The young family has some very unique risk factors that should be reviewed for life insurance needs, should the income stop for the family.  Life insurance can help with the replacement of that lost income for the family or debt responsibilities.  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.   These elements should be reviewed for each spouse in relation to the possible risks presented by the loss for each.

                                                                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                   _________________                 ________________
11. Business or hobby debt                           _________________                 ________________
12. Tax benefit loss                                       _________________                 ________________
13. Adjustment time for 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 the business owner, funds to cover business continuation options_________________             ________________

Total needed lump sum  for your risk                    ___________________    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 changes, the economy change, as do other things, it is necessary, at times, to review the above needs and the life insurance purchased to meet these needs, to keep the protection on track.