Life Insurance Information

Dear M.,

I briefly (for about nine months) worked for MetLife, went through the licensing procedures and sold life insurance, health insurance, and mutual funds. This was some number of years ago, I'm not licensed anymore, and I wouldn't want to be the only voice advising you on helping your children's future.

That said, because I was selling insurance I decided to go through the same process as my clients even though I do not have any children (for me, it was important to know that my parents would benefit in some way if I predeceased them). I looked very carefully through the MetLife plans and several others, and did purchase Whole Life. When advising clients, I made sure to find out THEIR feelings about risk, their sense of how long their needs for what kinds of insurance would be, and that they were reasonably able to afford coverage they felt was correct for them and their families.

New York Life is a well respected company. Whole Life is one of many options, and if you sense that it is the way for you to feel that you are doing your best to ensure that your children will have some buffer in extreme crisis, or at the most difficult of times, there is good reason to be comfortable with your decision, so long as the company is able to keep its word with respect to payment (and New York Life is in a category where it is well expected to do so).

Some people, like my father, see life insurance as a waste of money because the same amount can be invested over time to grow in (decent) investments, for more financial benefit over time. This is true so long as time horizons are sufficient, and for most people, they usually are. However, I understand your feeling about trying to cover all bases that are reasonable with respect to your children, and if you can afford both life insurance and to set things aside for your own future and theirs, all the better.

I stopped selling insurance when I started finding clients who could easily and reasonably afford it, ironically, because their children were at the least risk for having the most difficulty at the time of a parents' passing. That said, it is an honorable product so long as the company fulfills its promise, and as someone who worked for a different insurance company (which prided itself on its payments, its reason for being, and which I saw make payments...), please just know that New York Life is well respected.

I wish you and your family the best! And yes, you're right -- while you are younger, healthier, and able to make payments without hardship is the optimum time to participate if you can. By the way, I think your children are extremely lucky that they have you. No need to "overinsure" -- and you can always add less expensive term policies later (assuming fair enough health) if it seems that augmenting your whole life policy is important for specific times, such as helping to ensure that children get through educations if they are, for example, out of state....

Best wishes,
E.

Hi M.,
First off, with all do respect, I am not sure where some of the ladies here have researched their information on Life Insurance but I know someone personally that can & has given me the breakdown. So here is the 101 on Life Insurance:

First of all you should not wait till you are 60ish to get Life Insurance because of 2 main reasons:
1. Not everyone is promised tomorrow and
2. The later you wait in life to get it, the more expensive it is because of your age (technically the older you get the more expensive insurance will be).
And one thing that one of the ladies did say that was correct is that Whole life does mature in 100yrs, but realistically at our age now, who is guaranteed to see it mature?

Now here is the difference between Term & Life:
TERM:
The POSITIVE- it is affordable.
The NEGATIVE- it covers only for the certain number of years you have chosen (usually 20-30-40-etc). Then if you outlive your term NOT only will you have to requalify but you will have to pay extra on renewing because of your age.

WHOLE LIFE:
The POSITIVE - You are covered till the time of death as long as the policy remains active & the premiums are paid in good standing.
The NEGATIVE - The interest on the savings attached is dictated by the Company servicing the policy NOT by the market conditions. And mind you, this is up to the company itself, they pay you interest based on what they want to pay which is typically 3-4%, which barely covers the Cost of Living.

Now MATHEMATICALLY

w/ TERM:
Based on the age of 20. If you were to get a $500K policy, and your premiums are $30/mo for 20 yrs. You would have paid $7200 throughout the term of the policy. ($7200 for $500K coverage @ age 40) Although you would have to pass away in order for your beneficiaries to be paid your death benefit. AND if you don't pass away & want to renew, you will have to requalify & your premiums will change (more than likely it will double).

w/ WHOLE LIFE:
Based on the age of 20. If you were to get a $300K coverage, and your premiums are $300/mo times that by 12 mos, then times that by 50 (for 50yrs, @ age 70). It still will not add up to $300K. So do you think $180K that you would have paid thru the course of the life of the policy is worth $300K or more depending on what you had in the sub-account upon death?

