by Hope
This is part 3 in my July series: How I spent the house proceeds. You can find Part 1 here and Part 2 here.
I paid the 6 month premium on my (and Princess’) auto insurance and the next quarterly payment of my life insurance policy.
Auto insurance for 2 cars, 2 drivers, full coverage: $1,730
Level Term life insurance policy (quarterly): $159
Total spent: $1,889
Doesn’t Cost More
First, I know that paying off my auto insurance policy in one lump sum doesn’t really make financial sense. It doesn’t cost me any extra to make monthly payments nor does it same me any money to pay it in one lump sum.
But the mental load off was definitely worth it to me. And now I can just save monthly to do it again in September. Which is when Princess will take over her own auto insurance policy. (Yes, I give each of my kids “help” for 6 months after their schooling ends. They have all gotten this same 6 months.)
Life Insurance Debacle
My life insurance has been a question for a couple of years now. And while I’ve made a couple of phone calls over the years. I’ve never actually done anything about it. I had a 20 year policy that I took at when I was pregnant with Princess. I had a chance to convert it, but the cost and coverage just didn’t make sense.
So I’ve just been letting it ride since the original term expired last December. The cost was $24 per month. And is now more than double that with the coverage declining steadily.
After I arrived in Texas, I started calling and reviewing options. A term life policy for $75K would run me $175+ monthly. Yikes! So I’ve decided to move forward with another 20 year policy. My application is in review now. And I completed the medical exam a couple of weeks ago.
If all goes well, it will run me $55 per month and provide $100K coverage. ($100K was the lowest coverage they would do, not the amount I was looking for.)
We will see what happens…
After 3 parts of how I spent the house proceeds, I’ve now detailed how I spent $7,428. More to come…
Hope is a resourceful and solutions-driven business manager who has spent nearly two decades helping clients streamline their operations and grow their businesses through project management, digital marketing, and tech expertise. Recently transitioning from her role as a single mom of five foster/adoptive children to an empty nester, Hope is navigating the emotional and practical challenges of redefining her life while maintaining her determination to regain financial control and eliminate debt.
Living in a cozy small town in northeast Georgia with her three dogs, Hope cherishes the serenity of the mountains over the bustle of the beach. Though her kids are now finding their footing in the world—pursuing education, careers, and independence—she remains deeply committed to supporting them in this next chapter, even as she faces the bittersweet tug of letting go.
Since joining the Blogging Away Debt community in 2015, Hope has candidly shared her journey of financial ups and downs. Now, with a renewed focus and a clear path ahead, she’s ready to tackle her finances with the same passion and perseverance that she’s brought to her life and career. Through her writing, she continues to inspire others to confront their own financial challenges and strive for a brighter future.
I’d be interested to read your logic on the need for life insurance now that your kids are grown and out of your care?
I don’t really have any reason outside of burial costs.
That’s why I am exploring all options before I cancel my now 22 year old policy.
Trying to make a wise decision.
Just what you do, DO NOT get whole life insurance of IUL…term only!!!
Yes, the whole life insurance was INSANE to me on a monthly basis. I could just save the money and have the same amount saved a couple. times over if I live as long as my family tends to live.
Why on earth would you buy life insurance? Life insurance is for people with dependents or for someone with a spouse who needs to make up the lost income.
I haven’t bought new life insurance. The policy I’m paying for is the one I got when I had young kids. I’ve had the policy for 22 years now.
Before I let it go, I’m shopping for a smaller policy that would cover end of life costs.
You are right, I do not need a $250K policy any more.
You wrote, “I’ve decided to move forward with another 20 year policy. My application is in review now. And I completed the medical exam a couple of weeks ago.” How is this not new life insurance???
Yes, that was true. But after all that I did decided not to move forward with a new policy. I still have my old one.
This is a decision I’ve had trouble making progress with.
But perhaps BAD is right, do I really need life insurance if I have no debt? I could save toward burial expenses?
I don’t know. So for now, I will keep the old policy.
Perhaps BAD is right? I think the commenters have been right on a number of fronts, especially when it comes to saying you shouldn’t blow your house money which you appear to have done.
Absolutely you should have money saved for your burial expenses (such as a hefty emergency fund) and skip the insurance. You don’t have dependents thus you don’t need life insurance.
I have to say, I am blown away by how quickly you appear to be spending your house proceeds. You sold your own and only valuable asset and are just frittering away the money. You absolutely need to stop spending and start acting like an adult.
If you have no dependents you don’t need life insurance. You would do better prepaying for a funereal.
Yes, that is the direction I’m leaning toward now.
Do you not understand that your kids don’t inherit your debt? It doesn’t matter if you have debt or not. YOU DO NOT NEED LIFE INSURANCE AT ALL
You can prepay your funeral and burial costs, no need for an insurance policy.
Why couldn’t the house proceeds explanation posts be combined into one post without all of the superfluous commentary? One post with 4 to 6 paragraphs should have been able to cover it.
She gets paid per post, that’s why. That why we also get stupid AI written stuff like “free things to do in Atlanta!”….and then she goes and spends thousands on a family trip, doing none of the free things.
We actually did ALOT of the free things.
