When is life insurance worth it?

Discussion in Life & Health Insurance started by Peninha • Apr 29, 2014.

  1. Peninha

    PeninhaWell-Known Member

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    If we have small kids or our wife is not working, possibly a life insurance makes some sense. But if these conditions don't apply, do you think it's worth it too? Or should we apply the value of the premiums on a savings account for example?
     
  2. owesem75

    owesem75Active Member

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    I think it is still worth it even if you are single, specially if the insurance you will get is linked to an investment. You may not get the benefit of it (the insurance), but at least you can get something (from the investment part of it) to spend during your retirement.
     
  3. Peninha

    PeninhaWell-Known Member

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    I am not sure I got what you meant owesem, how can I make a life insurance to spend during my retirement? It's an insurance from which I can only "profit" if I die, usually to benefit the kids or family members, not for myself.
     
  4. Sugarhill

    SugarhillActive Member

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    It always makes sense to have life insurance, no matter your marital status or whether you have children. You will need someone to be able to bury or cremate you as well as take care of any of your financial responsibilities, if that means anything to you since you'll be dead. But, definitely have something to take care of your remains.
     
  5. clairebeautiful

    clairebeautifulActive Member

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    I think it fully depends on what you can afford. When I was single and in college, my job offered a $20K life insurance policy for something like $0.35 a month. Okay, sure, that's worth it to me. If I had died, for little more than a quarter out of my paycheck every month, my family would have had twenty grand to spend on my funeral, or whatever.

    I mean, it isn't cheap to die around here.

    On the flip side, if you don't have a family to worry about then you really don't need a huge policy. The low policies are pretty cheap.

    That said, if I hadn't had that benefit in my job, I wouldn't have had any other life insurance. It was just because it was an easy option and available.

    Now I'm married and have 4 kids. My husband and I both have large life insurance policies because we want to leave each other with enough for a pretty good chunk of time to buffer any financial stress.
     
  6. Pat

    PatWell-Known Member

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    There are types of insurance that you can get to grow wealth that you can use before you die. You can get loans from the cash value of the insurance as it grows and the cash that has been grown in the policy can be your emergency fund as the insurance is paying more than a savings account right now. Also life insurance can be purchased when you are healthy if something caused your health to become affected down the road and you wanted to purchase insurance life and health you may not be able to. The younger you are when you purchase the insurance the cheaper it is.

    Insurance is the vehicle used to help reduce your lose, you can pay something each month to help reduce the risk and get a larger payout if something does happen that requires you to make a claim against the insurance or you can pay nothing and be responsible for the complete lose by your self if you do suffer a lose. The decision is yours.
     
  7. Peninha

    PeninhaWell-Known Member

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    I've been making some quotes and in fact with not much money we can make a decent life insurance. This is something totally altruistic, just to ensure that our kids for example are secured if something happens to us. I am still considering it though.
     
  8. DesignerMum

    DesignerMumActive Member

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    Is it not like an add-on nowadays? I remember being offered deals that include automatic life insurance already covered by the deal itself. When entering the job market, I learned that many of the purchases of airline tickets, travel purchases already include some sort of insurance. I don't understand if they were life insurance or not, but I already have like four life insurance being offered and for each part-time job I get an insurance with the company. I would like to consider, but what should I consider, it's a bit confusing because even the health coverage I had agreed to has a life insurance portion to it. So many insurance. :confused:
     
  9. Winnie

    WinnieActive Member

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    I think having life insurance is a good thing to have, no matter if someone is not working or whatever the situation is. I think a person should have car, homeowners or renters insurance, life insurance and health insurance.
     
  10. ExpertAdvice

    ExpertAdviceActive Member

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    Having a life insurance is very important, for this simple and very factual reason, death is sure and uncertain, and you would want to leave for your loved ones, a gift, to help themselves on in life, having several life insurance policies is a very good thing, because it means that your family will get the benefit of more money. Imagine if you only have a house, that is still under a mortgage, a car, that you took out a loan to buy, and you are the main bread winnner in your family, then, you die, what will your family have? nothing...because everything will be repossessed. At least a life insurance policy will help to save at least one assest or help to reduce what is owed on it so that the surviving spouse can secure a job to become steady in life again. Think about it.
     
  11. GenevB

    GenevBActive Member

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    Well, in these circumstances then we should have a life insurance, just so our family doesn't get on the road in case anything happens to us, a premium savings account sounds good also but I would choose the first variant.
     
  12. Happyflowerlady

    HappyflowerladyWell-Known Member

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    Everyone should have some life insurance, because we are all going to be needing it at some point. What kind, and how much; that is the question.
    A younger person with a family should have a small whole life policy, and a large term insurance policy.

    Term insurance is cheap when you are young, and increases more and more in cost, the older you get. When you have a family to care for; you need term so you can get a larger policy.
    However, you should also have a small whole life policy. If you die, the small policy will pay your family right away, while the large policy could take months if there is some question of how you died. This way, they have immediate cash to take care of things, and the large policy whenever it pays out.

    Hopefully, you do not die, your kids grow up and leave, and you live to a ripe old age.
    You no longer need the large term policy.
    Now, everything is paid off, and you only need a small burial policy. That is the small whole life policy that you bought back when you were young. The premiums never go up, the coverage never goes down (usually). Since you bought it when you were young, it is still cheap.
    Plus, it has been building cash value all of these years, so if you need to borrow that money, you can.
     
  13. Peninha

    PeninhaWell-Known Member

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    In my case, I have the life insurance over the house, so if I die the house if paid for my wife and kids, so they will be well off. But yes, overall it's an insurance, a warranty we leave for our kids in case something bad happens.
     
  14. Allison2021

    Allison2021Active Member

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    If you have a spouse or children then life insurance is always worth it. Unless you are retirement age it is worth your spending money monthly to protect the future of your family.
    It is much better to buy Term Life. Whole Life is similar to a savings program or savings instrument.
     
  15. Strykstar

    StrykstarActive Member

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    It does seem like a good idea if you have a wife and/or kids, it leaves them with something in case something happens to you.
    If I was single and with no family though, I don't think I see the point in it...
     
  16. Happyflowerlady

    HappyflowerladyWell-Known Member

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    Even when you are single, someone is going to have to be responsible for your final expenses. If you have family with a lot of money, then perhaps they are fine with paying for your burial; but if you want to actually be responsible , it is good to get a small whole life policy when you are young. They do cost more than term does when you are young; but the price of term insurance goooes up every year or so; and by the time you are a senior, it is sky-high. The whole life policy is rated at the age you are when you buy it, so the price for that does not go up as you get older.
    Should you need to borrow against it, it also has cash value. It is not worth it to take out the policy just as a savings account; however, it is an added advantage to the policy.
     
  17. Misslisa

    MisslisaMember

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    I am having a hard time with insurance. It is too expensive to maintain Term Insurance and It's such small amount because of the medical problems that my husband has. With the insurance he have right now, I feel that I could possibly do better finding a good savings account.
     
  18. Peninha

    PeninhaWell-Known Member

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    Yep, that is what happens with most insurances, we pay them year, after year after year and we see nothing, but at the same time it's a warranty we have there. If you can't pay it, maybe you can look for a cheaper alternative Misslisa? Maybe a savings account is not that bad.
     
  19. DancingLady

    DancingLadyActive Member

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    I think term insurance when you have kids at home makes the most sense. That way you don't have to spend a lot on it. You can save for final expenses in ways that will get you way more interest than any life insurance policy.