Why My Husband and I Bought Life Insurance When We Got Married

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KEY POINTS

  • Spouses often make joint commitments, such as taking out a shared mortgage.
  • If one spouse passes, the other may struggle financially.
  • Life insurance can help reduce the risk of financial woes.

Spouses may owe it to each other to get covered.

After getting married, my husband and I took many financial steps together to combine our lives and prepare for our future as a couple. One of the most important steps involved both of us purchasing a life insurance policy.

While this may not have been the most exciting purchase we made as newlyweds, it was one of the most essential. Here's why we both made the decision to buy a life insurance policy and name the other as the beneficiary.

Life insurance is a crucial purchase for newly married couples

Once my husband and I got married, we started building a life based on our combined income. This meant doing things like buying a house we could afford with both of our salaries, as well as basing retirement plans on the idea that we would both contribute to our respective retirement accounts.

Once we made the decision to combine our financial affairs, we became dependent on each other, continuing to earn a salary to cover our costs, maintain our standard of living, and carry out our future plans.

Since neither of us wants to leave the other in the lurch and end up forced to struggle financially if we pass away sooner than expected, we decided to buy life insurance. We both bought a policy that would allow the surviving spouse to pay off our mortgage and any other joint debt we have, and that would replace our incomes for a set period of time. Plus, we made each other the sole beneficiaries on our life insurance policies so the surviving spouse would get the full death benefit amount.

The peace of mind life insurance buys

By taking this simple step, if either of us were to pass away, the other would receive a large lump sum that would provide sufficient funds so the death wouldn't be financially devastating. The money would allow us to cover funeral expenses, which can be costly, and to continue paying all of our joint bills.

We also know that buying life insurance when we are young and healthy is less expensive than waiting until we get older and potentially develop health problems. And since we were in agreement that we would have a family in the future, we wanted to make certain we had coverage in place before having kids so we wouldn't leave our future children unprotected.

The purchase of term life policies was very affordable for us, and the fact that it provided assurances that we were taking care of each other and any future kids made it well worth the small expense it added to our monthly budgets.

Our picks for best life insurance companies

Life insurance is essential if you have people depending on you. We’ve combed through the options and developed a best-in-class list for life insurance coverage. This guide will help you find the best life insurance companies and the right type of policy for your needs. Read our free review today.

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