need life insurance company recommendation please

Sue C

Active Member
husband has been with MetLife since he was a teenager. I cannot come up with the money for his annual premium on 1/13. I called and they will not allow monthly payments. They told me it had to be the whole premium.

So, I am in need of a trustworthy life insurance company that will take monthly payments or at least quarterly. Can anyone provide me with the name of any companies to check on quotes?

I also think he's paying too high of a premium for his term life insurance of only $100,000. I think I should increase the amount. What do most of you carry on your husband's?

Thanks in advance,
Sue
 

mstang67chic

Going Green
While I can't suggest any companies (we just go through employers), we have talked to friends who are insurance agents about amounts to carry. From what they have told us, we usually try to carry enough to cover funeral expenses, pay off the house and other loans and provide enough to live off of for 6 months MINIMUM. Of course, if you carry death/disability insurance on your loans, you can adjust the amount but that is what we try to keep on husband. That way, you don't have to worry about the "big" bills and keeping the house/cars/etc. while you are dealing with the here and now should something happen.
 
F

flutterbee

Guest
I can't recommend any companies either, but I've always heard the breadwinner should be covered for somewhere between 3 and 5 times their annual salary.
 

svengandhi

Well-Known Member
I can't recommend a company but I suggest you look for a broker who is independent and deals with a number of companies so you will have a wider range of choice.

Whatever you do, avoid whole life like the plague - the brokers get rich off of it but for regular people it's a racket. Take term insurance for a term to cover till your youngest child is 18 or 21.

Just read your profile - why does your husband need life insurance? Do you not have retirement savings? When my kids are grown, I will cancel mine. To my mind, the only reason to have it is to support children and a stay at home parent. If you want to have money for a funeral, take out a home equity loan and don't use any of it - it's there when you need it and you won't be spending x amount a month for it. In the meantime, try and put away a sum of money each month earmarked for funeral expenses.
 

klmno

Active Member
Ok, this surely sounds rediculous, but I found Mine (both of them) through the internet. I got two diferrent term policies- I'm a single parent and can only do so much at one time but am the only one looking out for difficult child. Anyway, I started at google doing a search then found a site that does rate comparisoms, depending on age, health etc. Mind you, I didn't send money or sign up for anything through a website, but it gave an EXCELLENT place to start. After I had it narrowed down to 2 or 3 that were competitve for the situation, I checked into the company (by website, word-of-mouth, etc.) to make sure they were reputable, then called to "get more information". In both cases, one stuck out for the situation, amount I was looking for, and premium I could pay. They sent someone, at my convenience, to do a little blood/urine/weight exam and I got legal papers in the mail before I ever paid one cent. I'm comfortable, because I feel I checked into the company's reputation before signing or spending anything. I think I got the best rates because I started with a comparisom site online.


Good Luck!!
 

susiestar

Roll With It
We go through husband's company. They provide a very generous policy and we have some over that. I cannot get life insurance, so I have no clue as to how you would do this.

Susie
 

Sue C

Active Member
mstang & Heather -- thanks for the advice on how much life insurance to have. That is helpful.

svengandhi -- husband has his own business and he is the only person running it. He has no retirement plan. I do not work (well, I work part-time for free for him). We need life insurance on husband. There are personal reasons we are unable to put away money each month towards funeral expenses, besides I don't care to constantly think of his death. We already have a home equity loan. Yes, term insurance is what he has.

klmno -- thanks for the suggestion of getting quotes online and checking into a company's reputation.

Susie -- husband works for himself; thus there is no company plan available to him for insurance. Sure would be nice if there were.

Does anyone else have any specific companies they know of I could check out? You can PM me if you want. Thanks.

sue
 

donna723

Well-Known Member
I have life insurance through my employer too. Then several years ago I got a letter from my bank offering this extra life insurance through a reputable company at a very reasonable rate. So now I have $51,000 of EXTRA life insurance for $16.50 every three months and the premiums are deducted automatically from my checking account. I may up the amount one of these days. You might check with your bank to see of they have anything like this available to their customers.
 

klmno

Active Member
Sometimes the company who provides your homeowner's or auto insurance also provides life insurance- if you've been with one company for a while they might give you a better rate.

I used http://www.intelliquote.com to compare rates. I filled in the info- except for my name, address, phone, email (you don't have to do that). Just fill in age, gender, state, term and amount you are considering, tobacco use and guess at health (pick something in the middle unless health is poor) and ENTER. A few options with estimated rates will come up. Then after checking into the companies, I called them. I have 2 policies (started at different times as I could afford it). One is with RBC, Liberty Life Insurance. I have no other experience with this company- I only know it appeared to check out and they've done everything "by the book" and I've seen advertisements. Of course, there's only ONE way to actually prove that they stand behind their policy!!! LOL

Personally, I found an advantage with 2 policies- one is shorter term (gives better rates) for a high amount to cover costs for difficult child shoould something happen before he's grown. The other is long term for lower amount, with the advantage being that if my health won't permit me to get another policy when the first runs out, I know there is enough to cover expenses and help difficult child while house is sold, etc., and that amount is guaranteed for X amount of years. The longer term does cost a lot more per $1000 though.
 

sameold sameold

New Member
Hi Sue
We go thru New York Life Ins. Co. We have a great agent. We also have life ins. thru our employers.
On husband we have a whole life policy and on me a term life. The whole life policy is quite a bit more costly but you can pay minimum amounts or larger. It is like having money in the bank because we can borrow against it and it will pay its own premimums if you can't. husband also has a policy thru John Hancock that he had while in the Navy and it is a small policy but it will also pay for itself if you fail to make a payment. We like both of these companies.
We have a "Special Needs Trust" set up for difficult child that is funded thru these policies.
Good luck
Sherri
 
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