Sandi Martin
Financial Planner, Spring Personal Finance
1. What type of life insurance do you own?
We own life and disability for myself and my husband, with small life policies for my three children.
2. What factors did you consider when determining the coverage amount?
We determined the expenses we’d still have to cover in the event of either death or disability and how much income we’d need to replace, and balanced that against what we could afford to pay in premiums.
3. Do you believe in life insurance for children?
Obviously. Here’s the truth: our world would collapse if one of our children died. A small life insurance policy would allow us to take some time with our family to figure out how to recover without the pressure of needing to return to work.
4. What is the biggest life insurance mistake people make?
Not having any or — second to that — only having life insurance through an employer.
5. Outside of life insurance, what other types of individual insurance are often overlooked?
Disability is often overlooked unless it’s through a group plan at work, but it seems folks compare the premium to the term life they already have and decide against it on cost alone, without really accounting for the benefit.
Sandi Martin is an advice-only financial planner, ex-banker, and general curmudgeon. She works with regular Canadians to figure out what their money needs to do for them and how to do it in the simplest, most efficient way possible. You can find her on Twitter springpersonalfinance.com.
