How to protect your family financially over the years

Your income is more than just a paycheck. It's a tool that helps provide the life you share with the people you love. That's why it's important to protect it from the potential pitfalls that are hard to think about. That can mean losing your job, getting too sick or injured to work, or dying unexpectedly.

No matter where you're at, there are multiple ways you can protect your earnings and what's important to your family. We'll cover some foundation-building ideas for you to consider based on a typical milestone: retirement.

• Protecting your income during your working years
• Protecting your income if you're nearing retirement or retired

Although there are many ways to earn income, including investments, your ability to work is one of the most critical assets in your financial life. As you progress through your working years, it's important to have additional protection in place in case something would disrupt your income stream.

Disability insurance can offer you and your family a safety net by replacing a portion of your income if you were to get too ill or injured to keep working. Having this backup plan can help you cover your financial obligations without putting all the strain on your savings or finding other options. Ultimately, it can provide some stability for you and your loved ones as you focus on your health and your next moves.

It's not easy to think about your mortality. But once you imagine what life may look like for your loved ones once you—and your income—are gone for good, you may want to ease some of their potential burdens by planning ahead. One way to do this is with life insurance, which can provide your family with a potentially tax-free death benefit. If you die, they can use that money to:

• Continue the standard of living you helped establish. 
• Stay in familiar surroundings by covering housing costs and other needs. 
• Pay for your final expenses and satisfy any outstanding debts. 
• Fund their higher education. 
• Continue to support causes close to your heart. 

There are many types of life insurance to consider. Whole life insurance can be particularly reassuring as it offers guarantees, as well as the opportunity to build savings over time that you can use during your lifetime—before or after retirement.

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As you look toward retirement and the financial changes it brings, it's even more important to think about how you'd keep your household and loved ones afloat without your income if you couldn’t be here to provide for them. Having a plan in place can mean your spouse or other beneficiaries may continue living the life you've envisioned, even if they no longer have your Social Security or pension money to supply income.

Many people think that once you retire, it's no longer necessary to have life insurance. But life insurance, particularly whole life, can offer you and your loved ones other important financial options and assurances.

One strong consideration is that the guaranteed growth from whole life insurance—its cash value—is like a living benefit that you can access for any purpose while you're alive.¹ You could, for example, use your cash value to supplement your retirement income, cover the life insurance premiums or help supplement major expenses like a child’s, or grandchild's, college education.

Perhaps the primary reason to maintain your life insurance is its death benefit. This can offer a tax-efficient way to pass down money to your chosen beneficiaries or favorite causes.

In your later years, the death benefit can help your spouse fill the "survivor gap." This is a common issue in which income goes down but expenses increase due to changes in tax-filing status, healthcare needs, home maintenance costs or other reasons.

For instance, a life insurance death benefit could help your spouse stay in the home where you raised your family by supplying money needed to pay a mortgage or property taxes. It could help them cover costs associated with settling your estate and other final expenses or pay healthcare bills and other debts.

Your loved ones also can spend the funds in any other ways they see fit, including:

• Travel to visit faraway family. 
• Continuing to give to your church or a charity you cared about. 
• Education expenses for your children or grandchildren. 
• Leaving a legacy for your heirs. 

Developing a plan to protect your income takes sorting through many variables and options. A Thrivent financial advisor can work alongside you to understand your personal goals and the right mix of coverage to support them.