Life Insurance

[fluffhead]

I have no clue about this stuff. Term? Level? Annuity? Whole life? Huh?
Do you have it? What kind? How much? From where? What are your premiums? Are you both insured?
Share as much of this very personal information as you like
I think we should have it, but we don't. I know if I kicked the bucket tomorrow, my wife would have no clue how to proceed, and a few hundred Gs would come in handy. And vice versa.
I just got mail from one of my alumni associations with some rates, and it got me thinking (again...) If I don't do anything about it, I'm sure to throw it out and forget about it until the next junk mail arrives. Which might be a good thing.
Any input or advice?

We both have term policies. That seemed to make the most sense and I think was the least expensive in terms of premiums.

My suggestion would be to get more than you think you need so that you don't have to apply again later, as finances allow. Also, ask for the next increment up on a quote. A $500K policy is often not a whole lot more than $250K, for example and that is true for higher amounts.

I'll PM you with my details.

[poky]

Ugh. Yet another thing to think about. Right now, we're both covered at an amount double our current salary (which, with no kids and no consumer debt, is plenty), automatically, through work. Wouldn't even be sure where to start looking for something outside of that....but we'll have to if/when he starts school...*sigh*.

Sorry I don't have any answers; commiseration helps, though, right?

-Sandy

[SueC]

We both have a pretty hefty policy. I should know if it is term or whatever but I don't. I assume the guy that helped us with it (he kind of oversees all our financial stuff) got us the right thing. How's that for ignorance--and I'm the one that manages the finances around here!

[DCJenn]

We also had our life insurance needs evaluated by our financial planners (USAA- they also have our bank accounts, a credit card, my 401k/Roth IRA rollovers and they now are my 'brokerage firm' as well. In addition to that they also have an life insurance component)

I was prepared for them to try to upsell us on our needs but lo and behold the guy didn't. I have life insurance that my parents bought when I was little and Rick is very nicely insured by your tax dollars. If (God Forbid) he should be hurt or killed while on Active Duty, we'll be covered without any huge adjustments. (other than the obvious). If something should happen while in Hazardous Duty, then it's a wee bit more. If and when I go back to work, I'll add some kind of insurance to cover the loss of my income.

It's so damned confusing.

Jenn

We both have term policies and our premiums are not very high at all...esp compared to disability insurance. In helping us to decide how much we needed, our financial planner created a report that showed how long we could live off of the other's policy...he took into account how much we owe on our house, whether or not we wanted to maintain our current lifestyle, etc....

If you want more specifics, pm me.

We've got "term" I think (the one that maintains a cash value?). DH is covered for 1 1/2 times his salary by work, and then we both have the term policies. Our financial guy (same as Sue's) was adamant that both the breadwinner and the SAHP (if there is one) must be insured, b/c the value of the SAHP is always underestimated.

Our guy works with lots of MD families (his wife is an OB/GYN) and can work w/people out of state if you'd like to run some questions by him. PM me if you want the info.

[migirl]

We both have term policies, it's really the only kind we could afford right now. DH has a couple of small whole life policies that were started when he was little by his parents, but like I said, they're pretty small. We used a broker who works pretty closely with the other residents at the hospital, he also helped us with DH's disability inusrance. I'll PM you with specifics.

[PrincessFiona]

We have a good life insurance policy for dh that he purchased through work. I have no idea what kind it is. :!

Unfortunately, we didn't ever think we'd need a life insurance policy for me since I'm not the 'breadwinner'. Ooops. I sure wish we had thought through that one a little better. Gawd was THAT stupid, stupid, stupid!

kris

[mommax3]

We each have term policies.....1.3 million on DH and 650K on me. Some of that is through his professional organization, and most of it is through a company called Lincoln National. We upped it quite a bit last year when DH left the military (and thus lost the coverage that they had provided) and started making more money. We may drop mine down after the kids are older, but DH would basically have to have some kind of a live-in nanny if something happened to me while they are small, so we took that into consideration. We are paying ~$800 a year for 1 million on him and 500K on me......I couldn't find the premium amounts for the additonal coverage we have.

Sally