Does someone single need life insurance?

[genchan]

I got a call at work yesterday from a guy trying to sell me life insurance. He kept telling me what a great investment it was. Is life insurance a good investment for someone who is single?

[Tree0164]

Anyone that come and tells you that life insurance is a great investment. Run the other way. They are trying to sell you whole life insurance and the agent makes big commissions on that.

If you are going to get life insurance, get term. If you are single, you probably don't need it unless you have any dependents (will anyone be in a worse finanical situation if you die) including older parents.

I had a small life insurance policy when I was single it was for less than $20k or something in that range. You might want to get something that covers your burial costs. Don't depend on your work life insurance either.

If you are healthy and young, shop around. You can get some really good rates.

[terry1156]

Theresa is correct. Unless you have someone who will need money in the case you did die (i.e. you are sending $300 a month to support your parents), then you don't need life insurance.

The salesperson that called you was trying to sell whole life insurance, and you don't want to get involved with that as an investment. You can find much better investments on your own.

[jmjj215]

That's all correct. It's amazing how hard those agents will push whole life, universal life, whatever you want to call it, on to people. The premium costs so much more and the actual return on that additional money you have to pay towards your premium is horrible. A very disciplined approach would be to by term as mentioned above, then invest the difference between the whole life and term premiums into a long-term vehicle such as an indexed mutual fund. And if you want a guaranteed return you could always use that money to pay off credit card balances, a financed car, or your house.