Do you have life insurance?

Just reading Winters thread and it got me thinking...

How many people have life insurance?

DH is self employed so we have life trauma and wage insurance for him, and when MJ was born we got life insurance for me.

In the horrible event that one of us died we have a policy that will pay out $1,000,000... i know that sounds life an awful lot of $$ but i have 2 mortgages, one for the house (joint) and one for my factory which is a rental property.
We sat down and worked out that if i died, we would want everything paid off totally and have enough money to support DH to be there with MJ.

Same with if DH died, we would want no debt over our heads and have the money there to not have to worry about going straight back out to work.

So who has it, who thinks they should have it and who thinks that it is a waste of money :)

We have it, most definitely! If anything happened to either of us, we need to be covered. I can't in good conscience leave my family to bring DD up on nothing either. We have life for both of us, which will pay off the mortgage & give an income for 5 years (long enough to get DD to school) if either carks it & income protection for DH. I'm a SAHM so no income to protect! If we both carked it, then DD would be able to be brought up by my family comfortably & then have a next egg.

Also I might point out that if you are thinking about life insurance, think about getting your wills sorted out & powers of attorney at the same time.

Hi Sammiejane,

We don't have it yet. But we will definately be looking at getting it when this bubs is born. I guess it just comes down to the cost as well.

We both have it. DH's is significantly higher than mine for obvious reasons - to pay out any debt we may have and to also provide an annuity for myself and the kids to live off for a few years and enough to cover education costs until I am able to re-enter the workforce. Mine is based on the amount it would cost for Dh to pay for childcare/nanny and a cleaner so that he can continue working.

Mrs Hendo, it really doesn't cost a lot. I think mine is under $10 per month - don't know what DH's is. The premiums are based on the amount you are insured for as well as other factors - some take into account your health as well and you may pay a little bit more because of that, but not so much that it is unaffordable. We have ours set up as a direct debit and we don't even notice the amount is missing. Like they say on the infomercials, "Its not much for peace of mind" :rofl:

Check your Super policy - chances are you have at least some form of cover there, and if you increase the insured amount the premiums are generally much less (and they can come out of your super so you don't need to cover that amount each month).

I have a policy attached with my super as well, but it is a policy that gets less as you get older, so the amount you get as a 25yo if you die is significantly more than if you died closer to retiring age, so that is something you would have to look into if your super fund has a life insurance policy attached. Plus the fees for that fund also come out of your super itself as far as I'm aware.

I have life insurance etc. Got it when I had to refinance my place when xh left me.

DH has it, i dont yet. we covered for 500 thousand. will cover our debts and leave alot for me and DS. once we get our house i will be getting the same cover as DH but no work cover as im a SAHM

We get it automatically in our jobs being high risk etc. And it pays out regardless whether we are on or off duty at the time.

Through my superannuation company I have TDP/death and income protection which is really cheap. I do need to get trauma insurance though.

I have it - have had since I was born. I will never let it go. DH refuses to get it for himself citing that he is covered under super - he doesn't get that it wouldn't be much of a help for DD or I. I keep trying to get him to get a seperate policy so I wouldn't have to worry about providing for DD.

mothergoose you can take out the policy on your DH, it doesn't have to be done by him....
to make it worthwhile you need a lot.... the odd $100,000 you get from super, sure that would help initially, but when you factor in the cost of living, mortgage repayments etc etc, by the amount of years your kids still have to go to be 'grown up', its a lot.... a huge amount....

that said we don't have it yet... tut tut... we also don't have wills.... when we get it i think i will be going for coverage of say $1mil.... or thereabouts... hopefully it is never needed... obviously.

We both have it. Around $400k, so enough to pay off all debts and afford to live for a while without an urgent need to go back to work. It's a montly direct debit, and we don't even notice it.

We have life and trauma cover on me. About $250k. Not a huge amount, but it will clear all debt and leave some left over. It also gives about $50k in the case of some trauma (eg stroke) to help cover any bills. DH TPD and Life through his super, would prefer to have it seperate, but cannot afford it at this stage. Have to double check, but his life payout is about the same as mine. Unfortunately I am not covered for breast cancer, as my sister died from it. Silly as she was a half sister, so it could mean that I am not at greater risk at all if it came from her fathers side of the family. My premium is a bit exxy due to my weight and they do not take into account any of the health benefits I received due to breastfeeding.

We have life insurance and both have a small one on our superfund. We took it out when we got a mortgage and increased it when the kids arrived. When I'm back at work we are going to look into income protection/disability/trauma cover too. The only thing I hate about our life insurance is it expires if I don't die before a certain age. I'm feeling abit pressured, LOL!! Is that a standard or just on ours?
We need to do our wills but we can't decide on guardians for our kids. DH wants one set of people I want another. It is so hard to pick who will raise our kids if the worse should happen.