I found a Life Insurance Whole/Term thread /message_topic.aspx?topic=457693 but that goes into more of the details of getting insurance.


I'm more curious of those out there (especially engaged/married/with kids), do you have life insurance? Do you have it on yourself, your spouse, and your kids? If not, do you plan on getting it soon? No need to say the amount, we don't want people killing others for the payout


My wife died 2 weeks ago... and we hadn't gotten life insurance on her yet. We were actually planning on talking about it the week I stayed with her (which would have been last week heh). When I got married to her, I got some insurance on myself primarily because I was the bread winner and wanted to be sure if I passed away, she would be comfortable. It never occurred to either of us that we should get some on her until her grandfather passed away 6 weeks ago.


While I wouldn't have needed the $, I know there are many things she would have wanted me to be able to do; now I'll have to save up and take much longer to get to do them. The cost of everything from this is still adding up, but luckily I'm in the position where that isn't putting me into a huge financial hole. Thats not the case for everyone though, like her parents.


If you are engaged or married, get some insurance on yourself and your spouse. Even if its not too much, get something. You never know what will happen, and even if its not to support the other one financially, there will always be those 'We never got to do X, I need to do it in his/her name' activities; never mind once kids are involved there are so many other needs for it.

11/9/2010 11:25:40 AM

My wife and I need to get it; we've been talking about it for awhile. Sadly, situations like yours are definitely a reminder that we need to stop being lazy

11/9/2010 11:35:11 AM

My mom got me some life insurance. I think it came about because she co-signed on my house and wanted to be able to pay it off if I were to have an accident.

At least I don't want to believe she is plotting to kill me....

11/9/2010 1:03:58 PM

we both have it. I'm the primary breadwinner now, so have enough coverage for her and our daughter to live a few years off of it and pay off the house in the event that I catch a stray bullet or something.

My wife has about 200k in student loan debt, so she's covered as well so I don't get stuck with that in the event she falls asleep at the wheel after a 36 hour shift and drives off a bridge.

both are term life policies.

whole life is a scam. anyone who tells you otherwise is either trying to sell you whole life, or got scammed into buying it and doesn't want to come to terms with that.

11/9/2010 1:07:42 PM

I pay $1.80/month for me to be covered at $my salary or twice my salary in the event of accidental death and $20k/$40k on my wife. It's through my work so I don't know if they supplement the premiums or what, but it was too good/cheap to pass up.

^I don't know about private loans, but all the federally backed loans (stafford, PLUS, consolidation, etc) will be cancelled in the event of death.

Quote :

"Death Discharge Cancellation because of the borrower's death (or, in the case of PLUS Loans, the death of the student for whom the parent borrowed) is based on an original or certified copy of the death certificate submitted to the school (for a Federal Perkins Loan) or to the holder of the loan (for a FFEL or Direct Stafford Loan)."

http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/discharges.jsp

11/9/2010 2:32:36 PM

well how about that, the more you know!

11/9/2010 2:49:59 PM

My company'll pay 1 year's salary in the case of death on their dime, with option to upgrade. How much does a million-dollar policy run for a healthy 29 year old?

11/9/2010 5:18:02 PM

Quote :

"My wife has about 200k in student loan debt"

Sweet Jesus....

I'm debating getting it on just myself (single/no kids/rent). If I kick it I want my family squared away for the rest of their days.

11/9/2010 5:42:10 PM

I have a 25K whole life that im paying like $2.50 a month (started when I was a baby)

although whole life is only a good deal if someone gets it on you when you are still in diapers

otherwise, most people would likely pay out more than would be paid back

i got a 200K term policy when i bought my house, it would pay off the house just in case

11/9/2010 6:19:22 PM

Quote :

"How much does a million-dollar policy run for a healthy 29 year old?"

I would imagine 30 - 50 depending on who you go with.

11/9/2010 9:16:50 PM

i get a year's salary for free at work plus i tacked on another $100k for like $5-$10/month. No one is going to strike it rich if I pass, but its enough to cover my debt. I'm single, so no need to carry extra for the spouse and kids.

11/9/2010 10:32:22 PM

I have $175k of whole life. My dad bought it for me as I was growing up. I'm required to keep it now in order to finance my absurdly high child support obligation. I have enough assets that my daughter would be provided for if I died, but the court order states that I have to keep about that much life insurance.

