Hi, we’re currently parents of two girls. One newborn and one one year-old. Anybody have life insurance yet with kids this young? Should I wait till they’re older? Any companies that are worth it?
Edit: I mean Insurance on myself so that the girls will benefit. I didn’t think I needed to say that because I don’t know anyone who would take a life insurance out on babies. But FYI, I just mean on myself!!!
Life Insurance – 2 kids
byu/ButterflyDestiny inpersonalfinance
Posted by ButterflyDestiny
31 Comments
You should look into getting an inexpensive term life insurance policy.
You mean a life insurance policy for *you*, correct?
Look into term life insurance policies. Some employers may provide access to certain plans or benefits, so look into yours.
The earlier you get a policy, the cheaper it is.
You get a term policy on YOURSELF and your spouse right now. Start shopping around today. The usual recommendation for coverage is about 10x your salary. This can go up or down based on your personal circumstances.
Don’t let anyone tell you that you should get a Whole Life policy on your kids. Your kids do not have dependents, therefore they don’t need life insurance. You can get a “Child Rider” on your own Term policy for them. This will be for basic funeral expenses if, heaven forbid, they die young.
Having young kids is exactly why you should have life insurance now. Not as necessary when they are grown up. We use pacific life. Spouse and I each have the same amount which isn’t a crazy amount but it would be enough to pay off all debts and still have some money left. Our thought is in the event one of us passes away we wouldn’t have financial stresses on top of the emotional. Ours isn’t too much, we pay once a year.
For yourself or for the kids? Children don’t need life insurance. You should have enough life insurance so that your family would be OK in the event you passed (they’ll have to replace your income to pay bills or replace your labor to provide childcare and other domestic work).
Check your social security benefits (or whatever equivalent your country might have) to see what your family may be entitled to in the event you pass, and then look into life insurance to fill in whatever gap there might be.
Get it right now 25 term life. super cheap. don’t wait.
Term life insurance that covers enough time until which you will have enough retirement savings that would go to them upon your death that that becomes your insurance
Yes after our firstborn, my wife and I got life insurance on both of us. I was the sole breadwinner until our kids were in middle school. If anything happened to me, I wanted my wife to be able to pay off the house and have enough money in the bank so she could have time to consider her life going forward, without financial pressure. We got straight term insurance and none of that BS whole life crap.
You should get life insurance as soon as anyone is dependent on you. If you have income, you’d want to target 7x-10x your salary. If you don’t have income, consider the cost of someone else taking on the kids and what they’d need to be able to best support them. From there you can think of how it breaks down to things like helping to cover rent/mortgage payments for your spouse, front-loading a 529 plan or trust for the kids so future education is covered, and maybe an annual amount for things like clothes, activities, etc. for the kids. Don’t want to cost burden whoever is able to support.
You absolutely want to get term life insurance as soon as possible. The younger you are when you get it, the cheaper it will be. I got my policy when I was 36 and I pay $140 a month for it. I’m happy to pay it because it’s a non negotiable expense, but I wish I’d gotten it taken care of at a younger age when I’d had fewer health issues and could have locked in a lower price.
I found a term life policy through SelectQuote when my kids were around that age. I believe it’s a 30 year term and a high dollar policy. I’m thankful I did it when I was younger because my health was good and I cleared the medical tests to get the policy. Now, I wouldn’t be able to get it due to recent changes in my health.
My spouse and I each have policies. We have smaller policies through work and then additional individual policies. He is the breadwinner, so he has a larger policy. I work remotely and have incredible flexibility to cover down on home live, so my policy would be enough to cover a housekeeper and childcare. We used Policy Genius, which is a broker looking at many different companies.
The purpose of life insurance is to replace income and allow your dependents to continue living the same lifestyle they anticipated before you died.
Children don’t need life insurance (except in the very unusual circumstance that they’re supporting the family via acting, modeling, etc.).
Parents need life insurance, particularly term life insurance. Even non-working parents need it because, should they die, the working parent will have to pay someone to do the things the non-working parent did before they died and/or work less to do it themselves.
Whole life is a dinosaur of a financial product that is wholly unsuitable for the vast majority of people (possible exceptions: some very rich people or small business/farm owners who use it for tax planning, arguably parents of disabled children who are likely to survive them). It was how people without access to stocks and bonds invested before it became easy for everyone to access stocks and bonds through discount brokerage mutual funds, ETFs, etc. It mixes insurance with investing, which is a terrible way to invest.
I recommend meeting with an independent insurance broker to shop for term life policies for you. While term life policies are mostly fungible, underwriting is not. There are some companies that will offer you a cheaper price than others after considering your personal medical history and family medical history. That’s why you should use a broker and not just directly contact insurance companies yourself.
You should get term life insurance for both of you of at least $500K. Northwestern and USAA (requires family members who have been in military) are both good choices. Life insurance is a pretty standardized product, just shop around.
Right away. It protects your spouse too so they can survive without your support for however long. It just becomes more important when you have kids as there’s more support needed.
This really comes down to your current financial stability. For yourself you should look into a 20 year term policy so that you can make sure your family is protected in the event of your passing. Take a look at your annual income yearly and multiply that by 10-20 depending on what you already have saved.
