I am a 24F and my sibling is a financial adviser. We are not at all close and the only reason why I bought a life insurance with her was under the “advice” of our single mother.

I only started working this year and I can’t help wondering – is there value in having a life insurance?

I understand it as a pay out upon death (or disability?) and truly the beneficiaries are the family members – but what if I am working towards building my own wealth and not relying on my future kids / family to take care of me?

Won’t the life insurance be meaningless in my situation? Any thoughts?

Netizens’ comments

The term insurance that pays out on your death is more for the ones you’re leaving behind. If you die before retirement age, that could be a financial pressure on your dependants (e.g. if you have children, your spouse would have to support the children without your salary after your death, so the insurance payout would be to help them), and for disability, it’s basically in case anything happens to you before you’re able to earn enough money to retire. It’s a precaution because we never know what may happen to us.

As a financial advisor, I also advise against buying whole life insurance… insurance is not meant for profit, it’s meant to replace lost potential income.I would recommend you to just get term insurance which gives a lot higher coverage with lower premiums. Oh yes don’t forget hospital policy, this most important.