Do I need life insurance if I'm single?
Getting life insurance can seem like a natural next step when you get married or have children. But is it still worth it if you haven’t done either?
Taking out life insurance is a way to make sure your spouse and any dependants, such as your children, are financially protected if you die. A life insurance payout can give your family some peace of mind, so they don’t have to worry about making ends meet while they’re grieving.
But what if you don’t have a spouse or any dependants? Do single people need life insurance?
Not only are there several reasons why it’s still worth taking out life insurance as a single person, there can be some advantages to it as well.
You're buying a house as a single person
One of the main reasons you might need life insurance, even if you’re single, is if you’re planning to buy a house. Taking out life insurance when buying a house is usually recommended (and sometimes required by mortgage providers), as the payout from a life insurance policy can go towards paying off your mortgage if you were to die within the policy term.
Making sure your mortgage is covered when you die means your home will be fully part of your estate, so you’re free to leave it to anyone you’d like, even if you don’t have a spouse or partner.
The type of life insurance usually recommended for this type of situation is decreasing term life insurance.
You’d like to leave money to pay for your funeral
Funerals can be expensive! If you don’t leave behind any money to help pay for it, your family and friends might struggle to cover the cost of your funeral at a time when they’re already dealing with grief.
You might think this is too far in the future to think about, but the truth is that anything can happen. Even if you’re legally single when you die, you’ll likely still have friends and family who’ll want to give you a proper send-off. Getting life insurance when you’re single can help make sure these costs are covered in case this happens.
You’d like an unmarried partner or family member to get a payout if you die
When you’re legally single (not married or in a civil partnership), your estate won’t automatically pass down to your partner unless you’ve written a will. This can be especially difficult for them if you were living together and sharing household expenses, such as rent and bills, even if you don’t have any children.
The same can be said for a parent or family member that you’re caring for, or anyone who might be dependent on you financially.
For added protection, you can put your life insurance policy in trust. When you put a life insurance policy in trust, you can name anyone you’d like as a beneficiary (the person that receives the payout when you die), including an unmarried partner, a family member or even a friend.
Putting a life insurance policy in trust also carries a few more benefits, such as preventing your payout from becoming part of your estate, which can help bring down the amount of inheritance tax your beneficiaries might have to pay.
You want to be covered if you became too ill to work
Even when you don’t have any dependants, you still have your own daily expenses to think about. One of the reasons you might need life insurance when you’re single is to get added protection through terminal illness cover and critical illness cover.
At Beagle Street, terminal illness cover is included by default with all of our life insurance policies. With terminal illness cover, you can get the full payout from your life insurance policy if you were diagnosed with a terminal condition, such as cancer, at any point during your policy term.
Meanwhile, critical illness cover can be added onto any life insurance policy at Beagle Street. This type of cover will pay out if you’re diagnosed with any of several kinds of serious illnesses. There are two types of critical illness cover:
- Life insurance with critical illness pays out only once, either when you make a critical illness claim or when you die.
- Life insurance with additional critical illness can pay out twice, once when you make a critical illness claim and again when you die.
Your circumstances could change in the future
When wondering whether you need life insurance if you’re single, you should keep in mind that your circumstances can always change in the future.
Marriage and children are choices that people are making increasingly later in their lives, so it’s natural that you might not be thinking about it right now. Even if you don’t want children, or you’d like to have a partner but aren’t sure about marriage, there are some advantages to taking out life insurance when you’re still single. One of those advantages is that the younger you are when you take out life insurance, the lower your premiums are likely to be.
Once you’ve taken out a life insurance policy, your premiums won’t change even if you experience big life changes. For example, at Beagle Street, you can get life insurance for as little as £6* per month, and we’ll never make any changes to your policy unless you ask us to.
Whether you’re ready to take that step now or you’re still thinking about it, you can get a free quote from Beagle Street now. You can find out how much of a payout you could get and how much your premiums could cost you, with no obligation to go ahead with the quote.
* Based on a 30 year old non-smoker, £200K decreasing term cover for 20 years.
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