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Do you have life insurance?

meowmeow

meowmeow

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My DH and I have it through his employer. Premium is taken out every check. Not huge payouts if God Forbid anything should happen.

I just started thinking that I should take out a private policy on myself. I would never want to leave any burden on my DH further more DD.

Any recommendations?
 
we got it after being married for almost 20 years ( yikes..) we were living on the edge for so long-My father passing away is what made me finally do it

when we got it the insurance person told us that since I wasn't the main bread winner and my kids were older ( no daycare needed) that my policy could be a lot less then dh's ( if that helps you at all) Now I also have a policy through work as well
 
DH gets life insurance policy for each of the family members through work but we also have substantial private policies for DH and myself. It's not cheap, that's for sure.
 
I've had life insurance policies since just after I was born...my folks took out a $2000 one that matured when I was 20...took the cash...I have had a $45,000 one since I've been married...still pay the same premium...$45 a month...I could cash it in right now for about $6000...
 
There are different sorts, Term and Full.... what you need depends on your financial situation and what you want from it....

We have term, pay more than I wish we did but switching is not not really much cheaper... sometimes it feels like I'm throwing the $$ away every month.... but then again I'm glad neither of us died every month too.
 
YES! If you have a young family, you have to have life insurance.

This is a good introductory article to read:

http://www.smartmoney.com/plan/insurance/term-or-whole-life-8011/

Most likely, you will want a term policy. Agents will try to sell you a whole life policy but the majority of the time, the investment vehicle stinks and you would do much better off taking the difference between what you'd pay for whole vs term premiums, investing it yourself, and seeing much better returns on your money.

My DH has life insurance through his work that pays out about 200K. We also bought him a separate policy privately for 700K. If something were to happen to him, I'd get a payout of about 900K.

We also have a private policy for just me and that is for about 600K. Since I do not work outside the home, it was less important for me to have a huge policy but if something were to happen to me, this would give him the option of staying home and raising our kids and leaving the work force until our kids were old enough to be independent or in college or whatever.

We bought the policies a couple years after we got married and around the time we thought about starting a family so it's been about 9 years or so.
 
Yes, we have term, and luckily we got it before I got my Sjogren's diagnosis. We have something like $100K on me, maybe a little more, and at least $750K on him since he was the primary earner then and will be again soon.

The policy on me is to help cover childcare and home help so he could continue working if something happened to me.
 
Life insurance is so important now. That is 1 thing I refused to let lapse this past year. Not only does it give you peace of mind knowing you can cover final expenses but can be used to raise kids, college, or to cover medical expenses.

Term is cheaper but you do not gain cash value. It is perfect for young families. At my office we use the saying - for the cost of pizza once a month you can have coverage to protect your family. Its true $15 per month for something like $150K in term. This would also give you guaranteed insurability - meaning you can renew, convert this to whole life without proving you are insurable. Like someone stated above if you are diagnosed with something or in the case of my ex you attempt suicide you may not be able to get insurance.

Whole life (cash value) pays an annual dividend but cost more per month. Consider the rate above for term. For $39 per month you might be able to get $25K of coverage. Great if you have the extra $$ but not with my budget

Work policies are great in the idea you are taken as a "group" so you don't have to prove insurability and the rate is normally low. However soem outside plans are cheaper than say the state of Il benefits option/ We sell a lot of term insurance to state workers because we are cheaper. Another thing to consider if you lose your job you lose your life insurance. Most companies don't offer a "cobra" option on life insurance.

The younger you are when you start a policy the cheaper the monthly premium
 
whole life and term on both dh and myself

term is expensive, imho, considering it always goes up in premium and never has a cash value

that said, whole life is costly to afford. but, if you can manage to get the policies early enough and pay on them, they eventually are worth as much as youve paid in, and thereafter are actually earning money over your premiums paid.
 
