Do you have life insurance??

[SC Minnie]

We have life insurance through work as well as an additional policy-- same amount on both of us. Also have a small one on DD. Before she was born I had read an article about where some people thought it unecessary to have life ins. on children. The author said that you need to at least have enough on your children to pay for a funeral if the worst happened. It really hit home.

 

[browneyes]

Yes, but don't tell my SO I have it. My SO and my kids also have one (actually, I have 2 and my SO has 3, but 1 of mine and 2 of his are small amounts).

 

[ZachnElli]

Oh yes, we are definitely insured. Dh had great insurance through work (he recently switched jobs), but also has a large separate policy on himself. His new job does have insurance too, but I'm not sure how much. And even though I'm a SAHM we have a large policy on me too. I have to say this, I just don't think $100,000 is enough in this day and age, of course it is better than nothing.

 

[Hillbeans]

We each have work policies and we also each took out an addl policy to cover our morgage and son's college.

It's an expense every month (close to $55 total for both of us) but we decided once we had a child and after 9/11, we needed it.

We had a very close friend die of an undetected heart ailment at 29 and luckilly my DH had spoken to him about a year before about getting some extra life insurance like us through their work and he did. It's eerie thinking about that now, in fact I have goosebumps.

 

[Tea Please]

Originally posted by ZachnElli
I have to say this, I just don't think $100,000 is enough in this day and age, of course it is better than nothing.

I have to agree with you. $100,000 is nothing especially for those who have small children. The cost of in home care would easily eat that up in a few short years. Since my children are older now, we have reduced our insurance, but not by much.
Both myself and my husband are worth more dead than alive

 

[ducklite]

Yes.

DH is insured for enought to pay of both houses plus a bit.

I'm insured for enough to pay off both houses, and have an small additional policy which names a dear friend we help out financially as the beneficiary.

We also have a small life insurance policy on DS to take care of burial expenses if God forbid something were to happen. It only costs us a few dollars a year as a "tack on" to our policies, so we took it.

Anne

 

[floridafam]

I agree about $100,000 not being enough.

DH also has 5 x's his salary at work, which would be in addition to the $100,000 policy we own. I have slightly less than that through his work.

We purchased the amount where we could comfortably afford the premium each month. I'm sure we will look at increasing it in the near future.

The policies through work are term and ours is whole, I think.

 

[arminnie]

No - I have no children or spouse and have enough money in the bank to bury me. I also declined the extra coverage at work because of this. I know I could leave it to charity, but it's an expense that I really don't need.

It also helps that I have an incredibly wealthy sibling who would be responsible for my dad (who I live with now).

But I do think that life insurance is CRITICALLY important for anyone with children or other dependents - even elderly parents. And you should really look closely at what might be required to generate enough income to support multiple people over an extended period of time. It's probably a LOT more money than you might think.

No one ever wants to think it might happen to them but I've seen healthy young fathers and mothers killed in freak accidents as well as totally unexpected health problems that resulted in death.

I hate to bring this up but it is also important to have plans in place to protect the money after it is received. A spouse will most likely remarry and the money could end up wasted, stolen, lost through bankruptcy, divorce, etc.

One of my relatives died in a freak accident at 37 and his widow was left with 4 very young children and a LOT of life insurance. She had a nervous breakdown and spent all of the money (on crazy things) in less than five years and she and the children ended up penniless. She was NOT a bad person, but the tragic loss just sort of drove her off the deep end.

Another friend remarried and let her second husband used the money for a business venture that failed - then he divorced her and again she and the children were left with nothing.

And most of us do not know how to manage a huge sum of money and these decisions can be very difficult in the aftermath of a sudden death. You often read about how some widow has been bilked out of her savings by an unscrupulous or unqualified financial advisor. I saw people lost a LOT of money after the dot com crash who just knew they had a "sure" thing.

 

[AirForceRocks]

Yes, DH and I both pay for the max amount available under the military ($250,000) and we have additional private policies as well. We also have $30,000 on each child that we purchased shortly after they were born.

 

[Rutt and Tuke]

We each have policies of the same amount and DH has a work policy that is twice his annual salary. We have no children and the individual policies we have are sufficient to pay off the mortgage.

The terms are coming up for renewal soon and we'll probably increase DH's a tad more.

 

[Trish Bessette]

arminnie - very good points you posted. Thank you.

Most people do not think to purchase life policies on their children. It is very cheap when purchased when their born. I have $25,000 on each daughter and I only pay $11.00 a month. Not bad in my eyes.

 

[AirForceRocks]

Originally posted by Trish Bessette
arminnie - very good points you posted. Thank you.

Most people do not think to purchase life policies on their children. It is very cheap when purchased when their born. I have $25,000 on each daughter and I only pay $11.00 a month. Not bad in my eyes.

ITA. We pay a bit more than that, but that's because we pay for OPAI. There is a history of diabetes in DH's family, and his brother wasn't able to buy life insurance because he was diagnosed at such a young age (5). We wanted to make sure that our kids would always be able to obtain insurance and add to it.

 

[catsrule]

yes, through work

 

[huey duey & luey]

Yes, My dh and I are also worth alot more dead. My sister and bil are my childrens guardians, and we joke that she should be investigated if anything suspicious happens to the 2 of us.
Tara

 

[jx3smom]

I have two small policies that my dad got for me and one policy at work. DH bought a term policy on himself and also has one from work. My work one is 3 times my annual salary but DH's work policy is for only one years salary.

MIL does not have one but says it isn't her problem, some one else (us) will have to pay.

 

[pkasbohm]

yes both of us has life insurance. my agent said to have atleast three times your yearly income.

 

[Arabella Figg 2003]

My employer provides life insurance. I also have a whole life policy which is accumulating cash value. and I have a term life policy to comply with the provisions of my divorce agreeemtn -- my ex and I each agreed to maintain coverage naming the children as beneficiaries and each other as trustee for the children.

 

[Tiffany]

Originally posted by Trish Bessette
I work for an insurance company and I'm amazed at how many people don't have life insurance. Maybe its because I've worked here so long I know how important it is.

Do you have life insurance? If not, why? I'm curious to know.

We do. We have term policies on each of us to cover the mortgage just in case one of us was to pass before the other and we also have a year's salery each through our employers. We both work for large corporations.

We are young I will be 34 a week or so and he is 43. We have had the life insurance ever since we bought our house back in 1996. We want the other to be able to maintain the current life style without having to worry about paying the bills if something unfortunte was to happen to one of us.

In my view if you have a house or kids you should have some sort of life insurance.