Is Whole Life Insurance Worth The Price?
Even in your younger years, financially secure people would advise you not to be insurance poor. When you were first married or otherwise first old enough to base your financial decisions on your desire to provide for other people, you probably felt empowered when you bought a dirt-cheap term life insurance policy. It felt like a win-win situation. Either your family would get the money that you were no longer around to earn for them, or else you would not die young. Now that you have aged out of the term life insurance policy that your younger self bought, the advice not to be insurance poor still rings just as true. The difference is that, this time, the thing you are insuring against is not a premature death, since that ship has sailed. This time, the purpose of the insurance is to pay for your long-term care. You do not know when your need for long-term care will begin or how long you will need it. Even if you have enough money for a stress-free retirement in which you stay healthy until the very end, there is no guarantee that this is what you will get, and long-term care expenses can eat up all your savings and assets, even if you thought you were well off. Life as a Medicaid nursing home beneficiary is not pretty, but it is a lot of people’s reality, and insurance is the least expensive way to avoid it. For help deciding which insurance policy is best for you, contact an Orlando estate planning lawyer.
What Do You Get With Whole Life Insurance?
Whole life insurance, as its name suggests, gives you the whole package. Like many kinds of insurance, whole life insurance costs less the younger and healthier you are when you buy the policy. For example, a 50-year-old woman with no chronic health conditions can buy a whole life insurance policy for slightly more than $200 per month, and the price increases from there.
The benefits of whole life insurance include death benefits, like a life insurance policy, as well as long-term care benefits, like you would get with a conventional long-term care insurance policy. Unlike those other kinds of policies, though, whole life insurance also comes with a savings account which you can use toward long-term care, spending money, or anything else you choose.
Will a Cheaper Option Suffice?
You are not the only person approaching retirement to balk at the price of whole life insurance. If your only income is Social Security, then spending $200 of every Social Security check on whole life insurance each month is painful, even if you live in a paid off house. A less expensive option is hybrid life insurance, which pays for up to five years of long-term care, plus death benefits, if any money is left on the policy when the policyholder dies.
Contact Gierach and Gierach About Disclaiming an Inheritance
A probate lawyer can help you choose whole life insurance or another option for paying for long-term care. Contact Gierach and Gierach, P.A. in Orlando, Florida to discuss your case.
Source:
cbsnews.com/news/should-seniors-buy-whole-life-insurance/
