I have life insurance through my job also. but does it also make sense to have an individual policy?

Discuss your situation with a competent financial planner in your area. Do not trust anyone who tells you how much insurance you need without asking you any questions. Avoid insurance salespeople, especially ones who use a multiple of your salary approach.

A good financial planner will complete a survivorship analysis for you. He/she will ask you alot of questions regarding your current financial situation and after making certain assumptions regarding rates of return and inflation, will be able to calculate your family's overall need for assets at your passing and how much of that need would be offset by assets you would have on hand. Don't forget to tell your advisor about any savings or investments you have as well as all life insurance in force, including employer provided. If there is more than enough assets already available, you do not need any additional life insurance, if not, consider purchasing more.

There is a widespread belief that term insurance is the only worthwhile way to insure oneself. This may not be the case. Term insurance is typically very inexpensive when compared to permanent forms of insurance (whole life, universal life, variable universal life, etc.) but it is important to remember that those term premiums will rise somewhere down the road. Approximately 90% of term policies never pay a death benefit, mainly due to the fact that they became too expensive to keep in force. Term insurance falls into two basic types, Yearly Renewable and Level. Yearly Renewable Term (YRT) premiums start very low. As each policy aniversary passes, your premium goes up. Each year you get older the resulting increase is a little bit larger than the previous year. It makes sense if you look at it from the insurance company's perspective; each year older you get is one year less you have left to live. Level Term will have a certain period where the premiums will remain level, usually 10, 20 or even 30 years. The longer the guarantee period the higher the premiums will be, but they will remain at the initial premium amount for the guarantee period. I prefer Level Term for my clients who need term coverage because it is a much more predictable amount to budget.

Permanent insurances, while requiring higher premiums, also build a cash value, on a tax advantaged basis. If the policy is designed properly, it can make a good savings vehicle for LONG TERM investing goals. As with any important decision, the most important aspect is to get the advice of a competent, trusted professional.

In most cases the coverage that you have with your employer is a few times your salary at best. This is usually not enough. Also keep in mind that the coverage with your employer is not portable. This means that when you leave the company, the coverage does not go with you.

If you have children or other relatives that depend on you probably need extra life insurance. Also if you are married and your spouse makes a lot less than you do then you should probably have insurance to help maintain your spouse's standard of living.

Term life insurance is definitely the way to go. If you are young and healthy it is very cheap.

Also if your spouse is a stay at home spouse it is a good idea to have some life insurance for the spouse.

hard question to answer without all facts. usually companies offer coverage to buy up about 4 or 5 times your income. This may be sufficient if you don't have much debt, kids are grown up, you have other assets, but if you are married, have kids, have a mortgage, it's a good idea to get a term policy (they're very cheap if youre in decent health) to suppliment other insurances until you have about 15 to 20 times your income in coverage until you get to the point where you have enough assets and little debt to worry about.

It is a RARE occassion that people are OVER insured. If you are young and have expenses like wife, children, mortgage, car payments; then you will want to assure you have death and disability insurance on all the big bills. Getting a personal policy to cover yourself and your spouse is a very good idea. I, unlike some others, would recommend a whole life policy instead of term because the return is far greater. If you get term, its like paying rent. Once the term is up, so is your insurance. If you don't die within the term you lose everything you input into it. If you renew the term all your first term investment is lost. If you can not get whole life than term is your option. It is MUCH cheaper and offers some other benefits. It just isn't as great as the salespeople say it is. Those that really push term usually sell term almost excluseily. Therefor they sell what they have and not what is best for you. Wholelife sales works the same way, if they don't offer term. Read the fine print as to what it covers and what it doesn't. Remember if it doesn't SAY it cover X,Y,Z then it doesn't cover X, Y, or Z.

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