• Growth pace: While account value accumulation is generally steady, the pace at which it grows in whole life insurance policies is usually slower than traditional investments.