Gerber Life Insurance

Mrs.Wilburn

Hi Ladies,

Soo this is my first pregnancy...and i heard about gerber life insurance. does anyone have it or knows any first hand experience about it??

 

Thanks

ChevyFam717

In my professional opinion (insurance agent's standpoint):

Contact your financial planner or insurance agent about life insurance too - understanding the product and what it actually offers is important. Just because it's Gerber doesn't mean it's good (or bad for that matter) but it just might not be what you want or expect and there may be a different product out there that suits your family's needs better than Gerber.

IE: Some companies offer a whole life policy (lasts their entire lifetime) that they can purchase extra insurance at different points (Major life changes, or set ages). If they develop any health problems, they can still get insurance (ie. type I diabetes or some type of cancer- god forbid). OR Some companies also offer products that can be paid off in x number of years, so when Jr. turns 21, the policy is paid for and will last his whole lifetime.

Don't just buy into big name but make sure that the company you go with has good financial standing (AM BEST or Standard & Poor rate insurance and financial institutions).

My advice in short - Make an educated decision after looking into several options. Make sure it is something you can afford (if it cancels in 2 years it won't do much good). Make sure it suits your family's needs. Make sure you KNOW what you are getting. Make sure the company is in good standing.

20 ninjas

Taking out life insurance on your baby is kind of morbid, don't you think?

sschwege

I haven't really looked into it myself, but it seems like money better set aside for college or something.  I mean I didn't purchase life insurance for myself until I had DD because before that I figured no one was counting on me financially to survive.  

But maybe there are some benefits I'm missing? 

janecanadian

20 ninjas:

Taking out life insurance on your baby is kind of morbid, don't you think?

Definitely not, it's actually a very smart thing to do and an extremely generous gift you can give your child.  My parents took out a policy on me when I was born and have now gifted it to me.  It is a universal life policy and has a significant cash value component.  Eventually the monthly premiums will be paid for through the savings portion of the plan.  This policy also has guranteed insurability up to a certain amount so every 5 years I can increase the value of the policy without having to answer any medical questions.  Say I had developed some medical condition that made it impossible, or very expensive for me to get insurance, I don't have to worry about the financial security of my family because I have the piece of mind of knowing that I have this plan in place that will not be impacted by changes to my health.  You don't buy a life insurance plan for your kid and hope they will die, you buy it to provide protection should they become uninsurable in the future.

ChevyFam717

20 ninjas:

Taking out life insurance on your baby is kind of morbid, don't you think?

No it is responsible.

Life insurance is more than just to pay out if something happens. It insures against the 3 Hs, (Health, Hobbies, Habits). If your child starts smoking life insurance will become very expensive. If they take up sky-diving or scuba-diving if the can get it: expensive. If there are any heath changes - no one wants to think that their child may come down with something, but if they do- you guessed it, life insurance get's expensive.

Taking out life insurance when your baby is 17 days old will be the cheapest way for them to have life insurance for the rest of their lives - whether they live to 80, 40, 20 or 2. It

It also helps protect you and your family - if you lost a child do you really think that you could go back to work the next day? It can provide for your family while you greive. Also, are you prepared for the costs of a funeral for a child? How will that impact your family? This part does get a bit morbid, but it also means that you have taken precautions to protect your family. Period.

I hope to God that no-one ever needs to file a claim for life insurance on a child, spouse or other family member - but having it can make a worlds difference if God-Forbid anything were to happen.

I'm not selling anyone a policy here - in fact I haven't even mentioned the company I work for. I am providing facts and if you don't want to face it - that's fine. I just hope you never have to face not having put plans in place to protect you and your family should the unthinkable happen because that will be more morbid than purchasing life insurance on a child. I promise.

ChevyFam717

janecanadian:

20 ninjas:

Taking out life insurance on your baby is kind of morbid, don't you think?

Definitely not, it's actually a very smart thing to do and an extremely generous gift you can give your child.  My parents took out a policy on me when I was born and have now gifted it to me.  It is a universal life policy and has a significant cash value component.  Eventually the monthly premiums will be paid for through the savings portion of the plan.  This policy also has guranteed insurability up to a certain amount so every 5 years I can increase the value of the policy without having to answer any medical questions.  Say I had developed some medical condition that made it impossible, or very expensive for me to get insurance, I don't have to worry about the financial security of my family because I have the piece of mind of knowing that I have this plan in place that will not be impacted by changes to my health.  You don't buy a life insurance plan for your kid and hope they will die, you buy it to provide protection should they become uninsurable in the future.

Exactly Jane. Very well put. I know my responses get wordy - but that's just because I see every day at my job how important it is.

In fact - the cash value part didn't even come to mind because I was thinking of all the other benefits but cash is nice too! You can also take a loans against it for a down-payment, college tuition, etc if need be.

Bethbsn06

I agree. As a previous insurance agent, we took out the largest term policy (with whole life conversion option) we could on dd1 as an infant. They had policy amount limits as she was only a couple months old at the time. We will do the same after this dd is born.

Mrs.Wilburn

life insurance in general is morbid but horrible things happen every day don't they?? of course i PRAY to GOD that my child will always be happy and healthy but i pray those same prayers for my mother, my husband and myself.

Mrs.Wilburn

the options i was looking at is called a Gerber Life plan. It can be used for college as well.

Mrs.Wilburn

thank you for your input and personal experience

a13049

ChevyFam717:

janecanadian:

20 ninjas:

Taking out life insurance on your baby is kind of morbid, don't you think?

Definitely not, it's actually a very smart thing to do and an extremely generous gift you can give your child.  My parents took out a policy on me when I was born and have now gifted it to me.  It is a universal life policy and has a significant cash value component.  Eventually the monthly premiums will be paid for through the savings portion of the plan.  This policy also has guranteed insurability up to a certain amount so every 5 years I can increase the value of the policy without having to answer any medical questions.  Say I had developed some medical condition that made it impossible, or very expensive for me to get insurance, I don't have to worry about the financial security of my family because I have the piece of mind of knowing that I have this plan in place that will not be impacted by changes to my health.  You don't buy a life insurance plan for your kid and hope they will die, you buy it to provide protection should they become uninsurable in the future.

Exactly Jane. Very well put. I know my responses get wordy - but that's just because I see every day at my job how important it is.

In fact - the cash value part didn't even come to mind because I was thinking of all the other benefits but cash is nice too! You can also take a loans against it for a down-payment, college tuition, etc if need be.

 

 

Yes! My parents bought us life insurance and it was a big plus for me when we went to buy our home. It made our interest rate lower because it already had a substantial cash value. 

MelleTX

My grandmother bought each of the kids the Gerber Grow Up Plan or whatever the equivalent was in the 70s. I guess she stopped paying premiums sometime much later but the policy had passed a certain date so one day out of the blue my brother and I got notices that the insurance company was cashing out our plans (we never even knew we had them. We each got a check for about $8000. It was a nice bonus!

TMWarren85

Check with your financial advisor as well as who currently carries your life insurance policy. When our DD was born, we went through State Farm and purchased whole life on my DD, my DH and myself, as well as opened a 529 College savings account for her. Not gonna lie, it's a good chunk of change each month but if something were to happen to any of us we wouldn't have to worry abut financial security due to loss of income from the other. Regarding my DD's plan, I pray daily that nothing ever happens to her but unfortunately some things are out of our control and after recently burying three grandfathers and a step-father, I am all too familiar that the least expensive funeral of the four was $13,000... It's not morbid, it's a responsible, adult decision.