Life insurance gives everyone a way to take care of their loved ones in the future, even if they won't be around to feed them. The main idea behind life insurance is that an insured person makes monthly payments to an insurance company for as long as they live. When the insured person dies, the policy's beneficiaries, who are usually close family members, file a claim, and the insurance company sends them a check for the value of the policy. Most of the time, the money the beneficiaries get is more than what the customer put into the policy.
Life insurance comes in two main types. The first kind, called term life insurance, is bought for a fixed amount of time. It doesn't have anything besides the basic death benefit. This kind of life insurance is becoming more and more popular. The second type of policy, called a "whole life insurance policy," is a bit more complicated. A customer pays money into their whole life insurance policy every month for as long as they live. The premiums change over time and tend to rise slowly as the customer gets older. Whole life insurance has more than just a basic death benefit. It also has an investment part that is meant to help the customer get richer. Whole life insurance is much more expensive than term life insurance because of this. However, many people say the higher costs are worth it because you get more for your money.
How much life insurance you need depends a lot on how much you can spend on a monthly premium, but it also depends on how much coverage your family needs because of their lifestyle and financial situation. It's a good idea to try to get your beneficiaries a policy that gives them enough money to pay for your funeral and keep paying their bills for as long as possible without having to worry about money. There are a lot of worksheets you can find online that can help you get a good idea of how much coverage you need, but you should talk to an experienced and trustworthy professional about your situation before making a final decision about what kind of life insurance policy to buy.