Life insurance

[fitz19d]

I barely know much about regular instance types and I know none about Life.

Part of my getting a motorcycle sanctions is that my wife wants me to carry life insurance.

Have zero clues about any catches in any type of coverage or quality. Any group stand out or just bundle with existing Geico. (Thought if they know i have a bike maybe a penalty lol.)

[izzy]

My wife just started selling life insurance. PM me if you'd like to chat with her about it. Apparently if you get the right kind of policy you can actually make money off of it like an investment fund.

[kwando]

If you have the option to get it through work, get it. Way cheaper!

In my case, for $500k coverage it is $24/month through work.

I also have an separate policy outside of work, same coverage amount. And because I am short AND fat, it is $160/month.

for me it's a no brainer to keep the work coverage, I bought a separate policy just incase something happens at work.

Both of my policies are term life. The separate one has the option to convert it to a whole life insurance (savings) plan.

[fitz19d]

The quick geico one that seems to be thru some other company was quoting me 10/m for 300k for 10 years and a bit more for longer locks. I'm just worried about wierd exceptions beyond suicide of course. Low rate i imagine being young ish, tall average weight non tobacco.

[hurley842002]

X2 on a policy through work if you have that option. I recently took out the largest amount my work allowed me to pay for, plus the basic coverage that gives beneficiaries a year of my salary. I've also got a whole life policy which izzy was referring to, that my parents opened up for me when I was a baby.

[MrPrena]

X2 on a policy through work if you have that option. I recently took out the largest amount my work allowed me to pay for, plus the basic coverage that gives beneficiaries a year of my salary. I've also got a whole life policy which izzy was referring to, that my parents opened up for me when I was a baby.

+3 policy through work.
If you are not planning to work long there I recommend you to at least get term life.
Thosee variable/universal/whole life are expensive, because you have other $$ besides premium allocated to annuity. That annuity will be available for a "loan" from your own account at usually less than 1%.

Term= cheap but have term limit.
Whole/univ/Var = expensibe but have coverage until you die.

I also recommend insurance companies with good mutual and annuity programs.

I personally do not have and not plan to have life insurance. Only benefit I see from life insurance is unexpected early death, and people who need annuity to suppliment the inflation hedging.

[Dave_L]

I'm with Allstate and have a really good life specialist. Let me know if you'd like to talk to him. He's low pressure. He listens to your needs, presents some options and let's you make the choice, if anything. It really depends on what your needs are for what is the right fit for you.

ETA: Our policies have lots of cool riders you can add for kids, critical illness, and whats called "accelerated death benefit". If you're diagnosed with a terminal illness, you can actually get money before you die to help with treatment costs or just take the family on some last hurrahs before passing.

If you've never sat and talked to an expert, why not? It doesn't cost you anything and more information is better, especially when talking about something like life insurance. Everyone has an opinion on it so take 20 min and talk to an expert. That's just my $.02.

[gnihcraes]

My advice, buy it when you're young and plan to keep the life insurance. My brain blew up at 34 and I had coverage for Life and Disability.

I've not needed it obviously, but, I can't get coverage now do the medical history. I'm lucky to have purchased them long ago and still have coverage today.

I can't even get life insurance on my kids through work because of my medical history! Sucks. I have to buy more expensive stuff outside of work for the kids.

[cableguy11]

+++ for work insurance. Open enrollment should be pretty soon as well. You can call your HR department and ask them about it. I highly recommend you get it now when you are young. I have insurance thru work for myself, spouse and kids. I also have a policy for me at USAA. I also got a policy for my wife thru the Dave Ramsey website and Zander insurance which is basically a broker, but the rates are very good. What Dave L. said, it doesn't cost a thing to talk to a pro. One other thing is something like AFLAC and there is another one, but off the top of my head I don't remember the name. When I had my hips replaced AFLAC paid me around 3500 total for everything. Not much, but it adds up. At your age your rate would be pretty good.

[brutal]

Hell's bells.

I gave up and cashed out a company paid whole life plan many years ago after a job change when I couldn't really afford it on my own, so I'm relying on term life now.

Changing employer plans (acquisition) and the new employer's plans/costs suck balls compared to my current employer. Their 401K contributions suck too FWIW. I'm also losing 30 hours of PTO. However, I'm work from home (with travel) so I can "work" those extra 30 hours from the lake as long as I'm not out on project and have mobile coverage...

