y each month for her mother's care.

This is all simply a quick example of a common American family, but I wanted you to just take a moment and really think about these things. The only way that you can determine how much life insurance is enough for you and your loved ones is to actually sit down and look at every bill that you currently have, the bills that you know you'll have in the future, all of the variables that could possibly happen (if these didn't happen there might not be a need for insurance) and then when you think you've got a good solid number, add another 20%, just in case. It's always better to have too much than not enough.

If you are the breadwinner of your family wouldn't you want to know for 100% certain that your family was going to be alright, in the event that somet

I've seen a few things recently that really bother me and I thought that it was important that I share my concerns with you before someone makes a big financial mistake that could potentially hurt them and their family in the future.

A little while ago I read a page on a website that, unfortunately, I can't share for legal reasons, that stated that you only need to have life insurance in the amount of three times your annual income. This disturbs me and no, not because I think that people should buy more than that as a general rule, but because every family and individual are unique and have different personal needs, family needs and obligations. There's simply no way that a qualified life insurance agent will tell you this. Why? Read on.

Here's a brief example of why this won't work for most people. Let's say that we have a family of four where the children are young, ages 5 and 7, respectfully. The mother is a housewife and has no real job skills other than working at fast food restaurants as a teenager, which has been several years ago. The husband is the breadwinner and makes a decent income of around $60,000.00 annually and, like most American families, has bills to match that income.

They live in a nice home that they're buying, have two vehicle payments, Health Insurance which, even though he gets it as a work benefit for himself (after deductibles), he still must pay to have the family covered, vehicle insurance for two cars, life insurance for four people, in varying amounts, homeowners insurance, dental coverage and of course all of the other daily expenses such as food, clothing, utilities, ect. Also, they send money each month to pay for her mother who is in a nursing home.

There are many variables that could be added into this and I could easily add more and more monthly expenses, but do you see how these bills add up for this family? This may even be similar to your own situation, give or take. In the event of this man's untimely passing do you believe that three years worth of his annual income would be a sufficient amount of life insurance for this family? Let's do the math.

With the man of the house earning an annual income of $60,000.00, that multiplied by three years would give this family $180.000.00 worth of life insurance. This could probably be stretched into four years worth of living expenses considering that one family member is now gone, but that only brings the children to the ages of 9 and 11, what then?

It's possible that the man may have allowed for this happening, even beyond a normal life insurance policy, by also taking out a "Mortgage Life" policy that would pay off the home in the event of his death. He may have also made provisions in the vehicle contracts. But what if he didn't? Even if he had done this it still would have stretched the families living expenses another three, maybe four years, depending on how much they cut back on unnecessary things. That would bring the children to the ages of 13 and 15 years old now. What about the next five years until the youngest child turns 18? What about college for both of them? Do the couple's parents have burial insurance? They may not if this couple is already sending money each month for her mother's care.

This is all simply a quick example of a common American family, but I wanted you to just take a moment and really think about these things. The only way that you can determine how much life insurance is enough for you and your loved ones is to actually sit down and look at every bill that you currently have, the bills that you know you'll have in the future, all of the variables that could possibly happen (if these didn't happen there might not be a need for insurance) and then when you think you've got a good solid number, add another 20%, just in case. It's always better to have too much than not enough.

If you are the breadwinner of your family wouldn't you want to know for 100% certain that your family was going to be alright, in the event that someth

ost people. Let's say that we have a family of four where the children are young, ages 5 and 7, respectfully. The mother is a housewife and has no real job skills other than working at fast food restaurants as a teenager, which has been several years ago. The husband is the breadwinner and makes a decent income of around $60,000.00 annually and, like most American families, has bills to match that income.

They live in a nice home that they're buying, have two vehicle payments, Health Insurance which, even though he gets it as a work benefit for himself (after deductibles), he still must pay to have the family covered, vehicle insurance for two cars, life insurance for four people, in varying amounts, homeowners insurance, dental coverage and of course all of the other daily expenses such as food, clothing, utilities, ect. Also, they send money each month to pay for her mother who is in a nursing home.

There are many variables that could be added into this and I could easily add more and more monthly expenses, but do you see how these bills add up for this family? This may even be similar to your own situation, give or take. In the event of this man's untimely passing do you believe that three years worth of his annual income would be a sufficient amount of life insurance for this family? Let's do the math.

With the man of the house earning an annual income of $60,000.00, that multiplied by three years would give this family $180.000.00 worth of life insurance. This could probably be stretched into four years worth of living expenses considering that one family member is now gone, but that only brings the children to the ages of 9 and 11, what then?

