Life Insurance

[roystinkypinky]

Curious to get ppl's thoughts on pursuing term life insurance policies.

I'm 34 , healthy and active with no pre existing issues, non smoker, etc. Have a 3 year old and 1 year old. Most of my peers have life insurance , but I also know some very well educated and financially savy people that think it's a racquet and a waste of money. Is it worth pursuing , and if so do people have recommendations on who they have used?

 

[GregBarnes]

Your friends think term life insurance is a waste of money? It's incredibly cheap for someone like you. Whole life is a racket, but I know several widows who would be in dire straits without their spouses' term life insurance policies. Especially with having young kids.

 

[tarheelbrown]

Agree with Greg, especially if you have kids and a mortgage. It can provide serious help for your spouse, if you are gone. Many employers offer it reasonably cheap through their benefit plans, but there is also value in buying directly from an insurance company, instead. That removes the risk of losing your insurance if you lose that job.

 

[Heel1988]

I agree with Greg and thbrown.

A 20 year level premium policy will cover you through your youngest getting out of college. Don‘t forget about your spouse getting a policy either.

Do you have an investment account and/or a 401k? Many times those firms can help with life insurance. I know Fidelity Investments can sell policies.

 

[cr333]

You have to ask yourself one question. Are my wife and kids going to be ok if you die? Takes a lot of money to raise and educate kids.kids ( and no, I'm not an insurance agent)
And whatever you think is enough now.. double or triple it. I found out the hard way --- I took out a 200K policy 40 years ago. Was quite a lot of money then. It's nothing now. I'm just lucky I have a really good retirement income and investments that have grown through the years. Regardless of what happens to me now, my wife will be OK. Love that peace of mind.

 

[PINEHEEL]

There is no excuse for you not having term life insurance given your familial situation, and I say that completely hypocritically because I am in the literal exact same boat. I have a 1 and 3 year old and don't have it yet, but not because I don't want it.

I got quoted for it after our first was born, and it was going to be like $60/month cheaper if I just lost 20 lbs that I needed to lose anyway. Then my connection at the bank left, and it kind of got pushed to the back burner as we were drowning in a small child, a second on the way, and general work and life obligations. I'm self-employed and my wife is home with our kids (and would only be on a teacher's salary if she did have to go back to work), so it would be a terrible situation if something were to happen to me.

I'm currently holding a quote from SECU, but they only offer up to $500K. I've been waiting over a month for my State Farm guy to get back to me with their $2M quote, but it's a little more complicated as I have a lot of policies with them including a homeowner's that they're waiting on some updated info on since we just bought a new house.

The long and short of it is I am absolutely playing with fire right now and have a massive pit in my stomach about it everyday, as should you since you're in the exact same situation.

 

[mpaer]

I just aged out of a $250,000 term policy Put in about $25,000 over the decades
Worth every penny- for a long time I was the breadwinner, 3 kids
I can continue to keep it up at like $2,000 a month
If I had a terminal disease..............
One nice thing about a life insurance payout is that is not taxed
Note on my amount When i bought my 250,000 policy I had a $60,000 mortgage lol today

 

[PINEHEEL]

OP, I've had several people suggest I look at Ethos for a quote, which I plan to do today. Your post also inspired me to follow up with my State Farm agent and see what was taking so long with their quote, and I'm glad I did because he thought he had already sent it over and was starting to wonder why he hadn't heard back from me.

 

[ColeridgeNC]

Between work policy that is complimentary and what I have through farm bureau, my wife and I have 375k on each other, 20k child riders for each kid. Feel like if something happened to one of us, the other would be in good shape with 375k and the kids would be well taken care of.

 

[Uncmba2]

You can't know if you are underinsured unless you sit down and really look at the numbers.

1)Pull your SSN Statement and see what your survivor benefit is. This is actually a pretty strong amount, but I believe it goes away for kids at 18.

