Do you still have life insurance? What age did you stop?

Still carry 1 whole life policy for DW and 2 for me. The annual dividends are greater than the cost and the significant cash values continue to increase. We stopped paying premiums on these over 7 years ago and there would be taxable consequences if we cashed them in, so we just let them ride.
 
Got rid of my life and disability insurance when I retired.
 
I dumped life insurance when my youngest hit 18. By then the remaining mortgage was relatively low, my spouse had a descent paying job with good benefits, and the kids could work. We had money stashed for college expenses.
 
Carried 4 times salary term insurance though my employer until I was 50. The rates went up and my kids were grown so I dropped it to 2X salary.
DW passed away and I retired and have a whopping $10K policy as part of my retirement plan.
Never thought DW would go first. She only had the company spousal coverage that was free. Just about enough to cover funeral expenses.
 
Had employers insurance until retirement.
Our personal LI was cancelled about 2 years prior to retirement, kids out of the house and our pension death benefit before retirement was more than insurance would pay out.
 
We started our last term policies at age 45. They were 20 year term policies. The premiums were so small that we kept them until the term expired at age 65. The kids were successfully launched, DH was successfully retired and we had no debt.

The premiums were very expensive to continue the insurance past age 65. DH's cola-ed pension has a small death benefit.
 
I have a fear of dropping our term as well. 45 and 47 we've had it for 15 years out of 30. Dirt dirt cheap for how much we have. $1200 for DH for $4m and $180 for $500k on me. Outside of his work insurance. Had kids and we bought enough that I wouldn't have to work since i was SAHM and could figure things out.

But now i just sort of pay it because it's a security blanket (i know it's stupid). Maybe when we "retire" or the kids launch.
 
Yes but it's a company provided retirement benefit. Zero cost to me. My DW (or my next heir in line) gets it when I leave this world.
 
I'm in a similar NW ballpark as you. FIRE'd this year. During my working years, I carried a ton of employer-sponsored term life (in the millions) to guaranty much lower-earning wife would never have to worry. It was relatively cheap and I was making a significant enough income that cost seemed negligible. I also had a policy to fund a trust to take care of my (now deceased) mother if she were to outlive me and other portable term policies that I have been canceling bit-by-bit. I think I'm down to about $1M of term life. Totally not needed, but its a relatively cheap 20 year, level premium policy that will terminate in a couple years, so I'm just hanging onto it, just because (as in no good reason).

Wife and I both have whole life policies which now have aggregate low six-figure cash value and the dividends from those have grown to a point where they cover the insurance premiums, meaning there is no further cost to carrying the policies indefinitely. Not the best investment (in hindsight) but good to have now, as the cash value can be easily tapped and I regard as part of our liquid fixed income assets.
 
Not retired yet, but FI. Still have cheap term life insurance on myself and wife. $2M for me for $1k for another 9 years (a couple of years beyond my planned RE). I also have 3x annual salary through work. $1M for my DW for about the same cost expiring in four years. Would be enough for me to get all property mortgages paid off including home so I'd be able to RE early should she go early and same for DW should I expire.

Cheap enough to keep until they expire.
 
livingalmostlarge said:
I have a fear of dropping our term as well. 45 and 47 we've had it for 15 years out of 30. Dirt dirt cheap for how much we have. $1200 for DH for $4m and $180 for $500k on me. Outside of his work insurance. Had kids and we bought enough that I wouldn't have to work since i was SAHM and could figure things out.

But now i just sort of pay it because it's a security blanket (i know it's stupid). Maybe when we "retire" or the kids launch.
Click to expand...

A bargain...keep both until they expire.

Still have an ancient whole life policy on me from when I was a kid...too reasonable to drop.
 
When we were relatively young the family business instituted a buy-sell agreement that insured no family member would be able to sell their shares to anyone else and also, that if a share holder died, their shares would be purchased from their estate (according to the buy-sell agreement.)
The company bought life insurance policies on all the share holders to fund the agreement. It turned out that my younger sister passed at 40. The business was paid by the insurance company and paid her family for her shares (some money left over that went into the company coffers.)

