How much life insurance do you carry?

[PsyopRanger]

I guess I am the only one with a lot of insurance or my salary is too low?

I only make around $70K/ year and currently have just over $1M of term between my military SGLI and another term policy. I pay around $50/month but that includes some coverage on my wife and kids as well.

I look at my age, my kids age, and my profession.

My purpose for life insurance is to provide for my family and pass on wealth.

I have strict rules on what and when to invest my proceeds if I die to help my wife and kids for the rest of their lives.

I also work in a high risk job and see the need for it more.

Here is another question:

How many FIRE recieved insurance or inheritance and used it to build on your FIRE?

 

[Helen]

I carry 5X my AI plus what ever else the Government kicks in. I will decrease this amount as our portfolio increases.

I carry more due to the fact that I can't marry my partner of 18 years. She would not be able to collect any social security benefits from my death.

In reading someone else's posts about being able to pick up $200k of insurance for less than $10 per month - I wonder if I should have price checked ... I just assumed I could get it through a group plan cheaper than going outside of work.

-helen

 

[laurence]

I guess I am the only one with a lot of insurance or my salary is too low?

I only make around $70K/ year and currently have just over $1M of term between my military SGLI and another term policy.  I pay around $50/month but that includes some coverage on my wife and kids as well.

I look at my age, my kids age, and my profession. 

My purpose for life insurance is to provide for my family and pass on wealth. 

I have strict rules on what and when to invest my proceeds if I die to help my wife and kids for the rest of their lives.

I also work in a high risk job and see the need for it more.

Here is another question:

How many FIRE recieved insurance or inheritance and used it to build on your FIRE? 

I think you have it right on, I am in a similar situation, make just a little bit more money, carry a little bit less in insurance, have a wife and 22 month old daughter to take care of. I don't know if many people use recieved insurance to build on FIRE, but I do know people who went from comfortable to near wealthy in their retirement due to inheritance. Here in San Diego, it's pretty common, since the aging parent will have probably paid off the house, then when they pass away the boomer kid gets half a mil from the sale of the home. A buddy of mine just had that happen a couple of months ago. Never a happy moment to lose a loved one, but it just moved his retirement date from 65 to 55! Also, it was his Grandfather-in-law, still alive, in his late 90's, but near the end at this point. So he sold his house and moved in with them to spend time with his two great-grandkids. A happy ending, IMHO.

 

[donheff]

I guess I am the only one with a lot of insurance or my salary is too low?

I only make around $70K/ year and currently have just over $1M of term between my military SGLI and another term policy. I pay around $50/month but that includes some coverage on my wife and kids as well.

DW and I each carried well over $1M in term insurance while I was working. The concept was that, if either of us died, the other could FIRE immediately if he or she so chose (loss of consort compensation, so to speak). Now that we are FI (and me RE) we dropped the insurance.

 

[macdaddy]

I think you have it right on, I am in a similar situation, make just a little bit more money, carry a little bit less in insurance, have a wife and 22 month old daughter to take care of. I don't know if many people use recieved insurance to build on FIRE, but I do know people who went from comfortable to near wealthy in their retirement due to inheritance. Here in San Diego, it's pretty common, since the aging parent will have probably paid off the house, then when they pass away the boomer kid gets half a mil from the sale of the home. A buddy of mine just had that happen a couple of months ago. Never a happy moment to lose a loved one, but it just moved his retirement date from 65 to 55! Also, it was his Grandfather-in-law, still alive, in his late 90's, but near the end at this point. So he sold his house and moved in with them to spend time with his two great-grandkids. A happy ending, IMHO.

Having grown up in San Diego, I have a lot of friends who will inherit 4 or 5 million due mostly to the inflated housing prices. They mostly are only children or have one sibling too, whereas their parents were one of five or six kids. I think the trend toward smaller families will do a lot to keep that wealth concentrated over time.

