The one thing that life insurance does better than anything else is create cash at death. Upon the death of the insured person, a death benefit is paid out to the beneficiary of the life insurance policy without being subject to federal income taxes, usually.

You buy life insurance because you care about what happens to those you leave behind when you die, in order to provide some form of financial security and protection for your family.

The specific reason for your buying a life insurance policy depends on your individual situation and goals.

For example, you may want to buy life insurance to protect your family, protect your businesses for your family and/or to ensure your legacy.

If there is a need for a death benefit, often there are living benefits for you. That means there could be something in it for you, in addition to peace of mind. Some life insurance policies offer accelerated death benefits which means you may be able to get access to some of the death benefit from your life insurance policy while you are still alive, if you were to become terminally ill and needed the money.

Here is a list of the top 10 reasons to buy life insurance.