Suggestions for life insurance?

[geojen]

We are thinking of switching DH's life insurance. He currently has a whole life policy through Ozark, but it only pays out 27,000 so far, and the premium is 300 bucks a year. The mutual fund associated with the insurance is only worth 1800 dollars. I think we could do much better than this. I am thinking of switching to term life insurance. Does anyone has any recommendations for companies? (DH is 28 and healthy).

[Ima saver]

I would do term insurance, but I do not have a company to reccommend.

[greedy4chips]

I agree with Ima!

Cancel the whole life ripoff insurance and replace it with term insurance. Be sure to get the term insurance first before cancelling and cashing out the whole life policy. Invest the difference in a nice no-load (or low-load) mutual fund and you will be much further ahead in the long run.

Generally speaking, if you purchase a 20 year term policy (much higher death benefit like 250,000-500,000) and invest the difference from your whole life premiums minus the term premiums you will be basically self insured in 20 years. The idea is that in 20 years most will be done raising their kids, mortgage should be paid off (15 yr mortgage recommended), and the need for life insurance should be minimal at best.

The $1800 could payoff 100 months of a $18 per month term policy. At age 28 and healthy he should be able to get $400,000 20 year term policy.

$18 * 12 months = $216/yr

Buy a 5.5% 1 yr CD with the $1800 cashout and earn $99 interest per year...add $117 of your own money and invest the $300-$117=$183 and into a Roth IRA and you will kill the cash value of that whole life policy! Or put the whole $1800 into a Roth IRA and pay the whole $216 out of pocket.

Good luck!

Invest the $84 per year difference and you will have more cash value than that lousy whole life policy.

[geojen]

Thanks greedy. That is some great advice. I appreciate you laying out the numbers! Now I have something concrete to show my husband, who is somewhat sluggish when it comes to dealing with issues like this.

[Elgin526]

Our insurance company made us both get physicals before they would confirm the price quote and insure us. So if either of you have pre-existing conditions, you may pay more than you think for term insurance, and if you have really bad health histories, they may not insure you at all! My DH is diabetic and also has very high cholesteral, we pay 5x more for his policy than for mine (perfect health). So do NOT cancel your whole life policy until you pass your physicals and get your term insurance locked in. Even if you think you're both in perfect health, the physical could turn up something you weren't aware of that will knock your premiums through the roof, or disqualify you altogether!

[geojen]

Okay, I just got a quote from Matrix direct: 34.13 a month for 250,000 dollar policy throught AIG. This more than we pay now, but the benefit is 9 times higher. (This is for 30 years--we have no house or kids yet so we thought we should buffer another 10 years over the traditional 20). What do you all think?

[Ima saver]

That sounds pretty good!

[greedy4chips]

Originally Posted by geojen

Okay, I just got a quote from Matrix direct: 34.13 a month for 250,000 dollar policy throught AIG. This more than we pay now, but the benefit is 9 times higher. (This is for 30 years--we have no house or kids yet so we thought we should buffer another 10 years over the traditional 20). What do you all think?

I think you are much better off with the above option than your current $27000 policy for $300/yr or $25/month even if it costs you $9/month more.

The only downside is you won't have life insurance after the 30 years is up and also no pathetic cash balance building up. Not much of a downside IMHO.

[Snoopy2645]

Well I have term & just got it for dh also for 250 k for me 29 its $24 a month not to bad I dont think but you may want to shop around on the phone cause somewhere else called offering it a little cheaper a few days ago!!!

[geojen]

Originally Posted by Snoopy2645

Well I have term & just got it for dh also for 250 k for me 29 its $24 a month not to bad I dont think but you may want to shop around on the phone cause somewhere else called offering it a little cheaper a few days ago!!!

Yeah, I have a few quotes over the web, so people should be calling on Monday. AIG is rated A++ though, they are the largest and longest running life insurance company in the country. That makes me feel good about going with them.

[rickatheslicka]

I'm not sure what the two of you do for work, but check with your companies/employers as well as any societies or organizations that you may belong to. Companies and organizations can get huge group policies that are really cheap for the individual members (I think we pay $60 a year for $100,000).

[LuxLiving]

rickatheslicka - that works okay until you get to retirement age. What you'll want to know is = is it portable? If no, then a body will be trying to qualify with a more worn chassis! ..and the prices go WAY up for worn chassises w/some broken parts!

[rickatheslicka]

true, true - I believe ours is portable, in that even if we leave the organization, we keep the policy. But we don't intend to leave the org, so hopefully we'll be okay... One of these days we may want a bigger policy, I'm not sure how that would work... Definitely something to think about!