Does Tony Soprano Need Life Insurance?
Which of the following TV dads do you think has the greater need for life insurance: mob boss Tony Soprano, Cliff Huxtable of the Cosby Show, or Mike Brady of the Brady Bunch? According to a national survey conducted for the non-profit Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education (LIFE), most people assume Tony Soprano has the greatest need. After all, his line of work is a bit on the risky side. However, LIFE executives say it's a common mistake to focus first on the likelihood that a breadwinner will die instead of the needs of the family that would be left behind. In Tony Soprano's case, while he lives dangerously, he probably has enough money "stashed away" to provide for his family, the LIFE representatives explain. Mike Brady, on the other hand, is likely to have the greatest need for life insurance. Seven other family members plus a full-time housekeeper are dependent on his income as an architect.
Matt's View
Kudos to LIFE for taking a boring topic and injecting a bit of fun into it with these surveys about the insurance needs of TV characters. A past survey compared the life insurance needs of Spiderman to those of Fred Flintstone. Most people thought Spiderman had the greater need because of his penchant for scaling skyscrapers and jumping on moving cars. However, he would need insurance only if his elderly aunt were dependent on him, whereas Fred Flintstone, with a wife a child, has a clear need. To get a sense of how much life insurance your family needs, LIFE offers a free calculator on its web site.
This article filed in: Insurance
Managing Money by The Book
- "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." - Romans 12:12
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