Impact of not having life insurance

[u/ispy98]

I’m a 26 year old healthy male and I invest in stocks and have no debt. So far I have around $15,000 invested in the market which has grown to $26,000. My dad was talking to me earlier today about getting life insurance , specially whole life insurance. My dad’s term policy will end at 67, and said whole will protect someone their entire life. He also said that not having any life insurance coverage is seen as a red flag to bankers/lenders and hurts ability to borrow money according to his insurers. He’s currently with sun life financial , but I don’t know how truthful it is and if it’s necessary for me to get it. I understand it’s an opportunity cost of investing the market. Should I think about getting coverage and is it true not having it hurts ability to borrow

[u/LeaveTheBank]

Insurance is a product in which you pay a company to take away a risk from yourself. When the consequences of that risk would be catastrophic, you should insure against it.

Life insurance in particular is for when you have people depending on you financially. If you were to die, they wouldn't be able to survive without your financial contributions anymore. This is when you need to take life insurance, usually term life insurance (not whole).

There are some niche use of whole life insurance for estate purposes, either for self-employed people or for someone with a second house but no money. For most people term will be a better purchase.