Automatic Insurance
- Intro
- Cash Management
- Investing
- Insurance (you are here)
The Setup
- $1.5 million of term life insurance on me
- A smaller amount of term life insurance on my wife
- A private disability insurance policy on me that pays $5,000/mo if I can't program computers anymore, for up to 2 years
- Employer sponsored short and long term disability insurance
- Employer sponsored health insurance
- Auto, home, and umbrella insurance
Why
My future income is currently my family's largest asset.
Term life protects my family if I die before the kids go to college. Disability protects them if I'm incapacitated but don't die. Health protects our assets from medical bankruptcy. Auto, home and umbrella protect our assets from car crashes, fires, and slip and fall incidents.
We own term life insurance because it's the simplest, cheapest possible product. If you die they pay. If you die before 2 years have passed they'll dig into your application and make sure you didn't lie or omit anything, but that's the only wrinkle. Never buy whole, universal, or variable life insurance. It combines insurance with investing on very bad (for the customer) terms.
I have both employer sponsored and private policies because my health history makes it difficult and expensive to get the amount of insurance that we need. The combination, while a little more complicated, helps me sleep easier.