Does anybody buy life insurance anymore?
 

My DH and I have carried life insurance policies on ourselves until now, our main objective was to provide for the kids in case one of both of us died. Our kids are now grown and we are re-thinking our need for life insurance. We are both 61 and insurance to cover us until age 83 is $175 a month. What sorts of things do we need to consider, age, health, will we outlast the policy?? Anything else we haven't thought considered. Not sure we need it??? Anyone have information that might help?

We both carry life insurance (we are 59 & 61). We have continued it because it is an annuity for one so it costs $250.00 a month and because in the case one of us goes there will be cash to use for various expenses that will follow. When my mother passed away, we needed to pay the property taxes on her home until it was sold, burial expenses, left over medical bills, the electric bills, insurance and have you bought a death certificate lately? They are not free and you need them to stop services like the telephone and cable and lots of other things. All those bills add up - so you don't need a lot of insurance and if you have a large savings or money to leave behind for these incidentals great. Did I mention that insurance is not taxable income for the beneficiary?

Yes, we have life insurance too - mainly to help with bills, house etc if something happens to us - just to make it easier on the surviving spouse - if we both go - our adult children are the beneficiaries - then they can help our grandchildren. Just a little piece of mind.

What bothers me about term insurance, which is what we, DH & I have, is that after 20 years of paying on it, it stops. I bought insurance back in the early 2000s. I've paid on it about ten years. I just found out a year ago that if I live into my 80s, the insurance will not be good. What???????? We have insurance because if one of us dies, there will be money to pay off the house. It's not about giving our kids money.

I think if you have enough other assets to cover the "what ifs" then I personally don't see the value in you paying for something to benefit your children after your gone. Now if there are not enough assets in case of a spousal death... that different. But as far as leaving it for children...If they are grown .. then it on them to make the financial choices for themselves and their family paid for with their money.
I gave up life insurance awhile ago.

IF you have whole life, look into making it a "paid-up" policy. You will still have some insurance without having to pay more premiums.

Could it be converted into 'long term care' insurance? A major consideration in today's world. As others have mentioned, if your other assets are sufficient, those not-so-incidental expenses could be covered. But what about long term care?

We have a combination of 'term' and 'whole life'. It is really there for the surviving spouse more than the children's inheritance. The term life insurance is there to cover the mortgage, and any large debt, in case of one spouse dying. The whole life is expensive right now, but will sustain itself eventually, and can even be cashed in if necessary. In Canada, if one spouse dies, the surviving spouse does not continue to receive their combined old age pensions. That can cause a serious financial issue. Unless the partners have a 'death pact' or are financially very well off, insurance is going to be necessary to help the surviving spouse maintain lifestyle, and possibly pay for assisted living at some point.

Before you cancel your insurance, remember that it is easier to modify (switch some over to whole life) or get more, when you already have insurance, than it is to re-qualify. And for those of you with term insurance, that is coming up to an anniversary, if your rates are suddenly skyrocketing because of your age, ask to re-qualify for a better rate. That means that you have to take all the blood/medical tests again. It worked for me and my new premium was lowered, but because of DH's medical history in the last several years, we just accepted his larger premium. If he had requested to re-qualify, the insuring company could have dropped him.

We are both in our 70's and don't have life ins. Our assets are specified as P.O.D. and would cover funeral expense and other misc. bills till estate is settled. I would save the $175/mo in an account to help with those items. I guess it all depends on your financial situation. I personally thing life ins. is a rip off after the kids are raised unless there is NO kind of income for surviving spouse. I'm sure an insurance salesman would give you an entirely different perspective!

DH and I went to a financial planner not long after we got married. The advice we followed has saved up thousand of dollars. We took the highest life insurance offered at our jobs when the kids were home. We started a modest 401k then too. One for him and one for me. 401k is now more then any insurance pay off we had. Insurance payments were worth it when the kids were home for peace of mind.