Not a joke.
Since this one place that gets several opinions I thought I would see if there is a general opinion on different types of life insurances. My wife has been on this kick to get some additional ins on top of what we already have. As in blackjack I've always considered life ins to be a suckers bet but it's what she wants. Seeing as how alot of are in the same age bracket(more or less) I thought I'd get some opinions.
Two different types:
Whole Life(sort of a bank account type) is more expensive but you keep it forever and it never goes up. Alot of dough for the size of coverage that you would actually want to bother with.

Term policies run for a certain length of time then it's over and you renegotiate for the next term(gets more expensive as you age). Less expensive than WL and basically you're betting that you will die within that amount of time. I think they are only accidental too. So if you get sick and die I don't think they pay off. If you get cancer you have to drive your car off a cliff and leave skid marks before it runs out.

Any opinions on insurances?

I'm not sure about whether or not your descriptions of whole vrs term are the same here.

Term is least expensive here.

Whole is more money and less coverage. $50,000 sounded good 30 years ago, now you need at least $500k.

Never buy a policy that has a "Investment" option. Sucker polices in my opinion.

Term life is cheaper than "Term mortgage" insurance. That might be what your describing. Mortgage insurance is a no no. Up your term life (cheaper and conditions are more reasonable.

If your still working, consider LTD (Long-Term disability).
I bought it years ago and in 2009 I went on LTD for the rest of my life. Turned out to be a good investment.

When we purchased personal life insurance for our (business) years ago, I discovered that the insurance companies would not insure you for much over your earning capacity.

Fo instance, if you flip burgers at McDonalds, it would be almost impossible to purchase a million dollars of life insurance. (you may have trouble even with a 200 k policy)

This seems to keep fraud in check. they say "why would you need that much ins to life the pathetic life you are currently living"?

When purchasing additional insurance, you always need to declare how much insurance you already have. They take all of that into consideration.

Personally, if you insure yourself for about twice what your current debt load is, that may be about ballpark what is reasonable. (counting home loan, car loans, credit cards, etc) (noone here has a fgf loan, right?)

And Gus is right, LTD is very important too!

I would reccomend talking to or researching an investment advisor about all of this. It opened my eyes a lot about 12 years ago when I became a business Owner. There are so many pieces to the puzzle, and unless your wife has plans for you that you are unaware of, you may end up spending more money than you need to. It also depends on how big your nest egg and 401k plans are as well.

it all depends on your age , if you have kids ,their ages etc...look at what it would take to raise them , school etc if you`re not around...if they are of age = working etc....all you need ins for is to make your other half happy if/when you go....

I have $50k on my wife...will take care of funerals etc...we have $150 k on me....I used to have $500k whole life.....then as kids got older we used some of the money paid in that was in the 'bank acct'.....
my 0.02 is ,its all about the kids....or who you want to help out when youre not around! Dont have too much so it becomes a money bag for someone you made beneficiary , you may end up in an 'accident'...lol

of course the kids can have an inheritance this way too...

Yup, term is alot cheaper than whole ins. There was an agent here the other night. 4yr term for $100K was about $50/month but in 4yrs it goes to $65 then next 4yrs $85. That's what they have listed now but no guarantees when the time comes to re-up. Plus, like I said, I think it's only accidental.

Whole life is $175/month for $100K but it never goes up after you get it. 30 yrs later I paid in $63K and it's worth $100K.

Thing is that's a lot of dough to put away that I'm never going to see an advantage from. Kid's are grown. They can make their own money. My parents are in their 80s and my grandparents were as well so presumably I could be paying on this for 30+ more years. Wife said it would be nice to have more than a couple of years worth of wages from ins payoff. I told her she was still a good looking woman and I didn't think it would take her that long to find a sugar daddy. Hey, I thought it was a compliment.

I would definitely sign up for the disability rider too. That's about the only thing that makes sense to me.

