Answer:
Since the main purpose of life insurance is to protect against financial loss when someone dies, it’s often better to wait until your child reaches adulthood to purchase life insurance. Although your child’s death would be a tragedy, it would probably not affect your family much financially unless he or she was earning a substantial amount of income for the family.
However, there are a few reasons why you might purchase life insurance on your child. For instance, you might buy life insurance on your young child so you can take advantage of the rates, which are lower for healthy children than for adults. Your employer may even offer inexpensive term coverage for dependents. Purchasing a policy while your child is healthy can also guarantee that your child will be protected throughout adulthood, even if he or she becomes ill, works in a hazardous occupation, engages in dangerous activities, or becomes uninsurable for other reasons.
Some parents also buy term insurance policies on their children to cover the time period when they are paying for their children to attend college or graduate school. If a child dies during this period, the death benefit can be used to help pay off college debt.
To find out if buying life insurance for your child makes sense in your situation, talk to a trusted insurance advisor.
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