Life Insurance - Euless,TX

We just had a 10 year term run out, so we got a 20 year term this time and we each have 300,000. We have 2 children, and this amount of money would cover what we owe on the house and cars and would leave some to spare.

We have a 300,000 term life on my husband and I. We are big believers in Dave Ramsey and he believes that term is the way to go vs. whole life. Here is the link check out why:

http://www.daveramsey.com/etc/askdave/index.cfm?event=dsp...

Good luck

My husband has $500,000 and I have $250,000. My husband's policy has a child rider policy which more or less covers the funeral costs if something should happen to our little one (GOD FORBID!!!!). Our policies are through Zander which is endorsed by Dave Ramsey.

I just have what my job offers, I have 2 times my salary, and I have the max for each of my family members (husband, and kids) which is $10,000/each. Maybe when I get a little older I may get more, I know we don't know the time or day we'll die, however, I feel it's not going to be anytime soon.

Hi E.,

My husband is the State Farm agent in Roanoke. He can go over the pros and cons of term and whole life and also help you figure out how much coverage you and your family would need. You can reach is office at ###-###-#### if you would like to schedule someone to come out and talk to you.

E.,
Get Term and get it soon. It'll be cheap since you're young and cheaper if you don't smoke and are in good health.

A 20 year term plan will take you through college and that's what you'll need. We have $500k on my husband and $250k on me. That is a good amount but it's never enough.

My friend's husband died suddenly 4 years ago and she was able to stay a year in the house, keep the girls in college, and then needed to downsize. She still doesn't work as she has a son in high-school and focuses on him, so she's had enough to get by but not as much as she would've liked to feel really comfortable.

A funeral alone can cost $10k, so think about that and how much it would cost to pay off your house and start with that number and go up.

When we got our Term policies years ago I remember it being under $45 a month for the two of us. I know you add it up and think "wow, I'm spending $540 a year for something I won't use"... but it does happen. Death always happen, it's guaranteed, we just don't know when and the 20 year Term is your protection if it happens during the child raising years.

Hello E. - I used to be in the insurance business, and really liked it (unfortunately, I was not good at "closing"). I am a DEFINITE beliver in life insurance - several of my friends in CA (where I used to live) were widowed moms in their 30s, no life insurance, and their lives were HARD!! It can happen the other way, too, so the stay at home parent (if there is one) MUST have coverage to help the surviving parent take care of the little ones.

Life Insurance's chief goal is REPLACING the income of the parent that is no longer there. It's that simple. You want the maximum, because when you take that amount and invest it conservatively, idealy it will produce the income of the deceased parent.

Term life is perfectly fine and if your budget only allows for it, get it. Get the maximum if you can, because you CANNOT be over-insured. Life insurance companies will only give you coverage for what you are "worth" - 10-20x income, depending on your age/health/etc.

Whole life is ideal, but cost more because there is a cash building component to it (it's like life insurance with a bond fund attached). It can be used as an additional financial tool later in life that can maximize all the other things you're doing. A bit more complicated, but worth getting if you can afford it. A good company will have term insurance that you can "switch" to whole life at a later date when your budget allows, without getting a medical exam.

Find someone you can trust, and a company with good ratings (I worked with MassMutual - 150 years old, survived the great depression).

Take care!

Hi, E.! I've been an insurance agent for over 15 years (rest assured that I won't try to sell you anything, through, because I've been writing only health insurance for a year now) and I would love to offer you some advise.

Term is the way for your immediate needs, but it is good to go ahead and purchase a decent amount of Whole Life (if you can afford it) for the long term, after kids leave home, etc.

There are several factors invovled in determining if you have enough coverage. I would say, write down all of your debt (everything from the house to the credit cards and any relatives you owe), add $10,000 for final expenses (burial, med bills, etc), factor in 2-5 years of wages and that would be a good target (do the equation for both of you). If you cannot afford to purchase all of the coverage you think you need, purchase what ever you can.

I do recommend going with a company like, State Farm or Farmers because even if you agent moves, you can still go to one of their offices for help and not be stuck calling an 800 number in your time of grief.

Feel free to PM me if you have more specific questions. Like I said, I don't have an agenda and I don't even have anything to sell you (unless you need health insurance, lol). I would just love to help you fully understand you options/needs as Life Insurance is such an important thing for a family to have.

Best of Luck to you!

My hubby's company provides AD&D (accidental death) and he has a small term policy provided as well.

We are not big believers of life insurance, we believe in preparation which we have worked very hard at and been successfull. We put the $ that would be put into a life policy in strategic investments. Although, this market is driving us nuts right now, LOL, we can go through this storm.

IF we needed to purchase or supplement, we would go term.

E.,

I would talk to a family financial planner or buy a book on the topic of family planning/estate/financial planning.
As for the amount, it really depends on what you have and what you owe. You want there to be enough so that if something were to happen, all of your debts (home, credit cards, cars, etc) were paid off. Do you want to make sure there is some for college? You'd really have to look at it that way. If you were to pass, the government gives a death benefit to your kids, but that would just be a minimal amount to help them month to month. I would make sure that there is enough for them to not have to be responsible for a lot of extras. But again, I would talk to a financial planner about that. For instance, we owe 190K on our mortgage and have two car payments that total about 20K. We have one kiddo and one on the way. We would hope that if something bad were to happen, it would likely happen to one of us, not both. That one remaining parent would be able to work and help out. If something freakish happened and it were both my hubby and me that perished, then the kids would get both amounts. So ours happens to be $150K per person. We don't have any on the kids because we just didn't think that was a good idea. Anyway, we are not even 30 yet...so maybe around 35, we'll up that a little...just depends on your lifestyle and what kind of life you want the surviving spouse and kid/kids to have. Hope that helps a bit! I'm no financial planner!

Together my husband and I have $1 million. I can't remember how it's divided up between the both of us. We have the policy through his company as well as a term and another one where you build cash equity in it that you can pull out later for college expenses and such. Can't remember what it's called. Our financial advisor calculated how much we'd need. He figured how much we'd need to pay funeral expenses, pay off the house as well as any other debt, pay for college for each boy. Then, for my husband's figured how much he'd make until our kids started school and I returned to work and make up the difference in how much I bring in and he does. For me, he figured how much my husband would need for childcare as well as the other expenses I save the family by staying home. I hate thinking that way, but personally, if something happened to anyone of my family members, worrying about money would be the last thing I'd want to do.

For our kids, we have a $20K policy on each kid through my husband's work. Enough for funeral expenses and probably medical bills should something happen. Plus, I'll probably need extensive therapy should it happen.