Dave Ramsey will tell you not to get whole life insurance, and to go for term life insurance.
Most independent financial advisors say the same thing. As another example, Suze Orman tells everybody to get term life insurance while simultaneously telling everyone to
avoid whole life insurance. If you think you want whole life insurance, get (cheaper) term insurance instead and then put the remainder of what you would have spent on whole insurance in a Roth IRA or some other investment vehicle.
You don't need you life insurance investing for you.
Exactly. Anyone who tries to convince you to think otherwise will be profiting financially from you doing so.
Get about 3 times your annual income in insurance.
This is certainly not a hard and fast rule. If anything, it is poor advice due to the suggested amount being far smaller than necessary. When deciding on a dollar amount, you have to take many things into consideration, including but not limited to the following:
- Am I the primary breadwinner in the house?
- Am I the
only breadwinner in the house?
- How many dependents do I have now?
- How many dependents might I have in the future (before the term expires)?
- Do I already have separate investment vehicles for college funds for each child?
- What other investment/retirement programs do I already have?
- How large will these other investments be when needed if I/we stop contributing to them upon my death?
If all you want to do is ensure your mortgage is paid off in the event of your death, then 3x your income might suffice. But once it is paid off, how will your survivors pay their day-to-day expenses? For example, will your now-stay-at-home wife have to get a job and re-enter the work force? If your income disappears overnight because you die, is your family already "set up" for a proper retirement?
Lots of people don't even think about life insurance until it is too late. Even among all those who do, a great many of them choose too little coverage to support their family decades after disaster occurs. Think it through carefully.