Family life insurance plans cover you and your loved ones, but they're not the best fit for everyone.
Updated Jul 22, 2024 · 4 min read Written by Georgia Rose Lead Writer Georgia Rose
Lead Writer | Finance, technology, science
Georgia Rose is a lead writer on the international team at NerdWallet. Her work has been featured in The Washington Post , The New York Times, The Independent and The Associated Press . Throughout her career, Georgia has written on a variety of subjects, including personal finance, government policy, science and technology. She enjoys researching complex topics and distilling the information for her readers. Before joining the international team, she wrote for the insurance vertical, specializing in life insurance.
Assigning Editor Lisa GreenLisa Green leads the life insurance team and oversees insurance-focused data journalism at NerdWallet. A professional journalist since high school, she was an insurance writer at NerdWallet before becoming an assigning editor. Previously, Lisa spent more than 20 years as an editor at The Tennessean in Nashville, where she led business and consumer coverage for several years. At The Tennessean, she was part of a 2011 Pulitzer Prize finalist team for coverage of devastating floods in Middle Tennessee. Her work has also won awards from the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing, Investigative Reporters and Editors, and the Society of Professional Journalists. Lisa is an alumna of the Wharton Seminars for Business Journalists at the University of Pennsylvania. She has also studied data journalism with the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting, business editing with the American Press Institute and writing, editing and news research with the Poynter Institute. In addition to her work at NerdWallet, Lisa is a real estate investor and has taught a seminar on how to earn college scholarships. She is based in Nashville.
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When buying life insurance for your family, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. A policy that’s perfect for you may not be right for your spouse, child, parent or grandparent.
Understanding your options can help you create the best family life insurance plan for your loved ones.
Family life insurance is the catchall term for policies that cover different members of your family. You can use these policies to pay for a range of expenses, such as funeral and burial costs, college debts, lost income or child care. In general, life insurance is important for anyone whose death would place a financial burden on others.
You can determine who needs life insurance by looking at the roles your family members play and their long-term financial responsibilities. For example, breadwinners may need life insurance to replace their income if they die, while grandparents may need smaller policies to help their family cover funeral expenses.
The best option for most couples is to buy separate life insurance policies for each spouse. There are two types of coverage available: term and permanent life insurance.
Term life insurance is typically sufficient for most families. You can set the length of a term policy to cover you until your kids are grown, your mortgage is paid off or your family no longer relies on your income. Permanent life insurance policies, such as whole life, offer lifelong coverage and build cash value. However, these policies are generally more expensive than term life insurance.
In some cases it may make sense to buy a joint life insurance policy — often called second-to-die or survivorship life insurance — that covers both you and your spouse. In general, joint life insurance policies for married couples are a type of permanent life insurance that pays out after both policyholders die.
The main purpose of these policies is to help cover major costs, such as estate taxes or lifetime care for a child with a disability , after both parties die. If only one spouse dies, the surviving spouse doesn't receive a life insurance death benefit and is responsible for 100% of the premiums moving forward. Therefore, these policies are suitable only for couples who are financially independent and can cover living costs without the help of a payout.
Premiums depend on the age and medical histories of both you and your spouse. Therefore, severe medical conditions of one spouse can drive up the cost of the entire policy. On the flip side, if you’re both healthy, sharing a policy might work in your favor. Insurers don’t have to pay out survivorship benefits until both parties die, which means they spend more years collecting premiums. This translates to lower risk for the insurer and lower rates for you.
The average annual cost of a 20-year term life policy for a healthy 40-year-old buying $500,000 of coverage is $334 for men and $282 for women, according to Covr Financial Technologies. To compare, a $500,000 whole life policy for the same applicant is $7,440 per year for men and $6,512 for women, on average.
Children don’t typically need life insurance. If you want to cover unexpected costs or save for your child’s future, you’re generally better off opening a savings account.
However, life insurance policies for kids are available if you want coverage. In general, these policies are a form of whole life insurance , which means coverage is valid for the child’s life. Policies typically include a cash value component that builds slowly over time.
Some insurers allow you to pay off the policy after 10 or 20 years, leaving the death benefit intact for the child’s lifetime.
In some cases you can lock in the option to add more coverage in the future, regardless of the child’s health later in life. You can typically increase coverage only at predetermined ages, yearly intervals or approved events, such as when the child marries or becomes a parent.
You may not need to buy coverage for older members of your family, especially if no one relies on them financially. However, policies are available for those who want to provide an inheritance or cover specific costs such as funeral expenses or estate fees.
Older family members may find it tough to qualify for life insurance due to their age or health. As a result, coverage can be expensive. However, there are options for older applicants. The best life insurance policies for seniors may include:
Burial insurance. These are typically small whole life policies that help cover final expenses like funeral costs.
Guaranteed issue life insurance. This is a type of permanent life insurance that guarantees coverage regardless of your age or health. In general, applicants must be from 50 to 85 years old. While the guarantee might sound appealing , guaranteed issue life insurance can be expensive for the low coverage it offers.
Guaranteed universal life insurance. This type of coverage is a combination of term and permanent life insurance. Guaranteed universal life insurance offers lifelong coverage but typically builds minimal cash value. This often makes them cheaper than whole life policies, but you can lose coverage if you miss a payment.
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If you get coverage through work, you may be able to add supplemental life insurance for a spouse or child. But review your current plan before purchasing more coverage, as your basic policy may already cover your spouse or child for free.
There are pros and cons to buying group life insurance through work . Rates for supplemental coverage are rarely locked in, which means your premiums can increase as you age. There are limits to how much coverage you can buy for yourself, a child or spouse, and costs vary among employers. Shop around: You might be able to get more coverage for less on the open market.
Certain rules may also restrict your options. For example, you may need to purchase supplemental coverage for yourself before buying additional life insurance for your spouse or child. Supplemental coverage through work is not always guaranteed, which means you may need to submit evidence that you’re in good health to qualify for additional coverage.
When buying additional coverage through work, check if you can take the policy with you. Group life insurance is typically tied to your employment. In short, if you leave your job you might lose coverage.
If you want the convenience of a single policy but need extra coverage for your spouse or child, consider adding riders to your term or permanent life insurance policy.
Life insurance riders expand the coverage of your policy by covering a specific person or need. You can buy riders on the open market or through your employer if your company allows. Not all insurers offer the same riders, and availability can differ among states.
Here are three common types of family life insurance riders :
Spouse term riders are valid for a set number of years but typically expire when the base term policy to which they’re attached expires, or when the spouse reaches a certain age. You may be able to convert your spouse rider to an individual policy before it expires.
Child riders cover a set period of time and pay out if the child dies during that period. These riders typically cover children from 15 days old to 25 years old. At that point, the child may have the option to convert the rider to an individual life insurance policy.
“Other insured” riders typically can cover anyone you have an insurable interest in, which means you would suffer financially if the person dies. In theory, this could be a parent, grandparent, spouse or child.
Life insurance riders are not always worth it. Depending on the amount of coverage you want, you might be better off buying a separate policy to cover a family member instead of adding a rider. This is because riders are typically canceled if the policyholder dies, leaving the family member with no insurance.
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Georgia Rose is a lead writer on the international team at NerdWallet. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Independent and ABC News. See full bio.
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