Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We were in your shoes 25 years ago. If you don't want your spouse and child(ren's) life to turn upside-down/have to change if you pass, you need enough insurance to cover the full mortgage until it's paid off, and college for all children.
DP here. We were also in the same shoes 30 yrs ago.
My DH and I actually got multiple term life policies for different time periods (5, 10, 15, 20, 25 yrs) and basically DH calculated for several million dollars. He wanted the following - full mortgage for the house, college for the kids, money for medical school/grad school for both of them, medical insurance and disability coverage for family if needed, new cars for both kids when they go to college, their big fat weddings, my retirement so that I never have to work in life (I am a SAHM), and to sustain our current UMC lifestyle which included cleaning ladies, tutors, current standard of living, travel abroad etc.
He also calculated when he would need to drop these insurances as we built our equity, savings, years in service, pension earned and insurance from work, when some costs would end etc. The only thing that we did not include in our calculations was social security, medicare, medicaid and inheritance.
Because these were term life policies, they were very affordable. And it provided a HUGE sense of security in the vulnerable years of having young kids and a SAHM at home.
Over the years, these policies ended. Now we only have some long term disability, life insurance and other minor policies left. Kids are out of college, working, married, forever home only a couple years from being paid off at a low mortgage rate, pension and investments on track, still some years left to retire etc.
My advice is always be super well-insured and have coverage. Having a small baby at home is an extremely vulnerable time, but even until the kids are properly settled in life (college, post-undergrad professional/grad school, several years of work, marriage), you still need to be providing support if possible. Having term life insurance allows you to be able to afford really great coverage and peace of mind.