Why you should use your tax refund for life insurance

When you file your taxes on or before April 15, there’s a good chance you’re getting a refund. According to the IRS, 75% of American taxpayers receive money back, with the average payment being around $3,000. Needless to say, we’re not telling you this just to make conversation — we have a good idea of what you should spend that money on: life insurance.

Hear us out: If you dedicate this year’s tax refund to life insurance, it should be enough to pay the monthly premium for years to come (which means you could spend next year’s refund on something else if you really want to). That alone should be sufficient motivation to spend your tax refund on a term life insurance policy, but in case you need further persuading, here are six other excellent reasons.

You won’t feel it

For most of us, a tax refund feels like free money. You don’t budget around it. And your taxes were taken out before you were paid — in a sense, the money was never really yours in the first place. Therefore, if you put your tax return towards life insurance you won’t even notice you spent it — how can you miss money you never had?

This is true no matter what term length you choose, even up to 20 or 30 years. That’s because, with Haven Life’s low rates, a 25-year-old woman in excellent health can buy a 25-year, $500,000 policy, for $19.15 a month. That’s $230 a year — way less than that average refund of $3,000.

This year it will be hard to spend your refund on fun

Many people use their tax refund to treat themselves and/ or their loved ones to something special. Perhaps you were thinking of spending the money on a trip, or splurging at an expensive restaurant, or getting front-row seats at a concert, play or ballgame. Well, inflation means each of those fleeting pleasures might be outside your household budget.

Why not spend the money on something less ephemeral, something for the long term, like life insurance?

Also, life insurance is fun

OK, we know it sounds dubious, but what is fun, fundamentally? It’s being carefree, relaxed, entirely devoid of worries. That’s how it feels when you have life insurance, because you’re free from the daily worry of how your family would manage without you if the worst should happen. Viewed that way, buying life insurance is practically a leisure activity.

We should also mention that because very, very few people consider a life insurance medical exam to be “fun,” Haven Life also offers Haven Simple, a no-medical-exam-required term life insurance policy. The tradeoff is that policies are limited to $1 million or less (still enough for many people), and that you’ll pay a slightly higher monthly premium because we’ll know less about your health.

Which reminds us: Be truthful on your application, or you risk the non-issuance of policy or even non-payment of policy. And that would be no fun at all.

It’ll save you an argument

If you and your spouse file your taxes jointly, it can be hard to decide how much of the refund is yours and how much is theirs.

Do you earn more? Maybe you think you’re entitled to more of the money.

Does your partner do most of the childcare? Well, perhaps they deserve more cash for themselves, since their labor is usually unpaid.

Who withheld the most? This conversation could be endless.

This year, skip that contentious discussion and buy something for both of you: whether you insure your life, your partner’s or both, a life insurance policy benefits the whole family. It’s a true joint purchase.

It’s a way to supersize your tax return

Perhaps you were hoping for a bigger refund this year. Well, if you really want your check to be worth more than face value, consider buying life insurance from Haven Life insurance agency. For $29.99 a month, a healthy 30-year-old man can get $500,000 of life insurance coverage for 30 years. Now that makes your refund seem worthwhile.

Bonus: Each policy is issued by either the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, which has more than a century and a half of experience — or 50 years more than the United States has even had an income tax — or its subsidiary, C.M. Life.

Worst comes to worst, you’ll beat the system

When you buy life insurance, you have coverage in place and hope to never use it. But if the worst should happen, and your family ends up getting the death benefit from your policy, the money will go to them tax-free. If you’ve paid for life insurance with your tax refund, it’s almost like the money from your policy is tax-free twice — a fine way to stick it to the powers that be with your final act.