Term Life Insurance

I'm in this hunt too. One thing I think I've found is that the process is a bit easier and less invasive in terms of health physical if you get group term insurance through a professional organization that you belong to versus individually underwritten insurance.

Yes, avoid getting 'sold' any whole life policy. Your subject line says term, and you should go with that. There are many reputable companies, big names in the business. You should spend some time calculating the amount that makes sense for each of you. As time passes, mortgage paid, college funded, the cost for the next ten years of term would go up due to your aging 10 years, but your need for insurance would be less. JOE

Hello Abid;

What you are looking for is a policy that YOU own, and would be available to your family no matter where you are working. That means that YOU will have to apply directly to a company to issue a policy to YOU.

In my personal Opinion, you should be looking at some type of PERMANENT Policy (as against Term) that will be IN-FORCE on your Death. Term is much cheaper to buy, but much more expensive to have owned, if it is not in force on your death.

The name TERM implies that it has a beginning and an ending.ie:

10Yr, 20Yr, Age 65. If you live beyond one of those dates, then it has been an expensive policy that you did not need. AND when you DIE, there would be no insurance in force. Cal Lester CLU

You missed the part where he states that he wants something "ON MY OWN". Cal Lester CLU

A VERY big supposition. Possible but YOU are taking the RISK rather that the insurance company!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cal Lester CLU

Cal, given that whole life policies often run 10x the cost of term, and that logic tells me that one's need for insurance drops as life event pass as I list above, you are welcome to elaborate on your view. As one's savings increases and obligations decrease, it seems to me that the windfall insurance would provide is un-needed, and the money better spent. JOE

I have to agree with Joe on this one. I think you're much better off getting term life insurance and investing the difference (between whole and term). Your investment can enjoy the benefits of the usual tax shelters (401k, IRA) and you'll get a better rate of return than with whole life insurance. And you can reduce your term policy as your need for insurance decreases.

--Bill

Bull. I have a need for insurance on my house. I won't regret having had it if my house does not burn down. It still satisfied a need (i.e. risk mitigation).

-Will

Unless I am mistaken, it would be possible to do some fairly straightforward calculations to settle this issue. Compare the value of whole life insurance after a fixed time period to the value of term insurance plus an index fund that equals the same amount of money. Such calculations could be more meaningful in this case than similar calculations for other purposes, because you are looking at a rather long time period and the temporary fluctuations in the stock market would not bias the results.

I do not want to beat this dead horse over again. You are obviously a firm believer in TERM, whereas I am not. I DO believe that Term has it's place, and when purchased intelligently from a knowledgeable agent, that it does an excellent job. BUT, to say that Term is BEST for all situations, is very dangerous. Oh by the way, I have NEVER had a Beneficiary refuse a Death Benefit check when the breadwinner died and there was already a great deal of money floating in the market.

Cal Lester CLU

Granted, but you are talking about a Casualty Coverage, not life. In the same vain, would you consider paying a bit more for your house insurance or car insurance, and receiving an income for life at some later date if your house does not burn, or you do not demolish your car???? Cal Lester CLU

Neither you nor Joe take into consideration the fact that there is a possibility that the Term Policy will die before you................. Cal Lester CLU

No actually I didn't Cal.

There are a few levels of "on my own" to the layman. The first priority is to have it be independent of a given employer since people tend to change jobs a lot.

Group term life policies from a trade group, however, achieve that goal with cost and terms benefits over individually underwritten term life.

There are pros and cons, but it is an option that someone seeking to have something outside of their employer should have a look at if there's a professional organization to which they already belong that offers this.

-- Todd H.

Thanks everyone, that's exactly the reason I am thinking about TERM, it is cheaper and does satisfy the need, what I am trying here is to have a reasonable amount of insurance for family, just in case any thing happen to me my wife can take care of kids without having to worry too much about finance, and same applies to me in case any thing happens to her I have to make some tough choices between working full time or spending more time with kids who are still very young (9 and 3), so in other word it is bad enough that you lost your life partner the next bad thing is to deal with finances, any suggession about which company to go with, my (auto/home) insurance company keep sending me mail about life insurance.

For many folks (particularly parents of young children whose goal is simply to insure against their own untimely death before their kids reach college and can fend for themselves), if that the term expires before they do, it would be entirely okay.

-- Todd H.

So what happens when your term policy expires? Well, there are 2 possibilities. Either you still need life insurance or you don't. If you don't need insurance, so much the better. If you do need life insurance, chances are you need considerably less insurance than you did when you bought your previous term policy. So you adjust accordingly. Of course, the premiums will be higher, because you're older. But that will be offset by A) needing less benefit and B) having saved a mint by not buying whole life insurance in the first place.

Perhaps you're operating under the assumption that there is always a need for life insurance? I don't share that belief, but I'm sure there are many out there who do. Hence the market for whole life insurance.

--Bill

The operative word here is "IF". Cal Lester CLU

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Or the possibility that you become UNINSUREABLE during that period......

Cal Lester CLU

But that will be offset by A) needing less benefit and B)

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Again, a supposition. I prefer to deal in GUARRANTEES Cal Lester CLU

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