In general, when a person gets a life insurance policy, they choose their spouse as their beneficiary. However, this is not a requirement. You are allowed to choose whomever you want. A British Marine decided to make his friends the beneficiaries, with the stipulation that they use the money on a Vegas vacation.
British Royal Marine David Hart got a life insurance policy worth around $400,000 before he was deployed to Afghanistan. Sometime after being deployed, he was killed by a Taliban bomb.
He gave instructions that a portion of the death benefit, (about $150,000), was to be given to 32 of his friends, for the specific purpose that they will use that money to take themselves and their girlfriends on a holiday in Las Vegas. His family, which I believe consists of his parents, will receive $160,000. Another portion, around $80,000, is going to a charity that helps injured Marines.
It seems that the Vegas vacation is a fitting tribute to the Marine, because he was a person who loved to spend time with his friends on vacations like that. His parents have said that their son’s friends have been very supportive, and have come to visit them a lot.
This touching story is a very vivid example about what can be done with the death benefit that comes from a life insurance policy. For most people, it makes perfect sense to make a spouse the beneficiary. You want your family to have the money to pay for your funeral, to pay off what is left of your mortgage, and to continue to have the lifestyle that they had before you were gone.
However, if you are not married, and you do not have any children, then you obviously have to select someone else in your life as your beneficiary. In today’s world, the definition of “family” is something that changes. This means that you can select one of your parents as your beneficiary, or perhaps one of your siblings. You can split the death benefit between several of your relatives if you want to.
Or, you can pick someone who isn’t actually related to you at all, like your very best friends, just like British Royal Marine David Hart did. There are a lot of people in the United States who cannot marry the person they love, because they live in a state that does not recognize same sex marriages. They could still choose that person as the beneficiary of their life insurance policy, if they wanted to.
Image by Baishampayan Ghose on Flickr