Life insurance sad story

[MrandMissVacation]

I've seen a few threads re life ins.
Thursday our neighbor @ 38 suddenly passed away, we think it was a heart attack. No health insurance no life insurance no savings leaving behind a wife and two kids.
I am not on a high horse here. My personal situation is such that DH is not insurable due to multiple health issues ( yes there is a policy on me).
So if anyone was on the fence and can get it,please do consider it.

 

[Tanzanite]

I've seen a few threads re life ins.
Thursday our neighbor @ 38 suddenly passed away, we think it was a heart attack. No health insurance no life insurance no savings leaving behind a wife and two kids.
I am not on a high horse here. My personal situation is such that DH is not insurable due to multiple health issues ( yes there is a policy on me).
So if anyone was on the fence and can get it,please do consider it.

Same here my husband is uninsurable thank heavens little bit put away but i would have to go to work quick if anything happened.

 

[dhardawa]

I'm a single mom so having life insurance is very important to me because if something were to happen to me, my kids would be left without another parent to care for them. I have a large policy through work, but if I were just buying it myself I hate to think of what it would cost.

 

[MisplacedTexan]

Actually buying it on your own is not that expensive. My husband and I just took out policies on both of us as well as ROTH IRA,and an emergency savings account and it costs about 90 bucks a month for everything. We both have 200,000.00 policies.

 

[dfchelbay]

Actually buying it on your own is not that expensive. My husband and I just took out policies on both of us as well as ROTH IRA,and an emergency savings account and it costs about 90 bucks a month for everything. We both have 200,000.00 policies.

We pay $112.00 per month for a one million dollar policy.

 

[PatMcDuck]

When my BIL literally dropped dead mowing his lawn 15 years ago, it woke us up to the need for life insurance, even at a "young" age...... he was seemingly in perfect health, never sick, not overweight, quite muscular. Later found he had a heart condition, but no symptoms were yet present (he was a smoker though).

I have 1 million on DH. 1/2 that on me...... we have a special needs son, so we need to have things set up to care for him (he is 21 now).

There have been years that I had to use credit cards to pay for the life insurance, adding to the pile of debt I had at that time. But I was way too scared NOT to get it......

 

[tinkmom2]

I have Gerber policies for both my kids that they can take over once they are adults. I have a small policy for myself for cremation and to pay off debt. My DH has a policy through his work for him plus in the event of his death we would get his profit sharing which is a substantial amount after 26 years.

 

[SassyLassy]

We just started with our life insurance. I have a great rate being a "prime" status, DH is another story because of some medical issues. It huge piece of mind though that if something were to happen that the other (or worst case scenario our kids) are completely taken care of. We have it so that it will end when the kids are in their mid 20's and by that point should be able to cover themselves.

 

[stazmatic]

Thanks for the reminder! We will be getting some this week!

 

[tinatark]

We have substantial term policies for DH and I - term because it's cheaper and we need more while our kids are younger/dependent on us. We plan to buy a smaller, universal product for long term. We also have a term policy specifically to cover our mortgage.

 

[ugadog99]

I've seen a few threads re life ins.
Thursday our neighbor @ 38 suddenly passed away, we think it was a heart attack. No health insurance no life insurance no savings leaving behind a wife and two kids.
I am not on a high horse here. My personal situation is such that DH is not insurable due to multiple health issues ( yes there is a policy on me).
So if anyone was on the fence and can get it,please do consider it.

This was me. I was 30; he was 37. We had a 3 year old, and I was pregnant. We were young and stupid. There was no life insurance-nothing to leave us. It's been very, very difficult. I am highly insured and recommend it for everyone!

 

[bettyann29]

My father passed away last year.. we thought he had life insurance.. come to find out it was just various accidental life insurance policies.. It breaks my heart for my mom because there wasnt even any money to bury my dad.. He was a veteran so luckily he was buried in a national cemetary (which is absolutely beautiful by the way) and they also paid for the tomb stone and the burial costs, but me and my brother split the cost of the charges from the funeral home.. and my mom is living on social security only.. there was no other money..

