Just so you know, in all of the 36 years of selling life insurance and delivering death claims I never had a spouse ask me what type of life insurance the deceased spouse left, the question was always “how much”?
And as to what type the client should buy, we’ll that depends on many factors. Your budget, your health, how many kids do you have, how old are they, does the spouse work outside the home, how stressful your occupation is, is it dangerous, will there be other sources of income available in the absence of what life insurance could provide, etc.
There are many good life insurance companies A, A+, A++ rated are the ones you should be looking at /or purchasing. For young families I usually recommended 20 to 30 year term policies with face amounts of death benefit commensurate with the goals and current income of the client. Fewer companies offer 30 year term but since the average child( and this varies)stays on your payroll until about age 22-26, the 30 year term makes a lot of sense.
Look for policies from respected companies that have a conversion privilege should you decide you need some degree of permanent coverage down the road. Also, look for a salesperson with experience, not a newbie in the business less than 3 years. I am retired now but I had 1 major company that I worked for in addition I had about 23 other companies that I was licensed with because no 1 company has all the answers to the many varied issues of the clients. Some people have minor /major health issues and weird occupations that skew underwriting. .
Also, don’t overlook some of the riders that are available on life policies(accidental death benefit, disability waiver of premium, unemployment riders, nursing home /long term health care, etc.) You would be surprised at how many younger people are no longer paying any premiums on their policies because they have become disabled. And, most of the disabilities are due to illness, not accidents.
every person that buys life insurance has different needs to be addressed. One factor that they all have in common is that they love someone or some organization and that motivates them to buy.
find a good agent with years of experience who represents way more than one company. Everybody is different and unique.
And you can use life insurance to leave a legacy to Rutgers!