How insured are you?

[Anonymous]

Only $150k for DH, $0 for me.Hopefully all 11 childless aunts and uncles will help to raise the kids.Might think of term life insurance, but last time we voted it down.

[Anonymous]

pre-existing condition for me from early age. suckage. trying to sock away as much as possible. Husband has a good job right now, and we own some real estate that we have around 200K of equity in. Better than nothing I guess. Husband needs more insurance but doesn't think he does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Only $150k for DH, $0 for me.Hopefully all 11 childless aunts and uncles will help to raise the kids.Might think of term life insurance, but last time we voted it down.

Hope is not a plan. You need to designate a guardian regardless of your life insurance choices.

Term life insurance is relatively cheap, if you are youngish and healthy.

[Anonymous]

$1 million each in term life, plus the 1x salaries for each of our jobs and a military policy for my spouse. Short-term and long-term disability policies on both of us. We earn comparable salaries, but we are early in our mortgage and have a 4 y.o.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:pre-existing condition for me from early age. suckage. trying to sock away as much as possible. Husband has a good job right now, and we own some real estate that we have around 200K of equity in. Better than nothing I guess. Husband needs more insurance but doesn't think he does.

DH had the same view, but I told him that the person whose opinion matters is the beneficiary, not the insured. The beneficiary and not the insured will be the person affected by the insurance proceeds.

[Anonymous]

$3M on each of us. Most people are woefully underinsured. Sit down and calculate how much each spouse contributes to the HHI on an annual basis---then figure out how much money you would need to make off of an investment in order to replace that income. For SAHM, calculate the value of all the services you provide, as your DH would need to outsource same in the event of your demise. For example, if spouse makes $250,000 per year, you would need roughly $3,500,000 in insurance proceeds generating a 7% annual return in order to replace the income your spouse was bringing in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$3M on each of us. Most people are woefully underinsured. Sit down and calculate how much each spouse contributes to the HHI on an annual basis---then figure out how much money you would need to make off of an investment in order to replace that income. For SAHM, calculate the value of all the services you provide, as your DH would need to outsource same in the event of your demise. For example, if spouse makes $250,000 per year, you would need roughly $3,500,000 in insurance proceeds generating a 7% annual return in order to replace the income your spouse was bringing in.

That's one way to look at it, but for many of us, the goal isn't to live off of the interest. That's not feasible or even desirable for most people. A much more manageable goal is to replace the spouse's salary for as many years as it takes to pay off the mortgage or get the kids through college, or whatever the big expenses are. Any extra should go toward savings or investments, not insurance.

[Anonymous]

Whole life is a scam. Google is your friend on this one. We don't have enough life (250k on me, 500k on dh) but we have 7 rental properties that generate good income as a buffer if something happens to one of us. We also have a 3 million umbrella policy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:pre-existing condition for me from early age. suckage. trying to sock away as much as possible. Husband has a good job right now, and we own some real estate that we have around 200K of equity in. Better than nothing I guess. Husband needs more insurance but doesn't think he does.

NP here - Can I ask what the pre-existing condition is? I am about to start the process and am concerned that a couple of my health issues will make me undesirable or uninsurable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:pre-existing condition for me from early age. suckage. trying to sock away as much as possible. Husband has a good job right now, and we own some real estate that we have around 200K of equity in. Better than nothing I guess. Husband needs more insurance but doesn't think he does.

NP here - Can I ask what the pre-existing condition is? I am about to start the process and am concerned that a couple of my health issues will make me undesirable or uninsurable.

I'm not the PP, but I had a co-worker once who was type 1 diabetic and could not get any private life insurance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:pre-existing condition for me from early age. suckage. trying to sock away as much as possible. Husband has a good job right now, and we own some real estate that we have around 200K of equity in. Better than nothing I guess. Husband needs more insurance but doesn't think he does.

NP here - Can I ask what the pre-existing condition is? I am about to start the process and am concerned that a couple of my health issues will make me undesirable or uninsurable.

My DH has MS and is uninsurable. He has life insurance through work, but that's it.

[Anonymous]

Single mom, 50, with only $200,000 term because I had this crappy policy pre-kid and pre-cancer diagnosis and now can't get anything else. I now have a 15-year-old. I'm paying $750 a year. Not great, but it's something. Have about the same amount of in equity in the house.

Would love to get LTC insurance, but the cost is crazy, especially while I'm trying to save for college and retirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whole life is a scam. Google is your friend on this one. We don't have enough life (250k on me, 500k on dh) but we have 7 rental properties that generate good income as a buffer if something happens to one of us. We also have a 3 million umbrella policy.

Agree with this. I got sold a whole life policy when I was young, childless, and making a high salary. Surprise! My life circumstances changed and my budget followed; an easily predictable course of events. Like 39% of whole life purchasers, I ended up canceling my account (and losing my investment) within the first 10 years. My agent, however, got a great commission. I learned, but it was an expensive mistake. Here's a good summary of these types of policies from WSJ:

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303296604577450313299530278.

[Anonymous]

Crap. Link didn't work. Try this:

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303296604577450313299530278

[Anonymous]

Totally underinsured...husband has about $400,000 and I have $270,000 through work. I am completely uninsurable but need to increase husband's since I am preg with child #2