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It is critically important for any "bread winner" to cover his/her tribe, term life insurance from a sound company is the way to do that. To not do so is irresponsible: if you want to invest, do so, with a reputable investment company. Do not mix insurance with investments - its just plain stupid. For insurance, term life is the only sensible option,
PS - ask golfgal what her job is/was.
Anyone who tells you that anything but a decent term life policy is hustling you for the commission. Buy term insurance for insurance, if you want to invest, do so with a reputable investment company.
If I get a 30 year policy @ 28 years old- by the time I am 58,
Another few years and I don't "need" life insurance anymore. Assuming by then I am getting close to retirement and other funds will start to become available to me.
My "best class" quote for a 30 year policy for 1,000,000 was about 60 a month.
But then you pull that money out TAXABLE or if you leave that to your dependents, that money is taxable where as life insurance is not. Go ahead and buy term insurance, the insurance company will LOVE you if you buy a million dollar term life, collect your payments for 30 years or whatever and then never have to pay out on the claim because they know they will only have to pay out on 1% of all term policies. Why not buy something you KNOW you will get a return on??
golfgal didn't identify her current/former occupation - I suspect it has some connection with insurance sales. Write this down and burn it into your brain, term life insurance (from a sound and reputable company) is the only insurance most folks will ever need. If you are the breadwinner for a family, you have an absolute obligation to cover them if you die prematurely. Being poor is not fun, I've been there. You use insurance to cover risk, for a specific period of time. You use investment companies for investments: mixing the two is just plain stupid. There are some very limited circumstances where very high net worth individuals may effectively use cash value policies for estate planning purposes but those are not people who are surfing the Internet chat boards. Any advice suggesting cash value insurance is (IMO) bad advice.
golfgal didn't identify her current/former occupation - I suspect it has some connection with insurance sales. Write this down and burn it into your brain, term life insurance (from a sound and reputable company) is the only insurance most folks will ever need. If you are the breadwinner for a family, you have an absolute obligation to cover them if you die prematurely. Being poor is not fun, I've been there. You use insurance to cover risk, for a specific period of time. You use investment companies for investments: mixing the two is just plain stupid. There are some very limited circumstances where very high net worth individuals may effectively use cash value policies for estate planning purposes but those are not people who are surfing the Internet chat boards. Any advice suggesting cash value insurance is (IMO) bad advice.
I was a high school teacher turned stay at home mom that has personal experience with the value of owning whole life insurance policies. You have your opinion and I have mine. I don't understand why you think it is such a bad idea when I look at the dividend our policies are paying and the cash value INCREASE we see year after year when the rest of our investments are losing money now. It isn't the only investment we have but right now it is the BEST one we have. The cash value far outweighs the premiums we have paid in and will continue to do so for the life of our policies, what is bad about that. At least you get something for all the money you put into your policies vs just plunking money into a term policy that you will never collect on. Why do you think that term is so good?
golfgal, I am guessing term is good for people who need coverage, don't have a lot of money to spend. I do not however know the ins and outs of whole life to compare the premiums (I got a quote for whole for $255/month) vs how much I will get back??
If I pay $255/month for 30 years, how much will I get back and starting when?
golfgal: Try to find a copy and read Dacy's "What's Wrong With Your Life Insurance", it may be tough to find. The insurance industry tried to suppress it decades ago. I'd send you mine but I gave it away 20 years ago. I take you on your word that you are not part of the insurance industry or related to it in any way. "Term" is the only life insurance sold by any company, everything else by any other name (whole life, cash value, etc.) is some form of investment mixed with term insurance. Why pay agent commissions and the insurance company's admin costs (which can be really high and last forever) on investment money? There are many fine investment companies in the US (no load mutual funds, low cost brokerages) where you can make your desired investments. Yes, recent stock market/housing performance has been incredibly bad, but unless you want to assume that the financial world really is going down forever, mixing insurance and investment money is (IMO) a suckers play. (Also note, those same insurance companies are subject to the market's performance - they are not sitting there with wads of cash from your premiums A.K.A. AIG) Term insurance is precisely that - you are insuring against a catastrophe for the risk period you get to choose up front. It's inexpensive for younger folks precisely because most people don't die while in their prime earning years. If I ran this country (spooky thought ) , I would require every newly married father to carry 5x-10X his income (probably more if I factor college costs into the equation). I am a firm believer in insurance, its critically important for any adult who has dependents and related responsibilities to provide for their tribe - just make it TERM.
joe moving: Insurance company projections can protect your tribe are precisely that - projections that are not based on any contractual requirement (and that assumes the company is still around in the end period). IMO, do not waste your money on anything other than pure insurance - Term, from a highly rated and well established company. It doesn't cost much for a younger person (simply because the statistical probability of your dying is small, in most cases) and you can protect your tribe if you are unlucky - that is a primary duty of any adult.
golfgal, I am guessing term is good for people who need coverage, don't have a lot of money to spend. I do not however know the ins and outs of whole life to compare the premiums (I got a quote for whole for $255/month) vs how much I will get back??
If I pay $255/month for 30 years, how much will I get back and starting when?
I would not say never...
Joe, I can't answer that. We have a couple different kinds of policies and they increase differently. I know our company pays dividends that help offset the cost and increase the cash value. My first policy was for $50,000 of whole life with a mutual company-so they don't have stockholders and the dividends go to the people that have policies. I have had that policy for about 20 years and my cash value on that is about 20,000. My only real advice is to find a mutual company that is highly rated or you end up with a company like AIG.
Pilgrim, you read a book 20 years ago and I don't think it is applicable today. I look at the numbers for our life insurance policies, yes there are fees, etc, but the cash value offsets those over time and surpasses them-something term insurance will never do. Eventually our polices are "free". We also have other investments and no, I wouldn't put everything into our whole life but the money we have there is easily accessible in an emergency and grows tax free and we can take the cash value tax free as a regular income source when we retire--I still don't see what is so wrong about that? It is very much like how a Roth IRA works, except we can't contribute to a Roth so this is the next best thing.
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) , I would require every newly married father to carry 5x-10X his income (probably more if I factor college costs into the equation). I am a firm believer in insurance, its critically important for any adult who has dependents and related responsibilities to provide for their tribe - just make it TERM.