If you make 100k per year and passed away tomorrow, it would be expected that you would need at least $1m in coverage to try to remove the burden from whoever would be taking care of your children.
The 20 year term would lock in the rate the extent of their children under your roof, so to speak.
I wouldn’t recommend a whole or universal as these would be cost prohibitive in most cases. Anyone says that they are an investment, is not comparing this to a mutual fund which will preform better over the life of the policy.
If you were to look into a children’s policy, most of the time that would be a burial policy that would help with those costs. Those are typically only whole life but some do have fixed end dates where you don’t pay into them after a certain date but they stay in effect.
I found out I had a health condition that would make life insurance ridiculously expensive. So before I went and got officially diagnosed, I got a life insurance poly that would basically pay off our house if something happened to me. Waited until the probation period was up and then got officially diagnosed.
yes!! Our financial advisor basically required us to do it and he keeps reminding us to go up it now that we just had a second so we’re not screwed if one of us dies.
I have had policies long before my kids showed up. You absolutely should have life insurance, you can structure it to pay to an irrevocable trust so if you pass before their 18 there’s money to care for them if you and your partner sadly die at the same time.
I carry 2 million in coverage and my wife 1.5. But a million dollars of coverage as a slightly overweight but otherwise healthy non smoking 32 year old is 55 a month for a 20 year rate for me.
The point of life insurance would be to replace your income if something happened to you. This is really important in your younger, building years. It is also fairly inexpensive to get a term policy for a decent amount now, before your health begins to betray you. The older you are when you get it, the more it will cost you. Get it now, preferably with a 30 year term, but not less than 20. Both parents should have a policy. Through work, it is tied to your employment. Group plans can be cost effective through work, but if you leave, most places will not let you continue the life insurance, and if they do, it is at an increased rate. By then, what you could have gotten a term policy may have increased. The rate for the term of your policy will stay fixed. This is a get it, set it, forget it scenario. Find a policy, set up autopay, and let it run. As a single person, it isn’t as big of a deal if you choose not to have it. Now that you have children, its time to protect their future. By the time your policy expires, the kids should be leaving the nest, and hopefully you have built other wealth so that the policy is not needed anymore.
Get a term life policy for 20 years that is 10 to 20 times your salary. Should be very cheap. There are online aggregators that will cost compare for you. And yes, you definitely need it.
Absolutely. You needed life insurance yesterday. We have policies through work and also outside of work. Calculate how much your surviving partner would need for the life you currently have and for your kids future. My husband thought it was $1 million, after doing the math it was $5 million. That would enable us to maintain our lifestyle, me continuing to work part time, and sending the kids to state public college. If he died without life insurance, it would be dire for me as I have no possible way to replicate his earning potential. Only you know your situation but losing 50% of your household income would wreck most people, and if your spouse doesn’t work, their unpaid household labor is worth a lot too.
NOW. And get as much as you can afford because it gets really expensive as you get older. I’d do 30 years term.
We went through selectquote.com and got a policy for each of us that last until our youngest turns 25. In 2020, we shopped around and got new policies that were higher amount but the same cost as the term was now shorter.
Term Life insurance enough for your spouse or you to cover at least 3-5 years of expenses assuming one or both of you can return to the work within that 3-5 years.
I had policies on me, my wife, and my son. Wife to cover the cost of childcare if she passed. Son to cover funeral and counseling expenses if he passed. Me to replace income. State Farm had a “10 Pay” policy for children- premiums for 10 years, then cash value and coverage after that. Shop around; use a reputable independent agent that can provide options from multiple providers.
It’s smart to consider this.
You should definitely have on on yourself. You should also look into the benefits of starting a policy on your children. You may find it makes sense.
Get life insurance now. Lock in a plan while you’re younger and healthier. The older and potentially more unhealthy you get, the more it will cost.
My employer offers up to 6x salary, so I have that plus a 20 year term $500,000 policy that expires when my kids are in their early 20s.
The point of life insurance is to get your family through the financial hardship of losing your income if you die. If anything, that’s even more needed when your kids are young.
Yes, you should have a term life policy on both parents. The point of this is to help replace the income and/or services that family member provides, so the amount you need will depend on your situation.
I do not recommend a whole life insurance policy. These are essentially a savings vehicle packaged with life insurance, so the premiums are higher in exchange for the policy having a “cash value” that grows over time. I don’t recommend them because there’s no reason these need to be bundled, and there are much better investment vehicles for that purpose. You just need insurance.
My husband and I had good term life insurance for a while. We divorced six years ago, but we maintained the life insurance with each other as beneficiaries, primarily to help us maintain a home for the kids. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020, and he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 2023. Although I doubt anyone would extend life insurance to me now, once you are insured, you can generally automatically renew your policy without needing to go through a health history or physical exam.
My ex was 50 when he passed. His life insurance went directly to the kids. It has been incredibly helpful as they are fresh out of college and the job market is awful. They’d rather have their dad, but being able to have a small measure of financial security has been helpful to them starting out.
yes, you need life insurance if you have kids. The younger they are the more important it is.