How Renewable Life Insurance Benefits Your Kids

Most people think about purchasing life insurance for adults. Adults have people that depend on their income or services. If they were to die, their family members could have trouble paying the bills afterwards. However, you may want to consider getting your child a renewable life insurance policy. While you may not be dependent upon your child’s income, your child could benefit from your purchase of a life insurance policy for them.

What is Renewable Life Insurance?

Renewable life insurance is insurance where the policy holder has the option to renew their policy. When the insurance is renewed, the insured will not have to take a medical exam. The insurance premium will probably increase with every renewal, but it will only increase based on the age of the insured changing, not on any medical conditions that may have sprouted up.

Why Get Renewable Life Insurance for Children?

Your child is hopefully in good health. When you purchase renewable life insurance for your healthy child, you will pay insurance premiums based on a healthy individual. As your child gets older, he or she may develop medical conditions that might make it difficult for them to get insurance. Your child may develop diabetes or high blood pressure, or may find that their cholesterol levels are a little higher than they should be. If you insure your child today, before they develop these health complications, they will be able to continue to pay premiums based on what a healthy individual would pay, regardless of any medical problems that they might develop.

What to Look For

If you take out a renewable life insurance policy for your child, you want to read the fine print. Find out what the policy means when it says that it is renewable. Be sure that it really is renewable without a medical examination. Some policies say they are “renewable,” but only mean that the policy is easy to renew, even though they require a medical examination. You may also want to look for a policy that can have the coverage increased when your child gets older. You may only need to insure your child for a small amount now, in order to help with funeral costs and perhaps medical bills, but your child may want to get more insurance later, in order to replace their income once they have a family that is dependent upon them.

The Insurance Controversy

Not all of the experts are equally enthusiastic about getting life insurance for children. Some people feel that you don’t need insurance for a child because they do not have an income. Some people don’t like the way that insurance representatives pressure parents into buying insurance for their child by using lines like “if you love your child, you’d buy this.” Don’t be pressured into buying any kind of life insurance. If you get peace of mind by insuring your child, or feel good that you are protecting their future insurability, by all means insure your child. If you think that you might have difficulty paying for a child’s funeral or medical bills, go ahead and get insurance. However, before you insure your child, make sure that you have adequate insurance. Your child and spouse would probably experience more financial devastation if you died without insurance than if your child died without insurance.