When we decided to sell the business to the next generation I bought my insurance policy from the corporation because it seemed like a good deal (a policy that was not rated for a guy who would no longer qualify for insurance.)

At about the same time as the buy-sell, I bought life insurance for myself (not rated) because we anticipated a family and rates were cheap for a young guy with no "issues." I've kept that policy now that the kids are gone because (again) it's a pretty good bet that DW will collect a tidy sum from it before too long. It's sort of like going to Vegas and being told that instead of the house taking all the ties at the black jack table YOU take all the ties. (Or all three green zeros go to YOU and not the house!) Heh, heh, I'll probably never be able to tell you if it was a good idea or not. :cool:
 
Mom and Dad got conned into taking out a $5k whole-life policy on me when I was a toddler. About all I know is that the Guardian Life Insurance Co. used to send me a check for about $100 a year until interest rates took a swan drive. As an adult I've never sent them money but it appears that the cash-out value has gradually increased. It's not at $5k yet, but close. Hopefully when it hits that mark it's not a cue that I should drop dead.
 
DW and I (both 2nd marriage and all that entails) took out 20 yr Term policies at 47. Will let them expire as I assume drastic premium increase. They did their job.

Flieger
 
$200k 20-year term ($510 a year) ending just before 72. Obviously, the benefit for my spouse as I eat too much cheese.:)
 
Never had anything beyond what the employer provided. I guess I did pay for 3x salary for a while. I then realized how much the SS survivor benefits were. We no longer needed life insurance. I stopped paying for the 3x. Now that I retired, we do not need any life insurance.

We have no obligation to leave money to our children.
 
Gumby said:
I have a fully paid up whole life policy to provide for the young wife after I'm gone, since she doesn't get her own social security and will not get a survivor benefit due to the GPO. So when I go, the social security money stops entirely. If she takes the annuity payout it should cover the lost income.
Click to expand...
Yes. Ours are paid up and the owners of ours will be our son. Tax free money when we pass for him. No reason for us to cancel then will have to deal with the cashed in Ins.

Also, it is a cushion for wife if I go first.
 
I have level term insurance for $500k that I got 22 years ago. It will pay for my Portfolio Management skills if I pass first. If I pass second it will pay for capital gains taxes due in Canada on our portfolio. The fees are tax free as are the proceeds
 
As a career dual-earner couple with similar sized Social Security benefits awaiting us, we do indeed have term life insurance in place and plan to keep it.

The way SS security works is unlike most pensions. The surviving spouse gets to retain the higher of the two benefits, but the other one disappears. The life insurance would be to continue that income stream for the surviving spouse in that their expenses will likely go up (not down) after the death of the first spouse.

-gauss
 
I bought into the Whole Life story about 30 years ago when the kids were born. Supplemented with term. Policies were for both DW and I. We dropped the term when the kids launched, but have kept the whole life. As of this writing, the cash value is about seven figures -- and it's paid off. The current dividend is about 7%. Haven't done the math on what I paid in, but I'm sure they did and they're making money on me. However I like knowing everyone was and is taken care of. I consider it part of my investment portfolio. We received a nice payout when DW's mom passed. DW loves her new kitchen ;-).
 
We had insurance through our work, paid by employer at 1x salary....we bought one year additional. But when we FIREd, we let it lapse...as our net worth was enough that we didn't need it.

My dad bought whole life policies (burial policies) on each of us kids when we were 3 years old...and gave the policies to us at 18. I took the cash value when I was in my mid 20s...I don't like whole life.
 
jimbee said:
I dropped my term life insurance when I turned 50. The premium increased a lot, and I had enough savings that I didn't need it anymore.
Click to expand...
That's what I did as well. When net worth >> insurance it didn't seem useful to continue
 
I had a friend once who got very sick. He told his wife if he dies at home she was to drive his body to the office and drop him off there. His insurance paid off triple if he died at work. o_O
 
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