life insurance

'Dear Mom, I Wish You'd Had Life Insurance'

Brittney Lacombe's mother died with only $300 in the bank. Unable to pay the bills, she and her sisters lost their house. Life insurance would have made things a lot easier.

Quiz: How Financially Literate Are You?

From taxes and credit to saving and money management, you can get lost in the complexity of financial issues. How well do you know the basics of personal finance?

New Year, Same Beneficiaries? Here's Why You Need to Review

If you haven't checked the beneficiary designations on your financial accounts lately, you really should. It's quick, easy, and though it may not sound all that important, getting it squared away now could make a huge difference to your family later.

Unclaimed Property: Is Missing Money Looking for You?

There's a lot of "lost" money out there in America waiting for people to find it: Some $33 billion in unclaimed property and cash, in fact. And whether it comes a from relative who left an unclear will, a long-forgotten 401(k), or a disused bank account, some of it could be yours.

Money Mic: How My Dad%u2019s Life Insurance Saved Our Family

According to a nationwide study, 57% of respondents own life insurance, but only 28% feel extremely confident in their understanding of life insurance. Today, Alden Wicker shares a very personal story from her childhood, which drove home to her just how important it is for parents to have life insurance.

Your Insurance Won't Cover That: Hidden Dangers in the Fine Print

When you buy insurance, what you're really buying is protection. A common mistake, though, is to overestimate what your policy really protects you from. Here are some examples to watch for in the fine print so that you don't make the costly mistake of assuming you're covered.

Found Money: Life Insurers Start to Seek Out Missing Beneficiaries

Odd thing: Just being the beneficiary of a life insurance policy doesn't mean you'll get the money when the policyholder dies. Turns out, you have to ask for it. And people failing to ask has led to as much as $1 billion going, not to people's heirs, but to the states. Thankfully, that's changing.

Why Healthy People In Their Prime Need Life Insurance Too

It's easy to assume that if you're young and healthy, you'll be alive next year. It's probably true, too. But there are many grieving relatives and friends out there who will remind you that the unexpected does happen, and it can leave all kinds of chaos in its wake.

What Insurers Could Do With Your 'Social Media Score'

Here's yet another reason to watch what you say and do online: Insurance companies are already surfing social media sites to get the scoop about their customers, and what their data-miners find may soon be compiled into a new way to rate you as a risk: a social networking score.

How to Use Life Insurance to Donate to Charity

When most of us buy life insurance, we're thinking about one thing: Making sure our families are taken care of after we're gone. But in this season of giving, you might also want to think about setting up a policy to take care of your favorite charity.

15 Kinds of Insurance You May Not Need

It's bad enough that we fork over gobs of money for all kinds of necessities, such as our mortgage payments, groceries, gas, and electricity. But it's a real shame when we fork over dollars needlessly, buying things we don't need -- like many kinds of insurance.

The Best Defense: Money Moves to Protect Your Family

In financial planning, people usually play offense: It's about finding the right strategy to get to the goal. But it's just as crucial to have a good defense. Cal Brown, a financial planner and author of the new book When Life Strikes: Weathering Financial Storms, shares some of his defensive plays with DailyFinance's Laura Rowley.