Life Insurance. Do you go with a local agent?

[skives]

We are in the process of getting life insurance (Term) and I was wondering if people here go with a local agent or if you go online for a better deal?

For what we selected our local state farm agent quoted my wife for $500,000 for 20 year term at $500 per year. Online through Zander Insurance (Dave Ramsey's recommendation) and I only used the site to get an easy quote so maybe not the best idea but their providers were offering the same coverage at $200-$300 a year.

Any suggestions?

[disneysteve]

Online is the way to go. Accuquote or similar. When you go to a local agent you’re just paying his salary.

[skives]

Should I at 34 get a 10 or 20 year term of insurance?

[Gailete]

20 year or longer if possible. You never know when you will get hit with a medical problem that will make you uninsurable. The day after my husband took his insurance exam - and passed, he ended up in the hospital with Atrial Fibrillation. I doubt we would have gotten the insurance if it had happened a week before.

His policy has been $250K for 20 years at a bit under $600/year. He is currently 53 and a nonsmoker. It expires in 2022 so I hope I can manage to get the house paid off before that.

[disneysteve]

Should I at 34 get a 10 or 20 year term of insurance?

Take the longest term. At 44, you will still need insurance. Even at 54 you probably will though at that point you may be close to not needing it.

I'm 53. Our mortgage is almost paid off. Our daughter is finishing college this spring. So the biggest life expenses are nearly gone. After that, it's just making sure my wife has enough money to live on after I die and we're close to that point with our investments. So when my current term policy ends, I may not get a new one, or if I do, it will be for a much lower amount than what I have now.

[TexasHusker]

Many years ago I bought mine through SelectQuote. For something like car or homeowners insurance, I do see some value in a local agent. For life insurance, I don't see the value.

I have $1.5 million on me, and $500K on my wife. We pay around $110 a month. I believe all of ours expire in 2023 or 24.

The idea is, over the course of your life, you build assets sufficient to lean on and you no longer need life insurance. I will take a look around in 2024, but I suspect that continuing life insurance will be a whole lot more $ than I pay now and I will probably pass: We've got plenty of assets these days for my wife to live on.

[snafu]

Texas Husker, I would appreciate your view on local home/vehicle insurance agent. This is something we're discussing just now, in advance of premiums renewing April 1.

[Thrif-t]

I'm going to chime in and agree with Disneysteve to take the longest term now. We originally got a 20 year term policy but, duh we were 50 when it ended, and had to renew as we still had teenagers and not enough assets.

[bernod]

You can go to term4sale to get a sample quote.

[Gailete]

We are in the process of getting life insurance (Term) and I was wondering if people here go with a local agent or if you go online for a better deal?

For what we selected our local state farm agent quoted my wife for $500,000 for 20 year term at $500 per year. Online through Zander Insurance (Dave Ramsey's recommendation) and I only used the site to get an easy quote so maybe not the best idea but their providers were offering the same coverage at $200-$300 a year.

Any suggestions?

For any insurance I go straight to the company. At one point my husband cancelled an account he had through Prudential. Some local guy that we had never met did the grunt work. Image my surprise then, one of the next times I got something from my insurance company (Liberty Mutual) to find his name and address as our agent. We hadn't picked him or in any way gave him access to our LM account, so I don't know how that happened. Prior to that I had NEVER had an agent.

I prefer to do the research myself instead of dealing with some fast-talking salesman. In our state we can change our electric provider. Any of them I have had calls from them I tell them to not call again and they can send me mail about what they are peddling and put us on their not do call list. I want to see the facts and figures, not hear someone spew them at me over the phone where I am left with only remnants of what they were saying and the numbers and hoping I heard things correctly. The day after my last call, I got something about switching in the mail. Because I had the time and quiet that I needed, I decided to not go with them when I saw the company reviews, etc. Saved me some grief.

I know that these salesmen must earn a living, but I've yet to see where using a salesman would save me any money and for me that is the bottom line. When I married hubby, he did have an insurance agent and he prefers using them. Since I handle all that stuff now, I do my own thing and what is good for me. It helps to have problems talking on the phone – too many joints are getting sore holding the landline.

I would be curious as to why those that use agents, what benefit do you get from them?

[skives]

So we decided to go with 30 year term policies which would take me to 64 and my wife to 59. My agent told me it might be a good idea to keep one of my whole life policies since I would be locked in at the current rate when these policies expire. I am thinking that's not a good idea but what do you guys think?

[Thrif-t]

You're right, it's not a good idea. When your term policies are live, cancel the whole life!

[skives]

I assume at that time I shouldn't need life insurance and if I do need it it would be a lesser amount which would keep the cost down.

[Gailete]

So we decided to go with 30 year term policies which would take me to 64 and my wife to 59. My agent told me it might be a good idea to keep one of my whole life policies since I would be locked in at the current rate when these policies expire. I am thinking that's not a good idea but what do you guys think?

Not a good idea. My husband had a life insurance policy (whole life) that he had misunderstood when he bought it. I could tell when he was telling me about it that something was hinky about the whole thing. He was under the impression that after a certain point in time he could cash it in and walk away with his pockets stuffed with cash. (this is partly why I handle the money!) In talking to his insurance guy, after we were married, he learned the sad truth that either someone had lied to him or he must have misunderstood or a little of both. We got rid of it.

Whole life policies, the agents try to make it sound like a wonderful way to set aside money for your future. You can save and earn more with that money by buying a CD or investing in a mutual fund, than that racket of paying through the nose for whole life only to find out after twenty years that it might be worth $10K after you had paid $20K for the silly thing. It is as much as a racket as life insurance for babies and children. Most people if they buy a term life policy when they are young won't be turned down unless they are obese or have some physical problem. Otherwise, most of those kids that have life insurance aren't going to need life insurance at all. Parents for the most part aren't dependent on their kids for income.

[disneysteve]

My agent told me it might be a good idea to keep one of my whole life policies since I would be locked in at the current rate when these policies expire. I am thinking that's not a good idea but what do you guys think?

I think your agent is an idiot.

He was under the impression that after a certain point in time he could cash it in and walk away with his pockets stuffed with cash.

That's pretty much the con. They sell them as a place to build up cash that you can then access tax-free later on. They also show these rosy projections about how the policy will be fully paid for at some point and you won't have to keep paying premiums. Of course, neither of those things are true.

Don't buy whole life. Just don't. Ever. For any reason.