Life insurance always makes for an interesting discussion as, let's face it, what we really are doing is planning for death, not planning for life. Many look to the "experts" for guidance when approaching death planning; I question the qualifications of these "experts" for this very personal decision. To start, these "experts" are, more often than not, also life insurance salespersons (or sales consultants or whatever glorified title they may be going by). All too often we listen to "experts" whose judgement is impaired by self interest. At best, these "experts" are only able to suggest appropriate insurance based on "bean counter" quantitative measures. For example, these bean counters may suggest that you need insurance in the amount of 1 year's salary (or 2 years or 3 years) and/or they may suggest that the insurance cover certain obligations such as a house, child care and the hole in the ground for your corpse...blah, blah, blah...
Here are my thoughts and philosophy when it comes to life insurance: