Need to Know: Life Insurance for Women

A frank discussion about the importance of life insurance doesn’t sound like something that would top many people’s to-do lists. Frankly, mortality is an uncomfortable topic, one a lot of people would just as soon avoid.

You shouldn’t.

What a lot of people don’t know — something that life insurance providers like New York Life Insurance Company are focusing their resources on driving home — is that a good, all-encompassing life insurance policy can provide for you while you’re still alive. Life insurance isn’t just about paying for your funeral and providing for your family should something happen to you. Permanent life insurance can also help you make big purchases, plan for your future, and provide for your family and loved ones while you’re still here.

This is especially important for women.

Why? Because even in 2014, women make 78 cents for every dollar a man makes (1). When you consider that, according to the 2014 National Center for Health Statistics, women outlive men by an average of five years (2), women are at a disadvantage financially, and a life insurance policy can help bridge that economic gap.

Today, women make up more than half of the workforce and more than half of college graduates. Financially speaking, this may still be a man’s world in some regards, but the tide is shifting, and a good life insurance policy can set you on the course for a successful financial future.

Some things you should know when shopping for a life insurance policy:

• The younger you start, the better: Saving for your financial future might not seem like a priority in college — for a lot of people, it isn’t even feasible — but a permanent life insurance policy is a great way to build “living benefits” that can be borrowed against in the future. That’s not to say you can’t consider a life insurance policy later in life, but the sooner you start, the longer that money has time to accrue.

• “Living benefits” can provide for you while you’re alive: Homes are expensive. College is expensive. Life is expensive. As you pay premiums on the whole of your policy, the cash value builds — that’s money you can access through policy loans. Those loans accrue interest and they do decrease the value of your death benefit and cash value, but if having access to funds for major expenses most people incur throughout their lives is important to you, a permanent life insurance policy is a great way to go about it.

• You can help make certain your family will be provided for: In the event that something happens to you, a life insurance policy can help make sure final expenses and past debts are taken care of while providing extra money for expenses your family will still be facing — food, mortgage, clothing, etc.

• How do you want to spend your retirement?: A permanent life insurance policy is a great way to secure protection and, if your protection needs decrease, see to it that the things you want to do as a retiree become possibilities.

Of course, it’s important to make sure you pick the policy that works best for you and your family. An empty nester will have different needs and concerns than a woman just starting a family; spouses might have different concerns than single moms. To find the policy that’s right for you, contact New York Life.

This article is being provided as a courtesy by New York Life Insurance Company.  It is for general information only.  Individual should evaluate their own situation and needs before making a decision on regarding life insurance coverage

1. U.S. Census Bureau. (2014). Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic (ASEC) Supplement: Table PINC-05: Work Experience in 2013 — People 15 Years Old and Over by Total Money Earnings in 2013, Age, Race, Hispanic Origin, and Sex. (Unpublished calculation based on the median earnings of all men and women who work full-time, year-round in 2013)
2. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, October 2014.