You may feel that you only really need life insurance when you have dependents, but actually it can be better to take it out sooner rather than later. In fact some people would say that it´s never too early to think about life insurance. Major life stages are discussed below and why life insurance is useful at that time.
Single with no children
As a single person, you would normally be young and not have dependents. You would assume that there is no need to take out life insurance, but it is worth considering. When you take out insurance, it is based on your health and age. If you take it out when you are young, for a certain term, then the payments are likely to be lower. So taking it out in your twenties to pay out if you die before you are 100, will mean 80 years of premiums. This sounds huge, but it will means that the payments will be small and you will earn a payment for your loved ones when you die. You may think you will be better off saving this money to leave when you die. This could be the case, but it very much depends on how old you are when you do die and how good you are at saving.
Married/Relationship
If you are in a relationship, then you will have someone that you like to look after and this may mean financially as well as in other ways. You may want to start to pay life insurance so that you can leave them something when you die. The younger you are when you take this out, the cheaper it will be and so it may be better to take it out early in your relationship.
Family
If you have children then you might like to make sure that if anything happens to you, there is enough money to care for them. This might be money to pay for someone to look after them, while whoever cares for them for them normally is at work. This may be to pay for their keep or schooling, a house for them or other things. When you have children, you are much more likely to start considering insurance and if you take it out when you and them are young it will be cheaper.
Retired
When you are retired you may start thinking more about death and whether you would like to make sure any loved ones are financially covered when you die. However, taking out insurance as you get older can be much more expensive and you may even find that it is too late for you to be able to afford it.