exNavyOffRec
Well-Known Member
In general, I wouldn't recommend whole or universal. Not that I agree with Dave Ramsey on everything, but he doesn't either.
It depends on your circumstances, the example I gave happened to the customer of an agent I know, set up with a term policy at 20 by his parents that was a 30 year term, got married had several kids, wife was stay at home mom, he was asked if he wanted to convert to whole and declined a few times, term policy reached the end of the term and several months later died of a heart attack leaving 1 kid still in HS, 1 in college, 1 recent college grad. The agent said last she heard the wife was looking at selling the house and moving to an apartment due to remaining finances didn't support long term ability to keep the house.
There is also the circumstance of the memorial I went to of the veteran who passed away 2 weeks ago, after a 7 week battle with Leukemia, he left behind a 37 year old wife and 4 kids under 10. He did have a policy through his work but way under insured, his wife also didn't work as she was busy moving kids to and from school and other kid events, sitting in their living room hearing her talk about what her finances she is getting I am betting she will lose the house, in their case a term policy would have been fine if a good evaluation had been done on their needs, but who thinks they will die at 42 after a 7 week battle with Leukemia?
In the end it really depends on the individual, in @HAL Pilot description whole or unlimited isn't a need for him as he had a spouse that realistically could get along fine without him, many can't. I have both as the short term needs of my family are higher than the long term needs, by the times my term ends kids will all be out of college and house will be either paid off or very close to it so the whole/unlimited will provide funds for my wife to re-establish in the workforce without having to panic.