 

[Alex]

I think you have it right on, I am in a similar situation, make just a little bit more money, carry a little bit less in insurance, have a wife and 22 month old daughter to take care of. I don't know if many people use recieved insurance to build on FIRE, but I do know people who went from comfortable to near wealthy in their retirement due to inheritance. Here in San Diego, it's pretty common, since the aging parent will have probably paid off the house, then when they pass away the boomer kid gets half a mil from the sale of the home. A buddy of mine just had that happen a couple of months ago. Never a happy moment to lose a loved one, but it just moved his retirement date from 65 to 55! Also, it was his Grandfather-in-law, still alive, in his late 90's, but near the end at this point. So he sold his house and moved in with them to spend time with his two great-grandkids. A happy ending, IMHO.

Laurence, the DW an I both have 1 million term life policies. Once our net worth hits 1 million or more, we are dropping both polcies. I figure it is a only safety net in case one of us dies. Once your net worth hits a certain point- will you still carry any life insurance?

 

[laurence]

No, in fact that's why we got ten year term policies, 9 years from now when they run out we hope to have our net worth at a comfortable point. My work will still give me 3x annual salary, so that should be enough.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Just curious here...

Are all you active-duty military types absolutely sure that your life insurance will pay if you die in a war zone/combat/etc? I can't recall how it was when I was in. I just remember that widows often got nothing or close to it.

 

[PsyopRanger]

Just curious here...

Are all you active-duty military types absolutely sure that your life insurance will pay if you die in a war zone/combat/etc?  I can't recall how it was when I was in.  I just remember that widows often got nothing or close to it.

Yes

Our policies have no wartime, no aviation and no terrorism exclusions.

http://www.aafmaa.com/LifeInsurance/Eligibility.asp

 

[brewer12345]

Yes

Our policies have no wartime, no aviation and no terrorism exclusions.

http://www.aafmaa.com/LifeInsurance/Eligibility.asp

Ranger, I am curious: why deal with these guys instead of USAA?

 

[PsyopRanger]

Ranger, I am curious: why deal with these guys instead of USAA?

I got this policy before I jumped on board with USAA, haven't even compared rates?

Does USAA have better term?


Edit: Here is what USAA said when I tried to shop for Insurance:

Based on your data, we have no life insurance products available to meet your needs.

Not sure why?

 

[brewer12345]

Does USAA have better term?

They have a full range of policies and they are almost certainly a much better credit risk.

 

[Silhan]

I carry about 15x gross income.  I recently got my first real job after having been in school for nearly all my life.  I currently support my wife and son, have a good income, but no savings.  I figure that carrying this much insurance is the least I can do for my wife because she sacrificed a lot to put me through so much school.  Plus, it motivates me to be a very good husband because I want her to value my company more than the potential death benefit.

 

[FlowGirl]

Just curious here...

Are all you active-duty military types absolutely sure that your life insurance will pay if you die in a war zone/combat/etc?  I can't recall how it was when I was in.  I just remember that widows often got nothing or close to it.

Yes! The spouse has SGLI and Navy Mutual Aid. I thought they were cheaper for us than USAA, but I will check again.

 

[Nords]

Yes! The spouse has SGLI and Navy Mutual Aid.  I thought they were cheaper for us than USAA, but I will check again.

I don't think that anyone is cheaper than SGLI, but USAA is pretty competitive... I haven't used NMAA in decades.

 

[PsyopRanger]

Here's what I got from USAA:

Thank you for your inquiry. Unfortunately the USAA Life Insurance Company is not able to write new business for members that are residing in Italy due to licensing and compliance issues.

As long as your current coverage has no War Exclusion, I would recommend staying with that policy. Currently we have military underwriting limits based upon rank, and the maximum coverage we would have been able to offer you is $300,000.

 

[igsoy]

The poll has no specific category for 0x.

We have figured since our house was paid off we didn't really need any.
Had 1.5x through DH's work but he quit and we figure with no kids, the survivor would make it just fine with nest egg savings and cheaper cost of living for one person instead of two.