Life Insurance??

[JHTFarmer]

Wife and four young children over here. I carry a 2.5 mil term policy through StateFarm. It's expensive but my wife and I take comfort in knowing our family will be provided for if I die during the term.

 

[Bird]

btw, try to pay annually if you can. Unless you have automatic monthly premium withdrawals, the fees for paying other than annually are usually a poor deal.

Ye, the life insurance policies my wife and I have are on the automatic monthly premium withdrawals, but I still have a small insurance policy on each of our daughters that I bought shortly after they were born and I pay those annually, and now I do that online on a credit card.

 

[mjarrels]

Don't forget those small policys. Navy Federal Credit Union and other credit unions provide small amounts for free. Usually about $2000.00. Every bit helps.

mark

 

[Bird]

I used to have one of those little $2,000 policies. It was good up to the age of 70, so it expired before I did.:laughing:

 

[dmccarty]

...
I think I need to shut up here and let others give their experiences.

No, I think you need to keep right on talking. :thumbsup::laughing::laughing::laughing:

I never thought about paying the insurance yearly.

Thanks,
Dan

 

[ultrarunner]

Thanks for the explanation...

I do have a work sponsored policy equivalent to one year's pay... tried to add to it and the company dropped that provision.

Other than that... never had a policy which it sounds like I don't need without dependants or debt... paid my own way through school... took 5 years and that included taking classes in the summer too... don't regret it because when I graduated I had less than $2k of debt which was on my credit card and quickly retired.

The only thing one broker told me that kind of made sense is he was offering a plan with a guarantee of being about to buy more... his pitch was buying now was insurance against not being able to buy later...

 

[Soundguy]

we have a policy to pay the house off if the other kicks off.

 

[daugen]

The only thing one broker told me that kind of made sense is he was offering a plan with a guarantee of being about to buy more... his pitch was buying now was insurance against not being able to buy later...

Ultrarunner, this is true, but....if you qualify for a relatively inexpensive policy, you'd be better off buying another hundred grand or more of coverage up front, as "insurance" pun intended, if your needs change. The rider to guarantee additional purchases has a small charge, not bad, but when you buy more, you pay the rate at your then attained age, not the age you took out the policy.

it's really important to know how healthy you are. Buying life insurance is a major wake up call for folks who haven't had a physical before. "Your" hypertension plus elevated sugar levels, thirty pounds overweight, and family record of heart attacks may not be much in themselves if you are slightly over the limit, but put all those risk factors together and if you add smoking to that too, you may get a quote back that's half again more or even double what you had hoped for. Always buy insurance when you are at your healthiest, which seems counterintuitive, but boy will it save you money long term. Might not save your life though... so working on your risk factors is even more important.

that "buy more" provision" is only a nice to have and saves you the aggravation of possibly needing to requalify years later at higher rates because your health factors have changed. When you are talking a difference in hundreds of dollars yearly vs. thousands, buying more at inception just seems more sensible to me. They can't take it away from you...get it while it's cheap.

 

[tkappeler]

400,000 for $100/month. I have a daughter with some special needs and have to set up a trust to make sure she is taken care of after I am gone.

edit: I am 53 and mild hypertension.