I just got an update from The Bump for 23 weeks - they mention updating your life insurance policy.
I don't have one and never have. It seems like another bill to pay and while I understand what it's for, I'm not sure our budget can handle it.
Where do you stand on life insurance?
43 votes
blogger / pineapple / 12381 posts
I think it is important to have life insurance until your savings is substantial enough to not need it. We wanted our little ones to have the same advantages in life that they'd have if we were here with them with a little extra for having to endure the disadvantage of growing up without a parent(s).
GOLD / pineapple / 12662 posts
We both have life insurance, and consider it to be essential. With regard to the cost, keep in mind that the younger you are, the cheaper the premiums will be, so in terms of planning, sooner is better rather than later.
persimmon / 1453 posts
We both have life insurance. I only have a little bit at this point, but DH has a LOT (it's not a strain on our finances, either...probably only a couple hundred or so a month). It's very important to him that I have something to cover a mortgage, bills, etc. if something should happen to him.
GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22646 posts
We both have life insurance through work at minimal cost and private perosonal policies both term and whole life. DH has a lot and is pretty much covered through infinity. I'd like to add more, but will have to wait 'til after L&D.
We both consider it essential and honestly, the older you get the more expensive it gets!
kiwi / 553 posts
@Mrs. Jacks: We definitely want to give our boys the life they deserve whether or not we are able to share it with them.
@MsLipGloss: I guess because my parents didn't have it, it wasn't made out to be something essential to me. I wonder how being pregnant will affect the premiums...
@Minnie_Girl: Currently, I'm out of work so a couple hundred would be a bit tough. I have to see what we can work out!
@mrsjyw: I agree about older = more expensive. I'm 25 so hopefully my premiums won't be too bad!
GOLD / wonderful olive / 19030 posts
We both have life insurance, we got it right after we got married, it was important to us that if somethign were to happen to the other person, that we wouldn't be leaving a lot of debt (student loans, house, ect.) to the other person. With a baby on the way it is even more important to us to have the security knowing the other wouldn't struggle.
coconut / 8681 posts
We both have life insurance. It was something that we did right before we got married because DH wanted to make sure that I was taken care of in case something happened. It's even more important to him now that I'm pregnant because I'm planning on staying home after this baby is born and if something were to happen to him while I was not working I'd probably lose our house, etc before I would be able to find work.
wonderful olive / 19353 posts
I have life insurance paid for by my work, but personally, the hubby and I do not have life insurance. We are both capable of working and earning income so we didn't see the need for the additional expense. However, once we have kids, we will definitely be purchasing life insurance for the both of us.
nectarine / 2797 posts
I have a policy through my job, but despite my repeated nagging, DH hasn't set up a policy for himself yet. He better get on it soon!
blogger / pomelo / 5361 posts
@Mrs. Jacks: This is exactly how I feel.
At some point, when we have a substantial amount of savings and investments, we'll scale back our life insurance or cancel it completely. But, right now, we want to make sure that if either of us were to pass away that all our obligations would be taken care of and that we would have a substantial amount for our children's support, college, etc. I don't worry about who would take care of our future kids if something happened to both of us, but we wouldn't want them to have an huge added financial burden or for our kids to miss out on things because we did plan for the worst.
GOLD / squash / 13464 posts
We both have life insurance. Hubs' is pretty substantial.. mine is less so. We will probably increase my amount once the baby arrives. We both consider it to be essential.
At a young age getting a 20 year term policy would really be very affordable so I do suggest you look in to it.
coconut / 8299 posts
We both have life insurance paid for through our work. We also pay a supplemental one to increase the coverage.
blogger / pomelo / 5361 posts
As for cost, we both have some insurance through work that we pay a super low amount for, and I have an additional $200,000 policy that costs somewhere around $80 every 6 months. Shop around because, depending on the type, you can have a decent sized policy without huge premiums.
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
We both have life insurance through work and got separate plans outside of work that offer more coverage. We both feel that if something were to happen to one of us, our daughter deserves to have the life we had planned on giving her, not the life we can now afford because one of her parents is gone.
