There are certain things nobody tells you about becoming an adult. You are expected to know how to make a dentist appointment, understand what a deductible is, remember to pay your credit card bill on time, and somehow know the difference between a Roth IRA and whatever your friend at brunch is suddenly talking about. Then one day, you find yourself looking at term life insurance and thinking, “Wait. When did I become this responsible?”
If you’re in college or just starting your career, thinking about term life insurance costs probably isn’t exactly at the top of your list. You’ve got classes, exams, internships, roommates, student loans, dating, social plans, and approximately 47 tabs open on your laptop. But learning how different types of financial protection work can be part of figuring out this whole adulting thing before life gets even more complicated.
Welcome to the Adulting Era
College is such a strange little pocket of life because you’re technically an adult, but you can still call your mom because you have no idea how to get a stain out of a white shirt.
You might be paying your own bills for the first time, managing a checking account, building credit, or figuring out how to make an embarrassingly small grocery budget stretch across an entire week. You are learning how to take care of yourself, and that includes learning how to think a little farther ahead.
And before you start panicking because you think financial planning means spreadsheets, calculators, and a personality transplant, it really doesn’t.
Even something as basic as learning how to manage your college money can make a difference. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recommends comparing checking account options, watching out for unnecessary fees, and keeping track of the money coming in and going out.
That is the kind of adulting I can get behind. Less “become a completely different person” and more “maybe stop paying random bank fees.”
Your Money Has More Jobs Than You Think
When you’re in college, every dollar seems to have a job.
Rent. Tuition. Textbooks you swear you will sell back. Coffee. Groceries. The occasional late night food delivery that somehow costs $27 because apparently adding fries is a financial event.
This is why learning how to budget as a college student is actually useful long before you have a full time salary. Federal Student Aid recommends tracking both your income and expenses and remembering to account for things like housing, food, transportation, books, supplies, and unexpected personal expenses.
Then there is saving, which sounds hilarious when you’re looking at your bank account and wondering whether you can afford the slightly more expensive shampoo.
But even starting small can help. An emergency savings fund is meant for those wonderfully inconvenient expenses that have a habit of appearing at exactly the wrong moment, like a car repair, unexpected medical bill, or laptop deciding that its academic career is officially over. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau specifically recommends building savings to prepare for unexpected expenses.
Then There Are Student Loans
Of course, we cannot discuss college finances without discussing the giant elephant wearing a graduation cap.
Student loans.
If you have them, understanding what you owe and what repayment will look like is one of those things that is much easier to deal with when you actually know the numbers. Federal Student Aid recommends keeping track of your borrowing and understanding your repayment responsibilities instead of simply crossing your fingers and hoping Future You has a plan.
Future You is already busy enough.
She does not need to discover that Present You ignored an entire financial situation because it felt uncomfortable.
And this is really where thinking about things like insurance starts to make a little more sense. You do not have to be married with three kids, a mortgage, and a minivan to start learning about financial protection. Your circumstances may change dramatically over the next few years, but understanding your options now means you are not starting from zero later.
Looking Put Together Without Spending Your Entire Paycheck
Of course, being financially responsible does not mean you have to stop having fun.
Please.
We are still young.
There is absolutely room for cute clothes, great shoes, weekend adventures, concert tickets, and the occasional purchase that you will later describe as “an investment” even though it was absolutely not an investment.
The trick is learning how to enjoy those things without making every purchase a financial emergency. College is a great time to figure out what you actually love, what you will wear repeatedly, and which trends looked much better on TikTok than they do in your dorm room mirror.
You can build a wardrobe you love, take care of yourself, have fun with friends, and still start learning about the boring grown up stuff happening behind the scenes.
You Can Be Young and Still Think Ahead
I think there is a weird misconception that financial planning is something you do when you’re older, married, settled, and spending Saturday mornings discussing lawn care.
Absolutely not.
Your twenties are actually a pretty useful time to start learning how money works. That can mean understanding your credit, building savings, figuring out student loans, learning about investing, and knowing what different types of insurance are designed to do.
Term life insurance, for example, provides coverage for a specific period of time. Gerber Life currently offers term options ranging from 10 to 30 years, with coverage amounts from $100,000 to $5 million, subject to eligibility and policy terms.
That does not mean every college student needs to buy a policy immediately. Your financial situation, dependents, debts, and future plans all matter. It simply means that knowing what something is before you need to make a decision about it is never a bad idea.
And if you are curious about term life insurance cost, the answer is not one magical number that applies to everyone. Premiums can vary based on factors such as age, health, coverage amount, and the length of the policy. That is exactly why looking at your own situation is more useful than assuming insurance is automatically too expensive or completely unnecessary.
Adulting Doesn’t Have to Be Boring
The good news is that becoming responsible does not mean becoming boring.
You can learn about insurance and still spend an unreasonable amount of time shopping for shoes. You can create a budget and still order takeout because you have reached your personal limit for dining hall food. You can start an emergency fund and still have a closet full of clothes that make you happy.
Being an adult is not about suddenly having everything figured out. It is about learning how to take care of yourself, understanding your options, and making decisions that give you more freedom later.
So yes, learn what term life insurance costs. Learn how student loans work. Pay attention to your credit. Put a little money away when you can. Figure out what kind of financial life you actually want.
Then close the spreadsheet, put on a cute outfit, grab your coffee, and go enjoy your twenties.
You have plenty of time to become the person who gets excited about retirement accounts.
Probably.