Professional investors are a rarified group. It takes intelligence, privilege, opportunity, and hard work to achieve the skills necessary to be a successful trader. A good investor is likely to be very independent, with the self-reliance that comes from experience and frequent success. But there are problems that even great traders can’t solve.

When an investor dies unexpectedly, those who depend on the income created through that individual’s career invariably suffer. Professional stock trading isn’t like any other sort of “Family business”. With trading, there is almost certainly not someone in line to take over in the event that the main trader is incapacitated or dies from unforeseen causes. There is a certain kind of risk that only life insurance can be a remedy for. Still, many investors decide to go without it and avoid paying life insurance rates. Here are some reasons why that isn’t a good idea.

Few Traders Find Uniform Success Over Long Periods of Time. Though value investors have reliable methods which will buy stocks which will sustain value in times of market turmoil, there is no portfolio that is absolutely secure. According to the old saying, when it rains it pours. A market downturn would be an especially terrible time for your family and dependents to lose you from an accident, as unique financial challenges would be put on their shoulders right at the time that you are no longer there to manage them. Life insurance provides peace of mind against this conspiracy of bad circumstances.

Your Family May Not Be Prepared to Manage Money. If you are a professional trader, you likely have great money management skills. It is uncommon that skill sets like these duplicate themselves within households. If you were to suddenly expire, it’s likely that your family would not be prepared to handle taxes, estate costs, funeral expenses, future savings and investment goals, and other realities that go along with having a great deal of money. Life insurance can help pay for costs during a challenging time while your family learns how to deal with money from your portfolio. It will also make them less vulnerable to scams and unneeded services.

 Investing Has Its Own Health Risks. Many professional traders are subject to high stress throughout their trading careers. Stress is associated with heart disease, high blood pressure, and other common maladies that plague the modern world. A trader may not be subject to the physical risks of many other occupations, but tension and long hours make long term trading a risky field all its own. Life insurance can be a useful financial product in these cases.

Independence, success, and intelligence are no reason to go without life insurance. Good investments can be controlled and managed to a large extent, but there are situations in which your actual life is out of your hands. To protect the people you care about in the case of an unfortunate event, life insurance makes provisions which your investments likely cannot. Use it to make your financial life more complete, no matter what uncertainty the future may hold.