give me your best tips about the process. What information should we go to the meeting with to make it easier?
What should DH and I talk about before the meeting? Besides decide on whole vs term?
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I would at least have an idea of how much you want and how much you're willing to spend.
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Oo, wall me what you find out! DH has a policy going (before we met), but I've always just assumed I have something from work and never really looked into it..
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@snowjewelz: bahaha our meeting is Saturday. I'll give you The deets.
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@regberadaisy: Man, coming in this morning and read about all this will/life insurance stuff really stressed out out!
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Second having an idea about what you want for coverage.
The one and only time we met with a life insurance agent the guy was telling us we NEEDED x amount of $, which was way more than we were comfortable with as far as paying for it. I was so turned off we didn't get anything and will meet with someone else. Dont' let them talk you into getting more than you want.
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Thirding? how much you need.
when we first got ours I thought we had so much but with me having been a SAHM (albeit I could work for family and have an immediate decent paying job if I moved) we'd need way more for us to get our new life set up if dh were gone. Now that we have two even dh realized he would need more. We still probably didn't get what an agent would tell us but we didn't need to meet with anyone because it was through dh's work and they just mailed out the info.
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Do you have a strong short term disability policy also? Maybe bring that up as well (if they manage those). I think the likelihood of needing to use short term or long term disability is higher than life insurance in the long run. DH has a strong life insurance and std/ltd policy.
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I agree with above that I would have an estimate on how much coverage you'll need and how long you think you'll need it. We decided that we only needed coverage until our son is on his own, knowing we can always change this if situations change. And we went with 4 years salary (my company already covers 1 year, so we bought 3 years worth of salary). We figured that would give the other person enough time to readjust life
Also think about long-term disability, which you're much more likely to actually use.
I would also read up on whole vs term life insurance. As someone who got talked into a whole plan that wasn't a good plan for me, I wish I had known that many insurance agents push whole life because it makes them more money. Whole life can be beneficial in some circumstances, especially if you are wealthy and are already completely maxing out both your Roth, 401k and HSA. But for most people, term is going to be a better bet. And, you can always consider converting your term into whole later in life when it might be more appropriate.
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I'm going through this process, and I found the term policies more affordable than I originally thought, and am more comfortable getting a larger policy. I would decide the min amount, and the max amount you need, and then figure out the practicable, safe comfortable amount (which would be something in between min/max amount). Get quotes for everything.
Also, ask them about how long it would take to payout, and what their accelerated death benefit is (if any). Ask them to explain the whole thing to you. From what I gathered, a lot of insurance companies have it, but different companies have different amounts.
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I think it's really about figuring how much you would need if the other were to pass. What would you need to cover your mortgage and living expenses? That's the amount of the policy you "need".
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@Pumpkin Pie: what do you mean about accelerated death payout?
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I heard some insurance companies take a long time to payout the benefit. If the policy holder passes away, you want to be able to receive that money asap, not in 3 months. So, you could ask them how long it takes to process that.
The agent I spoke to also said some also have the accelerated death benefit, which means that if the policy holder had a terminal illness, you can receive a certain percentage of the benefit while the person is still living.
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Whole life is not worth it, get a term policy.
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@regberadaisy: You should also ask about financial strength of the companies. You want them to be around to pay out if the need arises!
Your agent can also help steer you towards a company which will be more likely to approve at a good health rating depending on your individual health circumstances.
+1 on having an idea of how much coverage you'll need and for how long.
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@regberadaisy: I think the accelerated death benefit is when there's a terminal illness and you can get the payout before death.
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