I though term life was cheap! Do I need to shop around?

[Zaphod]

30 years, 3M is going to be an expensive policy and likely much more than you need. Split it up and you can probably lower the rate. Or shorten the term to 20 years and look how much less expensive it is.

How about 10 years $2M and 20 years $1M. Or ten years $1.5M and 20 years $1.5M. Or 10 years $1M, 20 years $1M, and 30 years $1M. There is a good chance that you will not need any life insurance from age 55-65 and an even better chance that you will not need a full $3M of life insurance at age 64, so there is no need to pay a rate that assumes that you do.

This is exactly (or very close to) what I did, a ladder with much more in early years and declining later. The point of this is to help balance assets and liabilities should anything occur, you dont even have many liabilities it appears but a windfall for survivors is nice. You hope to build up assets in the beginning that change your scenario and thus you require less.

No need for that insurance if your assets have you covered, never forget the real purpose of the instrument.

[Curious George]

Agreed. Shop around for comparison. While you’re at it, consider a laddered term life policy:

Instead of a single 30 year 3M policy, consider a 10 year 1M + 20 year 1M + 30 year 1M policy. Effectively, you’ll have a 3M policy for the first 10 years, then 2M policy for the next 10 years, then a 1M policy for the last 10 years.

As you accumulate assets, you’ll have less need for the full 3M policy and you’ll save a significant amount on premiums (~30%) from the beginning.

[VentAlarm]

Why do you need a 30y policy? I bought a 10y and 20y policy for 1.5M and have 1.25x salary through work.

[VagabondMD]

30 years, 3M is going to be an expensive policy and likely much more than you need. Split it up and you can probably lower the rate. Or shorten the term to 20 years and look how much less expensive it is.

How about 10 years $2M and 20 years $1M. Or ten years $1.5M and 20 years $1.5M. Or 10 years $1M, 20 years $1M, and 30 years $1M. There is a good chance that you will not need any life insurance from age 55-65 and an even better chance that you will not need a full $3M of life insurance at age 64, so there is no need to pay a rate that assumes that you do.

[CordMcNally]

It's always worth it to get other quotes with regards to many things but certainly insurance.

[ihavenonickname]

Got my quote for term life with Principal. And its way more than I thought - the rub is I have Crohn's disease, stable/asymptomatic for 23 years and on the same medication the whole time - mercaptopurine. After the whole process, medical exam etc I was approved for their "Standard Plus" class. 30 years 3M plan is $3700/year.

I feel a little obligated to go with it because I went through the whole process already, but would it be worth getting other quotes specific to my situation? Perhaps another company would put me in a better class? Is there a way to find that out without going through the whole medical exam thing, my agent suggests this is my best option but I don't see how he could know that without quotes from other companies. This is about 2x what I thought I would pay (using preferred plus on term4sale) so it also makes me want to have less coverage.

More about me: 35M non smoker no risky business, wife stays home with 1 year old. Federal student debt 140k, no house, net worth around 0, income 450k.