Vertextra

When people think about life insurance, they often associate it with personal and relationship milestones. Getting married, starting a family and buying a home are all common reasons for taking out a policy. While these are all excellent reasons to consider life insurance, people may not consider how their career path may also affect their insurance needs.

Career milestones and choices can shape our financial situation, which in turn may change our life insurance needs over time. Here are five times when work may influence your life insurance choices.

Starting your career

For many young adults, getting that first “real” job is an exciting time. Bringing home a good salary (maybe for the first time in your working life) might mean you’re able to save more money for things like travel, marriage or buying a first home. Life insurance is one way to help secure this promising future.

Life insurance can cover more than just a person’s death. Some policies will pay the benefit if you are diagnosed with a terminal illness, or may offer optional extras that payout should you suffer a serious accident or become permanently disabled. The money can be used to help cover household bills, pay for ongoing medical treatment or allow you to take extended leave from work while you recover.

Getting a promotion

Being promoted is a big step forward, and may also mean a big jump in your take-home pay. As you move further up the career ladder, you might upgrade your lifestyle with each salary raise. You may also need to update your life insurance to reflect these changes.

People often collect assets as they progress through their career. A new car, home renovations or investment properties could potentially mean more life insurance cover is needed to help protect your family’s financial future. You may consider increasing your policy’s benefit amount to allow loved ones to completely pay off the mortgage or to maintain their current lifestyle, should you no longer be able to provide for them.