Approaching Retirement at 65 - What kind of insurance do we need or not need?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do your own homework - you're retired, you'll have plenty of time figure this out.

It's hard to know what is necessary and what is a scam. All day long there are commercials about burial insurance, the $9.99 plan. My parents had those plans and the policy paid out about $10k but I think they may have paid much more than $10k because they lived into their 80s. I never questioned it when they were alive. I thought old people need that type of insurance. Scam.

How is it a scam? By your definition all insurance is a scam.

If it paid out $10k when they died then it was exactly what they paid for.

It's a scam if you pay $15 or $20k and get back $10k, Just save up $10k. No I insurance needed.

[Anonymous]

to answer OPs question: if you have a fixed term policy with a fixed monthly payment, it's probably best to keep it until the end of term and then let it expire.

when you lose employer-sponsored health insurance or turn 65, you likely will want some sort of medicare supplemental/medigap plan-- NOT a medicare advantage plan. You will also need to sign up for a medicare Part D plan.

if you can easily set aside $25k or so per person for funeral expenses that would be the way to go; prepaid or funeral insurance generally require the provider to remain in business for as long as you live. not really a good bet these days.

LTC insurance is expensive and also struggling and a lot of plans are going bankrupt, you'd be better off putting what that monthly payment would be into a savings or investment vehicle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Instead of burial insurance should you pre-pay for funeral costs? Anyone do that?

Why? If you are rich, the cost is negligible in terms of your income. If you are poor, you can have a nice ceremony and cremation very inexpensively. We spent less than $2k when my FIL died.

Did that include a plot and funeral service? How much does a funeral and burial cost in the DMV?

Do cremation and skip a burial. It's expensive and you don't need a burial.

Did you place a memorial stone?

Nope. We live 3K miles from parents other siblings are over 1K miles. I'm not planning trips to go visit a "headstone/memorial stone". We can remember them without that

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do your own homework - you're retired, you'll have plenty of time figure this out.

It's hard to know what is necessary and what is a scam. All day long there are commercials about burial insurance, the $9.99 plan. My parents had those plans and the policy paid out about $10k but I think they may have paid much more than $10k because they lived into their 80s. I never questioned it when they were alive. I thought old people need that type of insurance. Scam.

How is it a scam? By your definition all insurance is a scam.

If it paid out $10k when they died then it was exactly what they paid for.

But they paid more than $10K. Had they just invested the "monthly payments" they would likely have $20K+ when they died. So unless you are poor, you are better planning to pay for it yourself and avoiding the expensive middleman