[Nevin]

What the largest portion of the population needs to have is TERM life insurance. Do not buy whole life or any other kind of insurance that claims to have a cash value. Most often, people buy this type of insurance because the agent suckers them in by telling them that it has cash value after a while, it's a good way to save for retirement... blah blah blah. Truth is that this cash value often builds value at rates LESS than that of inflation. WHat does this mean?? It means that over time, your cash value is actually losing money! It means that you're paying money in this whole time, your money is growing slower than inflation, and they are keeping the rest of your money. ALso, when you die, you only receive the death benefit. They claim whatever cash value you've incurred over time, and laugh their way to the bank! ALso, this type usually says you can borrow against your cash value. But guess what... you have to pay interest!!! Paying interest on your own money?? NO THANK YOU! I don't know of many people that got rich borrowing their own money... In addition, by federal law, insurance companies are not even required to put anything into your account in the first 3 years of the policy. So, it means that You're paying for cash value, but guess what? You have no cash value! Also, when you die, you get one or the other. There is no way for you to get the cash value AND the amount of insurance!

I had to find this out for myself the hard way. Over a year ago I purchased a whole life policy thinking that it would be a good investment for my future. I'm 23 years old, I figured it would be a good way to start planning ahead, and guess what.. I GOT SUCKERED! Also, after I learned the error in my ways, I sat down and figured out that if I would just be putting the same amount I was paying my insurance company each month in a jar, I would have had moremoney in the jar in 25 years than I would have had in my cash value!

Here's the easiest way to explain how term insurance works. Basically it'slike car insurance. You pay for coverage and when your car gets totalled, they pay up. Term is like that, but you know right away what your loves ones will be getting (that is the death benefit) and if you buy the right kind (level term) it means that your rates NEVER go up.

Term is the best bet for your money because all you're doing is paying for coverage and if you ask me, that's all you should HAVE to pay for! That way, you have money left to invest where you want to, and you can decide for yourself what to put it in.

Here's what you want to cover when you're looking for insurance.
Funeral costs
Pay off mortgage or other bills in full
plan ahead for child (ren) college tuition
Replace your income for x amount of years
Any other sort of monetary buffer (care of elders, etc...)

Usually you can add children to a policy easily too, for only a few dollars a month. The coverage on a child is usually enough to cover a funeral. The normal amount on a child (up to age 18) in most areas is $10.000.

So, all this together should give you a dollar amount you'llbe shopping for. If yours and your spouses incomes are about the same, you generally want the same amount of coverage. (that makes sense) Then, after you know what kindof coverage you need you can go start getting quotes from people. Just an idea, but lets say you're 30, you have 3 kids and you are the primary breadwinner and you have a $200k mortgage which you've been paying on for oh, lets say... 5 years. You're probably going to want at LEAST $300k on you, and at LEAST $200k on your spouse. These are just ballparks, but it will at least give you an idea of what numbers you should be looking at.

ALso, it is of note that most companies will give you a price break when you get over the half a million mark on the whole policy. It's usually actually cheaper to to a $300k/ $200k than it would be to do 200/200 just for that reason.

So anyways, that's my shpeel for now. I am licensed by the state of Iowa to sell life insurance, so no, I am not just pulling this out of my butt. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask, and if I don't know the answer, I'll certainly try my best to find it for you!

So, to sum this up quickly, BUY TERM INSURANCE, you work too hard for your money to consider throwing it away on anything else! I don't care what brand you buy as long as you keep this in mind!
-nevin