However, you may desire insurance to help pay some fot hebills if one of you dies. But given your age and the absence of children – it depends alot on how much each of you earn and how much your monthly bils are. Also a little depends on the value of the house – but honestly get a new agent.

In a nutshell, a life policy pays money to the beneficiary when the covered person dies. For a term policy, it pays for a specific period of time (i.e. monthly) of risk. For a whole life, variable of universal policy, it pays the face value of the policy at any time, but you lose any and all of the cash value at death (unless you live to 100.

The people selling non-term justify (or rationalize) their selling of inferior financial products by citing statistics that report on the poor saving habits of people. In this day and age, the only people who buy non-term policies are those who don’t understand them.

If you are both 23 you should expect, quite reasonably, to have no need for life insurance past the age of 53, if you avoid consumer debt, use the internet, and invest in low-load or no-load funds. Because, say you get a $200,000 whole life policy, and one of you dies in 29 years. That $200,000 payoff will only have the spending power of around $40,000 – $70,000 . Whereas if you invest the same amount that you WOULD HAVE paid in premiums for whole life/universal life/variable etc. you would have much MORE than the $200,000.

Also AVOID additional mortgage insurance. You don’t NEED mortgage insurance because you have a mortgage payment.
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Many, many books about insurance – available at your local library.

I find that most people need BOTH term insurance and a permanent policy (there are other permanent policies than whole life). Way too many people try to get by with a term policy only to discover later in life that the amount of coverage was too little and they still need coverage after the term expires. They may have a health issue that prevents obtaining any more coverage.

Aside from the TYPE of policy that you need, the AMOUNT of coverage also varies from person to person.

Go talk to a financial advisor. Plan to reveal all of your finances to him/her. Expect to pay a fee.

Good Luck.
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Mortgage insurance will cover you for the loan term in the event of Death and Total Permanent Disability(loss of both limbs or eyes) and Terminal Illness(leading to certain death in the next 12 months). In the event of Death/TPD, the full sum assured will be paid out so the surviving partner gets to keep the house without having to bear further instalments.

Mortgage insurance is cheap and affordable. However, you will not get your money back if nothing happens.

I do not want to make this too complicated for you so mortgage insurance is all I will advise you to buy at this moment in time as I do not know your available budget and whether you have other insurance policies in force.
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When you buy term, you are also suppose to have extra money left over to save toward retirement. When you buy whole life, you don’t have any extra money because whole life is very expensive. In whole life policies, rate of return on savings is very low and if you want to use it, you have to BORROW it. Do you like to borrow your own money and pay it back?

That’s why I choose term insurance. Why should insurance have a savings plan attached to it and that when you die, your family only has access to the face amount and not the savings? So, if you want your family to have the best of both worlds, buy term and invest away each month.
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Simple. What type of premiums are affordable, and how much coverage do you need to pay off your home, credit card debt, and possibly replace income if one of you die for the other to live as they are accustomed to.

Usually, I recommend Term because of the cost, and the fact that most young people usually need any where 100K to 300K To cover all the bases so that the living spouse doesnt face hardship.

Whole life is great if used as a tax free investment. With the market and interest rates as poor as they are, even Susie Orman does not recommend whole life. Expensive, and the cash value is not growing like it did in years past.

The decreasing death benefit is not a good idea! Oh ya, and if your insurance agent is pressuring you, find a new one! No one should pressure you into insurance, if you are going to have it for years to come, you should worry about succumbing to an agent that is looking for a quick commission.

Let me know if you need rates.
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