Types of Insurance to Own

While everyone situation is unique, we believe the following types of insurance are critical:

Life insurance until one’s assets makes them self-insured. Term life is normally preferable as it is much less expensive than permanent or “whole-life” insurance.
Disability insurance to replace one’s income if we become incapacitated during our working years. Very important when only one person in the household has an income or one has a much larger income than their spouse.
Property and Casualty insurance for one’s home, cars, property. This should include flood and earthquake insurance as appropriate. Renters—don’t forget rental insurance for your personal goods.
Health insurance for obvious reasons.
Umbrella liability insurance to protect one’s assets in case of a lawsuit. Very important for those who might be targets of lawsuits (i.e. physicians, business owners.)
Long Term Care insurance as one gets into their later 40s and early 50s to help offset the high cost of extended care.
Permanent insurance for business buy-sell agreements as well as estate planning and occasionally as a supplemental investment vehicle. Seems contradictory to my first bullet, but really isn’t. Whole Life is a poor choice normally for income replacement, but it has its place for other purposes.