Your Money or Your Life Insurance

While both of these statements are true, odds are that you'll be paying premiums needlessly if you follow this line of reasoning. If you truly don't need life insurance now, then why pay for it?

And what are the chances that your health will take a significant turn for the worse before you reach the point when you do need life insurance?

It's your money, but if you want to hang on to as much of it as possible, don't buy insurance before you can demonstrate a real need for it. The following are some circumstances in which you would most likely not need life insurance.

• If you are retired and have no dependents. At this time in your life, you most likely don't have large debts (such as a big mortgage) or dependents relying on your income.

  If there is no one who will be financially harmed when you pass away, you probably don't need life insurance. Plus, premiums for people over age 65 are very high and may even be unaffordable. An exception to this logic may apply if you are using life insurance as an estate-planning tool for tax purposes.

• If you are retired and have no dependents, and if your spouse has a high enough income. Life insurance should be purchased to replace the income or services you're currently providing for your family. However, if your family has other means of resources besides you, then it doesn't make sense to spend money on life insurance (unless for estate-planning reasons).


• If you are considering a policy for a minor child. The child probably does not need life insurance unless you would need the money to cover basic funeral expenses. Undoubtedly the loss of a child would be terribly tragic. Financially speaking, however, you would not experience a loss of income provided by the child. Therefore, life insurance does not make sense for minor children except as insurance against the cost of funeral expenses.

At the other end of the spectrum, if you have young children, a spouse or other family members who are relying on your contribution to the household income in order to pay the bills, then you probably do need life insurance.

Whether it's to pay off your mortgage or provide your family with a specified income stream, life insurance is an important financial tool that can help you plan for the uncertainty of the future.

If you are interesting in buying life insurance, the health of your provider is an important consideration. Below is a table of TheStreet.com's top-rated life insurance companies.

Top 10 Individual Life Insurers*
Company	State	Rating	Ind. Life Prem. to Total Prem.	Ind. Life Prem. ($ million)
Primerica Life Insurance	MA	A-	99.80%	1,181
Nationwide Life Insurance	PA	B+	97.40%	268
Alfa Life Insurance	AL	A	97.60%	117
Reliable Life Insurance	MO	A-	93.50%	108
Union National Life Insurance	LA	A	90.50%	79
MML Bay State Life Insurance	CT	A-	92.40%	61
Tennessee Farmers Life Reassurance	TN	A-	92.30%	40
Acacia Life Insurance	DC	A-	90.10%	34
Penn Insurance and Annuity	DE	B+	93.60%	28
Keystone State Life Insurance	PA	B+	99.90%	4
*By percentage premium to total premium Source: TheStreet.com Ratings