Gerber Life Insurance? - Cortez,CO

I think Gerber Life Insurance is a great investment. It has been around for years, my parents had one on me. It is cheap and once they are 21 they can cash in on the policy or carry it over as an adult. That is amazing for such a cheap rate. The reason my husband and I did it with BOTH of our children is because if something was to happen and Lord forbid one of our children passed away, we would need a way to pay for the funeral. That is what this would be used for for. It is just as expensive to bury a kid as an adult. The casket is a bit cheaper that is it. Even though most funerals cost between $7,000 & $10,000; many could cost even more. We bought it for security. We would do it with any children we have. We have seen other children die and the parents are going to family members to pitch in to bury the child because they do not have the $10,000 just laying around. Gerber is the cheapest one for kids and not a SCAM. They have the oldest history (honest company) and with the best roll-over abilities. Not to mention it is easy to get when they are 6 and younger. If you can afford the $60 a year, very worth it in my opinion. BTW I am a health care professional and my hubby works in insurance. Sadly we have had people we know bury kids. The last one being just a few months ago after a fluke of an encounter. That angel was 6 years old and it was a swimming accident. So, we think $60 a year (the cost of our kids policies) is worth the peace of mind. That is my GERBER opinion.

Toss it. It's a scam. Not wise financially. Open a savings account or a 529 plan for each of your kids.

It's a scam because what it's worth when you die is way more than "cashing it out" while you're alive. I think generally speaking, as they get older, kids need money for tuition, books, a vehicle, etc. Not 10% of what you've put into it all of those years.....

....Life insurance is designed to replace income for the surviving spouse..not as a savings plan.

At the very least, do some homework and find out typically what the cash value would be in 20 years. I'd bet the house it's not the "full" amount of a death benefit. At best it would cover books for O. semester of college.

Gerber life is most certainly NOT a scam. Life insurance is a complicated issue. But put simply, you can get either term or whole insurance. Term is a contract for a certain period of time. It costs X dollars for period of time. So long as the payments are made, the insurance is good until the term/contract runs out. When the contract runs out, the person must be in good health to get it again. It will be more expensive every time it's renewed because the person will be older. Term insurance is cheaper when money is tight. But in the long run, if you contract an illness that either makes your insurance too expensive or that you can't be covered again at all, then you are just out of luck.

Gerber life insurance is a small amount of insurance that will increase as they get older and it's whole life. This means if your child gets something like heart disease or diabetes, they will always be able to keep this insurance so long as the payments are made. They can't raise the premiums so high because your sick either.

Considering kids can get cancer, diabetes, heart disease, just to name a few, it's wise to get insurance for your children while they are young and healthy.

I believe those are small life insurance policies on your children. They are popular because they are inexpensive, although you could get life insurance through any broker and it woudl be pretty low on a young person.

I always felt funny about the idea of life insurance on my child. Until I had two kids. After my second was born, I became very sensitive to how difficult it would be to managme things if we, God-forbid, lost a child. The costs of expenses, including psychological therapies and time off work, woudl have a large impact on our living children. So after my second was born, I started paying through work for a small policy on my children. (My husband and I have always been well-insured for the kids' sake).

I also have friends in their 30s whose parents got them policies as infants. Their policies are whole life meaning they own the value of the policy now and it is worth about $10-15,000 I think which is a nice rainy day amount. I think one of them actually cashed it out to help buy a home.

Those are my thoughts. I think my children are insured for only about $8,000. This compares to the $750,000 we have insured ourselves.

It would be good if you can get some insurance for your child at a young age. My BIL is in his late 20's and is unable to get life insurance because in his late teens, he nearly died of Ulcerative Colitis. Because of the chance of developing cancer that comes with this disease, it's difficult if not impossible to qualify for life insurance.

Gerber Life insurance policies are what they call "whole life" - this type of insurance builds cash value over time based on the payments you put into it and dividend growth. Whole life or cash value insurance is not a scam as some of the "financial guru's" say, BUT it is a tool that functions best when used correctly as part of a financial and insurance PLAN.

Talk to the person who you do your own insurance planning with about doing insurance PLANNING for your family. You can only get a certain amount for your kids, which is based on a % of how much you and your husband have. You can NEVER have "too much" life insurance yourself, as companies will only insure you for your "worth" - basically replacing your income (so if you make 50K and you're 30 years old in good health, you probably can qualify for 15x your income - invested conservatively if you passed away - that amount would replace your income and take that burden off your family).

Unlike term, which has an expiration date, whole life will stay with you for your whole life - depending on the payment structure you use. If you can't pay for it anymore, you can get the cash value - most of what you put into it, or you can "purchase" insurance with it so that a % of the insurance protection stays in place. It's a bit more complex than how we think of insurance because Whole Life (or cash value) life insurance can be used as a financial tool in addition to other products, such as investments, 529, 401k, etc.