 

[momxx5]

It is so hard with a bad economy....because in reality life insurance is a luxury. We are still covered, however our next payment is coming due and not sure if we will be able to make it. Decisions to cut back on so many things, and yet we need to cut back more.......

Its a hard choice.

 

[bigmama67]

When I was pregnant with DD, my DH was job hunting, and we took out large term policies on us both. They will be in effect for 20 years so if anything were to happen to one of us, the surviving spouse would not have to worry about the kids' college or mortgage payments. Yes it's pricey every month but I have never (ok, once for a brief moment) considered letting them drop. We may be a bit over-insured at the moment but now we're both past 40 and DH has had some health concerns (cholesterol which is under control, thank goodness!) so we're glad we got them when we did.

I actually remember the nurse came to our apartment to do the exams a week before I was due. I asked her to make sure to notate that at 5'6" tall, I didn't usually weigh close to 200 pounds...it's just that I was 39 weeks pregnant!

 

[windycitymom]

Over 10 years ago we had a friend die in a car crash. He was 38, married and two kids. Come to find out there was no life insurance. Luckily, he had invested in the tech market and the wife cashed it in before the tech bubble burst.

I think it's a good idea to get a 20 year term life insurance policy once you have kids. That way, in case anything happens healthwise, you are still covered. Once you have a health issue, you can't get life insurance (or health insurance) without paying through the nose.

 

[Aristomommy]

We got our policies in our 20s and I am so glad we did as I would not be insurable anymore. We have about 600k combined and pay about $60 a month. It is also important to review policies periodically to make sure that the coverage is adequate. I just did that and discovered that our agent forgot to add our children to our policy as I had asked years ago. It is a small policy to cover final expenses which I pray we never have to use.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I'm a single mom so having life insurance is very important to me because if something were to happen to me, my kids would be left without another parent to care for them.

Just a warning - DO NOT make a MINOR the beneficiary of a life insurance policy! You need to set up a trust to manage this money. Consult an attorney or a good insurance agent to make sure everything is done correctly.

 

[a1tinkfans]

I am sorry to see that the thread was started due to such a sad situation, the loss of a spouse/loved one . But perhaps it will help others to avoid this same situation.
I am insured though I think it is under-insured. The dh says he does not and will not need the $$, in the event of my demise. And at this point, having had cancer they would not even insure me last I tried. We are actually in the process of "upping" the DH policy that he has and it appears this Xtra will cost about 3K for a 30 year term policy of 500K. A nice chunk of change, but one that I think I'd feel better having. I only pray that the day does not come that I will need to cash it in.
I have pondered getting a policy for my child started, but, its feels "uncomfortable" so we have not gotten it, though I have been told it is the right thing to do, to ease it for the child, when they are older and try to get a policy.
I am sorry to hear of your loss Ugadog99!

 

[Jeff_G]

Also do not hold all your life insurance with your employer, get some or all of your insurance outside your employer.

Two years ago my father in law was laid off from his job, the employer closed their doors and moved over seas. A month after being laid off he goes into the hospital with abdominal pain thinking it might be his appendix… turns out he was diagnosed with terminal leukemia. At that point he was un insurable, thank god for the VA as they took care of his medical needs. At the age of 56 after two years of battling he lost his fight with the disease. My wife and I paid out of pocket for the funeral and legal expenses.

 

[bdcp]

DH and I both have life insurance policies. He's covered for more than me, but he also makes more than I do (twice as much). We have ALWAYS had life insurance. Our two DS are grown and totally independent.

My best friend since I was 13 had her DH die suddenly at age 46 a few years ago with no life insurance. The only thing that saved her was the fact that her first husband was worth a lot (divorce) and she was set up pretty well when she met her second DH. And her second DH had paid down their mortgage quite a bit. That is not the norm though and she could have been in a much different place than she was. Foolish on his part to not buy life insurance. He died suddenly of a heart attack. We never did life insurance for our boys as it's really not necessary. The main purpose of life insurance is to ensure that the one left behind can pay the bills and not end up destitute and homeless after a sudden death. Most financial advisors will tell you not to get life insurance for children.

DH jokes that he is worth more to me dead than alive.