The family with older children has some very unique risk factors that should be reviewed for life insurance needs, should the income for the family stop.  Life insurance can help with the replacement of that lost income or debt responsibilities for the family.  Life insurance is a contract for a future delivery of funds to meet a possible future risk that you feel is beyond the scope of your resources to properly deal with.   It has often been said that those depended on you may pay many times more for the cost of caring for their financial needs should they be left behind after your death to face those financial needs alone.  For most the cost of proper life insurance would be far less costly.

                                                            Lump sum needs                     Monthly Needs for _____years

1. The home mortgage amount                  _________________                 ________________
2. Auto loans                                            _________________                 ________________
3. Student School loans                             _________________                 ________________
4. Special needs child                                _________________                 ________________
5. Needs for aging parents                         _________________                 ________________
6. Continuing Ed requirements                    _________________                 ________________ 
7. Credit Card Debt                                   _________________                 ________________
8. Installment Debt                                     _________________                 ________________
9. Family or personal loans unpaid              _________________                 ________________
10. Funds for Children's College debts          _________________                 ________________
11. Business or hobby debt                           _________________                 ________________
12. Tax benefit loss                                       _________________                 ________________
13. Adjustment time remaining spouse/children _________________               ________________
14. Subtract any currently owned life insurance_________________                ________________
15. Employer provided life insurance is not always there, since people today change jobs often and employers change benefits; thus, this should not be included as part of the family protection coverage.
16. Funds to cover possible estate taxes        _________________                  ________________
17. For business owners funds to cover business continuation options_________________             ________________

Total needed lump sum for your risks                    ___________________    Total Sum monthly___________  

For Item 13 we usually ask for twice the take home pay of the possible person lost to the family. The total of these items should give a family the amount necessary to cover the risks at any given time.  Since people have life style changes, the economy changes, as do other things, it is necessary at times, to review the above needs and the life insurance purchased to meet these needs, in order to keep the protection on track.