Insurance why?

I pay over $600 a month for various insurance policies and I often ask myself why I am paying $7,200 a year for insurance.

I pay almost $200 a month for life insurance on my wife but she doesn`t work so if I didn`t have insurance on her and she died my income wouldn`t change at all.

I pay almost $200 a month on insurance for an the old house that I own and live in,it`s payed off I don`t have a mortgage so if it is destroyed I don`t have to worry about paying off a mortgage, I can just leave and get another house with a mortgage or rent a place and I`ll still own the land where the old house was.

car insurance is really cheap so that's not a concern to me, it`s about $50 a month for 2 vehicles. I`m seriously thinking about dropping the home owners insurance and the life insurance on my wife, between the 2 of those I could save almost $400 a month.

like I said if the wife dies my income won`t change one bit, and if the house is destroyed I`ll have to fight the insurance company to get any money out of them, and if the house is destroyed I`ll have to move anyways while I`ll fighting the insurance company to pay to get it rebuilt, and I`ll have to wait for it to get rebuilt.

if I`m going to have to move anyways why would I want to move back after 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 years if they do pay to have it rebuilt and it does finally get rebuilt?

paying almost %20 of my monthly income seems like an awefull lot for insurance payments.

a reply to: Tardacus

I pay almost $200 a month for life insurance on my wife but she doesn`t work so if I didn`t have insurance on her and she died my income wouldn`t change at all.

Seems that should be $200 on you so your wife will not be left destitute if you die.

If your house burns down with your wife in it, then they will toss you in jail for arson and suspicion of killing your wife for the insurance money. You won't have to even buy your food or pay taxes or pay insurance premiums when you are sitting in Jail. See, your insurance will give you an easy life if something happens.

a reply to: Tardacus

I have more medical care than every other healthy person I know. Every year I have a well woman, major blood work (beyond the normal), a comprehensive eye exam, and full dental exam including x-rays.

I am an uninsured individual.

To have a "Bronze" plan I would pay about $4,000/year and it would cover NOTHING except the well woman. Whoopee, I'd pay a $0 copay but $4,000/year for my "free" well woman.

Such BS.

For a DECENT plan that would cover some of the blood work I choose to have, I'd pay $7,000 - 8,000. And that still would NOT cover my eyes or mouth.

Why?

I pay about $2,500 including two prescriptions for all of this.

This year I had a surprise sonogram to check a problem in my neck. Cost? $125 cash. Seriously.

Analyze the facts. See what's best FOR YOURSELF. Maybe insurance is best, maybe it's NOT.

Got a friend on one of the same drugs I'm on. Her co-pay? $30.00. My cash payment $18.53. GO. FIGURE.

a reply to: Tardacus

Insurance? Yeah, it's quite a good joke

Car insurance on two vehicles. Fifty bucks a month? Tell me how tell me where tell me who.

a reply to: Tardacus

When you put the homeowners insurance in those terms it seem like a calculated risk. If you put $1,400 a year into some kind of investment, even in 10 years that would only be a nice down payment on a new home. Calculate the real risks in your area of a catastrophic natural even... then factor in that the insurance is almost never beneficial to use on small claims. Might be the right choice not to have it especially if you could be investing that money. Investment adds up.

Life insurance on a spouse with no income is pretty pointless. Normally you look for 10-15 years of replacement income for a spouse. Replacing an income that doesn't exist is another senseless expense. That's another $1,400 a year investment.

Max out Roth IRA contributions and split the rest in growth stock, mid caps, and an internation mutual fund. You'll be a millionaire before you know it. It's all about risk tolerance and making good decisions about it. If you have the discipline to put that money in investments you will do well.

Do you have younger children?

That would change most of the answers.

P

originally posted by: TerryMcGuire
Car insurance on two vehicles. Fifty bucks a month? Tell me how tell me where tell me who.

yeah seriously, I have it with USAA, but the downside is I had to get homeowners insurance with them,in order to get the cheaper auto insurance,that costs me twice as much as I had with another company, but in the long run I save on auto insurance and pay more for home owners so I about break even.

I pay about $200 a month for home owners and about $50 for auto insurance, where as before I was paying about $110 for home owners and $125 for auto insurance.

originally posted by: Ksihkehe
a reply to: Tardacus

When you put the homeowners insurance in those terms it seem like a calculated risk. If you put $1,400 a year into some kind of investment, even in 10 years that would only be a nice down payment on a new home. Calculate the real risks in your area of a catastrophic natural even... then factor in that the insurance is almost never beneficial to use on small claims. Might be the right choice not to have it especially if you could be investing that money. Investment adds up.

Life insurance on a spouse with no income is pretty pointless. Normally you look for 10-15 years of replacement income for a spouse. Replacing an income that doesn't exist is another senseless expense. That's another $1,400 a year investment.

Max out Roth IRA contributions and split the rest in growth stock, mid caps, and an internation mutual fund. You'll be a millionaire before you know it. It's all about risk tolerance and making good decisions about it. If you have the discipline to put that money in investments you will do well.

yep, recently I read and heard that having life insurance on a spouse who has no income is basically a waste of money.
we both have life insurance policies for the same amount, I pay $170 a month for mine and almost $200 a month for hers.
I know how insurance companies are they will always try to cheat you and screw if they have to pay out,,so I think it`s a waste of money having insurance on her.

originally posted by: pheonix358
Do you have younger children?

That would change most of the answers.

P

nope, both our kids are adults now and not living at home, one is married the other is getting married in 2 months.
I`ve often thought of selling the house because it`s too big for just me and the wife but houses don`t sell here so we just stay here because it`s basically a free place to live since it`s paid off.
it`s about 2,000 square feet, 3 bedrooms 1 and 1/2 baths but we only use 4 rooms, the kitchen,living room bathroom and master bedroom, the rest of the house just stays closed up, we don`t even heat the rest of the house.

we use a small wood stove to heat the living room, kitchen and half bath on the first floor, and an electric space heater to heat the master bedroom. The dining room and den on the first floor never get used so don`t heat them and 2 of the bedrooms on the second floor don`t get used so we don`t heat them either, in fact we haven`t bought heating oil for the furnace in 3 years because we just don`t use it.

a reply to: Tardacus

4 to 5 years to rebuild a wooden house? really? (even a brick, concrete or steel house for that matter).

I'm not in your country so don't know. Why would it take so long?

no offence but this sounds like bad management of personal finances.

I recently went through all of mine and am saving quite a bit, just cut out the crap your not needing, ie wifes life insurance