If you get term and/or LTD make sure you read the fine print and understand what is NOT covered. I was lucky and bought the right plan. The mortgage LTD will only pay out if your in the hospital 6" into the grave. Who needs LTD if you croak within a year of disability.

You need coverage for situations where you can no longer do what you were employed as for the last 3-5 years.

I was a programmer. Today I can walk talk and drive my car and truck. However, my inability to do fine motor skills and fatigue ... yada yada ... make it impossible for me to do IT work like I did before.

Get a good insurance agent to help you.

If your kids are grown and the rest of the family is set- what are you actually "insuring"? I understand the wife is driving this, but that's the question to ask. Insurance should be to protect you by financially replacing something you can't replace yourself in the event of a catastrophe. Otherwise you're looking for investments. IMO, its one or the other, and the two concepts should not be mixed or confused. So if its investment she's after, then compare the insurance to other possible investments. I understand whole life has interesting tax advantages, but if you look solely at how much money you take home after X years, I think you'll find better options.

It seems she is thinking that in the event something happens to either of us(mostly me) an insurance payout would pay off all the current debt and supply replacement wages for a certain amount of time afterward. Definitely not thinking of it as an investment.

It's not an investment to me. I want to leave my wife with her standard of living maintained or enhanced.

When one of us get sick the other rubs their hands together and smiles!

I'm guaranteed a "I love you" on the way out the door and into the light (red probably).

I was able to purchase mine through my extended coverage at work. Have it so my mortgage gets paid in full and my spouse gets several years salary.

ahh yes, of course.... sorry, I was only thinking of children....
I'd go with a modest term coverage, just enough to cover those needs, and only a term long enough to go up to retirement. ... jmho.
My wife and I have term coverage on each other, but because our kids are still young, we have enough coverage for either of us to be a stay-at-home parent until the kids are grown. The term also expires when they are grown. The agents tried to get us into whole life, but I didn't like it either as an investment (seemed to me real estate or mutual funds would do better), or as insurance (payouts increase over time, rather than one set amount, and pay the lowest when you are at the highest risk for a crisis). The only advantage I saw with whole life was the tax shelter, but no one should make choices on taxes alone. I'd be happy to give you the name of the agent we ultimately went with, if you're interested.

ps, I also looked at extended coverage at work. For me, it was cheaper to have a separate policy above and beyond my work policy- seems like some of the insurance companies really take advantage of employees and hope you won't price outside policies. Also-, work coverage is usually only 2-3 years salary at best. That will cover the funeral and short term debt, but no one can survive on that long term.
I know- I sound like an insurance salesman! ... just sharing what I found out when I was doing the shopping. It's a huge expense for us, so I did a lot of homework when we chose.

That's precisely the reason I asked here. I figured somebody had already done all the leg work at one time or another. I appreciate the insight.

Bob,
why don't you look into a AARP life insurance ?

My wife was all over the internet checking on different prices. I belive they were one of the ones she checked on. Thing is there are so many different ways to go that unless you decide what you want first you end up chasing your tail and so confused that your head starts to hurt.
AAA sent us some prices the other day on 5yr term that looked fairly reasonable and since it's basically to replace income until retirement probably we would only have to renew once before retirement. Seems like the path is getting a bit clearer.

Don't forget your wife's new husband will be spending the money.

Is she hot...always lookin at upgrading especially if thier coming into money! :}

Yeah, no kidding. She might be hotter sittin on a stack of cash I suppose. Even to me.

Bob,
The AARP was an age joke.

Dude, I'd buy from Dead and Buried insurance company if they were cheap enough.

there's a good excuse to repost an ond joke:

I asked my wife if I died, would she remarry, and she said, "yes, probably". I asked if she would let him drive my Firebird, and she said "I think so, you don't want me to sell it, do you?" Then I asked if she would let him use my tools, And she said "I guess so, no sense in them sitting there, right?"
Then I asked if she'd let him use my golf clubs, and she said "of course not- he's left handed!"