Many people believe their employer-sponsored life insurance is enough, but let's look closer. For example, a $70,000 salary with coverage at twice your income leaves $140,000. By the time funeral costs, outstanding bills, and mortgage payments are settled, that sum can disappear quickly. The real purpose of life insurance is long-term income replacement—think about the widely recommended guideline of 10-12 times your annual income. That figure is designed to cover debts, childcare, and the years of earnings your loved ones might lose.
A key risk is that employer coverage is tied to your job—if you leave, retire, or are laid off, your protection can vanish, and securing coverage later may be much harder or more expensive. Even employer-sold supplemental policies often have the same limitations, plus increasing premiums every five years as you age.
This is why, in my practice, I encourage clients to compare their employer coverage to that 10-12x target and consider locking in a personal term policy early on. For a healthy 30-year-old, $500,000 in 20-year term coverage can often cost as little as $25 to $30 a month. As someone who’s spent over a decade guiding families through insurance and estate planning, I truly believe that proactive steps today can secure your family's future and offer peace of mind for whatever life brings.
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