Insurance. "No... I don't need life insurance." That's what many people say until 1 day too late. Before we go any further, I would like you to know that I don't sell insurance products of any kind. I did long ago. I have been a life and health insurance instructor and insurance school owner for some 30+ years, assisting students to get their life and health insurance licenses. Therefore, my opinion is only that, an opinion. There are three possibilities for your future: 1. Rely on the government to take care of you when you get old and hope for the best. 2. Live frugally, and accumulate enough assets to where you are self-insured. 3. Work with an ethical agent and get financially fixed at a later date. If you do things right, in your early 20s, you get a term life policy (very inexpensive) and start saving your money (in a smart, productive and secure place). If you want to be very frugal and spend even less, you can get a decreasing term life policy where the face amount goes down over time as your assets go up. By the time you are 50, you drop the policy since you have enough assets that you don't need life insurance. If you do things wrong (many people), you realize much later what you should have done, but didn't. If you talk with an ethical life insurance agent during a sharing session on financial planning, you can get a good idea of what this is all about without getting stuck with something you don't want or need. How do you find an ethical life insurance agent? Are there any? Ahhhh, well....... Here's the problem: the more income (commission) the agent receives from your policy, usually the worse it is for you. It's an inverse relationship. Decreasing term policies pay the least commission. What you have to do is be the strong (forceful) one. You say, at the age of 21 or 22, "I want a decreasing term life policy to run for 30 years!" Start with $500,000 or more (and it will drop off gradually). Then live cheap, and save in a growth mutual fund. Simple. If you qualify for a 401(k) or 403(b) or you get an IRA, max it out with a growth mutual fund inside one of those. Then when you arrive at the ripe old age of 50, you (and your friends) will be somewhat amazed at what you have accumulated. At that point, you can buy your first new car (but you won't want to spend the money)!