Role of life insurance

[Outtahere]

Unfortunately Nords the wolves I'm referring to already know where he/we live, but on the other hand he knows which of his "friends" would be knocking at the door the day he croaks too.

 

[Brat]

Ah, I can see that most of you are young...

Establishing a trust and putting some belts/suspenders around it is wise when there are minor children or elderly adults. I have watched elderly adults forgit what they knew about money management. They can be as vulnerable as children to vultures. It is not a guy or gal issue.

 

[haha]

But being a woman I also understand how other women think and knowing my dh he could be taken advantage of quite easily.  So I think the argument works both ways, you have to do what's best for whom ever is left behind.  If they are unable or unwillng to deal with handling the nestegg then I see no reason not to leave something in place to assure they are taken care of.   I know if something happened to me the wolves would be knocking at the door.

So true. There was an old man in the neighborhood where I grew up. He was quite wealthy, and nobody's fool.
But when he was 86 he married an 18 year old girl. She was really pretty, but even horny 24 year old me knew enough to stay well out of her way. A few years later she was still pretty, but several million dollars richer. And still a low class whore.

When I went to church it was always fun to watch the single women in the congregation attack a new widower, especially one thought to be "eligible". Grief and loneliness, and sometimes a degree of longing to satisfy unmet yearnings from the prior relationship can make people do funny things.

Read your Jane Austen!

Ha

 

[laurence]

You know, if I'm a middle aged widower and some young hottie is throwing herself at me because I'm financially established, I'm not sure that's a bad deal. Still, I truly hope I'm never in that position, being that I met my wife when we were both very young and very poor has preserved a lot of innocence in our lives that I cherish. Filthy Lucre!

 

[SteveR]

You know, if I'm a middle aged widower and some young hottie is throwing herself at me because I'm financially established...  Filthy Lucre! 

Been there, done that, got the T shirt to prove it. It happens all the time to both widows and widowers. I have several close friends that have been widowed and many of the middle aged ones with a decent amount of financial resources have been targeted by the not so well off. Golddigging is alive and well.

Having some one throwing themselves at you when you are still mourning sucks.
You learn to be careful about people. I got lucky and found a really good woman and my experiences with "other types" was thankfully limited but educational.

 

[Brat]

It happens all the time to both widows and widowers.

Not only gold diggers, but some loose their ability to make sound financial decisions.  When my husband's family moved their mother to a care setting they found money stashed around her apartment.  Same thing when I had to help with my father.  They got to the point when writing a check was too complicated, would take cash out from the bank nearby for pocket money.  Those pockets got pretty full.

 

[Mr._johngalt]

Not only gold diggers, but some loose their ability to make sound financial decisions.  When my husband's family moved their mother to a care setting they found money stashed around her apartment.  Same thing when I had to help with my father.  They got to the point when writing a check was too complicated, would take cash out from the bank nearby for pocket money.  Those pockets got pretty full.

This is a common thing (stashing cash). My elderly father has cash
hidden everywhere. However, he can't remember where he put any of it. Some day, we'll have an "Easter Egg Hunt".
Should be interesting................

JG

 

[Outtahere]

Brat my friends mother is doing that, he has to sneak in the house to check her hiding spots, redeposit it so she can take it out again. We had another friend that did the easter egg hunt after her dad passed.

Also don't think there had to be a death to bring out the gold diggers, a divorce or even a separation will do it. My dh's son is separated from his wife, good looking, nice guy, nice house, great job... some little tart saw all this and thought she was going to latch on to him...thankfully he was smarter than her and showed her the door the other night. He learned a valuable lesson, one I'd been hinting at but he was not listening carefully enough to hear.

 

[Mr._johngalt]

Been there, done that, got the T shirt to prove it.  It happens all the time to both widows and widowers.  I have several close friends that have been widowed and many of the middle aged ones with a decent amount of financial resources have been targeted by the not so well off.  Golddigging is alive and well. 

Having some one throwing themselves at you when you are still mourning sucks.    
You learn to be careful about people.  I got lucky and found a really good woman and my experiences with "other types" was thankfully limited but educational.

DW and I married strictly for love.  Her net worth was close to zero
and mine was not much either.  We met through an internet
"Matchmaker" site.  She often says she wishes she had never bought
that "damn computer".  I wonder what she means by that?  

JG

 

[Mr._johngalt]

Brat my friends mother is doing that,  he has to sneak in the house to check her hiding spots, redeposit it so she can take it out again.  We had another friend that did the easter egg hunt after her dad passed.

Also don't think there had to be a death to bring out the gold diggers, a divorce or even a separation will do it.  My dh's son is separated from his wife, good looking, nice guy, nice house, great job... some little tart saw all this and thought she was going to latch on to him...thankfully he was smarter than her and showed her the door the other night.  He learned a valuable lesson, one I'd been hinting at but he was not listening carefully enough to hear.

I can't tell you the number of people I've known who divorce
or separate and jump right into dating. This has potential for disaster
written all over it. Courtship is fraught with problems anyway.
Go into it with your head already swimming in a stew of conflicts
and questions?? Man, it's just asking for trouble IMHO.

Hey, that was a hell of a good metaphor. Do NOT try this at home.

JG

 

[Martha]

So what are you going to do to protect yourself from yourself when you might become less competent? Rely on your kids to figure it out? What if you have no kids?

I am not sure I would want to have a trust controlled by a third party trustee while my spouse and I are still living.

The problem is that incompetence sneaks up on you.

