text: who will pay me for my life insureance now? i am 36 with 40000 in life insureance need $$$ now for a person who is 36 years old should be able to pay for life insurance.  anyway, i don't know your situation, but if you are living with your parents, then $40,000 coverage is good. but if you are single, i recommend getting at least $100,000.  now that we cover how much coverage you should get, now you need to understand the two main types of life insurance out there. one is called cash value life insurance, the kind of plan that contains a savings in it. the other is term insurance, the kind of plan that is pure insurance (such as car insurance). in this blog, it goes into details about the difference between the two: http://obe231.blogspot.com  after reading that blog, you should be able to figure out which is better, which is buying term and investing at the same time.