2) Add up all of your assets and liabilities. What's your net worth? If your wife doesn't work and they would need $100K to live on, subtract the SSN, cash, and retirement assets, and that is your risk. So let's say that your current assets could support $50K. At a 4% withdraw rate, you would need over $1.5MM with taxes. And that's being aggressive. $2MM is probably better. 20-year level Term, right now. And get $500K for your wife.

I'm about to turn 60. I was on a business trip when my wife called to say she was pregnant. I had $500K that day on me with USAA. And it was nothing over time in premiums.

Today is the time to be a hero or zero. Make the call.

 

[VAHeel08]

Curious to get ppl's thoughts on pursuing term life insurance policies.

I'm 34 , healthy and active with no pre existing issues, non smoker, etc. Have a 3 year old and 1 year old. Most of my peers have life insurance , but I also know some very well educated and financially savy people that think it's a racquet and a waste of money. Is it worth pursuing , and if so do people have recommendations on who they have used?

Yes, it's worth it if you have any dependents/spouse/partner that you help support financially. It is cheap if you are young and healthy. My wife and I have term (20 year), $2.5M each, and our monthly premiums are $162 per month. Some might say that is overkill, but you can see it's affordable.

 

[mpaer]

Yes, it's worth it if you have any dependents/spouse/partner that you help support financially. It is cheap if you are young and healthy. My wife and I have term (20 year), $2.5M each, and our monthly premiums are $162 per month. Some might say that is overkill, but you can see it's affordable.

My wife and I have term (20 year), $2.5M each, and our monthly premiums are $162 per month. Some might say that is overkill, but you can see it's affordable.

Basically a Cable/internet bill
Would not call that overkill

 

[cr333]

Basically a Cable/internet bill
Would not call that overkill

And I would also call it very smart.

 

[UNCBornandBred]

You need to get life insurance as does your wife. Picture you die in a car accident and you leave your family with nothing. How does that feel? Yeah, exactly. It feels awful. Why risk that?

 

[Forever 52]

Just to add to the discussion…
I am 73 now, retired, and financially secure. ( Retired at 65, delayed SS until 70, which I highly advise).

I started my career with a whole life policy, which I kept for about ten years until I realized how expensive it was, took the cash value, and bought enough term to cover until I turned 65.

After retiring, I bought a twenty year term policy of 250,000, that expires at age 92. It costs about 3,600 per year. I wanted it because it has a health benefit rider which pays 5000 per month in the event I become disabled, and need home care, or institutional care.

So, if I live to 93, I will have paid in about 75,000. If I die before then, my wife gets 250,000. If I become disabled, it pays the 250,000 via 5,000 per month. Remaining balance paid to my wife upon my death.

It’s hard to see how I can lose. If I live past 93, well then, good for me. No male in my family has ever done so.

 

[IslanderHeel]

See Greg’s response. Check out term policies. We all know, or will know, someone who was on the right or wrong side of this.

 

[unctarheel1984]

Get the insurance.

 

[PINEHEEL]

Just an FYI, as I mentioned in my earlier post, I've been going through this process this week and am about to lock in with Ethos today. A friend had recommended them and it has been an incredibly easy and user-friendly process. They don't require any kind of medical check, either. I got quotes from SECU, State Farm, and Ethos. Ethos is really just a middle man like Rocket Mortgage is for mortgages, but Banner Life Insurance is who claimed mine and they have an A+ rating by everyone who tracks these things. They came in about $40/month lower than State Farm did. SECU could only offer up to $500K and it was a terrible rate anyway.

OP definitely needs a 30-year term at his age. I'm going with a big 20-year and a smaller 30-year. $500K 20-year for the wife just to cover kids' tuitions.

 

[Chamtrain]

I'm about 15 years into a 20 year term policy that I have no regrets over. I bought it at about the same point in life as the OP, if I had died early in that term my family would have been in dire straits without it. Get it OP, I think I pay 39 bucks a month for 750k in coverage, it's nothing for the peace of mind it provides.