 

[SteveR]

So what are you going to do to protect yourself from yourself when you might become less competent?  Rely on your kids to figure it out?  What if you have no kids? 

I am not sure I would want to have a trust controlled by a third party trustee while my spouse and I are still living. 

The problem is that incompetence sneaks up on you.

It can also hit you quite quickly too. A worse case scenario would be Greg is injured (frying pan to the head, etc) and is made incompetent and is institutionalized. You are injured in an automobile accident and are killed or incapacitated to make discisions for either of you.

Who would you trust to follow your wishe? A third party is sometimes the ONLY option to people with no family or who live a long way from family or friends that could help.

We named several family members and then close friends in a defined order of authority in our trusts to address this. Only when we run out of family would we have to resort to a third party and by then, who really cares what happens?

 

[greg]

Go into it with your head already swimming in a stew of conflicts
and questions?? Man, it's just asking for trouble IMHO.

Hey, that was a hell of a good metaphor. Do NOT try this at home.

JG

JG-head stew? I don't think so.

 

[Mr._johngalt]

The problem is that incompetence sneaks up on you.

Yep, one day you're the "cock of the walk" and before you know it.................................oh, you said "incompetence".

JG

 

[mark]

One good thing about variable universal life insurance is that, in some states, the cash value is protected from creditors.

You have to buy low load, keep the policy in force, "borrow" from the cash value in later years, and hold it to death to make it worth the costs.


http://www.consumerfed.org/pdfs/VULReport0203.pdf

 

[SteveR]

Yep, one day you're the "cock of the walk" and before you know it.................................oh, you said "incompetence". 

JG

Thats OK JG.
A little wheat bread and Viagra should fix you right up.

 

[cabbage]

When my dad was 50 years old, he dropped dead of a pulmonary embolism while working. He did not believe in leaving any life insurance because he believed another man would spend it. As a result of that dangerous thinking my uneducated, untrained mother was plunged into a financial chaos that continues 32 years later. She was forced to move from beautiful new home (with no equity of course) to an apartment and then to a trailer park. Thanks to Hurricane Francis the next move was into an in-law suite in my home. She gets $718 a month in Social Security. Think about living on that meager sum. If you love the woman enough to have married her please consider her life without you.

 

[REWahoo]

An article at Marketwatch.com offers some advice to retirees on the need for life insurance. No surprise, the answer is "it depends". The article says you may need it if:

1) You have a mortgage or large debt to pay off.

2) You have survivors -- a spouse, children, grandchildren -- with special needs.

3) You will face a significant state or federal death tax when you die or your surviving spouse dies.

4) You'd like to leave a legacy to your favorite charity.

5) You anticipate needing a home health aide, an assisted-living facility or a nursing home and you don't have the funds to pay for such care. ... consider using the cash value in [your] life insurance policy to pay the bills.

6) You want to help a business partner buy a retiree out. In those cases, the retiree should make sure the business partner owns the life insurance policy.

http://tinyurl.com/8wtrd

 

[JPatrick]

I have no idea what she means.  Maybe someone else can help with this one   

 

[Jarhead*]

I have no idea what she means.  Maybe someone else can help with this one   

I have no idea either. ReWahoo, you're the moderator, perhaps you will consider arranging for a poll, to get to the bottom of this. (Somebody must know).!

 

[JPatrick]

I have no idea either.  ReWahoo, you're the moderator, perhaps you will consider arranging for a poll, to get to the bottom of this.  (Somebody must know).!

Yep, it's going to take a real geek to figure this out.
Shoot, it could be a problem with the "hard drive", it maybe doesn't boot up at all, or maybe it crashes right in the middle of something important.  Like I say, this is serious geek work. 

 

[REWahoo]

Yep, it's going to take a real geek to figure this out.
Shoot, it could be a problem with the "hard drive", it maybe doesn't boot up at all, or maybe it crashes right in the middle of something important. Like I say, this is serious geek work.

Since I don't fit either requirement (I am definitely not serious nor am I a geek), I'm not the right candidate for the job. Not sure anyone on this board is willing to take this task on as it looks to be a huge undertaking and lots of w*ork.

My recommendation is for JG to eat some wheat bread and call ex-Jarhead if symptoms persist.

 

[justin]

An article at Marketwatch.com offers some advice to retirees on the need for life insurance. No surprise, the answer is "it depends". The article says you may need it if:

...

5) You anticipate needing a home health aide, an assisted-living facility or a nursing home and you don't have the funds to pay for such care. ... consider using the cash value in [your] life insurance policy to pay the bills.

Long term care insurance? Seems a lot cheaper than buying a whole life policy just to have the funds available for paying for long term care. I'd buy term life, LTC insurance, and pocket the bags-o-money you'll save. Otherwise, good article. Like so many things, the life insurance question is best answered with "it depends".

 

[brewer12345]

Long term care insurance?  Seems a lot cheaper than buying a whole life policy just to have the funds available for paying for long term care.  I'd buy term life, LTC insurance, and pocket the bags-o-money you'll save.  Otherwise, good article.  Like so many things, the life insurance question is best answered with "it depends".

I'd think twice (or more) before buying LTC insurance.

 

[justin]

I'd think twice (or more) before buying LTC insurance.

I would too. Given the cost, it doesn't seem like such a good deal. But faced with the alternative of paying for whole life insurance, the cash value of which will fund your long-term care needs, versus paying for term life and a separate LTC policy, I'd have to imagine the latter is more cost effective. For someone with a high net worth, "none of the above" may be the right choice.