I agree that if you're going to get life insurance, term is the only way to go. Really, there should only be a window of a limited number of years where you have financial obligations to provide for, but not enough assets to do it without insurance. If that's not the case, there's a pretty good chance you're fucking up when it comes to personal finance.

11/10/2010 12:09:53 AM

My wife and I kept putting it off. But we have 3 kids now so we finally got things in order this past summer. We each got a $250k policy and did our wills through legalzoom.com.
It definitely makes us feel more at ease. I'm just glad I won't have to be around if the grandparents find out they aren't getting the kids

11/10/2010 12:52:26 AM

Yes, we both got it about 7 years ago. 10 year term, $250k each, but have converted $100k on each of us to whole life. My sister-in-law was a financial planner and recommended starting with term. It's cheaper and most companies will give you an option to convert some or all of it to whole life at some point at a discount.

11/10/2010 7:27:37 AM

My fiance and I both have life insurance. I also have some additional disability insurance outside of work. I run a lot and cycle occasionally, so if I get hit by a car or something it's nice to know that everyone will be covered.

11/10/2010 9:04:25 AM

Quote :

"i get a year's salary for free at work"

11/10/2010 11:36:00 AM

Quote :

"My wife died 2 weeks ago... and we hadn't gotten life insurance on her yet."

I am so so sorry for your loss. That is absolutely horrible. I cant even imagine.

I just decided to get life insurance this year. Not a large amount, because my wife has a good career, could easily pay the mortgage. When we have kids, that will change, however, and we will both be getting policies in the neighborhood of 200-300k each. Raising kids is expensive, and even if you are to remarry, you cant expect the burder to be covered by your new spouse. I wouldnt waste my money with whole. I have never read a good review on whole life.

I think the amount of the coverage should be enough to carry expenses, not to make the other spouse rich. I dont think it should be a jackpot.

With that said, again, really sorry for your loss.


[Edited on November 10, 2010 at 4:06 PM. Reason : .]

11/10/2010 3:59:19 PM

We didn't worry about it until we bought the house since we had no debts until then. After that, we added a couple whole life insurance policies for each other and then some. Every 3 years, we have the option of adding more coverage to our existing policy, which will work out as our assets grow. The purpose of WTLIP is to cover what you need. Don't get too much ins. because then you are just "wasting" money that could be better allocated elsewhere. At the same time, don't short change your ins. policy just to save a few dollars each month. Sit down, calculate monthly expensives, and evaluate how much of a policy you'll need to take out so that you can invest that policy and use the reliable/stable interest earned from that invested policy to pay off your debts and help aid/maintain your current lifestyle.

[Edited on November 11, 2010 at 7:07 AM. Reason : .]

11/11/2010 7:06:09 AM

I have coverage equal to my annual salary at work for free, which would more than cover my debt plus the cost of my cremation/burial, and set my brother up with a nice little nest egg for he and his wife. That's really all that I need at this point. I'll probably get some kind of term life insurance in the next couple of years once I purchase a house.

11/13/2010 7:10:32 PM

I got 400k on myself

11/14/2010 12:49:12 AM

yep, got it.

I've got it via SGLI, work, and another military organization.

11/14/2010 7:38:36 AM

I have it, on myself, even though I'm still single.



(it's payable to my eventual clone)

11/14/2010 3:43:01 PM

Why would you pay for life insurance on your single self?

11/14/2010 5:46:53 PM

I keep it so there's something left after I'm gone for my family to clean up whatever financial mess comes about in my wake.

I'm also going to need it eventually if I have a family to ensure they have some financial security, so spending 0.5% of my annual pay per year on life insurance now doesn't seem like a big issue. At least that way if I die there aren't just bills and a messy house to clean up.

11/14/2010 7:51:19 PM

What type of financial mess are you expecting?
How much life insurance do you have?

11/14/2010 10:33:09 PM

i have a $10k policy on myself from when i was a baby. i don't pay into it anymore so it just sits around

and i have $100k through work (i think i pay $1 a year for it) and if i die during work, i think it quadruples but if i am in an auto accident (i have a company car) i think its just 100k if i wasn't wearing my seatbelt

in the event of my death, my parents would be able to pay off my house and pay for the funeral.

11/19/2010 12:43:21 AM