It's possible that the man may have allowed for this happening, even beyond a normal life insurance policy, by also taking out a "Mortgage Life" policy that would pay off the home in the event of his death. He may have also made provisions in the vehicle contracts. But what if he didn't? Even if he had done this it still would have stretched the families living expenses another three, maybe four years, depending on how much they cut back on unnecessary things. That would bring the children to the ages of 13 and 15 years old now. What about the next five years until the youngest child turns 18? What about college for both of them? Do the couple's parents have burial insurance? They may not if this couple is already sending money each month for her mother's care.

This is all simply a quick example of a common American family, but I wanted you to just take a moment and really think about these things. The only way that you can determine how much life insurance is enough for you and your loved ones is to actually sit down and look at every bill that you currently have, the bills that you know you'll have in the future, all of the variables that could possibly happen (if these didn't happen there might not be a need for insurance) and then when you think you've got a good solid number, add another 20%, just in case. It's always better to have too much than not enough.

If you are the breadwinner of your family wouldn't you want to know for 100% certain that your family was going to be alright, in the event that somet

, clothing, utilities, ect. Also, they send money each month to pay for her mother who is in a nursing home.

There are many variables that could be added into this and I could easily add more and more monthly expenses, but do you see how these bills add up for this family? This may even be similar to your own situation, give or take. In the event of this man's untimely passing do you believe that three years worth of his annual income would be a sufficient amount of life insurance for this family? Let's do the math.

With the man of the house earning an annual income of $60,000.00, that multiplied by three years would give this family $180.000.00 worth of life insurance. This could probably be stretched into four years worth of living expenses considering that one family member is now gone, but that only brings the children to the ages of 9 and 11, what then?

It's possible that the man may have allowed for this happening, even beyond a normal life insurance policy, by also taking out a "Mortgage Life" policy that would pay off the home in the event of his death. He may have also made provisions in the vehicle contracts. But what if he didn't? Even if he had done this it still would have stretched the families living expenses another three, maybe four years, depending on how much they cut back on unnecessary things. That would bring the children to the ages of 13 and 15 years old now. What about the next five years until the youngest child turns 18? What about college for both of them? Do the couple's parents have burial insurance? They may not if this couple is already sending money each month for her mother's care.

This is all simply a quick example of a common American family, but I wanted you to just take a moment and really think about these things. The only way that you can determine how much life insurance is enough for you and your loved ones is to actually sit down and look at every bill that you currently have, the bills that you know you'll have in the future, all of the variables that could possibly happen (if these didn't happen there might not be a need for insurance) and then when you think you've got a good solid number, add another 20%, just in case. It's always better to have too much than not enough.

If you are the breadwinner of your family wouldn't you want to know for 100% certain that your family was going to be alright, in the event that somet

but that only brings the children to the ages of 9 and 11, what then?

It's possible that the man may have allowed for this happening, even beyond a normal life insurance policy, by also taking out a "Mortgage Life" policy that would pay off the home in the event of his death. He may have also made provisions in the vehicle contracts. But what if he didn't? Even if he had done this it still would have stretched the families living expenses another three, maybe four years, depending on how much they cut back on unnecessary things. That would bring the children to the ages of 13 and 15 years old now. What about the next five years until the youngest child turns 18? What about college for both of them? Do the couple's parents have burial insurance? They may not if this couple is already sending money each month for her mother's care.

This is all simply a quick example of a common American family, but I wanted you to just take a moment and really think about these things. The only way that you can determine how much life insurance is enough for you and your loved ones is to actually sit down and look at every bill that you currently have, the bills that you know you'll have in the future, all of the variables that could possibly happen (if these didn't happen there might not be a need for insurance) and then when you think you've got a good solid number, add another 20%, just in case. It's always better to have too much than not enough.

If you are the breadwinner of your family wouldn't you want to know for 100% certain that your family was going to be alright, in the event that somet

y each month for her mother's care.

This is all simply a quick example of a common American family, but I wanted you to just take a moment and really think about these things. The only way that you can determine how much life insurance is enough for you and your loved ones is to actually sit down and look at every bill that you currently have, the bills that you know you'll have in the future, all of the variables that could possibly happen (if these didn't happen there might not be a need for insurance) and then when you think you've got a good solid number, add another 20%, just in case. It's always better to have too much than not enough.

If you are the breadwinner of your family wouldn't you want to know for 100% certain that your family was going to be alright, in the event that something happened to you, no matter what the circumstances were? I thought so, me too. The only point that I'm trying to make is to not let someone else tell you how much life insurance you need. Sit down with your spouse and then contact a qualified agent. Do it right the first time because, unfortunately, there is no second chance in these life and death circumstances.