I don't think we need life insurance, but my husband disagrees. We found a compromise that makes us both happy.
By Rachel Morgan Cautero,
2024-09-03
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My husband is far more risk averse than me, which means we feel differently about insurance.
We compromised by deciding not to renew my life insurance policy now that our kids are in school.
We're also assessing our other policies to make sure we're getting a good value from them.
My husband is what I like to call "risk averse." I am more of a fly-by-the-seat of my pants kind of girl. When we had kids, he insisted we get a will , while I was hesitant. (Though, in hindsight, that was probably a good move.)
While he thinks it's all necessary (again with the risk-averse thing), I think we could cut my life insurance policy since our kids are almost school-aged and wouldn't need full-time care if I died. Here's how we came to a compromise, plus what we kept and what we cut.
We're keeping my husband's life insurance
Several years ago, we got life insurance for both of us through Protective , but now I'm not convinced I need life insurance anymore.
When we sprang for the 10-year term policies for both of us, we had an almost 2-year-old and another baby on the way. The idea of them both in school full-time seemed lightyears away, and as the main caretaker, I insisted my policy cover the salary of a seasoned nanny in the event I died. (Morbid, I know. But these are the things parents think about.)
My policy is for $250,000 (based on my annual salary multiplied by the number of years until my kids were in school) and costs around $20/month, while my husband's is a bit larger, at $1 million and $50/month.
Since both kids will be going to public school next year, we decided we wouldn't renew my policy when it ran out. Gap childcare is far less than a full-time nanny for young children or infants, and school covers most of our needs. We decided to keep my husband's policy indefinitely since he's our family's primary earner.
We live in Florida, one of the most expensive states for car insurance. We're paying $233 a month with State Farm for our family car. I don't think we'll do much better unless we majorly downgrade our policy, so we're keeping it for now.
About 88% of homeowners in the United States have some type of homeowner's policy, though many admitted to not taking a full inventory of their home to complement their policy. Our homeowners insurance is $136 a month and is rolled into our mortgage payment.
Since we live in an area that gets hurricanes annually, this is a policy we both agree we aren't willing to compromise on. Our policy covers a good chunk of rebuild value plus personal property, plus we have an allowance for loss of use in the case of a fire or other disaster. I also have a complete inventory of our home (and my closet) saved to the cloud, just in case.
Our umbrella policy with State Farm is for $1 million, and it runs about $700 annually. My husband is convinced that we need to be covered in the off chance that a neighbor kid breaks their leg on our policy or I get sued as a result of my freelance writing, but both of those seem unlikely. We have already paid the premium this year but agreed to revisit it next year.
I've written about living in a golf cart community before . While it comes with its perks, like saving on gas, ease of getting around, and overall fun, there are some drawbacks. Namely, golf cart insurance. Yes, I'm serious. This policy keeps us from having to claim with our homeowner's insurance in the case of an accident, which saves us in the long run. Unless we sell our golf cart, we're keeping this policy — and paying $95 annually for it.
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