Am changing mine from 100 to 200 k. After my near death thing I want my Kathy to be covered. The waiver for racing is an extra $5 per thou. What are you carrying, if any? If you don't have a waiver/ amendment to your policy chances are you are not covered for a racing accident.
Term? Enough to pay off any debt plus a few years salary to help my wife get back on her feet. I want her to be able to keep the same standard of living, not to turn her into a rich sugar momma for some young dude after I'm gone
10 yr policy. Cant afford whole life. No investment, just cover my ass. And if my last life flight was any indication, I will never know WTF happens when I'm gone anyhoo. Still cant remember a thing about it. In fact, I believe I am deceased living in a parallel universe and this is CCS.
I just went through this and looking at all the options...term, whole, 20yr, 30yr....etc I decided if I pass, I want all debts paid and 10yrs income for my wife as we now have a 1yr old and I don't want her putting him in daycare to get a job to pay the bills. If she croaks, I need money to pay for daycare and schooling and supplement the services that my wife provides (easy on the jokes) until my son finishes college. That is just how I looked at it. I chose 20yr term for both of us...it is pretty cheap for up to 1M in coverage. Her premiums are half of mine.
Term, enough to pay off debts (to include the house) so that the wife, kid and soon to be kid do not have to change their standard of living. Her policy is the same since we both make about the same amount. I also have a long-term care disability policy in effect as well. Just in case riding one of these two wheeled things makes me an invalid at some point..... I don't have a short-term disability policy though, just try to keep enough in savings to cover the first few months before long-term disability would kick in.
I've got a 20 yr term for 10 times my salary on me. I have half that on my wife, she doesn't work but my job would have to change if she wasn't around. It's not fun to think about but get some coverage for the kids too, if the unthinkable happens most people are t going to be ready for work right away.
I gotta look more in to this, I have no clue about the differences. I just have a policy through work, covers my (salary +10k) times three, so it would be enough to pay off the house and cover all expenses for my family for 5 or so years, but my wife also works and we have savings. But I never thought about what if something happens to her, I would need to rock full time day care. Going to have to do some educating.
Whole life, why not spend the extra coin and get some return on investment if you don't die and want to use it later in life? $350K whole life(haven't paid a premium since I was 18), full salary plus at work, and then enough investments to cover my lost salary for several years as is without their growth. Wife is $300K whole life, then the same as above. Get a good financial guy and listen to them, use whole life as an investment, at some point you will never even have to pay a premium and have plenty to cover everything, if they are halfway decent at their jobs that is.
Work is good, but remember that if you lose/change your job, policy goes away. Term is cheap relative to the payout if you need it. Whatever you do (and this is everybody), make sure to read the fine print. A policy is no good if it's voided by something stupid (like racing motorcycles).
Most plans through work are Term Life. Individual plans are Whole Life / Permanent Life / Universal Life. Term Life = you are covered as long as you pay the policy. If you stop paying you lose coverage. Coverage is cheap and coverage amounts are higher than the other options. If offered through your employer you loose the coverage when you leave the job. This is generally called Group Voluntary Term Life. The group of eligible employees determines the risk and rates. Whole Life = You accrue a balance for the policy over time. It has a cash value. Once the cash value is high enough to generate enough interest to cover the premium it's self sustaining and no more premiums are made. Generally coverage amounts are lower. This is a good plan to pass inheritance to kids if you are worried about estate taxes. See a financial adviser for details. If this plan is offered through your employer you can 'take it with you' if you leave. You just receive the bill at home. Perm Life -- another name for whole life as far as I know. Universal Life -- works like Term Life but you can take it with you. In that sense it works like whole life as it's an individual policy, BUT it does not have a cash value. If you stop paying you loose the coverage. As one smarmy company tells people when they are selling life plans: "Term Life is if you die, Whole Life if for when you die" Typically we recommend everyone get a whole life plan to at least coverage death related expenses. If you are younger with a family and debt (mortgage), don't have significant savings or retirement balances, then Term Life is a good way to protect the family. If you are older, paid off the house, have retirement savings, and don't have college age kids or younger then Whole Life is typically preferred. Not sure on the whole Individual Term Life market. That's fairly new and not something I deal with. TL: DR - base life coverage on debt, dependents, and savings.
