Life Insurance ???

[TravelMommy]

Our private policies each went up $500, we are looking for good, reasonable life insurance, any ideas my budget savvy friends?

 

[EagleScout]

Term- one word, all you need to know. When u say policies went up 500, do you mean each policy or in aggregate? A 500 thousand dollar twenty year term (for an overweight non-smoking 40 year old male, like me) is less than 500 per year, so it almost sounds like your policies are doubling. Once you make the decision to use term, you will probably get the best rate from some sort of "trade group" or other group negotiated rates, but any reputable broker should be able to get you a decent policy, just be sure the insurer has a solid credit rating. And if u still need help finding a good company, look at dave ramsey's suggestions or suze orman's or even money magazine.

 

[tvguy]

They could have term insurance whose term has expired. Most are 20 years. Rates go thru the roof until you re-up for a new term.

 

[a1tinkfans]

Term insurance, get a top rated company... Many good ones out there. Try n get the longest term you can for what you actually would need, not some over inflated number you Think you need. Don't be insurance rich and cash poor and just remember....Term!!!

 

[TravelMommy]

Unfortunately, I did not pay enough attention when we bought these, (ok, I was pregnant...no excuses) but it appears it was only 10 year term and now the term expired, so each policy went up $500. Thanks for the suggestions! I now know we should of bought 20 year

 

[scrapquitler]

Unfortunately, I did not pay enough attention when we bought these, (ok, I was pregnant...no excuses) but it appears it was only 10 year term and now the term expired, so each policy went up $500. Thanks for the suggestions! I now know we should of bought 20 year

We bought 20 year, but the guy we bought from suggested that you shouldn't wait until all the way at the end of your term to shop for a new policy because it jumps you ahead into new age brackets or something. He suggested that we start shoping for new insurance in the 15th year of the 20 year term (maybe because of how are ages fall, I'm not quite sure).

The good news is that maybe now you have a different need for how much insurance you carry, and you can adjust the size of your policy up or down (I know that if I were buying now with older children, I wouldn't buy as much $$$ as I did when I bought it 11 years ago and had an infant and elementary school child...now I'd buy less coverage for myself - I'm a mostly SAHM- because DH wouldn't have to cover the cost of childcare anymore). And in a few years, we can adjust DH coverage down a little because we'll have finished paying the first round of college tuition and our mortgage will be paid off. That's just something to think about when you start looking at new policies.

 

[Snoozan]

Years ago my DH and I used Select Quote to find the right term insurance plans for us. They give you quotes from various different companies so you can pick the best deal. Ended up with Genworth plans, which I actually ended up working for, so I know it's a legit company. No high pressure sales and the health exam was done in my own home by a nurse.

 

[mousiemom]

we just changed our 20yr term life thru select quote and highly recommend it. we had 7yrs left on our term life thru alfa. we got it 13yrs ago and my dh was paying a higher rent cause he used to drink, well, proudly I say it is 5yrs sober now, we tried to get his reduced because of this, and they wouldn't do it. select quote found us both rates with ING, 20 yr term from $72 a month for just my dh to $39 a month, check them out! mine was the same rate, and for 20 more years!

 

[TravelMommy]

I am going to check out Select quote and ING, thank you all for the info, greatly appreciate it!

 

[goodfood4ursoul]

We have both whole life and term policies.
The whole life is enough for final expenses, etc.
The term has been for the expenses of life for the survivors.
We had larger term policies which began when we were 22 years old with small children and super healthy.
Now that our kids are grown we just don't need as much insurance.
Our terms are going to expire as it's almost been 20 years,
so DH started looking for alternative terms to prepare for the expiration.

We now have a term on him for 20 years with a rider that if he outlives the policy all the money invested in the policy is returned to us.
This is through Forester's and it's affordable because we are not made of money.
Not only that, they offer college scholarship opportunities for children of members (the insured) and our son has gotten $6,000 of scholarships from them in the past 3 years.

That is WAY more than we have paid in (our policy is only 4 years old).
Before the scholarship, we figured with the rider it was a win-win situation.
At this point they are paying us for our business.

http://www.foresters.com/us-en/Pages/default.aspx

 

[nalajms]

term4sale.com is also a good site to price shop. The list out almost all sellers and gives you an average price for the selected age and estimated health. And it also gives you the financial rating of each company. Of course the actual amount will vary depending on how a specific company rates your health.

 

[tvguy]

We have both whole life and term policies.
The whole life is enough for final expenses, etc.
The term has been for the expenses of life for the survivors.
We had larger term policies which began when we were 22 years old with small children and super healthy.
Now that our kids are grown we just don't need as much insurance.
Our terms are going to expire as it's almost been 20 years,
so DH started looking for alternative terms to prepare for the expiration.

We now have a term on him for 20 years with a rider that if he outlives the policy all the money invested in the policy is returned to us.
This is through Forester's and it's affordable because we are not made of money.
Not only that, they offer college scholarship opportunities for children of members (the insured) and our son has gotten $6,000 of scholarships from them in the past 3 years.

That is WAY more than we have paid in (our policy is only 4 years old).
Before the scholarship, we figured with the rider it was a win-win situation.
At this point they are paying us for our business.

http://www.foresters.com/us-en/Pages/default.aspx

I would strongly suggest with grown children you look at life insurance with a long term care component.
Biggest gift my mom gave me was buying such a policy and dumping all her other life insurance. The plan she bought had a $300,000 cap on long term care payments, and a life insurance face value of $75,000 which was reduced dollar for dollar by any long term care. She spent the last year of her life in long term care, and it was so nice to know I had enough coverage to pay nearly 6 years of care if she needed it.

 

[DVCcurious]

When my term expired I couldn't help but look back at the past 10 years of payments and think "what a waste of money".

Actually DW and I got 30 year term insurance when we were 30. 30 years is a long time but the company was willing to write it up. We actually got a pretty good deal because we got this insurance back when interest rates were "normal" and the insurance companies could still make money through investing your premiums. Now that interest rates have dropped to zero insurance premiums have gone up quite a bit.

 

[wiigirl]

Term insurance, get a top rated company... Many good ones out there. Try n get the longest term you can for what you actually would need, not some over inflated number you Think you need. Don't be insurance rich and cash poor and just remember....Term!!!