Questions tagged [life-insurance]

to be used for questions related to life insurance.

184 questions
167
votes
16 answers

For very high-net worth individuals, does it make sense to not have insurance?

Various types of insurance (health, car, life) protect you from relatively low probability but very expensive events in life (cancer, serious car accident, etc.) For the average person, it makes sense to have these kinds of insurance, because we…
minou
  • 7,653
  • 4
  • 22
  • 39
53
votes
6 answers

Life insurance that covers only simultaneous/dual deaths

This is probably a stupid idea ... My wife and I both make decent salaries. We believe that either of us could raise our child on a single income if the other passed away. If both of us passed away, our current assets would not provide for our…
StrongBad
  • 1,153
  • 9
  • 21
46
votes
7 answers

Is life insurance a financially sound safety net?

I'm the sole provider of a household of two - myself and my wife. I make enough to keep us both afloat, with a sizeable chunk of luxury on the side. For practical numbers, I am a month away from paying off a student loan (less than $600…
Zibbobz
  • 4,384
  • 4
  • 35
  • 48
41
votes
4 answers

Will my children owe taxes on my life insurance proceeds?

I had always thought that life insurance proceeds were not treated as taxable income. From IRS publication 525: Life insurance proceeds paid to you because of the death of the insured person are not taxable unless the policy was turned over to you…
Portman
  • 506
  • 4
  • 11
41
votes
9 answers

Why would a life-insurance company agree to a 20-year guaranteed life annuity which is expected to pay out more than the principal?

I'm working through a paper on lifetime annuties, and in the paper, the following example is presented: With an initial purchase of $100,000, and a guarantee period of 20 years, an 80 year-old female would receive an estimated monthly payment of…
Andrew Harris
  • 411
  • 1
  • 4
  • 3
33
votes
4 answers

How much life insurance do I need?

What is the best way to determine how much life insurance I need?
travis
33
votes
9 answers

Life insurance as a lottery ticket

Suppose spouse1 and spouse2, aged 55, and children aged 17 and 19. Both spouses purchased 20-year term life insurance 19 years ago. The insurance is no longer needed to support either spouse or children in the event of a spouses's death. The bill…
jsf80238
  • 441
  • 1
  • 4
  • 6
31
votes
3 answers

Is the "Bank on Yourself" a legitimate investment strategy, or a scam?

There seem to be a lot of advertisements by "Bank on Yourself", promising to show how you can invest in a certain type of life insurance policy. Is this really a legitimate investment strategy, or just another scam trying to sell information that…
Jeffrey
  • 1,636
  • 2
  • 15
  • 20
31
votes
7 answers

Do I need life insurance if I can cover my own funeral costs?

I'm fairly well off and could cover the cost of a funeral out of personal savings and investments. I'm also single, in my late 20s, and live alone. Unfortunately, my family (parents and siblings) aren't as well off as myself. They will receive all…
Steve
  • 311
  • 3
  • 3
28
votes
4 answers

Is it possible to get reverse life insurance?

So if you die the provider gets x amount from your estate but the provider pays you while you live? For arguments sake say I had a 1% chance to die in a given year I get £100 that year from a reverse insurance provider but if die in that year the…
red squirrel
  • 521
  • 1
  • 4
  • 8
27
votes
5 answers

How can life insurance possibly work as investment?

Every here and there I hear about the following investment option: There's an insurance company that is willing to take my money and hold it for some very long time (like 5 years or more) and then repay it together with some rather conservative…
sharptooth
  • 2,919
  • 2
  • 26
  • 31
26
votes
2 answers

Is it acceptable to not have term life insurance in my case?

Age: 42 Married No kids I'm currently the only source of household income. My wife doesn't work outside the home. However, that decision was by choice since my income easily supports the both of us. If I were to die tomorrow, we have enough short…
Kris Johnston
  • 363
  • 3
  • 7
25
votes
8 answers

Why do people take out life insurance on their children? Should I take out a policy on my child?

I've always found those flyers that the schools send home in September contemptible. But maybe I'm the one in the dark...? If the purpose of life insurance is to replace a wage-earner's income in case of death, why would anyone purchase a policy…
Nat_Rea
  • 8,713
  • 4
  • 39
  • 68
24
votes
4 answers

Should I purchase a whole life insurance policy? (I am close to retirement)

I am 65 and my wife is 59, we are planning to work until I am 70-72, and I plan to withdraw social security at 70. We have retirement savings of roughly $2,000,000 of which $1,600,000 is in mutual funds (mostly index funds) and $400,000 in TIAA…
per
  • 686
  • 5
  • 12
21
votes
2 answers

Is permanent life insurance necessary in retirement?

I have a salesman trying to convince me that permanent is a great option. What I can't wrap my head around is why I would want permanent life insurance in my old age if I have a retirement nest egg. If I passed away my spouse could live off the nest…
Wade Anderson
  • 371
  • 1
  • 5
1
2 3
12 13