Should You Get Life Insurance as a Single Parent?

When I was married I always planned on getting life insurance but never got around to it. I didn’t want my then husband to be financially ruined if something were to happen to me or vice versa. I also wanted to be able to leave money for my kid’s college education and anything else they would need in the event something would happen to me.

Now that I’m single I still think life insurance is important but I look at it in a slightly different way.

Life Insurance for the Single Mother

Now, instead of leaving money to a spouse I am thinking more of my girl’s needs. Since I am the only person who relies on my income I only have to worry about protecting my daughters. If something were to happen to me before they were college aged or driving age I would want to leave money for those expenses.

I’d also want to leave money to a family member to pay off any debts that I had at the time so that no one would be burdened.

Picking a Beneficiary

The hardest part about being single is picking a beneficiary. I’ve often thought about this. Without a spouse you have to pick somebody else that you could trust to do the right thing with a large sum of life insurance money.

I’ve went back and forth on choosing my ex-husband or one of my parents as a beneficiary. My ex-husband clearly has the best interest of our children at heart. Also, leaving him money would also make his life financially better.

On the other hand there’s always a thought in the back of my head that one of my parents would be the better choice. It’s a tough decision. I have put a lot of time into at this point but still cannot come to a definitive answer.

But who knows, maybe within the next few years I’ll be happily remarried and not have to worry about picking the wrong beneficiary.

 Choosing a Benefit Amount

As a single parent now the only debt I have is the $10,000 loan I took out to buy the trailer. However, in the future I may purchase a house. I hope to be financially stable and have a large amount saved for this purchase but nobody knows what the future holds.

Since I don’t expect to be loaded with debt and my real worries are expenses for my daughters I don’t need a huge benefit amount. I think somewhere in the range of $100,000 to $200,000 would be an ideal amount for me.

Conclusion

There are a lot of factors to consider when taking a life insurance policy out as a single parent. After all, you don’t have to worry about replacing your income when you’re the only one relying on it.

In the end I just want to make sure I don’t leave the burden of debt to another family member and that my girl’s college expenses would be taken care of. If I can accomplish that I would be happy.