Why Should I Have Life Insurance?

The following is a fictional account but it is a scenario that could very easily happen and illustrates the importance of having a life insurance.

Bob and Larry lead very similar lives.  They live in the same neighborhood, they each own a home, they are each married with two children, and they even work at the same job.  Bob and Larry carpool together since they only live a few blocks apart and they are coworkers.  They work hard every day to provide for their families, pay down that mortgage, and to make sure that their two small children will go to a good college one day. 

Bob and Larry are on their way into work one day driving along in the carpool lane when out of nowhere their car is struck by a big rig.  The driver of the 18 wheeler had been driving all night and fell asleep at the wheel.  He didn't mean to, but his carelessness took the lives of the two men.  Bob and Larry the two men with such similar lives both lost their lives the same way.  The difference is Bob had a life insurance policy and Larry did not.

Their lives were so similar but on the day they died the lives of their families went in very different directions.  Larry did not have life insurance.  His widow does not earn enough to make the mortgage payment and other bills by herself.  It's not long before she's in foreclosure and has to take the two kids and move in with her parents.  She has to look for a small apartment that she'll be able to afford while raising two kids on one salary.  She's going to need public assistance just to get by. The only way that Larry's two children can get into college is to try to get scholarships and huge student loans.  When Larry died the path that his family was on went in a totally different direction.  Life is going to be a struggle.

Bob, the man with a nearly identical life to Larry, same job, same size family, same type of house, had one big difference.  Bob had life insurance.  When Bob died his family had money to cover funeral expenses.  Their mortgage was paid in full.  His wife was left with enough money to pay the bills every month.  And his children have money for college.  It's incredibly painful and difficult to lose a husband and a father but at least they are taken care of financially.

The above scenario is fictitious, it did not actually happen.  But it could happen and things like that do happen to people every day.  The story above was simply meant to illustrate the importance of having life insurance.  Life insurance is one of those things that you pay for but you hope you never have to use it.  However, if the unfortunate does occur it's nice to know that your family will be taken care of.  They will have a place to live, they will have money to pay the bills, and the children will get a good education.  Before the car accident in this story Bob and Larry and their two families were on a very similar path and after the accident those paths went in very different directions.  Which path do you want your family to be on?