The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
Life Insurance: I need it
Crashtard
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I'm getting married in January, and having accrued about 30 grand in student loan debt I thought that I should get some life insurance in case of my untimely demise. There are a lot of companies out there, and I wanted to see if any of you are dealing with any and what your experience with them has been. I don't need much, probably 75-100 thousand would be lots.
Crashtard on
0
This discussion has been closed.
Posts
The rest of stuff gets weighed against by your estate, and I think loans/debt only apply to your S/O if she's cosigned on them. A lawyer would be able to tell you better.
So if you have $40,000 in loans and you have an estate of $35,000 -- $5,000 of that just gets absorbed by the company and really can't be claimed by your family (unless you're in one of those shared equity states where they let it go after your S/O). Again, a lawyer would probably be able to tell you more.
CoJo is probably the best guy to give advice here. Hopefully he shows up.
Well I am sure Bob from accounting will help her with all of her needs after the op dies.
Seriously though I would also check with work or health care some of them actually insure you for a certain amount. I know I signed over something to my sister (only person in my family who may "need" help even if she is actually the most financially responsible.
Life insurance proceeds are owed to the beneficiary, and usually aren't part of the deceased's estate as a result. I'm not sure what the effect of joint savings/life insurance plans ("term life insurance") are in terms of how the "savings" portion is disposed of.
At 26 I'm assuming that any money I pay into SS is simply money that's gone forever. I figure 100k in insurance ought to cover everything and give her enough to take some time off. I'm also planning on not dying, so hopefully it's not a problem.
One catch with this: A common clause in wills and testamentary trusts actually states that the personal representative/trustee can't require the beneficiary to use the life insurance to pay final expenses, in which cases the estate can be required to reimburse that money if it is used - in some states, the representative/trustee can be held responsible. Also, in some states, if the estate can cover the funeral cost, the beneficiary is entitled to keep the insurance unless the will states it has to be used.
If you don't have a will, get one written up, even if you don't have anything worth leaving. You can include things you don't own in your will with statements such as "any real estate I own at the time of my death," which can prevent you having to rewrite it when you buy a house. Estate planners often charge about $200 for this, but if you have a lawyer write it up, read the entire text in careful detail before you sign it and avoid pitfalls like what I listed above in regards to life insurance.
Edit: MAKE SURE to get whole life coverage at your age. You probably don't need $100k worth, a cheap funeral will run about $5000, but allow more for possible medical expenses at least - together, my parents' funerals totaled about $15k last year. You can buy a casket, vault, and cemetery plot years ahead of time and eliminate a lot of hassle for your family, as well as save a good bit of money, but unless you're reasonably sure you'll be living in state the rest of your life, I'd leave that alone for now. You can even get a family headstone engraved with your name and birth year, and add your children as they're born if you want to be a bit morbid about things.
At the place I work right now I have no benefits whatsover besides a 401k. I'm moving to the D.C. area in January, and probably when I get a job there the benefits will be much better. I'm in Michigan right now, and benefits are usually the first thing to go.
I'm not too worried about this. She would be the sole beneficiary and trustee, but it's certainly good information to have.
gah... definitely check with your new job then. I think I can get about 200k life insurance for about 5 bucks a month or so. However, since I will never die, I see no need to put in the outlay for that.
Basically, at your age, the chances of you dying are really low (assuming you don't have any health issues or work in a dangerous job). Life insurance is a waste of money at this point.
Rigorous Scholarship
Not necessarily true -- everyone's situation is different. My wife and I preferred to get term life insurance now, while we're young, and have debt that needs to be paid off if one of us die (mortgage, car, etc). When the term is up in 25 years, we'll have paid off most if not all of our debt, and will have had time to build up a nest egg and an emergency fund, making life insurance relatively moot. Everyone's gonna die (except Sentry, apparently). If you die tomorrow, you want insurance. If you die later, once you've had time in your life to build up some cash, it's not necessarily as important.
Talk to your fiancee, and figure out what makes sense for your particular situation.