by Ashley
Remember how I started the process of trying to get life insurance for my hubs and me, oh….2 months ago???
Well I’m happy to report that it’s finally done….kind of.
Both of us have had our physicals and been approved. I just mailed in my contract today and my husband’s contract hasn’t yet arrived but should be here any day (he’s already been notified of the total costs).
Readers had pointed out (and of course this is the case), but everyone always advertises their “best” price and then you end up getting hit with extra costs once all the exams are complete. So, once my husband’s health history and our height/weights were taken into consideration, our costs ended up being higher than the original quote.
To insure us both, the annual cost will be $575. Ouch! (We were originally quoted just over $400, but my husband’s recent health issues, Nov-Dec 2013, influenced prices).
You get a bit of a break for paying in one lump sum for the year instead of monthly installments, so I went ahead and sent in a check for mine along with the completed contract (remember – we’re still waiting for husband’s contract). My portion was $207, but I was able to take $113 from my “annual purchases” savings to help cover some of the cost (this wipes out my “annual purchases” savings account).
Since this month is a bit tight anyway, I’m thinking we may wait to send in the payment for husbands’ life insurance until next month. To help cover these costs for next year, we’re going to increase our “annual purchases” savings from $45/month to $100/month. This should allow us to cover the full $575 annual premium, and still give us a little bit of wiggle room.
I had no idea this would be such a long, drawn-out process but I already have so much peace of mind knowing that if something were to happen to me, my kids would be taken care of. Mary Poppins (my replacement) isn’t cheap! ; )
Hi, I’m Ashley! Arizonan on paper, Texan at heart. Lover of running, blogging, and all things cheeeeese. Freshly 40, married mother of two, working in academia. Trying to finally (finally!) pay off that ridiculous 6-digit student loan debt!
$575/12 = $47.92
For two of you, that seems like a pretty good deal! My husband has had cancer the past couple years, so I worry about what it will cost for him to get life insurance. :S I’m glad you guys finally have it taken care of though, that is so important since you have children!
So sorry about your husband! I hope you guys are able to find something reasonable! And remember, you can always update policies down the road. Like, the initial insurance will probably be quick pricey, but the further away from cancer he gets (and remains cancer-free), premiums may go down so you should re-assess every few years. Good luck!
I really think you should use any available cash you have to go ahead and pay your husbands premiums for the year. I understand budgeting and saving categories, etc but ultimately not doing so could potentially ruin your finances for a very long time if something were to happen. He is mostly the bread winner and good was forbid you were both in a car accident and left your girls without either parent. The insurance you have alone is not enough to provide for them to adulthood or through college. It’s not worth the “what if” for a few hundred dollars. Tragedy unfortunately happens all of the time and safeguarding our future and the futures of our children especially is the most we can do to prepare for the possibility of tragedy. Not worth sitting on a few hundred for a few more months.
While I agree with you regarding the potential implications of going uninsured, I don’t think one month is going to make a significant difference. Also, when my contract came it stated that I was insured from the date on the contract, not the date the signed contract was received by them. So we could essentially hang onto it for a couple weeks to delay submitting payment, and yet still have him insured from the start date written on the contract. At this point, however, we still haven’t even received the contract so all is moot until we receive it.
What kind of insurance did you get? I’m guessing it’s a term policy. Is it a 20 year term? Are premiums fixed for the life of the term?