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I am 27 now but my parents did have a 10k policy on my when I was a kiddo.
Again, like others, the idea is to cover funeral expenses, expenses that may have incurred during the death and the ability to have bit of income if each needed to take a small amount of time off work.
One thing to think about with the work policies people have on their kids, if you leave your job, you no longer have that policy. What if you leave your job to stay home with your child that is going through cancer treatment? They can't get life insurance any longer. It is worth buying their own policy just for that reason.
When I was quoting my own life insurance, they offered to add life insurance policies for my kids for a few dollars a month. The pitch was that at the end of the term (20 years) they would be able to insure their own life for $50K, no question asked. I was wondering how widespread is people insuring lives of their children?
Oh, and their life insurance value now would be $5,000. I'm not sure even if that would be an appropriate amount. Nor am I sure that $50K at 25 years old is an appropriate amount, neither.
I think it's a pretty good idea actually. My wife passed away last year and her life insurance helped A LOT with lingering medical costs and other expenses. This year with my benefits selection I jacked up the amount on my kids to the max KNOWING that if something happened to one of them I'd need some leave of absence time.
You can blow through 5k pretty fast, especially if you have a major medical plan (My annual deductible is 8k) plus funeral costs can easily eat 5k. Throw in some therapist visits, or in my case I now have child care costs I didn't have before etc etc etc.
The option to buy more at older ages is NOT worthless....try to get life insurance if they turn up having early stage MS, cancer etc etc. look around it happens.
One thing to think about with the work policies people have on their kids, if you leave your job, you no longer have that policy. What if you leave your job to stay home with your child that is going through cancer treatment? They can't get life insurance any longer. It is worth buying their own policy just for that reason.
Bingo! Plus you have to requalify. I changed jobs after my wife first got cancer. If I'd had say...250k on her at the old place, she wouldn't have qualified to get more than the basic level (25k) at the new place.
It's really not very expensive...buy some term life from a reputable company, especially if you have kids.
I am glad to see only one person so far disagrees with this logic. How much you insure I think depends on your circumstances. My DH has a job with plenty of paid time off for stuff like this, so loss of income would not be an issue for us. We did 5k on both kids with 75k insurability for the future no questions asked. The 5k is just for funeral expenses and a few fees if incurred.
I know it was not asked but kind of fits the same way. We have 500k on me. Many people said that was way to much because I am a SAHM. We took it out when the kids were younger and it is a term policy that will end when the youngest is 15. We came up with the amount because of the hours that DH works we figured he would need the extra money to pay for child care, house cleaning, tutoring, yard work, and home repair. All stuff I do now that he would not have the time to do.
also one person made the comment that life ins is supposed to take your family through 2-5 yrs. That is not always the case. depends on your circumstances. Because I am a SAHM with only an associates degree and havent worked in 6 yrs, if DH were to pass away I could not make 60k a yr in 2 yrs to support our lifestyle. Therefore, We have purchased enough to take us through what would be my retirement age, plus a little extra for college expense for the kids. I would get a job that would only pay for our extras so that the kids could still enjoy pretty close to the lifestyle they have now.
We actually have about $100,000 on our kids, the reason being is they can buy more in the future (about 1,000,000 worth), no questions asked so if they become uninsurable they will be able to buy more to protect THEIR family some day should the need arise. No, they don't contribute to our finances but they will have their own some day. I just know too many kids that have developed diabetes or cancer that can't get life insurance and will never be able to protect their families in the future. Our plans are, heaven forbid we need to follow through on this, is to pay for final expenses and then start a scholarship fund. Their policies run about $50/month or so.
golfgal, is it $50 a month per child? And $100,000 coverage per each child?
One thing to think about with the work policies people have on their kids, if you leave your job, you no longer have that policy. What if you leave your job to stay home with your child that is going through cancer treatment? They can't get life insurance any longer. It is worth buying their own policy just for that reason.
Yes, it is not even a question for us since we are self-employed.
I think it's a pretty good idea actually. My wife passed away last year and her life insurance helped A LOT with lingering medical costs and other expenses. This year with my benefits selection I jacked up the amount on my kids to the max KNOWING that if something happened to one of them I'd need some leave of absence time.
You can blow through 5k pretty fast, especially if you have a major medical plan (My annual deductible is 8k) plus funeral costs can easily eat 5k. Throw in some therapist visits, or in my case I now have child care costs I didn't have before etc etc etc.
The option to buy more at older ages is NOT worthless....try to get life insurance if they turn up having early stage MS, cancer etc etc. look around it happens.
Sorry to hear about your wife, Mathguy. I hope you are managing OK.
I don't think if you already have early stages of cancer or MS you could qualify? (children, I mean)?
I started to look at higher coverage for my daughter, this current company has a $30,000 raider with 10 times convertible at age 20 ($300,000). The raider's rate is $16 a month.
You can also take out a separate life insurance on your kid, not attached to yours, and it's a flat rate for as long as they live. The current rate for a 5 year old child for $500,000 coverage is $88.
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