North Dakota Babies

Sort of BR: life insurance

I read a Suze Orman book years ago and it said that additional life insurance was basically a waste unless you had dependents.  Since both DH and I work and could support ourselves if God forbid anything had happened to the other one, we didn't add any additional life insurance to the policies that we already have through our work.

Now that we'll have the baby, I think we should add additional life insurance.  Today I'm submitting my application for a quote through my work's optional benefits plan.  I have no clue how much would be a reasonable rate for 2 healthy adults in their 30s.  Does anyone have any knowledge on this?  Also, do you have additional life insurance?

Re: Sort of BR: life insurance

  • I don't have life insurance at all but I'm a SAHM so its not exactly offered through my job.  Stick out tongue  DH does have it but only the basic amount through work (he has it with the airline and also with the military).  He has actually been worrying about it a lot lately since he is being deployed and wanting to make sure that we are taken care of if anything were to happen because it really isn't that much. 
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  • We've been talking about this at work recently.  My coworker is in her early 40's, healthy and has 2 kids, her husband is also in his 40's and pretty overweight (neither of them smoke).  They each have a $500k policy and she pays around $30/month and he pays around $100/month.  I don't know if they have whole life or part term though.
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  • We are in the process of applying for term life insurance, which will be in addition to the life insurance we each get through work.  I believe the quote my DH got was around $60/month for $1 million worth of coverage.  We are still doing our homework on this, but definitely want to have something in place by the time baby arrives.
  • Yes, we have add'l life insurance & for me being a SAHM, mine is pretty hefty if something were to happen to me, DH would have to hire a nanny & he works 10+ hr days.  And since DH is the sole worker in our family, his happens to be 2x the amount mine is to make sure we have a place to live & S is well taken care of.
  • I literally did this last week.  I have a small amount of permanent life insurance that was a converted plan that was started when I was a kid.  My parents bought into the whole "your kid might get X and not be able to get life insurance as an adult" in part I believe because my dad has diabetes (since his early 20s).  But the plan wasn't very expensive for them out of pocket so I can understand it in that regard even if I'm not 100% convinced of the idea of getting a kid life insurance.  But that's a different issue.  My great uncle sold it to them as he was an insurance agent for that company.

    I'm 32 and currently not working but in good health.  The rep I talked to recommended $50,000 in "permanent" life insurance (which isn't term or whole) to cover burial expenses and other immediate expenses that you would have to deal with.  It was going to run $33 a month.  She recommended a secondary plan (which is more in line with other things I've read online at various places) of term life insurance because it's a lot cheaper than whole life insurance for the same payout and recommended an amount that was slightly over the amount that we owe on our mortgage.  This amount was suggested with the idea that if something happened to either me or DH that the life insurance policy would pay out so that the house could be paid off in full and it wouldn't be an additional stress at that time.  Obviously you could put the money in the bank and only use it for that purpose if you really need it.  This was much in line with what DH and I thought we needed.  That plan was $300,000 of coverage for ~$33 which was an "average" rate for a 32 year old female that is a non-smoker without having a health screen done.  If I decide to take it out, I'm tempted to do the health screen done to see if we can reduce the rate since there are two rate tiers above that have cheaper rates.

    Honestly I'm pretty happy with the plans just want to do some browsing.  As I've mentioned above, I've had a life insurance with this company since I was about 3 or 4 and like the fact that the company prides itself on community service.  The plans have very few restrictive clauses to them, which is a plus for a tragic event such as death.  The only clause that I am aware of is a 2 year suicide clause but after those two years it would pay out if such an event were to happen.  Feel free to contact me if you have any questions since I just had this discussion.

  • we haven't actually gotten any yet, but DH sells life insurance.  I don't know a lot about it myself, but we will be getting some soon. 
  • We each have $500,000 of term life and we pay around $60-65/month for both of our policies.  DH has to pay a little more because his mom is diabetic.  We have guaranteed 30 year policies.
  • imageMrsBlayne:
    We each have $500,000 of term life and we pay around $60-65/month for both of our policies.  DH has to pay a little more because his mom is diabetic.  We have guaranteed 30 year policies.

    We have exactly this. Look into bundling it all together with your car and renter's/homeowner's insurance.  Ours was pretty cheap this way. Both of our parents also have policies on us that they've had since we were kids too.

    Anniversary
  • I think getting additional life insurance aside from the one you have from work is a step in the right direction, especially now that you have a baby. Group life insurance is great, but it?s valid only until your employment continues. What if you had to quit or were to lose your job?
    Since you are considering a policy through your employer?s optional benefits plan, make sure it is not in any way attached to your employment status. You should be able to keep the policy even if you moved jobs.

    Another place to get life insurance quotes are online insurance quotes aggregator like Accuquote.com. Such websites have a huge database and can provide you life insurance quotes from top rated companies within minutes. Same amount of legwork in the real world would take you several days.

    As far as rates are concerned, you should get good rates if you are in your 30?s and in reasonably good health. I would sincerely suggest you shop around before fixing on any one policy. The more you shop, the better are your chances of finding really good rates.

    Denise

  • We both have a term policy separate from DH's work in addition to the little bit of insurance that we all have through his work.  I think we have $500k for him and $250k for me and it's around $40/month for a 30 year term.  We were in our low-mid 20s and the highest health category when we bought it.  I think through DH's work he has $50k and G & I have $10k that is included with our insurance policy.

    Definitely get term and not whole.  Whole life insurance is bad for most people, so unless you're extra super rich and I don't know it term will be the best option for you I'm sure.  We got 30 year terms to make sure that our house would be paid off & any future kids out of the house by the time it runs out.  You may be able to go with a 20 year term instead depending on your situation.  Like PP said it's also important to get insurance outside of your DH's work if the insurance they offer is tied to his job.  If he loses his job due to illness he would lose that insurance and may not be able to get coverage from anyone else.

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