I was laid off 2016. I have maintained my pre-65 health insurance as a positive benefit. I have also been contributing to life insurance premiums as part of that package. I just turned 60 and my premium went up about 30%. To me, sunk cost in insurance is always a write off so I tend to think forward. Even with the increase the payout is 200 times the annual premium. I’m primarily maintaining it to cover reduction in pension if I should die before my spouse, to essentially cover the loss. However, if my spouse goes first I would not technically need the additional coverage as my pension would not be reduced. But in that case my grown kids would be beneficiaries of my life insurance. As I can afford the premiums without affecting my quality of life it seems like there’s a pretty damn good return on investment to maintain the premiums as an investment for them. As morbid as this message may appear it seems to me to be very worthwhile to continue the premiums. Am I missing something or is this a good strategy?
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The MetLife Life insurance is a borderline scam with the steep increases in premiums every 5 years. Unless you are already sick or expect to die before long, drop the life insurance and do something useful with the money.
If I die today, my retirement assets minus debt will not support my spouse. Not even close. They will be incredibly worse off than before. Hence, no more life insurance needed.
If I die today, my retirement assets will support my spouse. Hence, no more life insurance needed.
You dont need life assurance after you have Been retired.
Great question. You may want to ask your financial advisor for recommendation on a policy. There are some good products out there that will give you a decent return and are somewhat "liquid" if you ever need the $$$s invested.
Usually once we get to 60 we longer need term life insurance if our SS , 401K and IRA plus ESIP are sufficient to look after our spouse if we pass. Yes it goes up obviously but if you can afford it it can certainly assist our survivor , esp. since Life insurance is not taxable. also remember if your SS is larger the spouse can opt for you SS payout !
I carried the Chevron life insurance while I was working (for the same reasons you cite), but dropped it at retirement. Term insurance is typically used by younger people to cover spouse or child costs in the event of an early death. For older people (>55), it is (or inevitably will be) prohibitively expensive. Great if you can afford it now, but at some point it will become very expensive. Best to cut your losses now and put that money into the market or real estate instead.
The premiums will continue to rise until you are squeezed out.
Yes. You have to croak. Not sure what the censors ate on this site. By the way I assume this is Term Life. I kept that it’s way less expensive than everything else. I’m ready to go to Medicare next year and off of Chevron PPO Retirement Coverage. Now that I’m heading to Medicare, I’ll be interested to see how that works.