Comments on: Why Over Insuring Is Like Buying Lottery Tickets

By: How Much Life Insurance Do You REALLY Need? | Expert Reviews!

How Much Life Insurance Do You REALLY Need? | Expert Reviews! — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:32:18 +0000

[...] pass away. How much financial impact will your death cause to your family? Do you want them to be filthy rich if you die? Do you want your partner to continue to work? Do you want them to be debt free? Is it [...]

By: Four Pillars

Four Pillars — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 02:24:54 +0000

BB – it doesn’t sound like you have excessive insurance from your comment since your wife won’t be experiencing a large increase in her standard of living.

My point had to do with the fact that some people do want a large increase in their standard of living if their spouse dies which I think is financially misguided. Bottom line though is that financial planning is about determining your own goals and my opinion is not important in that regard.

Mike

By: Brip Blap

Brip Blap — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 02:16:38 +0000

I’m not sure I agree… I don’t intend for my life insurance policy to replace my lifelong earnings if I die, but it is there so that my wife will be able to pay off the mortgage and have enough to live without working – if necessary – for at least long enough for our son to be a teenager and help support the family. I agree that I’m not trying to set her up to be a lounge-about millionaire.

My “disabled” insurance is my fairly weak disability insurance plus my substantial emergency fund. And even though statistically the chances that I might die are much lower than disability, I am more worried about how my stay-at-home wife could cope with the sudden loss of our entire family income. Car accidents happen – I came within inches of being slammed into at an intersection this weekend.

And I agree that ideally I’d write a book and the royalties would provide financial independence for my family forever, but until then I’ll keep my life insurance.

By: FourPillars

FourPillars — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 16:58:32 +0000

Good luck – and feel free to share if you win the big one.

Mike

By: telly

telly — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 15:25:50 +0000

Thanks Mike! I’m going to go buy a couple lottery tickets with my insurance savings this month…wish me luck!

By: How Much Life Insurance Do You Need?

How Much Life Insurance Do You Need? — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 11:48:57 +0000

[...] Why Over Insuring Is Like Buying Lottery Tickets. [...]

By: FourPillars

FourPillars — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 10:30:42 +0000

That’s a good point FB – disability insurance is important as well.

Mike

By: TheFinancialBlogger

TheFinancialBlogger — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 09:28:37 +0000

Your certainly don’t want to win this lottery
I guess people would be better off putting this extra premium into a disability insurance as most of them are not enough covered for this type of insurance.

Statistically speaking, you have much better chance to become disabled for a short period of time than dying over the next 20 years.

By: Mr. Cheap

Mr. Cheap — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 16:28:56 +0000

I agree completely. With insurance companies, they have large numbers of smart people working on the odds. Protecting yourself against catastrophe is a far better approach to insurance then hoping to improve your life (which certainly isn’t what insurance is for).