I figured life insurance was for high earners and parents, but a financial advisor helped me realize I was wrong

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• I thought I wouldn't need life insurance until I was earning a lot of money or became a parent.
• Speaking to a financial advisor helped me realize I probably shouldn't wait to get a policy of my own.
• My household relies on my salary, and a permanent policy could supplement my retirement plan.

Ever since I turned 30 and got married, people in my life have been recommending that I get a life insurance policy. Friends, family members, and financial advisors have mentioned it to me over the last four years — and I ignored their advice.

For a while, I thought I wouldn't need life insurance until I had a kid, made a certain threshold of money (I was thinking half a million dollars a year), or had substantial expenses other than just rent and credit card bills. But lately, as my husband and I are taking inventory of our finances and starting to think about having kids, I wondered if now would be a good time to take out a life insurance policy.

That's why I sat down with certified financial planner Kelly Crane. I shared my financial portfolio and my current life plans to see what he thought: Should I get a life insurance plan in 2023?

Crane immediately said yes.

Life insurance would cover my household contributions 

My husband and I both work full-time. We use both of our incomes to support our lifestyle, pay our bills, and try to meet our individual and joint financial goals. Crane says that if I died, having a life insurance plan would help cover my projected future income for my husband and future kids.  

"When looking for a policy, I'd recommend purchasing enough to replace her income over her lifetime, but especially to have enough for the 20-or-so years while the future child is still a dependent," he told me.

Plus, he says that not only could life insurance cover the household contributions that I help pay for now — like rent and bills — but once we have kids, the plan could help cover the costs of new family responsibilities, like childcare, extracurricular expenses, and college funding. 

A permanent policy could add to my retirement plan

One thing I mentioned to Crane was that I feel behind on saving for retirement, since I only started consistently contributing to my SEP IRA just a few years ago.

That's when he mentioned life insurance can be a relatively inexpensive supplemental retirement plan. "You can look at a combination of term and permanent insurance, wherein the permanent has an investment element that could double as a retirement plan," Crane says.

That's because with a permanent life insurance policy, the cash value in that account grows over time and can be withdrawn as a source of income in retirement. "Life insurance cash-value build-up is tax-deferred or tax-free, depending upon how withdrawals are taken," Crane says. "You could accumulate retirement funds tax-deferred inside the account."

Permanent life insurance policies are known for having higher premiums than term, so make sure to consider your full portfolio and goals — and consider getting the help of a financial advisor — before signing on.

After reviewing my portfolio, Crane says that purchasing life insurance is a very smart thing to do at this point in my life, not only because of my fluctuating income and future plans to have a kid, but also because of my lack of retirement funds. However, he does recommend getting a policy either before I get pregnant or after I have a child, since rates can be noticeably higher if you try to get life insurance while pregnant. 

In the end, he says getting a policy is a great way to provide for my family.