Term insurance is very inexpensive, and often is the best tool to use depending on your budget. More advanced insurance tools work better for higher income earners because they have more cash to work with. Term insurance covers the NEED for insurance PROTECTION. Cash value insurance combines Protection with Investment.

DO NOT GET THE GERBER PLAN!

You and your husband should BOTH have life insurance. TERM insurance! Because if your husband dies, you would need enough coverage to support you and your children (at least for awhile!) So, if he is the main bread winner, he should be carrying a couple hundred thousand coverage. And even if you are a stay at home mom, you need to be covered. Because your husband would then have to pay for child care and such.

You will then be able to add a "child rider" to your and your husbands policy to cover any children. Usually this is a small number (like $10,000 to cover the funeral). Because a child is not bringing income into your household, there is no need for a bigger policy on them. Once you add a child rider, each additional child you have will be (or should be) automatically covered at birth.

The whole life policies that a lot of companies push are a joke. You "build cash value" but it really doesn't..... You can "borrow" against these policies which is total garbage! Why do you have to borrow YOUR money??? The whole life policies are made to MAKE THE COMPANY MONEY! They are not what is best for most people. Term is better. It is cheaper. And yes you do have to renew it and the premiums may go up but more often than not, this is still the better way to go.

Start a mutual fund for your child to save money for the future. NOT a life insurance policy........

Your best bet would be to add a rider onto your life insurance policy for your children.

I have Gerber Life on both my children. Why? Because I bought it when they were a year old and it was very inexpensive. At the time of the purchase, if my child would have died I wouldn't have to money to cover the funeral and burrial costs. I discussed this with my financial planner and he said life insurance on a child is not necessary. However, when I explained my reasoning that I would not have the money for funeral cost, he agreed that for the small amount I was paying per year along with the fact that it could be cashed in at 18 it was definitely worth it. It's just looking at it from a different perspective.

No it is not a scam. Gerber Life has been arround for decades.

We have had Gerber Life insurance for our children since they were born. It was a pamphlet in the diaper bag we received at the hospital when each child was born. What we have for our kids is a $10,000 policy which we pay $25 a year for until they hit age 25 when they hit 25 they have the option of making the policy for more. it has no value as far as accumulating value. But if one of them should happen to have an accident and die it would cover a funeral. That is the only reason we have it for them. For $25 per child per year we have the peace of mind of knowing we can cover a funeral. not sure of what the other options are they offer but this one is the one we have.

If you want life insurance for yourself, which you absolutely should have, speak with an insurance broker and get rep8table insurance from a real insurance company. Don't get these life insurance policies on your kids. Your kids are likely not going to die and if they did, you would manage to bury them. Parents don't need life insurance on children, but if you have children, it is extremely important for the parents to have life insurance. If one spouse is the main breadwinner and they die, their spouse needs money to raise the children, or if a stay at home parent dies, the working spouse now needs to pay a lot for childcare. If both parents die, the children's legal guardian needs money to raise them and the parents should provide it, via life insurance. Cashing a life insurance policy out for cash is a terrible idea, put that money in a savings account or CD instead, in a life insurance policy you are not earning any interest on that money, it is not an investment vehicle.
Speak with a financial planner and/or insurance broker.

Updated

My Grandmother has a policy for every Grandchild and Great Grandchild. I think it goes like this...You choose the amount you want for coverage and if (knock on wood) your child passes away you get that amount to help with funeral expenses, etc. If you keep it throughout your child's life and when they turn 18 I think it doubles and if you keep it until they are 21 it triples...??? I think..
My Grandma cashed in the policy when I graduated high school and gave me the money. If you cash it in, you get the amount you paid in. I ended up getting 1,000 and she kept the rest. But you can go to the website and learn more. I may not have explained it exactly right.

It's all marketing. Sure the Gerber plan has been around for years. They get together with hospitals to get information to new parents. The parents read the Gerber name and figure it must be reputable. It's easy to just fill out the form and get started right?

Do you own research. Make your own decisions. Talk with an insurance agent and a financial planner in order to plan for your and your children's future.

I read the other posts. They explained term and whole life. The bottom line is that if you don't have life insurance on your child, then you should at least have money socked away to pay for final expenses. If you have that kind of money, then you don't need to pay for the insurance.

My parents did have a plan like this on me as a child. They turned it over to me when I was an adult and I did cash it out. My mother said that for them, the fees were sometimes hard to pay. And to see that amount now showed a lifetime of socking money away for me. The reality is that 20 years later, it wasn't a ton of money. Yes, I did get it. But if you are looking for cash value later, teach your son about saving and investing. Most stocks would have done better than my life insurance.

So it really depends on what it is you are looking for. Figure that out. Then research other companies, their ratings, their coverages, and their fees.

Best wishes