New Baby

From maternity leave, parenting, maternity classes, and readying the new baby’s room, expectant parents have a lot on their plate as they prepare for a new baby. The tasks you need to accomplish can be overwhelming, but you certainly don’t want to forget to protect your child’s future financial well-being.

One area you’ll want to address is your life insurance to determine if your current coverage will still meet the needs of your soon-to-be more prominent family. As you examine it, you’ll want to pay particularly close attention to the following three areas:

1. Type of Insurance

While life insurance policies come in various shapes and sizes, most fit under permanent or term life insurance.

Term policies will protect for only a specified period, and these policies don’t accumulate cash value. Evaluate term policies to determine if they offer sufficient coverage to protect your growing family. On the other hand, permanent life insurance policies can cover you for your entire life. They also accumulate a cash value that can be borrowed against for future expenses, such as your child’s college tuition.

Remember that your health status and age greatly influence availability, options, and cost. Generally, you’ll find the best life insurance coverage and rate while young and in good health.

2. Coverage

The addition of a child only exaggerates a couple’s desire and need to protect their family should the wage earner unexpectedly pass away. Remember that each parent should have a life insurance policy even if one isn’t earning a wage. It’s a common misconception that stay-at-home spouses don’t need to be insured because they aren’t financially contributing to the family. In reality, all the childcare, household chores, and so forth would still need to be done if the stay-at-home spouse were to pass away, and these duties would become expenses that weren’t present when the spouse was alive. Life insurance for the stay-at-home spouse allows the surviving spouse to remain at their job and hire someone to perform the duties.

3. Beneficiaries

Should you pass away, the funds from your life insurance policy become part of your estate if you don’t have designated beneficiaries. You want this money to be available immediately for the care of your child, not tied up in your estate. Therefore, you need to update your beneficiary designations soon after the adoption or birth of your child. Be sure to choose both a primary and contingent beneficiary.

In closing, insurance might not be as fun as baby shopping. Still, you can see how important it is to meet with your insurance agent and ensure that your life insurance policy adequately meets your growing family’s needs and protects your child’s future financial well-being.