How Much Life Insurance Is Needed For Healthy 50 Yrold?
Posted July 11, 2009 – 10:57 am in: structured settlements FAQWhat amount life insurance would be sufficient for a man in his 50s to buy? The sole beneficiary would be his 50 year old domestic partner.They are not married and the man’s children will inherent everything else. So, this life insurance would be needed to provide housing and living expenses.
Tags: Healthy, Insurance, Life, Much, Needed, Yrold
5 Comments
That is impossible to answer.
The amount and TYPE of insurance that anyone needs depends upon that person’s income, savings, debts and what the proceeds will be used for. Many time, life insurance proceeds are used to create sufficient savings for those left behind. Sometimes an end-of-life illness can wipe out existing savings. Life insurance can replenish those savings but the amount needed is unknown.
This man should meet with an insurance agent or financial planner AND a lawyer. If he gets $1 million in insurance and then dies “leaving everything else” to his children, those children could contest the will. This happens when they feel short changed. If everything else amounts to $50,000, they will feel this way. There are also different laws in every state about leaving money to an unmarried domestic partner.
Good Luck
as a general rule the sum insured should be able to cover
1. Mininimum 60 months of his current income (Basic)
2. Loan / credit cards o/s / Morgages (if not covered by any insurance)
But of course if the person can afford more coverage go ahead!
I guess my question is housing and living expenses for how long? Just until the partner can get on his or her feet? Or for an extended period? Also, who will be paying burial costs? If this is the domestic partner, then you need to allow at least $10,000 for this.
If you are looking to ensure housing and living for a couple of years, and at a reasonable quality of life in an urban area, I’d be looking at a minimum of $60,000 to $80,000. That calculates as $30,000 to $40,000 for a year.
If you take an amount of $30,000 (which would be without taxes, because it is an insurance payout), this allows for a rent of up to $1500 a month, and then leaves $1000 a month for food and living. Not extravagant, by any means, especially in an urban area. So, consider the amount of money required to pay expenses (I’d think you would want to be reasonably generous) and then multiply by the number of years that need to be accounted for.
Well, what you NEED isn’t based on your age!! It’s based on your GOALS. What do you want this to DO for you? I don’t expect to have much NEED for life insurance once I’m 55, and don’t plan on carrying it.
Figure out how much housing and living expenses you need, and decide for how many years after your death you need it. THEN figure, is there ever going to be a time that you don’t need to pay housing & living expenses?
Then sit down and figure out, is LIFE insurance the cheapest way to go? At your age, if you’re in perfect health, you’ll likely be paying $6,000 a year for $100,000 policy, of 20 year term . . .maybe $3,000 a month for whole life. You MIGHT be better off setting up a trust to pay the housing & living expenses (so the kids can’t contest it), and paying the $$ into that, instead of the insurance company.
The life insurance amount should be roughly equivalent to the amount the proposed insured will/would contribute to the household were he to remain alive.