Episode #29: How Much Life Insurance Do You REALLY Need?

This week we're shifting our focus a bit. Today's episode is all about life insurance. We cover how to determine how much life insurance you need, what types of insurance you should consider, and several other aspects of having a life insurance plan. Be sure to stay tuned until the end of the episode, where we review some options if you realize that you have an insurance policy that you no longer need.

Show Notes

[01:04] Insurance & Financial Planning - Why it’s important to consider life insurance as an essential part of your financial planning.

[06:33] Life Insurance in Business Environments - Grant reviews some of the circumstances where a business may need to have life insurance for their important personnel.

[10:20] Life Insurance & Financial Independence - You only need life insurance when people depend on your income and future earnings. Grant explains how you can evaluate the benefits of having an insurance policy versus the cost of keeping it alive, once you reach financial independence.

[12:15] Determining How Much Insurance You Need - Two methods of analyzing and calculating how much life insurance you need. 

[20:32] Insurance Policy Types - Grant reviews the most common types of insurance policies and key differences in the way they work.

[30:52] Laddering - A strategy of obtaining multiple life insurance policies to obtain maximum benefits with the bare minimum amount of insurance.

[34:26] Getting Rid of an Insurance Policy - How to determine whether you no longer need an insurance policy.

[37:18] 1035 Exchange - A mechanism to swap between financial products and how you can use it to your advantage when it comes to insurance.

Resources

1035 Exchange:

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-03-51.pdf

Basic Types of Life Insurance Policies:

https://www.dfs.ny.gov/consumer/cli_basic.htm