do you have life insurance?

[beesha77]

SO just got life insurance with me as the beneficiary even though were not engaged yet (about to be) because he knows how important it is to me after the death of my husband. (had a brain tumor and I was unaware that he screwed some things up and let his coverAge lapse.) I've talked to many people who are married or have kids and no life insurance or not enough and it makes me nervous for them! You never know!

So....do you have life insurance?

 

[sonnyjane]

Most advisors agree that with the exception of couples that have a non-working spouse, if you do not have children, you do not need life insurance yet. Since I don't have kids, I don't have life insurance right now on myself. My husband has a $100K policy out on me only because it is included for free through his employer. He has a $400K policy on him because it is free through his employer. If it was not included with his job, then we wouldn't have it yet. When we do get them, we will get a TERM policy, and not a whole life policy.

 

[beesha77]

Term life is all you need, whole life is outdated.

 

[chemgirl]

Yes we do. We have $300 000 each. If both of us die at the same time it pays out 100% for one and 60% for the other. Since we have no kids and don't really plan to we're not worried about the 60% thing. We have cats so we joke that they'd get a lot of cat food with our insurance money. Life insurance was an integral part of our mortgage application process. The lender insisted that we had enough life insurance to cover the mortgage in the event of our death. A lot of couples can't pay their bills on one income so life insurance would help until they can adjust their spending.

Life insurance isn't really that expensive when you're young (if you are healthy) so I don't see why people, especially those with kids, wouldn't have it. I think we pay something like $35 per month for our life insurance. I spend more per month on coffee so it seems silly not to spend that on insurance.

ETA: I get 10 days off of work in the event of my spouse's death. I can't picture being ok to work after 10 days, so life insurance would cover a longer leave of absence. There are also funeral costs to think about. Funerals are not cheap!

 

[Dancing Fire]

yes,but not enough for my wife to put a contract out on my life.

 

[Trekkie]

Yes, we both have free life insurance as a company benefit. It's a lump sum equivalent to two years' salary.

My SO's insurance pays out to me. My life insurance is paid out to my baby brother (he's 17) and is set up in such a way that it will pay for his university education (tuition, books, residence and living expenses) and possibly leave a small nest egg. This will be reevaluated once my brother is at university and will probably change once my brother finishes university or I have children of my own, whichever happens first.

My SO gets whatever is in my pension fund. At the moment, it's nowhere near what my brother gets, but like I tell my SO, the longer he keeps me around the more he'll get!

 

[missy]

Yes, we both have life insurance. We bought the policies when we were relatively young and mainly because we had 2 mortgages at the time. We have a much larger policy for my dh's life insurance than my policy because if anything happened to him (g-d forbid) I would not have been able to keep our homes as his earnings are much more than my earnings.

 

[rubybeth]

We each have $300k 20-year renewable term policies independent of what we get through our jobs. I think there's about $30k from my employer, maybe $25k from his. We don't have any kids or pets, but I'm making more than my DH is, and I worry that if something happened to me, he'd want to go back to school to get a different job, or just live frugally and invest and be able to keep doing what he's doing (youth counselor for a non-profit). If he died, I worry I that I would want to quit my job, so I could take a leave of absence and get back on my feet, and still be able to retire at a reasonable age (60).

We also carry a $10k whole life policy on DH's mom. She pays the premiums, but it can't be in her name because she's on various programs that limit her net worth. Based on the statement we just got, I conservatively estimate she'd paid for nearly 28% of what the whole life payout would be upon death, whereas DH and I will pay less than 3% of what our term insurance payout would be, which I think is stupid and I keep wondering what we could get on her in term insurance.

 

[vc10um]

Both DH and I receive 1 year's salary of life insurance through our employer at no cost to us, and can purchase additional coverage in 1-year's salary increments. I am currently insured for 3 years salary because when I started working, I had mounds of student loan debt, and that combined with funeral costs and still owing money on my vehicle and possibly 2 months rent at my apartment...well, I just wanted to make sure it was well-covered.

My salary has increased quite a bit since then, but I'm still carrying the additional coverage because soon DH and I will be taking on a mortgage and having children and I want them to be well taken care of should I pass early.

 

[Clio]

Between what we have through work and separate term policies, we each have a little over $1M in coverage. We have 3 kids, so it's a necessity. The term coverage will expire a just about the time our youngest finishes college, at which point we will reassess - we might just go with the work-provided coverage at that point.

 

[April20]

We do. I've had it for years. I made DH get it as soon as we got married. I do not want things left uncared for if something happens to one or both of us. We are each other's beneficiaries. My mom is my secondary and his mom is his secondary. I think we have $100k each.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Prior to my getting pregnant, D and I only had the free life insurance that was provided by our employers. We didn't need any supplemental or term life insurance because we had no dependents and either of us could cover the bills if something happened to the other. Once I became pregnant, we both took out policies for additional life insurance (I took supplemental life insurance through work, he took out a term policy). With the additional expense of raising a child, we didn't have to worry about what would happen financially if one (or both) of us passed.

 

[stephbolt]

I have a basic policy through work and DH has no life insurance. I'm currently pregnant and we are researching how to best get coverage for him and whether I need supplemental insurance as well.

