Jan 31 2026

Do you need life insurance?

Think about your age, your financial situation, and if you have people who depend on your income. If you do decide to shop for life insurance, here are some things to consider.

1. How much life insurance do you need?

Life insurance is there to help your loved ones with financial needs if you aren’t there anymore. Consider your mortgage and other debts, how much income would need to be replaced, money to cover a funeral, and college for the kids. Add those up, and you’ll have a good idea of how much insurance you’ll need.

2. Term or permanent?

There are two main categories of life insurance:

Term life insurance is the simplest and least expensive option. It covers you for a set period of time. You might consider term life insurance when you have a family that depends on your financial support or while you have a mortgage. For example, you may want a term life policy that lasts until your children are out of school.

Permanent life insurance provides coverage for your entire life as long as you keep up the payments. Because of the length of coverage, it costs more than term life insurance. These policies may have features that offer a cash value that can be used to invest or pay some of the premiums later in life. Permanent life policies are complicated so it’s best to talk to a financial planner when deciding if one is right for you. If you do buy a permanent life policy, make sure to check with your agent each year to see how the policy is doing and if you need to adjust your payments.

3. How much will it cost?

Insurance companies consider things like your age, health, job, and tobacco and alcohol use when setting prices. It will cost more to purchase life insurance as you get older and if you have health problems. Some companies may require a medical exam before selling you life insurance.

4. Who will benefit?

You can leave money to a spouse, children, other family member, or friend. This is known as the policy’s beneficiary. You can also name an institution as your beneficiary, such as a business or charity. And you can choose more than one beneficiary and specify how the money will be divided.

For more information, click here.

Teaching Suggestions:

Ask students what is the primary purpose of life insurance?
How do you determine an appropriate amount of life insurance?

Discussion Questions:

How do you evaluate your need for life insurance?
What is the difference between term or permanent life insurance?
Should you start budgeting for your life insurance premiums while you are still young and healthy?

Jan 17 2026

STORING YOUR FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS

Apartment lease, insurance policies, credit card receipts. These are just a few of the many financial documents you may encounter. To maintain control over these records, consider a system of paper copies, digital versions, or both.

When sorting and tossing financial documents, be sure to keep these documents for the time suggested:

Tax records – seven years; unless you have a simple tax return, then three years
Bank, investment statements – keep annual statements indefinitely
Estate plan documents, social security card, birth certificate, marriage, divorce, adoption records – indefinitely
Insurance policies – only keep current policies, not expired ones
Loan documents – until debt is paid off
Real estate transactions – three years after closing
Proof of ownership (titles) – as long as item is owned
Medical bills – one year after paid

When in doubt as to the length of time to keep an item, create a digital copy of the financial document. Paper copies should be shredded when the document is no longer needed.

Three common options for the physical storage of documents are:

A locked cabinet allows you to have easy access to financial records in your home. Beware that the contents may be accessed by a thief or damaged by a fire or flood.
A fireproof safe offers greater protection. However, it could be stolen without proper precautions such as bolting it to the floor.
A safe-deposit box at a bank (for a fee) can provide greater security for your documents and valuables.

Digital storage of documents might include your home computer, an external drive, or a cloud service, such as Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft One Drive, iCloud or Amazon Cloud Drive. For your digital documents:

download from the source (or scan) each document, saving them into folders by type of record
secure your information using password protection, file encryption and two-factor authentication
back up your data on a regular basis

A hybrid system (physical and digital) is often recommended. Then, if paper copies are lost or destroyed, or computer files crash, you are protected with access to the other source.

Organizing financial paperwork to allow access by family members is especially important for estate plan documents. Your attorney can store original documents. Online document storage services for estate planning can be located with an Internet search.

The main documents that should be part of an estate plan file are:

Will or trust; Powers of attorney for finances and health care
Organ donation form; Living will; HIPAA release
Letter of instruction for your heirs; beneficiary designations; password list
Bank and investment statements; retirement account documents
Real estate deeds and titles; life insurance policies; funeral instructions
List of important personal property, such as jewelry, artwork, and estimated values

Updating estate plan documents when a life change occurs is vital. Your attorney can assist with this process whenever a death, birth of a grandchild, divorce, or sale of property takes place. An annual review of your estate documents is also recommended.

For additional information on storing financial documents, go to:

Link #1

Link #2

Teaching Suggestions

Have students list the financial documents and records they currently use.
Have students create a visual to communicate the system they might use for storing their financial documents.

Discussion Questions

What features would you recommend for an effective and efficient financial document storage system?
Describe financial difficulties and money management concerns that could occur if a person doesn’t have an appropriate financial documents storage system.

Jan 3 2026

DID YOU KNOW THAT WHERE YOU LIVE MAKES SAVING EASIER?

The state you live in can influence how well you’re able to save money. A bankrate.com study analyzed economic conditions, interest rates for certificates of deposit (CDs) and high-yield savings accounts, and taxes to rate the places easiest to save.

The ten states that were most favorable to savers were Tennessee, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Kentucky, South Dakota, Louisiana, Indiana, and Michigan. Many of these states have areas with a low cost of living. Some don’t have state income taxes, these include Florida, Tennessee, South Dakota, and Texas.

In contrast, the ten states that were least favorable for savers were Hawaii, Connecticut, Vermont, California, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Washington, New York, and Oregon. These states tend to have a higher cost of living; many of them have higher taxes.

No matter where you live, you can increase your savings by:

using a budgeting app to maintain a complete record of your finances. By tracking your spending, you can target an amount each month for saving.
automating your monthly saving with online transfers to a separate account.
researching online banks to take advantage of higher savings rates for CDs, money-market accounts, and high-yield savings accounts in other geographic locations.

For additional information on the best saving states, go to: