What type of Life Insurance is best ?

Question

What is Term the best type of life insurance to buy for parents with infant child? I want to make sure there is enough financial support available if something were to happen to me, ie child rearing, school, college..... any help is appreciated

Answer 1

Level term life insurance (20 or 30 year term) will give you the most protection for the least premium.

Answer 2

Term life insurance is best for you. Don't listen to insurance agents who will try to push you into Whole Life. It's almost always way more expensive in the long run.

Answer 3

Dear Rita,

You need to have whole of life Insurance that gives a nice comfortable income if they were to unexpectably "pass over"

say about $250,000 to $500,000 USD worth of cover, for young people, the premiums are not too high at all, its when you get past 40 that they go up, up and away out of reach! If you dont smoke and drink the premiums are even better! Check out somone like AIG ( American International Group) for life policies.

Take care.

Answer 4

Focus first on the amount.  If you focus on the type first, you might buy "all you could afford" which might be too little when the check shows up at your door.  Not that the type isn't important, but if you're dead, only the amount matters.

Also, consider setting up a trust for your child.  If you and the father both die and 1. leave money to your kid or 2. leave money in your estate, whoever gets custody of your child controls the money (think Anna Nicole).

Answer 5

A lot is going to depend on your situation.

To select appropriately you need to sit down and look at a long term plan for your life.  Look at events like when does your kid go to college and when will your mortgage be paid off.

People say term is the best because its cheapest.  However when you're older than 50 years old its cost becomes prohibitive.

If you're well off financially, I like participating universal life.  It costs more, but the amount of coverage can increase each year, and if the underlying investment portion does well it can pay its own premiums.  Also its permanent insurance, so after paying for it for 20 years its paid for.  You won't have to pay another premium and if you died at that point you'd be able to leave a good-sized inheritance to your family.

My wife and I took a mix and match approach and bought a 20 year first to die term life policy.  I also got an additional universal life policy on myself since I earn a lot more than my wife.

Answer 6

Term insurance is the best because you can get lots of coverage for low amount of premiums. Financial experts say you should get coverage of 8-12 times your annual income. If you make $30,000 in one year, then your coverage should be around $300,000. If you are looking to get life insurance on your children, you should add a child rider to your life policy. A child rider covers all children from age of 15 days to age 25 years old. If you are married, you should add a spouse rider to your life policy. You should not get individual life policies per person in your family. It is costly and it only benefits the agent more than you.

While term insurance is inexpensive, you should consider saving at least 10% of your annual income for retirement. Don't get any life insurance that builds savings. Insurance companies are only there to provide risk management against income loss. They are not a place to manage or save your money. You would go to a bank or an investment company to handle your money, not an insurance company.

If you think your kids are going to college in the future and you don't want them to take a student loan, you should consider opening a 529 plan, which is state government college savings program.

If you don't have a retirement plan yet, you should consider opening a Roth IRA and invest in mutual funds.

Answer 7

techie doesn't know what he is talking about. go with 20-30 level term.

Answer 8

A lot depends on your goals and what you can afford. Level term gives you the largest death benefit for the least amount of money, but since you are getting the policy at a young age, you have to ask yourself what will happen when the term is up and the policy expires. Term life advocates assume that your children will be grown and that your spouse can do fine on one income without insurance. But what if a surviving child or your spouse becomes disabled during the term? A disabled person might not be able to support himself or herself when you die. With a disabled adult child living at home, your spouse might not be able to meet all the expenses on his or her own. You might figure that you can get another term policy when the first one expires, but insurability is not guaranteed. If you gain weight or develop a serious illness, you might not be able to afford the higher premiums, or you might not be insurable at all. Even in ideal health, you will pay much more for term life over the age of 50 than you would earlier, erasing some or all of the savings realized during the term of the first policy. Permanent life insurance—such as whole life or universal life—will not expire and the payments will not go up based on the health, weight, or age of the insured. Permanent life insurance costs more initially, but it is a practical solution for consumers who worry about coverage and insurability later in life.