MoneySENSE 3: Life Insurance

Excerpt from the ‘diary’ of an Economist.com correspondent:

The topic was insurance. One of the volunteers felt strongly that because the women were single mothers, they should have life insurance. She explained that means someone will receive a payment upon the insured’s death.
 
Patrice spoke up. “I don’t want that, someone betting on you dying, no way! Once you have that and you live with someone—friend, boyfriend, family or whoever—they will want to kill you.”

The volunteer tried to explain to Patrice that she can choose her beneficiary (and urged her strongly to select her child), but that did not help. She wanted nobody to profit from her death.

Do you agree that taking life insurance encourages others to scheme against your life? Also, what other factors would you consider before getting life insurance?

 
Suggested Readings:
- ‘Correspondent’s Diary’. Economist.com. 5 December 2008. <http://www.economist.com/daily/diary/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=12675257>.
- ‘Your Guide to Life Insurance’. MoneySENSE. October 2007. <http://www.moneysense.gov.sg/resource/publications/guides_publications/YGLIEnglish.pdf>.