Quora Answer: Why Do People Pay for Life Insurance if They are Never Going to be Around to Reap the Benefits?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “Why do people pay for life insurance if they are never going to be around to reap the benefits?”

If by life insurance, I am assuming you are referring to the death benefit of a policy, since the life insured will certainly be around to receive the payout for disability and critical illness.  People seek coverage with a death benefit because they have family they are concerned about, should they no longer be around to provide for them.  This is likely their spouse or children.  In a case where there is neither, or they choose to not have them as the beneficiaries, they want to leave a legacy to a foundation or charity.  People even make provisions that their pets be taken of, and that is well within their rights.