Kanetix
Life & Critical Illness Insurance Forum

I'm turning 30 this year. My girlfriend and I just moved into our first condo together. We both have pretty good insurance coverage at our jobs that covers the basics. Do we need life insurance at this point? Her family is pushing us to get it, but I'd rather pay off the condo first. When's the right time to purchase life insurance? Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

The "right time" to buy life insurance varies for everyone, but you'll find that many people consider getting it, or buying a policy when they get married, buy a home, have children, become self-employed, or retire.

At the website of the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (www.clhia.ca) we found a list of questions people should consider in determining if, or when, they need life insurance:

• If you are in a relationship, how much do you contribute to the family budget? If you were to die prematurely, how would your survivor(s) get by, especially dependent children?


• Does anyone else depend on you financially, such as a parent, grandparent, brother or sister?
  
• If you are a single parent, what level of support payments are you making or getting? How would these be kept up in the event of the contributor's death?


• If you have a mortgage on your home, do you want it paid off in the event of your death?


• If you have children, do you want to put aside money to complete their education in the event of your death?


• Are there any other family members or organizations to whom you would like to leave money?


• Could life insurance play a role in business or farm succession plans?


• Could life insurance play a role in paying the taxes incurred when capital property is transferred from one generation to the next?

There's plenty of information at the CLHIA website that you'll find handy. There's also a brochure that you can download that answers questions like: How much life insurance is enough? Do you need life insurance? What's the difference between Permanent life insurance, Term life insurance and Term to 100 life insurance?

All this can be found at: www.clhia.ca;