Q. I was thinking about getting life insurance for my children. Should I get Child Life Insurance?

A. As a general rule, parents should first get themselves life insurance, before they get their children life insurance. Because the main purpose of child life insurance is future eligibility, parents will do well to just get the cheapest child life insurance package.

It’s not so much the benefits as it is about future eligibility. Child life insurance is especially important if your family has a history of medical illness. You see, if you get Child Life insurance, your child can automatically get any type of life insurance later on.

Most types of child life insurance are actually term life insurance policies. Child life insurance often does not build cash value and has small premiums. In order to be competitive, some life insurance agencies are providing child life insurance some features similar to whole life insurance. However, child life insurance ends when your child matures, so the cash value benefits are very minimal.