Need life insurance, seeking help with the basics

[courtneyatzn]

Thx in advance for reading. We’re noobs to life insurance and seeking guidance. Married couple with 10-year-old child.

M/52/hypertension/smokes/6’1”, 269. He’s working out a lot and losing weight. used to be 280. I’m the male.

F/46/high A1C/high BMI, but not off the charts. She’s also getting into nutrition/fitness.

F is the breadwinner. M handles school drop-off, tennis, laundry, home improvements, taking out every piece of trash/recycling, asking about life insurance on Reddit. Stay-at-home dad for short.

We’re in great shape financially. Paying a low-interest mortgage on our house in San Diego. Property is cash-flow positive because we built a separate rental house on it. Plan is to leave the property to our child when we die. She’ll be set up pretty well.

But if we lost my wife tomorrow, we’d be screwed. If we lost me, it’d be a big loss, but not irreplaceable.

Anyway, we need some life insurance. Thinking term for the dad for eight years? I won’t be that necessary after that (child will be 18). But what about my wife? Apologies for all the details. Thx again for reading and any advice about where to start.

 

[ferrchu]

@courtneyatzn Unfortunately, to put it bluntly, because of your health, proper coverage is going to cost a pretty penny. However it's not all bad. Some insurance carriers, will allow you to re-qualify your health rating after a set amount of years if you are healthier and quit smoking. This is important because a lot can change in just 12-24 month as far as health goes. I would recommend getting coverage for both of you for whatever is appropriate, even if it's more than you want to spend. I would then to commit to an aggressive health goal for the next 12-18 months then re-underwrite the policy. this will not only protect your family in the event of death or illness, but also motivate you to get healthy. I would also buy an IUL for your child, they'll thank you later. coincidentally, I have a background in both financial planning and fitness.

 

[seohce]

@courtneyatzn First, IMO you should not DM anybody on this sub that posts to DM them for more info. Second, with the limited info you put would be a 10-year term for you and your wife and it would most likely have some sort of table rating, surcharge. Best would be to contact a broker, because they have access to multiple companies. They can do a full needs analysis. The thing that you didn't mention, and not being rude, but with you and your wife's health could be the importance of something beyond 10 years that has a living benefit or critical illness endorsement.

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[resjudicata]

@courtneyatzn To protect the home you’re looking at a type of life insurance called Mortgage Protection. Typically you insure the main breadwinner so the family isn’t in a financial burden being that she passes away. There are several strategies to cover the mortgage such as full or partial pay off/Equity Protection. At 46 you can typically still get approved for a 30 year term to match the mortgage but there are still things to consider. I’d love share some more information with you. Shoot me a DM

 

[frenchyriff]

@resjudicata Bad advice

 

[resjudicata]

@frenchyriff Elaborate?

 

[chamz12]

@courtneyatzn Income protection sounds like your biggest concern.

For the husband I’d recommend whole life over term. But like you mentioned it seems like your main concern is until your child is 18. If that’s the case then term of course would be your best bet.

For the wife I’d recommend either a IUL with a high death benefit focus or a 20 year term. Like you mentioned the biggest concern would be if god forbid she passed away the income was taken care of. Term will allow the highest death benefit as well as the IUL.
Only difference is the IUL and term is that the IUL will have a cash value portion making sure your monthly payments are building equity.

For the child id recommend a child’s IUL structured for cash value growth. This could easily set your child up in the long run allowing the child to use the cash value for retirement/college/whatever needs be.

I’m currently a licensed agent in 49 states. Shoot me a dm if you would like numbers or more details