With people climbing every mountain top looking for answers to how to save their retirement from the economic meltdown that has consumed us for the past few months, it amazes me that the financial guru’s of the world are leaving out one of the easiest and most important things you can do to put your retirement plan on at least some semblance of solid rock.
We keep hearing that this is not the time to sell. In fact, they say, that if you have any money, now is the time to be buying stocks and mutual funds. Well, whoever “they” are don’t seem to get it that this meltdown has sucked the marrow out of our money bags. We’re not looking for good deals. We’re looking for a way to keep our retirement from going down the crapper.
We’ve been told that if we have time before retirement that this economic downturn will eventually go the other way and we may regain all we’ve lost if we’ll just sit tight and not freak out. For those whose retirement is imminent that isn’t good news, but for those of us who have 10 or more years to weather this thing out, there’s really only one piece of the puzzle left to consider.
What happens if you die next year and your wife (or wives, your husbands) are left without your income to live on and are forced to tap that pathetic shell of an investment portfolio to live on. That, to me, is where the huge danger lies. I believe the long term will be ok, but if you bank on that and don’t have life insurance to cover the shortfall until things recover, well, does the game Russian roulette ring a bell.
If there was ever a time when 10 year term insurance ought to be flying off the shelves, it’s right now. For people who have lost hundreds of thousands or millions from their portfolios and they know that retirement isn’t going to be pretty until the lost is found again, this is a no brainer. 10 year term is cheap and if the experts are even halfway close to right, within 10 years you won’t need that insurance anymore.
Bottom line. All of the tactics in the world aren’t going to mean squat if you aren’t here helping your spouse survive until things turn around. Create your own bailout with life insurance.
My 20 years of experience give me the knowledge and leverage to find reasonably-priced life insurance for people who have been declined or are paying more than they need to.
I completely agree with you regarding now as being the time to buy a term life policy.
When you consider the economy, the possibility of losing your job, and losing your benefits, and the thought of leaving your family without your own individual life insurance policy to protect their future – now is the time to buy.
And, according to a study conducted in 2007 on behalf of the Insurance Information Institute, term life insurance rates have declined by 50% over the previous dozen years.
Why not lock-in rates for 10, 15, or 20 years now, before the market changes, and rates for life insurance possibly rise?