NRR: Term Life Insurance?

Term 4 sale dot com

This is a solid resource that I have personally used.

Go with term.

Stay away from whole life etc.

I sold term insurance for a very short time a couple of decades ago.

Although it's better than whole life, it still is not necessary and there is no reason to have it.

You're much better off simply taking good care of yourselves, and self insuring for any eventualities.

What the other poster said. If you have a little cash someone like AXA will try and sell you whole life which will sound great and tax savvy but real-talk you won't understand it. When you realize you want the monthly premiums for something else you'll take a bath cancelling the policy. The only people who do well on those policies are brokers.

I bought term life from USAA (that I trust with nearly everything). If I die before I'm 60 my wife gets $2m and that peace of mind costs me $200 a month. Those numbers are higher than many people would think make sense but everyone's sense of security is personal and you should buy the product that makes sense for you. Keep it simple.

1st and foremost you want to pick a company that is going to be solvent when you need the insurance. Even still the likelihood of default for any large insurer is minimal.

When you’re picking the insurance, buy what you need but don’t over insure. For example, enough to pay off your debts like the house and student loans, but don’t get a $5 million dollar policy if you both only have debts of 100k and combined income of 80k. I have 3 kids so I got enough to put 3 through college and pay off the house. You don’t want to enrich your wife upon your death, just get what you need.

I went with northwestern mutual. It had a term option where I could continue the plan after the term expired without a new physical. So even if I get cancer and survive, I’ll still have term insurance as I can simply keep paying the premiums to continue coverage. Otherwise at that point I’d be declined for any coverage with that past medical history.

If you think you’re gonna have kids, find out how easy it is to amend the policy to get more to ensure your needs are met after you have a few rugrats.

Thanks for the feedback guys, good stuff!

Ditto this post. I too went with Northwestern Mutual but there are cheaper policies.

Dave Ramsey has a site called Zander Insurance where you can fill in your info and it will shop around for you. There are probably tons of sites that do this, but this one worked pretty well for me. I found a 20 year, 1 million dollar policy for $32/mo or something (I was about 31 when I got it). Nice to have that kind of peace of mind for a dollar a day.

You can do an online search to find what average rates and benefits are. Determine what you think you may want.

Then go to any major insurer have them give you a quote. If you like it, take it.

Maybe you have auto insurance with a major carrier and have an agent for that. Go the agent you know for a reference.

Your hope is that you have a reasonable monthly payment and never have to use the benefit of those payments.

You'll never know if it was a good deal because you have to literally die to find out.

Ditto to most of the advice on here.

1. Don't let them pressure you into anything other than TERM. They will try to get you into the very expensive whole life policies and they will call them all kinds of different names, but in the end it's whole life- and you don't want that.

2. Don't buy more than you need. If you were to die in a car accident tomorrow, should your current wife receive $10M? Just buy enough to cover debts, once you have kids bump up the amount of coverage so they can be properly cared for, once you buy a house bump it up...

chocolate thunder wrote:

Recently married (too late to tell me to back out, LR), looking to start a family and would like to get some life insurance in case something ever happens to me. Any recommendations on companies or places to look for honest reviews/recommendations? From some quick googling all the review sites felt scammy/full of referral links.

I am not an insurance agent so...

I waited until we had a kid before taking out insurance. Before kids, we owned a house but she could make the monthly payment if I croaked. My company had a policy that paid out 1 year's salary so she could bury me without any financial issues.

Once we had a kid (which was a year about we got married), we each took out a policy and worked with an excellent agent to figure out the policy so that we were not over-insured. Also, we wanted a policy that would get the kids through college.

I am sure there are online calculators to help guide you in making this decision.

Beware that when you go to the online sites, you will get phone calls and emails from every insurance company in the US.

Abdoujaparov wrote:

What the other poster said. If you have a little cash someone like AXA will try and sell you whole life which will sound great and tax savvy but real-talk you won't understand it. When you realize you want the monthly premiums for something else you'll take a bath cancelling the policy. The only people who do well on those policies are brokers.

I bought term life from USAA (that I trust with nearly everything). If I die before I'm 60 my wife gets $2m and that peace of mind costs me $200 a month. Those numbers are higher than many people would think make sense but everyone's sense of security is personal and you should buy the product that makes sense for you. Keep it simple.

Abdou, I was always a fan of your aggressive riding style. I second what you said. I carried $1M of term coverage from USAA until our youngest child graduated from college and our house was paid for (my early 50s). At that point we had no major debts and enough retirement savings that if I died my wife could live in the house at our current lifestyle for the rest of her life.

i use fidelity for most of my financial aspects of life. a few 401ks, brokerage, IRAs, 529, etc. So when i needed term for wife and i, we chose fidelity and have been pleased. thankfully we haven't had to use said insurance but its nice to have one place to set beneficiary, know that if something happens wife only has to deal with one vendor, etc.

Do you really need $2 million in coverage? Seems like you are overpaying for a windfall, not preparing for a rainy day.

joedirt wrote:

Do you really need $2 million in coverage? Seems like you are overpaying for a windfall, not preparing for a rainy day.

how much coverage you need depends on your current salary, living expenses for your family, kids age, etc.

$2M is hardly too much for a well paid individual where they are the only breadwinner with young kids

It is a right decision to get some life insurance in case something ever happens to you when you decide to start a family. Indeed, this is an actual question for everyone, especially in nowadays situation with COVID when all the world is frozen in anticipation of the unknown and fear. Some years ago we also addressed the topic of Life Insurance Help Desk (see the link below). The specialist explained to me all the moments and I got all the recommendations and advice that I needed. To tell the truth, I was surprised by the price it is really affordable. Indeed, when the question is linked with your life, the money you pay is negligible compared to your life and confidence in tomorrow. https://lifeinsurancehelpdesk.com

Agreed. I have $1M coverage On a 20 year term and I feel it’s a little light. I would need about half of that to pay off my mortgage and put my kids through school and weddings, assuming they don’t get scholarships.

My wife doesn’t work currently, and she would be lucky to make 20-25% of my income in year 1. I do have a decent 401k built up along with savings, but she’s in her late 30s. $1M isn’t enough for her to continue our current lifestyle for the next 40-50 years.

Of course, odds are she would remarry at some point given her age, so I think $1M is sound. Plus I have some past health issues that make me pay as much as a 250lb smoker so I don’t want to throw excess money away.

Each person has unique circumstances.

jogncartman wrote:

It is a right decision to get some life insurance in case something ever happens to you when you decide to start a family. Indeed, this is an actual question for everyone, especially in nowadays situation with COVID when all the world is frozen in anticipation of the unknown and fear. Some years ago we also addressed the topic of Life Insurance Help Desk (see the link below). The specialist explained to me all the moments and I got all the recommendations and advice that I needed. To tell the truth, I was surprised by the price it is really affordable. Indeed, when the question is linked with your life, the money you pay is negligible compared to your life and confidence in tomorrow.

https://lifeinsurancehelpdesk.com

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Buy 20 year level term, stay away from whole life or anything that tries to pass itself off as an "investment". The only person making money on that is the insurance agent and the insurance co.

You don't invest in insurance.

Also you only need enough to pay off your debts, so once you buy a house get enough to where your wife will have a home, if you have kids bump it up again.