Life Insurance

Moving to a new job in a few weeks and know my family doesn't have adequate life insurance. I got the info from the new job and the price is comparable as individual quotes I have received. The group insurance is a little cheaper than term quotes, but the term is locked for 10 -15 yrs (haven't decided how long).

Anyone have any advice on group vs individual? Definitely doing term, not an annuity.

Mine is individual due to I didn't want to be tied to my job in case anything happened.

we have both. The job comes with a policy equal to a yrs salary at no cost to me. Then I also have a whole life policy outside of work. Same for mr.snick except his individual is a term policy that we started with his old job, we took on the payment when he left. We also have funeral expense type policies (only $10K each) for both mr snick and minisnick through my work.

I actually have some of both but the bulk of my life insurance is not through work. I prefer that my life insurance not be totally tied to my employment.

snickerd3 said:

we have both. The job comes with a policy equal to a yrs salary at no cost to me. Then I also have a whole life policy outside of work. Same for mr.snick except his individual is a term policy that we started with his old job, we took on the payment when he left. We also have funeral expense type policies (only $10K each) for both mr snick and minisnick through my work.

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Ditto, except for the funeral stuff.

Thanks for the responses.

Another question - for those with term, how long of term do you have? I am 31, married with a one year old (more planned). I am kind of think of a 15 year or 20 year term (leaning toward 15 year if I go that route).

not a clue, that would require me to think back 9 yrs.

We all get one year's salary.

I got some extra and chose to go through the office for a couple reasons.

1) They payroll deduct, which is very convenient.

2) Since I got some through my employer, my wife could as well, without a medical evaluation. She has had some medical problems that probably would have got her turned down if we went the other route.

3) Rates were about the same, either way.

4) I was lazy and did not want to go for medical exams

udpolo15 said:

Thanks for the responses.
Another question - for those with term, how long of term do you have? I am 31, married with a one year old (more planned). I am kind of think of a 15 year or 20 year term (leaning toward 15 year if I go that route).

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Are you planning to pay for your children's college? If so probably a 30 year term.

I would at least go 20 since you would at least want all of your kids out of high school if something were to happen to you.

snickerd3 said:

we have both. The job comes with a policy equal to a yrs salary at no cost to me. Then I also have a whole life policy outside of work. Same for mr.snick except his individual is a term policy that we started with his old job, we took on the payment when he left. We also have funeral expense type policies (only $10K each) for both mr snick and minisnick through my work.

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ALBin517 said:

We all get one year's salary.
I got some extra and chose to go through the office for a couple reasons.

1) They payroll deduct, which is very convenient.

2) Since I got some through my employer, my wife could as well, without a medical evaluation. She has had some medical problems that probably would have got her turned down if we went the other route.

3) Rates were about the same, either way.

4) I was lazy and did not want to go for medical exams

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Like others, diversify these policies, but not too much. All of my family life insurance is through two routes: 1) the same company as auto and home and 2) via work. The work policy isn't any cheaper than other private routes, but it's easy and didn't require any real effort other than signing up at the benefits day.

Try to keep all financials via just a few sources. One is too many, but you do need to be able to keep track of them all. Life insurance is no good if your benefactors don't know about the policy to claim it. Same with investments. I've seen several cases of people missing their benefits due to not knowing where they are.

Also, you should keep copies of all policy and financial benefits and investments in a safe deposit box with your will, and your will should identify them.

And, yes, I need to follow my own advice, if I had any money...

Dave Ramsey says that if you have a spouse/kids that are dependent on your income, then you need 10 times your income of term life insurance. When your kids are on their own and you have assets to take care of spouse, then you drop the insurance.

I maxxed out my Gov't life insurance when I came over here. They also throw in an additional $100k if I die in theater. My wife always joked that if something happened and I had died during one of my R&R's, she was going to box my body up and ship it to one of the guys over here for the extra $$$. It's basic insurance and then two options that are multiples of whatever your salary is and an age factor in there. The total (especially if I die while I'm here...extra $100k) should keep the wife and kids set for quite a while, not to mention the social security they'd be getting.

stay safe!!

snickerd3 said:

stay safe!!

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It's a good thing you said it because from the sounds of his life insurance, his wife probably won't.

ALBin517 said:

snickerd3 said:

stay safe!!

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It's a good thing you said it because from the sounds of his life insurance, his wife probably won't.

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Yeah, there's a fine line between providing for your family and painting a target on your back.