Last month, two American icons unexpectedly passed away at 50–singer-songwriter Michael Jackson and television pitchman Billy Mays. With the average life expectancy for an American male topping 75 years, their premature deaths remind us that safeguarding our loved ones with life insurance is absolutely critical.

Jackson and Mays, both multi-millionaires, each had the financial means to provide for their loved ones without life insurance. But the vast majority of Americans aren’t so fortunate.

For an average family, the loss of a breadwinner can be financially earth-shattering. Not only is the primary income lost, but access to health insurance and other necessities could disappear, too. The mortgage, the car payment, household bills, credit card payments, groceries–the expenses are endless.

Imagine this: While working out at the gym, a healthy 40-year-old father experiences sudden chest pain and collapses on the floor. He’s rushed to the hospital and, despite the ER doctors’ best efforts, he passes away from cardiac arrest. His wife, who recently left her part-time job to care for the couple’s two young children, 8 and 11, is completely devastated.

Still reeling from the initial shock of his death, she begins making funeral arrangements. After borrowing money from her in-laws to cover the final expenses, her dwindling savings account and a few credit cards are her only remaining sources of income. When the mortgage statement arrives, she files it with the rest of her unpaid bills.

Finally, a grim realization sets in: she can’t afford to care for herself and her two children.

This heartbreaking scene is all too common. It’s a sad fact that millions of American adults do not carry any form of life insurance, and for a variety of reasons–cost, a misconception that life insurance is too complicated, unwillingness to consider one’s own mortality–some consumers are hesitant to purchase coverage.

In fact, term life insurance is incredibly simple. It provides coverage for a period of time that you select, anywhere from 1 to 30 years. If you pass away during this time period (“term”), your beneficiaries are covered. If you outlive the policy, it simply expires.
Additionally, term life insurance is the preferred low-cost alternative to permanent life insurance. The average rate for a healthy 40-year-old seeking $500,000 in coverage is less than $30** per month.

If you don’t have life insurance, you’re rolling the dice with your family’s future each and every day. If you care about your family’s future, protect them by getting a free term life insurance quote.

*Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2008

**Insurance Information Institute