INSURANCE

How much insurance is enough?

Some insurance agents would say “you can never have too much life insurance”. However, the cost of the insurance must be weighed against the risk that you are carrying. If you are single, have no dependents and are not interested in leaving any money to a charity you probably don’t need insurance. However, if you have concerns or situations as outlined below you may need insurance.

Here are some questions you may wish to ask yourself:

• Do you have a spouse or dependent children?
• Would your spouse be able to maintain a reasonable standard of living if you were to die prematurely?
• If you have children will there be money to educate them?
• Do you have any investments that can generate income?
• Do you have a mortgage on your house or other debts that would be a crushing burden?
• Do you own a cottage with a large capital gain?
• Do you own a family business that might be faced with a large taxable capital gain and therefore a large tax liability.
• Do you have disability insurance?