Life insurance

[utswimmer37]

Being that I am a civilian, full time student would anyone recommend getting life insurance before I get anything aviation related (pilot or NFO) attached to my occupation records? Does anyone have experience with a drastic cost difference once you join the military or aviation community?

 

[webmaster]

Without getting into a whole life vs term debate. As long as you make sure you get a policy that doesn't have a war clause or takes into account your job as a pilot/aircrew you are good to go. There are quite a few military friendly companies that provide very good/inexpensive life insurance policies. I recently had to investigate my options post retirement and settled on a term policy with Navy Mutual Aid Association. Inexpensive for what I wanted. I don't think you will have any issues finding a policy that meets your needs.

 

[Brett327]

Who would your beneficiary be? Do you have a wife and kids to support?

 

[utswimmer37]

@webmaster Thanks a lot for the help. It's a whole new world of variables I'm getting into so this is a great start. I'm sure I'll figure out a lot more as I move along through the process but figured I'd look for insight.

 

[utswimmer37]

Who would your beneficiary be? Do you have a wife and kids to support?

Would be just the wife. No kid plans for a while but figured if she has to leave the professional world behind to follow me I'd start looking for life insurance.

 

[robav8r]

Always a good conversation to have/question to ask is: "what are you trying to insure against?" Answers will flow from that . . . .

 

[villanelle]

You will also get SGLI (unless you decline) from the military. I believe you are automatically issued the full $400k unless you opt out or opt for a lower amount. I believe it is ~$25/mo.

 

[utswimmer37]

You will also get SGLI (unless you decline) from the military. I believe you are automatically issued the full $400k unless you opt out or opt for a lower amount. I believe it is ~$25/mo.

So nothing I need to be shopping for now. Great info, thank you!

 

[PenguinGal]

I will second making sure that you do NOT decline the SGLI. You can also get a small policy ($100k?) on your wife and I think up to $10k on each kid once you have them. I don't recall off hand how much the dependent policies cost.

Personally, after my husband's father passed away suddenly leaving his wife who had been a SAHM her entire life a widow at the age of 45, we made sure that we had more than enough life insurance by taking out a policy with Navy Mutual to augment the SGLI. Now, we have a third but only because my husband joined the Knights of Columbus and it was really, really hard to say no to his Brother Knights. lol.

It never hurts to start shopping now. You are young and healthy and getting into a low cost policy now might pay dividends later in life if something happens to you that could prevent you from getting an adequate policy later in life. Seriously, an accident tomorrow could end your military aspirations and thus access to SGLI.

 

[ltedge46]

Whatever you decide, make sure you do it while you are still healthy. Last thing you want is to get diagnosed with something bad and then not be insurable at all. From personal experience.

 

[utswimmer37]

for anyone who reads this thread for info. http://benefits.va.gov/insurance/sgli.asp

I will second making sure that you do NOT decline the SGLI.

It never hurts to start shopping now. You are young and healthy and getting into a low cost policy now might pay dividends later in life if something happens to you that could prevent you from getting an adequate policy later in life. Seriously, an accident tomorrow could end your military aspirations and thus access to SGLI.

Thank you. I was not even aware this existed so I'm glad I asked the question. I assume it's something we find out about once we sign.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

So nothing I need to be shopping for now. Great info, thank you!

It depends, there are many flavor of life insurance, and it really depends what you can qualify for, in my case Navy Mutual was the worst as far as rates, I believe double what anyone else offered, but for webmaster they worked out.

This is what I have, and I will use rough numbers since I don't have the papers in front of me to give exact numbers, but I went with what is considered "whole life", I pay 250 per month for 30 years and after 30 years I can continue to pay in or I can cash it out and get 150K.

 

[utswimmer37]

It depends, there are many flavor of life insurance, and it really depends what you can qualify for, in my case Navy Mutual was the worst as far as rates, I believe double what anyone else offered, but for webmaster they worked out.

This is what I have, and I will use rough numbers since I don't have the papers in front of me to give exact numbers, but I went with what is considered "whole life", I pay 250 per month for 30 years and after 30 years I can continue to pay in or I can cash it out and get 150K.

So for some it may be more advantageous to skip on the SGLI or do you work through Navy Mutual for SGLI?

 

[utswimmer37]

ah, n/m...SGLI if term based life insurance

 

[PenguinGal]

SGLI is completely separate from the Navy Mutual policies we talk about.

You are automatically eligible for the SGLI when you join the military. Navy Mutual is a company that will sell you an insurance policy based on a number of factors including health.