Is anyone dependent on your income for support now or will someone need the support of your earning capacity in the future?

If the answer to either of those questions is yes, then you should buy life insurance. It doesn’t matter how young you are when buying Life Insurance. Typically, people consider buying life insurance at various stages or events of their life. For example, a couple getting married, when planning for a family, extending the family, planning for kids’ education, and so on.

Your requirement for life insurance is linked with your responsibilities and financial liabilities that may befall others. This is directly related to the stages of your life, from low need when you’re young, progressing to increasing need as you take on more and more responsibilities with getting married, having kids and so on. The need for insurance finally begins to diminish as your financial assets build up and responsibilities reduce as you grow older.

While buying life insurance is an expense and should be deferred as much as possible, you should also consider the cost of increasing insurance premia as you grow old. It is advisable to lock in lower rates before you turn 30. Term life insurance provides protection for a specific period of time. This is ideal to cover specific financial obligations, like your kids’ college education or mortgage. Typically, term insurance costs for a 30 year non-smoker male with no health conditions, could be as low as $25 to $30 per month.

As you get older and the longer you put off buying life insurance, it will become more expensive. Your age directly affects life insurance rates as it goes into the underwriting process. Even more importantly, as you get older, there are more risks that you’ll develop a medical condition that negatively affects your life insurance rates.

To conclude, buy term life insurance at the youngest age possible. Don’t put it off and if possible, buy sooner to lock in low rates.