:9: Yes, but I don't think my term policy is expensive at all. I have one policy in particular through State Farm that I took out as a 35 year old smoker and I pay $40 a month for $150,000 death benefit. Remember with term you can convert it to whole life if you do it within the first 5 years (at least through State Farm) and they credit the amount you have paid on the term policy against the premium for the whole life policy.

In the grand scheme of things everyone can squeeze out $40 a month.

As a side note if you think you can't afford it, ask yourself how your loved ones could afford your funeral without it. My sister's funeral was just under $10K and we did not splurge on anything. We did put some of it together in cash, but my BIL had to get a credit limit increase and charge the bulk of it.

If anyone's interested I'm happy to share my agent's name and number.

If you have minor children and wish to leave them $ State Farm holds it in an interest bearing trust for free until age 18.

GET INSURED!
 
Now I am nervous. DH has one for me - itty bitty.... $50,000.

So I want extra BUT I have genetic degenerative spastic parapalegia - I have a bad feeling I will not be able to get any without paying out the wazoo :(
 
Yes, please make sure you have enough at least to cover expenses. My husband is an insurance agent as well, if you'd like his name and number PM me, he'd be happy help with any questions. He's really helpful, and not your typical salesman. We always tease him that he's too honest, honest to a fault.

We purchased policies for our grandchildren , the first year we pay for and the parents pay for the rest. It is much, much more affordable to get this when they are young.
 
I had a endowment policy when I was single (not a wise choice!) cashed it out and put the money in mutual fund before I moved here. DH had a term policy through work, lost it since he is unemployed. I have gotten a few quotes for a term life, he hasn't get his act together to sign up.
 
meowmeow said:
Now I am nervous. DH has one for me - itty bitty.... $50,000.

So I want extra BUT I have genetic degenerative spastic parapalegia - I have a bad feeling I will not be able to get any without paying out the wazoo :(
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You may find that no one will write you a policy at all. Is very common for those with chronic or degenerative conditions.

Your best and most cost-effective way to increase your (you, personally, with your issues) is to add to the policy your DH has through work. And if he ever leaves there, you can continue the policy by continuing to pay the premiums and you should.

My one sister (brain tumor) and my other sister (diabetes) only are able to have life insurance because my dad bought whole life policies for us ALL when we were children, increased the coverages over the years as he could, and faithfully paid the premiums. Now the policies pay for themselves (whole life, not term) and neither of my sisters could buy any life insurance with their issues now at any price.

Good luck!
 
We have term, not a lot, 500K on each of us. We just started it when we bought the house, because neither of us could afford it without the other one. My payments are over two hundred a month.
 
We both have policies through DH's work. I have been bugging DH to look into term policies. Time to talk to him about it again.
 
State Farm's health questions were very basic, a simple physical (they come to your house) which consisted of blood pressure check and a blood test (looking for tobacco). I have a pre-existing genetic condition and had only been out of the hospital for 6 months from having pre-malignant polyps removed from my colon (which I reported to them) and a host of other medical issues. Do not be intimidated into thinking you are uninsurable. This is not health insurance. They do know they will not have to pay out on most term policies. They are a little more liberal than health policies :)

Do some research and try before you convince yourself that you are uninsurable :)
 
my GF says all the time--if my dh is going to die while young PLEASE let him die at work where the insurance payoffs are better--If he dies at work he gets like 4x the amount he would get if he died elsewhere
 
DH and I have term to cover the cost of the mortgage in the event of either of our untimely death's...I do cry over the $$$ I throw away on this every month but also am glad that IF anything happened we would be covered...neither one of us can afford to survive without the other.
 
We got it for me when the kids were little. We figured if I died, DH would have to pay for a nanny and a housekeeper and lots of other expenses that he gets for FREE when I am alive! We also beefed up DH's life insurance from work. We also have policies on the kids that we can cash out at 18 if we want or let roll. Our thought was that it was emergency college money or cash to give them when they get out of college.
 
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