How Much Life Insurance Should I Get…i Have A 9 Month Old Baby?
Posted February 1, 2010 – 4:22 am in: term life insuranceI have a 9 month old baby and I currently have 50,000 life insurance thru my employer….I was thinking about getting additional but don’t know how much….I am not married therefore I am the head of household and of course the one bringing home the bacon…please anyone with suggestions…
FYI — I am considering term life policy for $100,000 for 30 yrs —- is this good
6 Comments
Since you have a baby, here is my suggestion.
If, and only if, you can afford it get 4 times your salary.
Make sure its TERM life insurance to reduce the cost.
Once your child (and future children) leave the house, then you can get enough to cover your outstanding debt and 1 years’ salary.
Please don’t go blindly to an insurance agent and ask them how much you need. You might as well give them a blank check.
Enjoy life and your new family. Hope they never need the insurance.
Do this calculation and it should put you in the ballpark. Remember to only buy what you can afford.
1) Income replacement (5 to 7 times annual income)
2) Outstanding debt (mortgage, auto loan, credit cards)
3) Educational fund for dependents
4) Cash needs (emergency, medical and funeral expenses)
5) Subtract existing liquid assets (cash, savings, etc.) and other life insurance.
This should give you an idea – keep in mind who this will benefit as well. Someone will have to take care of your baby so that person will most likely benefit from the insurance as well. Plus you didn’t state your age so your income could potentially go up. Just keep in mind every so often you should review your current situation and make sure you are still on track.
What you need to ask yourself is ” If i was to die prematurely how much money would be required to see that baby through to an age where he/she can look after himself/herself.
Since you want to take a term policy which is cheap you might reconsider that figure in view of the inflationary trends of money market.
$100,000 might look a lot today but 10 years down the road it ain’t much.
Go for a longer period with a larger sum insured. I believe if you do your calculation you will see that that amount can be increased.
Babies having babies is shameful (it’s a joke. look at your avatar.)
Anyway, I normally tell people to divide their income by .06 or .08 (whatever interest rate you think your child’s custodian could get managing a large sum of money. Then subtract out any liquid assets you own (ie. savings, IRA, etc). That should get you real close.
As you can see, there are multiple ways of calculating this, but they all get close the same number. Good luck and congratulations.
I would say either $100,000 or $200,000 and you should also check into the return of premium term which means if you complete the 30 year term and are still in our world, you get all the $$ back that you have paid in.
Make sure you have a will so your child will go to whom ever you determine upon an untimely death.
Second, $50k is not enough, and on top of that, it’s group coverage. Typically it takes 6 months to never for it to pay out. That has been our experience in our office anyways.
For how much you need, figure out college (for 18yrs from now, about 90k – 110k for a traditional 4yr), plus estimated income needed to cover the care of the child and another 20k to cover burial and medical bills.
You wont need to worry about any debts unless someone else has co-signed on them.
All and all, good luck.