Whole life or term? Whole life is 'spensive, but the policy has a guaranteed end-of -term value. Term is cheap, but it's payout on death only.
My suggestion is to go hybrid. Get term life for the family financial safety net, but put the amount you'd be paying for whole life into a variety of medium growth mutual funds. There's a historic probability the end-of-life value will be significantly more than the same dollars paid on a whole life policy.
Also' check with your employers insurer for discounted term life rates. I get a $400k term policy through the university for a whopping $16 a month.
Brad
Utter *expletive deleted* bullshit.
Buy Whole Life. Buy as much and then a little more then you can afford. The cash builds up, you can take it out if you need it, the policy never expires and if you pick a good company, at some point the cash in the policy generates enough to pay the premium and continue to grow. Tax free.
Only buy term if you are willing to die during that term.
And buy the disability rider.
I currently have $600K on my sorry carcass. On which I'm paying precisely $0 in premiums. Had I had term, it would have expired about 3 years ago and I would have $0. Get a diagnosis of Multiple Myloma and insurance companies won't touch you. Sometimes it's fun to fill out the "GUARANTEED ISSUANCE !!! YOU CAN"T BE TURNED DOWN !!!" Just to get the rejection letter or even better the chipper young life insurance sale person from a call center just like on TV !! Can't learn disappointment soon enough, I say.
I might have missed it, but I do not recall anybody discussing catastrophic coverage and long-term disability.
Stopping being the one bringing in the groceries is bad, but paying for long-term care is usually even worse as it often involves the rest of the family losing all the assets that usually remain on the breadwinner's death.
THIS.
SO.
MUCH.
THIS.
Get with Grampster. He can 'splain this better than I.