Term life for a geezer?

[Khan]

Now that I am going to be living with someone I am considering term life insurance so people won't grieve too much.

Just an idea floating around.

Am looking at $150K, 15 years, $78/month.

Opinions, suggestions?

 

[ChiliPepr]

why? does the person you are living with (or someone else) depend on you and would need the money?

I am 49 and have never had any sort of life insurance that was not provided as a benefit of a company I worked at. If I died, I could pay all my bills and nobody is depending on my income.

 

[Khan]

Considering supporting him in the style to which he has become accustomed.
As I said, still an idea.
I do have LTC insurance, wondering if to keep.

 

[Al in Ohio]

If you're retired and don't earn wages life insurance has no purpose. I think you are misinterpreting why people need life insurance.

 

[IlliniProgrammer]

Yeah. The purpose of life insurance is to replace your wages when you die so people who depend on your wages do not have to suffer.

So here is my suggestion on life insurance:

1.) If you died, how much income would go away?
2.) How much income does this person really need to be supported?

But I think there *could* be a simpler solution here. Is this person an adult? Is he in a position to support himself and manage his own finances on his own right now? If the person is able to be self-sufficient, but isn't right now, could it make more sense to focus on that rather than life insurance?

 

[Khan]

I pull in ~$4K/month; half of that dies with me (unless we get married).
He's on a smaller pension.

 

[imoldernu]

Try this site for a discussion...
What's wrong with using insurance as an investment? - Ultimate Guide to Retirement

Not always a bad idea, as we see from the many murder mystery movies.


I thought about it, but a fear of galloping inflation changed my mind. The other thing that always made me wonder, is why it wouldn't be a good idea to buy insurance on another person, as an investment.
Maybe a matter of doing a statistical analysis to compare insurance costs with the chances of winning the lottery?

Will keep an eye on this thread to see consensus and decision.

.... and re: LTC... With 22 years of payment into our policies, figure that the investment is now worth keeping, but with anything less, no... If I knew then, what I know now, wouldn't have bought.

 

[meekie]

Getting married might be the cheaper if that's an option for you.

 

[haha]

Have you considered buying a bus ticket to another city?

 

[bbbamI]

Perhaps when you move in, you can pay a larger portion of the bills and he can save more of his money. Then later on you can choose whether or not to get a policy.

As far as the LTC insurance goes, it might be a good idea to see how things work out between the two of you before you cancel. I don't know anything about this type of insurance.... If you canceled now and wanted it later, would you be able to get it at the same price and coverage?

 

[IlliniProgrammer]

Ok. I think I get your situation.

If you are that invested in this guy that you'd worry what would happen if you discovered your more spiritual self, it may be time to think about the M word. Especially when there's a huge, free financial benefit to it. (he gets your pension benefits when you die.)

You may have other heirs. You can protect them with a prenup, a will, and a good lawyer.

Your decision to marry or not isn't our business, but the one financial reason to say no to marriage is that this guy may be a flake or a spendthrift. In which case, $78/month is money well spent to stay not married. $78/month may be money well spent to stay not married for non-financial reasons, too.

If you called up several different companies and this was the best price you got on a term life policy, this may be the best price out there.

I would not cancel LTC insurance.

 

[Moemg]

Considering supporting him in the style to which he has become accustomed.
As I said, still an idea.
I do have LTC insurance, wondering if to keep.

Keep The LTC insurance !

 

[Cheesehead]

I believe in a lot of life insurance but not for the reasons mentioned above. We are ineligible for LTC. My idea is if one of use needs extended care in a nursing home we can use our savings then when that person passes away we will be "reimbursed" by the life insurance policy.

Can anyone poke holes in that idea? I am 60, DW is 57. We have $750K & $500K respectively, at least for about 5 more years.