$12 is an expensive lunch? Do you ever go on professional lunches? I don't know what Beck does for a living or where he works, but $12 a lunch is not expensive at all if you go to a restaurant for lunch.
I pay into Social Security, you bet I expect my kids to receive those survivor benefits if I die. You bet I expect my wife to work after I die. We live on less than $40,000/year now. Subtract out the car payments/mortgage and my living expenses, you bet they better be able to make it no problem(Though my wife has already said she will move back to her moms if I die, and sell most everything). The only people I know that carry million dollar policies, are millionaires. You go ahead and spend your money as you choose. You are free to do so, but I promise you it is not recommended.
I won't comment on your economic situation. You seem to be in a different one than a lot of people. I can assure you though that a million dollar life insurance policy is not at all uncommon and is not at all restricted to millionaires. I will thanks. (I don't have kids at this point so I don't have significant life insurance) You can promise all you want that it is not recommended. You don't know whether it is or not. Maybe for a family living on less than 40k it is not recommended, but for a family making more than that I doubt any financial advisor would recommend turning down life insurance of a substantial amount for such good prices. Like I said, you are apparently in a different economic sphere than some people. That's fine. I'm glad you don't go for meals that cost $12. Lots of people do though, particularly professionals who do any work that involves meeting with people outside of the office.
For life insurance I think you should go with at least 10X your annual salary. Why would you want to take the chance of your children going without if something were to happen to you?
The median household income for a family of 4 in the state of Texas according to the census bureau is $64,420. http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/statemedfaminc.html Removing all factors and just going by all households in the state (regardless of number of working members, number of people in the household, etc.) the median household income in Texas on a 3 year basis is $47,143. Less than 40k a year for a family is not "average." I give you credit though. Based on your comments about how much you spend on lunch you seem to be a more responsible American than average as you don't outspend your income. Still, I PROMISE you, a $1 million life insurance policy is not restricted to millionaires. That you don't know anyone who has one means very little other than you don't know people who buy life insurance in that amount.
I used to be an insurance agent, so I can help a bit. I haven't sold it in over 10 years so my knowledge/experience is kinda dusty. I'd like to preface this by saying that you should have a few grand in savings for emergencies. That way you don't have to take out a ton of supplemental insurance. Also, all of this is based on Texas insurance law, not AR. 1- Absolutely, this is worth it. 2/3- Every Dental/Vision plan is a ripoff for most people. Do the math and make sure it works for you. It is a great deal for families with tons of kids, since it's usually the same price for one kid or ten. 4/6- AFLAC is a company. They offer Cancer Insurance. I think it's a good insurance as you get older, or if you spent a ton of time in the sun. It's meant as kind of a disability insurance specifically for cancer. I would weigh the cost. From what I remember, it's one of the more pricey supplemental insurances out there. 5- Don't really have any experience with this. 7- Absolutely do long-term disability. Being out of work for years can be devastating. Short term- you should just put your money in savings. You should see if your employer offers a sort of flex-pay option. You can put aside money pre-tax to pay for medical/child care. It really pays- consider every dollar worth a buck plus your tax bracket. The only downside is that if you don't use that money within your plan year, you lose it.
I'm glad you weren't my agent if you were recommending AFLAC cancer policies but not dental insurance. LOL? If you are an employee dental insurance is not a ripoff if you are not paying full price, particularly if you have kids because the cost is so low. Depending on your dentist, a cleaning alone for you, your wife and two kids (hypothetical hear) probably comes close to paying the cost. Add in xrays, etc. Then imagine you have a kid who breaks a tooth (like I did when I was a kid) all of a sudden your dental insurance is saving you a lot. Dental insurance is only a ripoff for people who don't go to the dentist, which is not a smart decision to begin with.
I didn't recommend Cancer insurance. I put the facts out there. If you spend every day in the sun and are 50 years old, it's probably a good idea. Dental and Vision pays off better if you have a large family, because the cost for a family plan is the same for 1 kid or 10. I still think it's a ripoff in most cases. *changed my original post to reflect the above.
So, if I have a vision plan that pays for a new pair of glasses every year for me and a year's worth of contacts for my wife and pay less than $100 a year for that plan, it's a ripoff?
For the typical person in America, not going to the dentist will lead your teeth down a road to no longer being good, and if your dentist is a crook you can get a new one.
We used to have a plan that would pay up to X amount for glasses (which you could get for X amount) as well as contacts. Unfortunately, we are now self insured when it comes to dental and vision, so we only get $200 credit for vision hardware per year (albeit at no cost to us). We also get $300 of 100% covered dental, $500 at 80% and $1200 at 50%, again at no additonal cost to us. I'd rather go back to the old way. My lenses for my glasses alone cost $400+.
I just remembered that it was through VSP. I checked their website and for $169 a year, they cover 100% of prescription lenses and $120 worth of frames. That's the plan we had and since my company paid part of the insurance it was less than $100 for my wife and I.
You still go to the dentist, but for your regular cleaning. The problem is you don't know if your dentist is a crook. He is the expert, you aren't. How are you supposed to know if he is lying to you? Dentists are often times very much like auto mechanics.
What dentists do you go to? You must have a tough life man. I'm sorry. Most dentists are in fact not crooks and you can always compare pricing. And again, for a family of four, four regular cleanings in a calendar year will probably cover the cost you are paying for dental insurance if it is through an employer if you also get xrays, flouride, etc. in your yearly visit.
I don't think they're 'crooks', but they're businessmen and push products and services to make money. And that's where they're biased. Unscrupulous people are everywhere and that includes dentists. The downside is that the common person knows nothing about dental work and so it's easy for the unscrupulous person to take advantage of that. Much like mechanics, computer repair, or just about everything that takes some time to learn about. I guess on that note, if you find a dentist you like and trust, you should stick with him/her.
