Life Ins question

[zag95]

Hello-
I tried to read some of the previous posts on this....

DH and I both have life ins thru work. We are both teachers and he has some coverage from his district and then supplemental life. I also have some coverage and need to see if supplemental life is available.

So if we get additional coverage outside of work, is it term life that we want? We just want to pay for coverage for a few years- we don't want to pay for like 30 yrs.....

It looks like Northwest Mutual is a popular recommentation- I may also check with NEA or a similar group and see if they have competitive pricing...

OH- I'm 36- and DH just turned 40- neither of us smoke and we have DD who is 18 mos.

Thanks for any advice!

[specialp]

Yes, term is the most affordable and for most people, the way to go. You can pick the term - 5 yrs, 10 yrs, 20 yrs., 30 yrs, etc.

ETA: If you're healthy, I think you may be surprised at how affordable it can be and may end up wanting to go for the longer term or at least 20 years, depending on your college plans, mortgage, etc.

[Jen841]

We spoke to a State Farm agent and they helped us. USAA I know offers it too. Speak to an agent and shop around. It is important to have supplemental coverage.

[katydid1971]

Try one of the online quote sites (just google term insurance quote) We got ours thru the internet for a few hundred dollors less than our regular insurance guy had.

[katerinasmom]

We have supplemental coverage - enough (we hope) so that if one of us died, the other would be able to pay off our mortages, put both kids through college or grad school and if the kids are still young stay home and not work one to two years with the kids. We have 30 year level premium term insurance. We wanted a term long enough so that both kids would likely be done with school by then and to cover the period our home mortgages might still be outstanding. If we pay off our mortgages early and the kids are done with school before the 30 years are up, we might cancel the policies. My youngest is only 22 months old so we have afew years to go.

[BillK]

Banner Life or West Coast Life for the lowest term rates - at least in my experience.

[Momof3Labs]

Why do you only want coverage for a few years?? With an 18mo, you should really get at least 20 year term to cover yourselves until she is out of college. If you plan to have more kids, 30 year term might make more sense.

Insurance through work is nice, but if you leave your job, you lose your coverage. Imagine if one of you gets sick and is no longer able to work - you also probably could not get life insurance at a reasonable price either.

Northwestern Mutual is a great company but won't give you the lowest term rates if you are very healthy. But our Northwestern Mutual agent was able to get me a very reasonable term life rate through a different company.

[egoldber]

Also, look for insurance through professional organizations. Right now the bulk of our life insurance is through a professional engineering organization that DH belongs to. It is very inexpensive, even compared with what I am able to get through work.

And I agree that 20-30 years should be your goal. We have enough to pay off the house, pay for full time child care and then put the kids through a state university (but not something like Harvard ;) ).