Get 10 or 20 year term life insurance. Someone else has said this already but it can't be repeated enough. Get enough to pay your spouses expenses until they a

Get 10 or 20 year term life insurance. Someone else has said this already but it can't be repeated enough. Get enough to pay your spouses expenses until they are able to get income, pay off your mortgage if applicable, and if you can afford it get enough to cover future college expenses. Age, health, term-duration depending it will cost you a something on the order of $100-1000 per year. It will cover you to that amount until your term expires, and then it's gone. It's a pure cost - unlike whole life, which seemed to me to be more of a tax reducing strategy for very wealthy people - but you will sleep much, much better.