Paying for Life Insurance in Your 20s?
With social media being at our very fingertips it is almost impossible to NOT be informed about any and everything, from celebrity gossip to DIY margarita recipes to the latest fashion trends, movie releases, and even that huge and very revealing, messy breakup via Facebook involving your co-worker and their cheating spouse (ouch!).
The point is the use of social media makes information (needed to know or not) 100 percent accessible.
We post photos from trips with our friends and family, status updates when we’ve gone from single to happily engaged, rants, raves, opinions, and venting when there’s been an act of injustice somewhere either in the U.S or abroad, even posting pictures of friends and loved ones when they’ve unfortunately gone missing or have even passed away.
How many times have you logged on to Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram and have seen through one way or another a photo of someone you may or may not even know (celebrity not included) who has recently passed away? Probably more times than not. In turn to the postings and status updates about the deceased, you’ll see the families and loved ones asking friends, family, and strangers for donations to cover funeral costs via either Go Fund Me or some other form of donation service.
Funerals can be very costly. The average funeral for a healthy person who has met their demise is around $10,000 and let’s face it, the average millennial doesn’t have thousands sitting idle in his or her bank account. Yes you’ve read correctly I’m speaking not about senior citizens passing away without having the monetary means to cover their own funeral, I am speaking about the person who has passed away that was born in only 1990.
Sorry guys, we may be young and we may or may not have illnesses or disabilities — we may even believe that in this moment we are invincible — but death knows no age, no race, no class, no religion, nor sexual preference. We all will pass on someday and, unfortunately, some of us will pass on too soon.
So who is going to get your Jordan sneaker collection should that day arise sooner than later? Can your relatives cash in your X-Box and its accessories to cover your funeral cost? The answer is HELL NO. If the average millennial can spend more than what he or she is earning on cell phones that range anywhere from $500-$900 or $200-$300 on Jordan’s each time the shoe is released, why can’t we spend the $10-$50 a month for life insurance?
I mean consider this, if you own a vehicle you’re definitely paying monthly for car insurance, right? And no one is saying we all have to resort to wearing homemade sandals and go back to using the old school Nokia 3310′s but we NEED to get serious about something that is inevitable. It is quite embarrassing when your family has to beg strangers on social media to help cover your funeral costs.
There are also many perks to having life insurance. You can borrow against the funds if need be. You’ll save your family (especially if you have a spouse and children) the embarrassment of having to beg for funeral funds on social media. Some insurances are tax deductible among other things.
My suggestion would be to seriously look into life insurance plans — the younger you are, the less expensive it can be. Talk to your families about it. They’ll be amazed at how much responsibility you’re taking over your own life. Consider it especially if you’re a young adult who happens to have children. A little a month towards life insurance can get you thousands in coverage and even more in peace of mind.