You claim you’re making enough income to meet your current needs and reduced bills, but you clearly are not. If you were, regular bills like car insurance would be able to be paid with your income and your house proceeds would be sent directly to savings. The only non-recurring expense in this series has been the vacation/celebration (which yes, were pretty excessive for where you are at right now). Life insurance, car insurance, and auto maintenance are regular expenses. As always you are only fooling yourself with your allocations. Taking regular expenses out of your profit is only making you feel you’re in a better place than you actually are.
I’m worried for you. Mainly because you don’t seem worried for yourself. You should feel very uncomfortable right now and by sticking your head in the sand you’re only putting yourself in a worse position.
You all asked where the house proceeds went. I am telling you.
The mental relief of having these bills paid and being able to get maintenance done has been a huge weight off.
Am I in a great place, no. Am I in a better place than I was before, yes. Am I able to now solely focus on my debt and savings, yes.
I agree with others that it was unnecessary but I assume the life insurance is to cover burial costs when the time comes and to provide an inheritance for each of your children. That’s consistent with many of your decisions and not terrible.
I understand the lfie insurance only from the point of it helping the kids out when making end of life plans. Otherwise, even though you’ll have your reasons for spending down most of the proceeds of the sale, it’s really disappointing. I am not sure that you care to see what the issues are.
Hope, serious question that I hope you’ll answer honestly. What do you look to accomplish blogging here? You are given a lot good feedback in the comments by readers who have followed you since the beginning and you respond very defensively. If you aren’t looking for input, feedback, community, etc then what is the end goal?
There is an accountability factor that I don’t get anywhere else.
There is a sense of connection that I don’t get anywhere else.
I struggled so much with trying to be the mom I wanted to be. And in the mix, it’s hard to see how that ideal is skewed. I own my decisions. In hindsight, there are many things I wish I had done differently.
It’s not just my relationship with money, but with family, society, my kids…trying to overcome shame, and so many mental factors.
I know I’m babbling.
What do I want to gain…I want to be free. Free from trading time for money, free from the overwhelming monthly financial obligations (I’m there now for the first time but will require a Herculean effort to maintain when I’m not caretaking), free to go, see, do.
Maybe that’s a bit woo-woo. I don’t know. I spent the bulk of my life doing what was expected of me, either by society, my parents, or my own skewed perspective. In many cases, the circumstances were the result of my own choices, but there was also just some “life” happens type things.
I think for the first time, ever. I am living for just me. And getting better at saying No or that’s not for me, or I don’t want that. I’m in this “who am I” phase. And also “who do I want to be” – with this move. I can be whoever I want now. No more day to day mom responsibilities. No one I have to account to or defend against.
I don’t think I answered your question well. But let’s just say there’s been a lot of healing and internal work happening over the last 6 months specifically.
I think a lot of the commenters see that you had in those house proceeds freedom from overwhelming obligations for quite some time, if you would just sip from it each month to shore yourself up. Treated it like a lifeline while income recovers and you weather this transition in life. But with 6-7k left in just a month or so, clearly you didn’t sip, you poured out most of that lifeline. So now we are thinking, she only has a few months of lifeline left, this will be so painful again so soon! And with what we know about your distance from retirement age, it’s just hard to see how you will stay solvent on your own.
Will you or can you be compensated for caretaking? Honestly, is the plan that someone else will be supporting you?
I really want to cheer for you Hope, but these last few posts just made me realize there are two types of people:
1. Those serious about Finance and;
2. Those who will never learn and always have an excuse.
You are #2 and have repeatedly make baseless and BAD financial decisions (pun intended). You will be old and gray with no retirement, still owing on your student loans, and mooching of your kids. I really do want you to prove me wrong and succeed, but I have been reading your posts for over 10 years. If you had just changed several decisions over the years-the hot tub, 2-3 vacations, and paid $100 a month your student loans (on average I know some months that wasn’t possible) would have LONG been paid off.
I look forward to proving you wrong.
But I also recognize that you are right, I made some terrible financial decisions. Some repeatedly.
I think the difference now, is that it’s just me. I’m not taking care of anyone else now.
You overpaid for a computer given your finances. You have spent almost all the money that was supposed to be your emergency fund. You blew 6 percent of your only asset on a party- and “family” isn’t an excuse to overspend.
You said you only got a hotel so you guys could drink wine. All that money on the party did not have to be spent. You could have done something else without wine and not had the hotel bill.
You were pretending to afford something that you couldn’t. If you were making enough income to support these things, that money would NOT have come from the house sale, you would have either already had it saved from income, or been able to cash flow it.
In short, house money should have been an emergency fund. And if you think taking out money for a party is an emergency, you have not changed, or grown, and this party was just another hot tub/NYC trip financial train wreck.
Do any of the other kids get a party that expensive? If so, you are going to need a lot of money
So on the previous post where you stated how much there was left at the end of the house purchase, it meant there was 21k unaccounted for (the calculation is in the comments of the “Savings to Date” post.)
So far this House proceeds series has accounted for $5,439. So where is the $15,672? These posts seem like small puzzle pieces of a much bigger issue.
This is a series, each new post this month explains where more of the house proceeds went.
Looks like most of the proceeds of the house sale are going right out the door pretty quickly. Maybe paid off the student loans too while there is still a little left.
They did indeed. But for the most part, I feel very good about how the money was used.