It's not a fun thing to think about but it is SO important!
eggplant / 11824 posts
We both have life insurance paid by our employers which is 2x our annual salaries; each. My husband also has an additional life insurance plan. He’s had it for a long time, and it’s built up quite a bit of “value”, so if we ever run into really hard times we could borrow against it. It would certainly be a last resort sort of borrowing, but it gives an additional peace of mind to know it’s there, just in case.
grapefruit / 4554 posts
I've had a policy since I was a teenager- my mom was proactive and signed us all up for one. DH is in the process of getting one.
persimmon / 1453 posts
@Shimmer: Keep in mind that that number is based on having four different life insurance policies, and would not be indicative of what you pay.
Also, the average funeral costs 6K or more, so life insurance is nice if only to cover that blow!
hostess / wonderful grape / 20803 posts
I have a policy through work - but we are working on getting private life ins. set up - literally as we speak and hopefully before baby arrives.
GOLD / kiwi / 613 posts
We have enough to cover debts and our mortgage. We need to up it, though, to give our daughter a little bit of a hand-up, just in case something would happen to either one of us.
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
We're in the process of reassessing our coverage. I used to have one through my employer, but would like some private insurance now as I am not sure when I will return to work.
pomegranate / 3225 posts
We just got this last year when we started ttc.
It was a scary subject to bring up, but now I'm glad we have it.
We got 30 year coverage for DH and 20 years for me. We didn't get a large amount of coverage, just enough for the mortgage, etc, and it is really pretty affordable.
kiwi / 553 posts
Wow, thanks for the input everyone!
I put a call into a rep for Metlife that we met with a few months ago. We're going to proceed right now with my life insurance (should be around $50-60 per month for mine) before the babies come and then add DH's afterwards... or we'll do both of ours just from the get go if it's affordable. Either way, I'll end up with life insurance sooner rather than later!
We want to make sure our boys have the best life possible if we can't be part of it in the event of our deaths. Morbid, but it's reality!
bananas / 9118 posts
Our financial planner helped us set up a life insurance plan that we put money into and eventually can stop and use a portion of that money into retirement or education where we need it. I don't really know the details beyond that, but we had to go through physicals and choose the best options for covering our expenses.
pomegranate / 3716 posts
Neither of us have it, but I know it's important and we need it! I just find it so confusing...
I've been told that Term Life insurance is all we need, and that's good for a certain amount of time. But my big question is - what happens after the 20, 30 year term is over?? Do you no longer have life insurance and is it harder to obtain a new policy when you are 50, 60 years old??
nectarine / 2163 posts
I voted for neither of us have it... But we're in the process of looking into it to get him at least covered, we're still debating as to whether to get me some coverage as well. My premiums would likely be lower because I'm only 22.
We're thinking of buying a house soon also, and I don't know how it is in the US, but in NZ the banks wont give you a mortgage unless you have life insurance that covers at least your full mortgage. So we're going to have to get something eventually 
GOLD / wonderful grape / 20289 posts
I don't, I don't work. But DH does, he gets it through work.
kiwi / 553 posts
@sweetchic: From what was explained to us, term life insurance is exactly that: just for the term that you've chosen. So after the 10/20/30 year term that you've chosen, you no longer have life insurance - unless you opt to extend it. We were told that as time goes on, we can roll some of our coverage into whole life insurance, which gets you a payout at the end. Whole life insurance is a lot more expensive (in premiums) and usually isn't recommended for young people (according to our rep). And age is definitely a factor in obtaining life insurance and what the premiums are. It is very confusing!
pomegranate / 3716 posts
@Shimmer: Thanks for the explanation!
Actually, my husbad HAD whole life insurance which his parents had previously arranged for him when he was younger, but we were paying ridiculous premiums (like $700/yr for only a $100K policy). So we cancelled that a few years ago and haven't replaced it. Definitely need to do so soon!
| Today | Monthly Record | |
|---|---|---|
| Topics | 0 | 1 |
| Posts | 1 | 1 |
Ask for Help
Make a Suggestion
Frequently Asked Questions
Bee Levels
Acronyms
Most Viewed Posts
Hellobee Gold
Hellobee Recipes
Hellobee Features
Hellobee Contests
Baby-led Weaning
Bento Boxes
Breastfeeding
Newborn Essentials
Parties
Postpartum Care Essentials
Sensory Play Activities
Sleep Training
Starting Solids Gear
Transitioning to Toddler Bed
All Series
Who We Are
About the Bloggers
About the Hostesses
Contributing Bloggers
Apply to Blog
Apply to Hostess
Submit a Guest Blog
Hellobee Buttons
How We Make Money
Community Policies
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite0
30 comments