 

[partgypsy]

yes, 300K on each parent (we have 2 kids). Our mortgage balance is around 87K so that would allow the other to pay off the mortgage and also have money for the kids education, childcare, etc.
We did get 10 year term but now wish we did the 20 year, because we will have to re-apply around 5 years from now. When we had our 2nd kid that's when I pushed my husband to get it. I think through work I also have about a year's salary coverage. The main advice I've heard is get your primary insurance not through work, because never want to have to worry about getting new coverage at the same time one is searching for/changing jobs.

 

[Skippy123]

My husband does, I don't.

 

[Octavia]

We both have policies through our employers, but I'm debating when to get a stand-alone policy. I don't think we need one at the moment, but I also know it's cheaper when you're younger, and we're thinking about having kids in the next couple years so we'll definitely want it then. I don't want to rely on our work policies alone once we have kids, just in case something happens to one of our jobs. In the meantime, I have the maximum allowed through my work because it's extremely cheap. My DH is the beneficiary of 60% and my parents would each get 20%. This will change a bit once we have kids, but my parents have had a rough time these past few years through no fault of their own, so I like the thought of them being taken care of a bit if something happens to me. I think my DH is actually insured less than I am, despite making more, but this reminds me that I should actually check to see what he elected when he started work...

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I think it is really essential if one is dependent on one or both incomes for paying monthly expenses. We have minimal insurance on me because my husband's income covers our expenses. We have more on him due to the fact that I would need the money of anything happened to him. Most of it is term insurance through his company, so when he retires, we will have little. However, at that point we should be living off of retirement income that would not be dependent on whether one of us died or not. So the time really to have the insurance is when you have a mortgage or children or monthly expenses to protect.

 

[kenny]

No.

 

[asscherisme]

I have term life insurance with a trust set up and my kids as benificiaries so in the event I die before they are raised, my choosen guardian has access to money (throught my named trustee) to raise them and send them to college. I don't want it to be a financial burdon on my choosen guardian or limit my kids ability to go to college if I die before they are through college.

Any leftover money would be split amount my kids when they reach a certain age.

I would never buy whole life and I would not waste my money on life insurance at all if I did not have kids.

My policies expire when my youngest is 24 and I won't buy more after that.

 

[yssie]

We both do through our employers, it's nothing significant though. We don't have kids and either of us could take on the mortgage + bills on our independent earnings so we don't worry about it.

We'll have to reconsider when we have kids, or if our expenses require both salaries.

 

[purselover]

Not anymore but I will when I find a job in a year or so. Honestly I'm willing to risk that nothing will happen to me until I find a job and even if something did DH would definitely be ok. DH has life insurance through work but I'm always harassing him to increase it. I believe the policy is for $900k but him being the overwhelming majority of our household income it does make me nervous how I would fare if we had a child. I figure he should increase it now while he's young and can get a really good rate.

ETA DH was always my beneficiary when I had insurance even before we were married or engaged too

 

[amc80]

Yep. I get it for free through my work- it's about $150k. DH has some through work as well, and also has a private policy. I'm not sure of the amount but am told it's enough to where I wouldn't have to work anymore.

 

[monarch64]

My husband has a policy through his employer. We will likely not seek out our own policies, even after we have children. I've worked in the industry, and personally I don't have much interest in paying some company to take care of my funeral (don't want one anyway) or be in charge of deciding whether to pay out the death benefit to my spouse should I die before him. And yes, I have seen claims denied for ridiculous reasons, by all kinds of companies. I'll manage my own savings towards my final expenses or long term care, thankyouverymuch.

 

[MuffDog]

Yes. I have a policy through work (5 times my salary) and we each have 1M policies. We had them taken out before my husband went on a big motorcycle trip.

We don't have kids but we have a house and a mortgage and we figured that if something happened to one of us, we would want the survivor to have the funds to pay off the house (so they wouldn't have to move) and have extra for life.

 

[Amber St. Clare]

Yes. We both do, but there is more on my husband because he is the primary earner. He's an accountant so I leave most financial decisions to him. He always tells me I'll be a well off unhappy widow...I always tell him not to assume anything.....

 

[Enerchi]

We only have it thru our jobs. Our kids are no longer little, so there is enough that they could survive comfortably with minimal changes should anything happen to us - but not become party hard rock stars and drop out of society!

 

[TooPatient]

Yes. Both of us have policies. His is through work (need to get a stand alone also) and mine is separate. His is enough to cover the mortgage plus all remaining debts/obligations with a bit extra. My policy is more than double that amount.

If anything happens,we need to be certain the other will be able to maintain life. I'd hate for either of us to HAVE to move if we didn't want to)

 

[luv2sparkle]

My husband has a million, and I have zero. I have been a SAHM for years so I didn't feel it was necessary. He is almost ready to retire
and our kids are mostly grown, so it is even less important now. We have savings to cover anything he would need to do initially. We would spend as little as possible on final expenses, the cost of that is one of my pet peeves. If something happened to him however, my life
would be difficult without it.

 

[packrat]

I have one my parents got for me when I was little that I took over paying when I turned 18 and I have one I got thru State Farm when I turned 21. JD got one after we got married and he has one thru work. Both the kids each have a small one thru SF.

 

[marcy]

We both have it.