Now keep in mind, these scenarios are generic but fact-based just to illustrate & every situation is different based on the individual.

To SUMMARIZE:
There is a PRO & CON to everything.
ALL Insurance, no matter what they call it or how it is structured, is still..."TERM".

All this information was provided to me from my Brother-in-Law who is Licensed By the State of California.

I hope this helps your concern. Personally, I believe everyone should invest in Life Insurance, you just have to decide which policy best suits your needs. Like I said if you need more information, call me & if anyone out there would like more information also, please e-mail me...the info is there for FREE!

Hi M.,
I completely understand you wanting to provide for your children if something were to happen to you. My personal advice would be to NOT get the whole life insurance for a couple of reasons. First, it is not the best for you and your daughters becuase it is not the best coverage. Term Life insurance is the only way to go. Agents really really push the whole life becuase their commission is incredibly high. They hardly make anything selling term so of course they will push whole life even thought they know that term is better. Second, because term is just life insurance and so afordable you can take the money you would be saving if you bought whole life and invest in college funds for your daugters and/or mutual funds. You are making your money work for you. My husband only sells term insurance and the company he works for part time only sells term life insurance because they feel so strong that whole life is not best for families or really anyone. Call a Primerica office in your area. We live in Sacramento so my husband couldn't meet with you but give any office a call and they can help you. Also check out www.primerica.com for more info. But really, do NOT get the whole life insurance. You can protect your daugthers and invest much more wisely with the term insurance. You can email any more questions or if you just want to talk more about it at ____@____.com Good for you for thinking ahead for your daughters.
Sara

you should get life ins. dont get caught up in all the extras they will offer you.term really is the best way to go.whole life is way more expensive and if they offer you a savings with the whole life--- dont even do biss. with them!!! you will never see that ""savings ""!! you have to wait 100 years- the term of the policy to ever get it back and if you borrow it you wont even get half of what it is because of the pentaly fees.

I joined through my church - http://www.thrivent.com/joinus/index.html

I don't know what the membership requirements are. I pay for me and my daughter under $100 every three months.

I am E. I work for an Insurance Agency. Im not Licensed in Life but my Boss is. If you really want advise in this subject I would HIGHLY recommend you talk to her. She is a really nice lady and would enjoy talking to her. Send me an Email if you would like to talk to her. My email address is ____@____.com. I dont know what Area you are in but we are in the Turlock, Ca area. I do know that the whole life plans are better than the term plans. If you want any more info please email me.

I am an agent with New York Life. I would be happy to be of assistance regarding your needs, whether it is for our products or services, or even just as a resource. Please visit my website at www.jsekiya.com, where you will find a lot of information regarding insurance and other financial issues. You might find the "article" section valuable. Also please feel free to e-mail me for any specific question you might have, at ____@____.com, and just put mamasource member in the subject line. I have helped other moms, some single, some working, and some at-home moms too!!

We got our insurance through Forresters, it is reasonable priced, they go over everything with you and there are alot of extra benfits for your children should they need them. They have a college fund, an orphan fund and many other "perks" that are no extra cost and as I said they are affordable. If you want more info please e mail me at ____@____.com! Good luck!

You didnt indicate your age. But...I have looked into this and know a lot about it. People should not buy life insurance until they are way into their prime years (60ish) When you are younger, you actually spend more on the plan then what the plan is worth. These people are SALES agents, they are NOT going to tell you the fine line. They want to sell to you. Be careful!

I have $125K whole life insurance through New York Life. I have been very happy with their service and reputation, they call me every year to check if I want to make changes but otherwise leave me alone and do not pressure me. I got it at 21 and pay $30 a month. I chose this route not only for when my children are young, but because they will be responsible for my debt as next of kin even if I pass at 50. And like others said, much more expensive premium then to renew term. While it is true that they try to sell whole life as something you can borrow against, I didn't buy for that so I am not worried about what it is worth unless I am dead. I did buy term life ins. for short term when I was pregnant and a 10 year, $500K policy at 24 was like $150. Great if I die soon, perfect for my high risk situation (carrying twins). Otherwise in 10 years I got nothing but 10 years older. Just my opinion.