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Insurance isn’t the most breathtaking of topics, but it is an important one.

I heard a statistic yesterday: 7 out of 10 people do not have a will. I wonder how many people have enough insurance? There are a lot of insurances you can get, such as car insurance, health insurance, mortgage insurance, and life insurance. Oh, and then there’s house insurance or even renter’s insurance. Just keeping up with it all is mind-boggling.

Given all the news coverage, I’m going to feel safe assuming that everyone knows what health insurance is. And car insurance is an easy one as well. In my state we’re required to have it. So that’s covered. How about life insurance? Do you have that? Term life insurance can be an excellent plan for parents. It’s kind of like car insurance in that you just pay for it while you want coverage. If you die, there’s money for surviving family members. If you end the policy, you stop paying for it. Simple. Term life insurance can range from $20US per month on up, depending on your age and health. Hubby and I each have a term policy. It’s nice to know I’d be financially secure if he were killed, and he’d have enough to hire a nanny.

Then there’s house insurance and renter’s insurance. Sometimes people let these policies lapse, especially in tough economic times. In the event of a house fire or other devastation, it sure is nice to know that repairs will be mostly covered. I recommend keeping that policy current if you can.

An interesting new kind of insurance that I have been learning about is mortgage life insurance. This is term life insurance that covers the price of your home mortgage in the event of death. Rather an interesting twist, I think.

This appears to be a somewhat controversial kind of policy, as some insurance regulators have pointed out that you only get a benefit if you die or become disabled while you owe on the mortgage. It’s true though, that if Hubby and I don’t die while our term life insurance policies are active, we don’t get any benefits either. You just have to figure out what’s best for you and do it. I know that if we didn’t have a term policy already, we’d definitely be pricing out mortgage life insurance, because paying off the house is the biggest concern financially in the event one of us dies.

What kinds of insurance coverage do you already have? To be honest, I’m not fond of some policies, but in general I think it’s a good idea. Spreading risk over a large pool of people and creating a safety net of sorts has helped many thousands of families over the years.

Image courtesy of alancleaver_2000 via Creative Commons license, some rights reserved.

Earnest Parenting: tips for parents who are considering insurance.

FTC disclosure: this post is sponsored by Spectrum Insurance Group