Dolf Dunn Wealth Management, LLCDolf Dunn, CPA/PFS,CFP®,CPWA®,CDFA

Private Wealth Manager11330 Vanstory Drive

Suite 101Huntersville, NC 28078

704-897-0482dolf@dolfdunn.comwww.dolfdunn.com

Why Women Need Life Insurance

March 18, 2013

Today, women have more financial responsibilitiesthan ever before. How will your family or loved onesmanage financially if you die? Whether you aresingle, married, employed, or a stay-at-home mom,you probably need life insurance. At the very least,life insurance can help pay for the costs of funeraland burial services, estate administration, outstandingdebts, estate taxes, and the uninsured expenses of afinal illness.

Who needs life insurance?Working women

Increasingly, families depend on the income of twoworking parents. If you're a working mother, yourincome can have a significant impact on the quality ofyour family's lifestyle. Your income helps cover thecost of ordinary living expenses such as food,clothing, and utilities, and it provides savings for yourchildren's college education, and for your retirement.Life insurance protects your family by providingproceeds that can be used to replace your lostincome if you die prematurely.

Single women

Often, women, like men, think that it's not necessaryto buy life insurance because they have nodependents. What's often overlooked is that lifeinsurance can provide necessary funds to pay off carloans, education loans, debts, a mortgage, taxes, andfuneral expenses that might otherwise be theresponsibility of family members. Also, the cash valueof permanent life insurance may be used tosupplement retirement income.

Single moms

Whether you're divorced, widowed, or simply a singlemom, you're most likely primarily responsible for yourchild's support. If you die prematurely, life insurancecan provide ongoing income to cover child-care costs,medical expenses, debts, and future college costs.

Stay-at-home moms

Maintaining a household is a full-time job, and you

have many important roles and duties. The cost of theservices performed by a stay-at-home mom could bequite significant if someone had to be hired to dothem. If you die, your surviving spouse may have topay for services such as child care, transportation foryour children, and housekeeping. Taking over theseadded responsibilities could cause your spouse toshorten work hours, resulting in a reduction inincome. Proceeds from your life insurance can helpyour spouse pay for services that keep the householdrunning and allow your spouse to keep working.

Family caregiver

Many women find themselves providing care for bothchildren and elderly family members. Caring for anaging parent or family member can include paying forthe costs of adult day care, uninsured medicalexpenses, and extra transportation. Adding theseexpenses to the costs of maintaining a household,child care, and college tuition can be financiallyoverwhelming. Unfortunately, these added financialresponsibilities often continue after your death. Lifeinsurance provides a source of funds that can beused to help pay for these expenses.

Business owner

You may be one of the increasing number of womenbusiness owners. If you die while owning yourbusiness, life insurance can be used to provide cashfor company expenses such as payroll or operatingcosts while your estate is being settled. Also, lifeinsurance can be a useful tool for business ownersstructuring buy-sell arrangements or providingbenefits to key employees.

Life insurance types and optionsLife insurance comes in many different sizes andshapes, and determining the policy that meets yourneeds may depend on a number of factors.Understanding the basic types of life insurance canhelp you find the policy that's best for you.

While there are manyreasons why womenneed life insurance, oftenwomen have little or nolife insurance protection.One of the reasons fortheir lack of coveragemay be the fact that mostlife insuranceadvertisements are aimedat men.

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Prepared by Broadridge Investor Communication Solutions, Inc. Copyright 2013

The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for anyindividual. To determine which investment(s) may be appropriate for you, consult your financial advisor prior to investing. All performancereferenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results. All indices are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly.

The tax information provided is not intended to be a substitute for specific individualized tax planning advice. We suggest that you consult with aqualified tax advisor.

Securities offered through LPL Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC

Term life insurance

Term life insurance provides a simple death benefitfor a specified period of time. If you die during thecoverage period, the beneficiary you name in thepolicy receives the death benefit. If you live past theterm period, your coverage ends, and you get nothingback. The cost, or premium, for the coverage can befixed for the duration of the policy term (usually 1 to30 years) or it can be "annually renewable" meaningthat the premium can increase each year as you getolder. However, the premium for term insuranceusually costs less than the premium for permanentinsurance when all factors are the same, including thedeath benefit.

Whole life insurance

Whole life is permanent or cash value insurance thatprovides insurance coverage for your entire life. Withmost whole life policies, part of your premium isadded to the cash value account, which earnsinterest. Some whole life policies also pay a dividend,which represents a portion of the company's profitsmade during the prior year.

The cash value grows tax deferred and can either beused as collateral to borrow from the insurancecompany or be directly accessed through a partial orcomplete surrender of the policy. It is important tonote, however, that a policy loan or partial surrenderwill reduce the policy's death benefit, and a completesurrender will terminate coverage altogether.

Note: Guarantees are subject to the claims-payingability of the issuing insurance company.

Universal life insurance

Universal life is another type of permanent lifeinsurance with a death benefit and a cash valueaccount. A universal life insurance policy willgenerally provide very broad premium guidelines (i.e.,minimum and maximum premium payments), butwithin these guidelines you can choose how muchand when you pay premiums. You are also free tochange the policy's death benefit directly (again,within the limits set out by the policy) as your financialcircumstances change. But if you want to raise theamount of coverage, you'll need to go through theinsurability process again, probably including a newmedical exam, and your premiums will increase.

Variable life insurance

Variable life insurance is a type of cash valuecoverage that allows you to choose how your cash

value account is invested. A variable life policygenerally contains several investment options, orsubaccounts, that are professionally managed topursue a stated investment objective. Choices canrange from a fixed interest subaccount to aninternational growth subaccount. Variable lifeinsurance policies require a fixed annual premium forthe life of the policy and may provide a minimumguaranteed death benefit. If the cash value exceeds acertain amount, the death benefit will increase.

Variable universal life insurance

Variable universal life combines all of the options andflexibility of universal life with the investment choicesof a variable policy. You decide how often and howmuch your premium payments are to be, within policyguidelines. With most variable universal life policies,you get no guaranteed minimum cash value or deathbenefit, but you can direct how your premiumpayments are invested among policy subaccounts.

Note: Variable life and variable universal lifeinsurance policies are offered by prospectus, whichyou can obtain from your financial professional or theinsurance company. The prospectus contains detailedinformation about investment objectives, risks,charges, and expenses. You should read theprospectus and consider this information carefullybefore purchasing a variable life or variable universallife insurance policy.

Joint and survivor life insurance

You and your spouse may choose to buy a singlepolicy of permanent insurance that covers both ofyour lives. With first-to-die, the death benefit is paid atthe death of the spouse who dies first. Withsecond-to-die, no death benefit is paid until bothspouses are deceased. Second-to-die policies arecommonly used in estate planning to pay estate taxesand other expenses due at the death of the secondspouse. Other than the fact that two people areinsured by one policy, the policy characteristicsremain the same.

Bottom lineLife insurance protection for women is equally asimportant as it is for men. However, women's lifeinsurance coverage is often inadequate. It may betime to consult an insurance professional who canhelp you assess your life insurance needs, and offerinformation about the various types of policiesavailable.

A major benefit of cashvalue insurance is thatthe policyowner canborrow from theinsurance companyagainst the accumulatedcash value, often at arelatively low interestrate. Those funds can beused to supplementretirement income, payfor college tuition, assista child with a mortgage,or for many otherpurposes. However, ifyou take a loan againstyour cash value, thedeath benefit and cashvalue will be reduced bythe outstanding loanbalance. A reduction ofyour cash value couldcause your policy tolapse.

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