If someone depends on you, you probably need life insurance. If you die today, life insurance will provide your dependents with the money needed for day-to-day expenses, pay off the mortgage, and serve as a tool to fund long-term goals such as education and retirement, allowing your dependents to maintain their quality of life.

Start by assessing your family's needs. Gather all your personal financial data and estimate what your family members would need to meet their present and future financial obligations while maintaining their quality of life if you were not present. Include recurring expenses (such as day care, tuition, and an amount as income for retirement) and immediate expenses at the time of death (such as debts, medical bills, funeral costs, and estate taxes).

To get a sense of how much coverage you need, you can use the BAC Calculator at the end of this page.

There are many kinds of life insurance, but generally they all fall into two categories: term insurance (temporary) and permanent insurance (insurance that can build savings). Term insurance is designed to meet current needs: it provides protection for a period of time (“the term”) and pays a benefit only if you die within that term. In contrast, permanent life insurance provides lifelong protection; as long as you have paid the premiums and have not taken loans, withdrawals, or cancelled the policy, the full amount (“face amount”) will be paid. Because it is designed to last a lifetime, permanent life insurance builds value and its premium is designed to be maintainable over a long period of time.