Biggest kicker is we were previously able to have separate coverage amounts for Life and AD&D, and the AD&D supplemental add-ons were dirt cheap ($1.75 per $100K for spouse, less for me.) New plan is combined and I can't even get them to give me the details on the AD&D coverages, exceptions, etc. Costs for the same coverage with combined Life/AD&D are more than double and the guaranteed max (before requiring certificate of insurability) for my wife is half, which now has me considering at off-work plans. Probably something I should be looking at anyway as I've either got a high probability of retirement coming in 3 years, or unemployment in 3-6 months. If I can pay the same or less, and get a locked in rate for a 20-25 year policy, I think that make a little more sense.

Thankfully, we are blessed with excellent health coverage through my wife so I don't have that BS to worry about.

[UncleDave]

I am licensed with several carriers, and can run the gambit of levels of coverage and price. Shoot me a PM and I'll give you a quick education on different types of policies and the pros and cons of each. I view my role as an educator to try to make sure things fit your situation. No pressure or commitment.

[jslo]

Term life is the way to go if you're disciplined, IMO. You get a lot more coverge for a lot less money, when younger. If you're disciplined enough to invest the difference you will be much further ahead at the end of your term. When you're younger you need the higher death benefit to take care of your family after your death. As the kids get older and leave the home that need decreases and the difference, if invested, will most asuridly be worth more than a whole life policy benefit. Saw Dave Ramsey mentioned and this is what he preaches and my dad, one of the smartest men I knew/know drove that home to me for 35 years.

[UncleDave]

This is true to an extent. The vast majority of your coverage should be term. However, there is a place for a whole life component. The coverage that is truly needed by most Americans is a living benefit. The number one cause of bankruptcy is medical bills. What I usually recommend is a term with living benefits, and a whole life with either an indexed annuity side to it for tax free retirement use, or a variable life that also has an investment side. An indexed program gives you the upside of the market without the negative return years. The least that you will earn in a bad year in zero, not negative. The key as with everything is balancing your strategy to meet your goals. That is why having someone who truly listens to you is the key. Not someone who pushes whatever gives them the best commission.



Term life is the way to go if you're disciplined, IMO. You get a lot more coverge for a lot less money, when younger. If you're disciplined enough to invest the difference you will be much further ahead at the end of your term. When you're younger you need the higher death benefit to take care of your family after your death. As the kids get older and leave the home that need decreases and the difference, if invested, will most asuridly be worth more than a whole life policy benefit. Saw Dave Ramsey mentioned and this is what he preaches and my dad, one of the smartest men I knew/know drove that home to me for 35 years.

[earplug]

If you don't have kids and your wife is capable of working you don't need life insurance. Simple term would be fine. Some sort of disability coverage would be more useful. If you can't work and can't pay the life insurance fees while your laid up for a extended period of time would suck.
Join the Army and get it all and a motorcycle.

[brutal]

If you don't have kids and your wife is capable of working you don't need life insurance. Simple term would be fine. Some sort of disability coverage would be more useful. If you can't work and can't pay the life insurance fees while your laid up for a extended period of time would suck.
Join the Army and get it all and a motorcycle.

That's kinda funny. I did have a motorcycle for a time when I was in the Army.

[MarkCO]

I paid attention to folks who gave advice like foxtrot and bought a 20 year term policy about 2 years after I got married. I had to wait a little until my racing competition licenses had expired and decided not to take my private pilot license final to save some money. The value of my wife's is half of mine, but now that we have teenagers, we won't keep hers when the term runs in a few years. BUT, if you look at the stats, you are 4 times more likely to need disability insurance than life. So I also pay annually for a policy that pays me 70% of my current after 3 months of disability. Was still cheaper than whole and the difference I put into a brokerage account. WAY ahead of where I would have been with whole life. Will have to extend mine next year, but will likely drop the amount since my wife would not need the same amount of benefit.

[Martinjmpr]

I went through USAA for mine at age 50. Wife has a separate policy that is payable to her kids (we don't have any kids together.)

I went with term because my thought was that the purpose of my life insurance was to make sure my wife didn't suffer financially if I died while I was still earning an income and she was dependent on me.

My term expires at about age 71, and I figured that's long enough, since I plan to be retired by then and protecting my income will not be necessary.

I went back and forth on the whole vs term life thing but it seemed that term gave me more 'bang for the buck.' Starting at age 50, my premiums are under $100/mo for $500k. That seemed pretty reasonable to me. It helps that I'm a non smoker with no major health issues (I did have to get a physical before USAA would write my policy, but it was really cursory.)

[Martinjmpr]

I barely know much about regular instance types and I know none about Life.


Based on your user name I assume you would qualify for USAA membership. I've been with USAA for over 30 years and am very happy with them.

[MarkCO]

USAA, wish I could get it. 20/20 hindsight.