Physicians should view life insurance as the base foundation upon which they can build their financial plans, according to a North Carolina certified financial planner.

"If you have that in place, you know that you can move forward with your other dreams, goals and aspirations," said John T. Gugle, a principal for Alpha Financial Advisors LLC in Charlotte, N.C. "It takes the fear of the unknown, the uncertainty, out of the equation."

Yet many physicians don't think about obtaining life insurance when they've completed medical school, financial experts said.

"While no one can blame a younger physician for wanting the trappings of success, it is critically important early in their career that younger physicians get life insurance, pay down debt and save for emergencies," Gugle said.

Early career physicians are the ones who have the greatest need for life insurance, particularly if they're married and have young families.

"My professional opinion is that the younger physician needs the most coverage possible because if she or he died, there would be a large amount of future income lost, not to mention that the debts owed by the surviving spouse would cripple them financially," Gugle said. "Creditors will come looking to be repaid. ... They may put a lien against the estate."

In addition, the grieving family will have to adjust to a dramatic lifestyle change.

"Many times (the surviving spouse) is a stay-at-home spouse and the doctor is the one providing for the family," Gugle said. "Not too many jobs are going to pay like a doctor's would."

Mike McCann, president of Perspective Financial Services LLC in Phoenix, Ariz., said financial planners generally advise people to obtain life insurance coverage that is 10 times their annual earnings.

But he believes new-to-practice physicians can benefit from as much as 20 times their yearly salary because of their earning potential over the course of their careers.

"If you're just coming out of residency, it's possible your income will grow dramatically in six to 12 years, so you start with a higher factor than most people would," said McCann, a certified financial planner and accredited investment fiduciary.

Gugle said physicians should get the maximum amount of coverage they can afford.

"Figure out what your needs are, look at income replacement and decide what you would want to be there if, God forbid, something were to happen to you," he said. "If you can get up to $2 million, go for the $2 million. It's a small price to pay to have peace of mind."

Physicians can choose from a whole life policy, which provides coverage over the course of a person's lifetime, a term life policy, which provides coverage for a particular time period, and variations within each of those two categories.

"Evaluate not only the amount of insurance, but the investment in the insurance product and the costs of that insurance," McCann said.

There are pros and cons to each type of policy, the experts said.

"If you talk to most people like me, almost universally they will say put your money into a term life policy with a well regarded, highly rated insurance company," Gugle said. "You will pay far less and get more coverage, dollar for dollar, than you would with whole life policies."

Term life policies don't always come with a guarantee that they'll be renewed at the end of the term, however.

"If you're buying term, look at how many years the rate is guaranteed for," McCann said.

Regardless of the type of policy a physician chooses, experts agreed they should obtain coverage from highly rated companies.

"You want to be sure an insurance company is going to be around to pay a claim," McCann said.

Physicians should also consider whether they want to be in a group policy, such as those offered by employers, or have an individual policy.

"If you lose your employment, though, you lose your coverage because you're no longer part of that group," Gugle said. "That's the downside."

But group policies can be less expensive alternatives to individual policies with the added bonus of an employer offering to pay one or two times your salary, he said.

"More and more hospitals and larger practices will offer some type of life insurance that is portable," McCann said. "That means when they leave that firm or hospital, they can take that with them."

For physicians who are weighing multiple job offers, he said it's worth asking whether an employer offers portable life insurance.

Because the need for life insurance decreases with age, experts recommend physicians reevaluate their needs for it annually.

"A lot of people are trying to sell you life insurance, but they have a financial incentive to do so," Gugle said. "Be very mindful of that."