Do you have enough life insurance?

[Big Frank]

I don't have any heirs to leave anything to, so the only life insurance I have is a couple of free policies. I think I have 2 $500 policies, but I'm not sure. I need to check and update all my information. My mom passed away 2 weeks ago, and I filed a claim with MetLife to get $166.67. That's 1/3 of $500.01, so I assume my brothers and I are getting equal shares of a $500 policy, and the insurance company rounded up one cent to make it equal, instead of one of us only getting $166.66.

Everyone knew my mom was slowly dying for 2 years so It didn't surprise anyone. You can't live forever when they can't find a pulse in any extremity and your blood oxygen level drops to 60%. No condolences are necessary. I already know you care. She turned 102 about 6 weeks before she died, and she has more or less been gone since she was 99 or 100. That's probably why I didn't feel sad or cry, like when my dad died in the hospital almost 28 years ago. She was totally deaf and blind, and lost most her senses of smell and taste decades ago. The last time I took her to Texas Roadhouse she was eating a Cactus Blossom, Texas-sized, golden-fried onion with Cajun sauce for dipping. It's like an Outback Bloomin' Onion but maybe with a spicier sauce, and my mom kept saying, This sure is a good potato. I'm glad she enjoyed it even if she couldn't tell the difference between an onion with Cajun dipping sauce and a potato. And she was also eating a steak one-handed while holding her knife or fork in the other hand. She apparently forgot how to use silverware back when she could still see.

So when I filed my claim for an amount of money that wouldn't cover half of my last grocery bill, I started thinking about life insurance. I don't need it, but I know a lot of you have families, just like all of my friends do, and thought I'd ask if you have life insurance, and do you think it's enough. I was offered policies up to a million dollars in the past, but who would I leave it to? My dog died, I don't know where my ex lives, even if I thought the b***ch deserved anything, and I don't want my brothers to profit from my life or my death. If you knew how badly they treated me, you'd know why. It wouldn't be as bad as if prisoners at Auschwitz bought the guards Christmas presents, but it wouldn't make any more sense than that.

[alfsauve]

I carried term for many years so that my family could live comfortably (for a while) if I died before retirement.
As the kids moved out, and our retirement and savings grew, I gradually reduced the coverage.
By the time I retired I had no policies in force.

Of course Big Frank, if you are looking for a beneficiary, all donations accepted.

[PegLeg45]

I've always carried as much as I could afford.
My work offered several AD&D options way back and I'm grandfathered in a 1 million AD&D policy that was offered thirty years ago via a credit card company for $7.95 a month. The accidental death part is the 1 mil and the disability part is pro-rated based on level of injury. When I lost my leg 21 years ago they paid me enough to pay of my home and vehicles so I guess the 8 bucks a month was worth it. I had a similar short and long term policy as well as a life policy through work.
Like Alf, as I've grown older, the life policy coverage has gone down as the premiums increase, but I still have enough to keep the wife in the black if I kick first.

As a side note, many credit unions offer life policies if you're a member. When we financed our latest truck I put it in the wife's name. A few weeks later she got info in the mail offering life and AD&D policies. They were good prices and since she's never had life insurance we opted for that route.

I don't want my son's or wife to have to finance a funeral.

[TAB]

Yes and no.   I have a 1 mill policy, but I have  more than enough networth to ensure the misses is just fine.