Do you love your family? Do you do your best to make sure they are always provided for? Then why should that change if you die? Why is it that you can spend weeks planning for your vacation, an upcoming wedding or the next big social event but refuse to devote even an hour to ensure that your future finances are in order?

While life insurance may seem to be a morbidly depressing topic, it is nothing compared to how a family will feel when one of their breadwinners passes away and leaves nothing behind but debt and bills. If you have a spouse and or children, getting adequate life insurance should be your number one priority.

Unfortunately, life insurance doesn't insure your life. It should be called, instead, income protection. If something were to happen to you today, your income would stop. Most people when asked what their biggest asset is will mistakenly say, "My house, of course." That is not true. Your biggest asset is yourself.

Every year you bring in an income that allows your family to survive financially. By not protecting this income with life insurance, you are putting your family at a great risk. Do you have enough in savings and retirement that your family could financially survive? More than likely, you don't. You need to have enough life insurance so that if you were to die prematurely, your family would still be receiving a portion, if not all, of your income for many years to come.

What are the Types of Life Insurance?

There are two basic types of life insurance: term and permanent. Term life is the simplest and least expensive type of policy. It's pure insurance with no cash value account. A term life policy has only one function: to pay a specific lump sum to whoever you've designated, upon a specific event – your death. The policy protects your family by providing money they can invest to replace your salary, as well as to cover final expenses incurred by your death.

On the other hand, Permanent Life (aka "cash value" or "whole life") policies provide both a death benefit and a cash value account. Their premiums are larger than term life premiums, because they fund the savings account in addition to buying insurance. These policies are often referred to as cash value policies. There are many variations of permanent life insurance each with its own pros and cons, the more notable types include: variable life, whole and universal life policies.

Benefits of a

Term Life Policy

1. It's straightforward. If you die during the term of your policy your beneficiaries get paid-that's all there is to it.

2. It's inexpensive. You aren't paying anything extra to fund a savings account or cover investment fees.

3. You pay only for what you need when you need it. You typically need life insurance coverage for a specific period of time (until the kids are out of college, for instance).

Benefits of a Permanent Life Insurance Policy

1. Flexibility. A permanent plan can give you access to some or all of the premiums that you have been paying for at some future point.

2. It's with you until you die. This type of policy coverage is guaranteed for your life with no out of the blue payment increases. A term policy will expire at a certain date, and a renewed policy could have much higher premiums.

What is the

better Plan?

The decision to buy a permanent or a term life insurance policy will depend on your situation, your age, your financial well-being, and other factors. If you are a young family with some investments to protect but not financially stable, a term life policy might be a good idea to protect those investments and your family. However, if you are financially stable with considerable investments, it may be a better decision in the long run to purchase a permanent plan.

How Much Coverage

do I need?

The rule of thumb is to get at least eight to 10 times your annual salary for each breadwinner in the house. But special circumstances may require more:

* Do you have a large mortgage on your home?

* Do you have one or more children that will eventually attend college?

* Do you have one or more family members who are long-term disabled or someone who will re-quire extensive medical care?

If you answered yes to any of the questions above, you need to adjust the amount of life insurance coverage accordingly. Remember, life insurance coverage should be able to pay off funeral expenses, replace income for several years, if not for an entire lifetime, and pay off debt, including all credit cards, loans and the existing mortgage.

Why do we want to pay off all of the debt, too, if we're already replacing the income? Ask yourself this question. If you could somehow make your family's life better, wouldn't you? When you acquire coverage, get enough so that all debt, including the mortgage is paid off. Then the house will be free and clear, to your family, so you know they will never be

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