What if I died tomorrow calculation

[corn18]

I have been doing all my retirement planning assuming I live forever. 2 heart attacks, 3 stints and an angioplasty later (all this past weekend), and now I am doing my what if I died tomorrow calculations. I had done a quick look at this before to see how much life insurance I needed, but now I have it plugged into my retirement spreadsheet. Kind morbid with a cell that asks DEAD? with an available entry of 1 (dead) or 0 (not dead). That adjusts all my income and savings calculations all at once as if I were dead. Turns out, I am about $750k short on life insurance if my wife wants to stay at her current spending level, pay off the house, fully fund college and not have to get a job. Off to find a good deal on more term life insurance.

Tom

[ua_guy]

Did I read that right? 2 heart attacks and an angioplasty over this last weekend? If so, wow, I'm glad you're still here. Sounds like luck and good care were both working for you.

On one hand, yes, it's never too soon to plan the event of an early departure. On the other...the weekend was just two days ago. Rest up and try not to worry about money?

[corn18]

Yup, read it right. Only reason I'm still alive is my fitness obsession created a strong heart that could survive the attacks. Yeah me, right?

I did spend this morning simplifying my finances. I had many funds with varying amounts and types of investments in them to fund all the requirements: EF, house repair, college, new car, auto repair, pet EF, etc... You would need an MBA to figure out where everything was. If I had died on Saturday, I would have left my wife in a lurch not knowing where anything was. She would have plenty of money, but spread all over the place. Now it's all in one investment account. So tonight, I will go over the simplified account structure with her.

We did do all the will, trust, advanced directive and POA work just this past February, so at least that is all set up. All my life insurance goes directly to her trust. Just not sure how long that takes, so I have to make sure there is enough spending money for her not to worry about it for at least a year.

Life is good.

Tom

[disneysteve]

First and foremost, get well soon! I'm glad to hear you came through everything well.

That said, I don't know how successful you will be finding affordable term insurance having just gone through all of that. I would suggest speaking to an independent broker who can shop your account to as many companies as possible to try and find one that will insure you for a reasonable cost. This is not one of those cases where you just go to accuquote and plug in your data.

Overall, though, you raise a critically important point. When one spouse handles the finances, as is so often the case, you need to make sure the other spouse knows what you have and where it is. I have a list of all of our accounts and insurance policies with account numbers, online access codes, phone numbers, etc. that we keep in our lockbox. I also do all paper statements the old fashioned way and they are neatly filed in a file drawer in my desk. All DW would need to do is open that drawer and start making phone calls as needed.

I do keep meaning to simplify things, though. I promised myself I'd start doing that when I turned 50, which I did last summer, but I haven't actually done it yet. Time to rollover and consolidate some assorted accounts to make things cleaner.

[corn18]

That said, I don't know how successful you will be finding affordable term insurance having just gone through all of that. I would suggest speaking to an independent broker who can shop your account to as many companies as possible to try and find one that will insure you for a reasonable cost. This is not one of those cases where you just go to accuquote and plug in your data.

Hadn't thought about that. I assume the term insurance I have now is good to go and they can't raise my rates because I "almost" died?

[Thrif-t]

Hadn't thought about that. I assume the term insurance I have now is good to go and they can't raise my rates because I "almost" died?

You're right they can't raise your rates while you're locked into the term. If/when the term expires and you have to renew that is when you could get a rate increase. Take it easy and rest, glad you survived the weekend.

[disneysteve]

Hadn't thought about that. I assume the term insurance I have now is good to go and they can't raise my rates because I "almost" died?

You're right they can't raise your rates while you're locked into the term. If/when the term expires and you have to renew that is when you could get a rate increase.

Exactly. Your current policy won't change. That rate is good for the duration of the term.

[corn18]

Exactly. Your current policy won't change. That rate is good for the duration of the term.

Excellent. I have my term policies tiered so they phase out as I get older (and wealthier)

Expiration dates (my age in that year) [value]:

2029 (63) [$500,000]
2037 (71) [$500,000]
2044 (78) [$500,000]

I have an additional $1.63M of term through my employer. Total is $3.13M which is enough, but I was looking at adding more non-employer life insurance. If I stay on track with my savings plan, I won't need any of it at age 63, so I guess I'll just have to stay alive until then.

Tom

[snafu]

Like others, I re-read your post to make sure I understood that just two days ago you had 2 heart attacks, 3 stints, and angioplasty but you seem fixated on finance and your life insurance ladder. Please focus on health and reducing stress. You won't like what all they do to you if bypass surgery becomes necessary. Take care of yourself

[corn18]

Knowing that my family will have sufficient wealth to continue on without me does reduce my stress. A lot. And ensuring that it all happens with minimal stress to them after I die also reduces my stress. A lot. My wife's father died 2 weeks ago and he had everything set up nearly perfectly for his wife. While none of this dying stuff is easy, he made sure she didn't have to worry about having enough money to live for at least a year while all the paperwork caught up.

This result makes me happier and less stressed:

[MonkeyMama]

It makes sense to me why you would want to make sure affairs are in order. Plus, from my dad's heart attack experience I am guessing you may have some renewed energy? (It's hard for my dad to sit still anyway, but never felt better once removing blockages in arteries).

It's times like these that push people to get their affairs in order but is unfortunate is often too late. Life insurance is impossible to get or prohibitively expensive once you develop health problems. That said, you must feel amazing to have put in all the work you have in your time at SA and what a better position you would have left your family in than otherwise.

[feh]

Holy cow Tom! Glad to hear disaster was averted!

I hope your long term prognosis is good!

[corn18]

That said, you must feel amazing to have put in all the work you have in your time at SA and what a better position you would have left your family in than otherwise.

I hadn't paused to look back on it, but that is very true. All I would have left my family with 2 years ago was a mountain of debt and zero net worth, even after life insurance. And even though I make a significant salary, I had no option but to keep making that much. The biggest change everyone helped me with here was to stop spending more than I made and then start saving a lot more. Although I still feel 10 years behind schedule, I have a shot at reaching my goals.

My heartfelt thanks to SA and especially the hard nosed pundits that would not tolerate my I'm smarter than you attitude.

[disneysteve]

My heartfelt thanks to SA and especially the hard nosed pundits that would not tolerate my I'm smarter than you attitude.

You're very welcome. I love that statement.

[corn18]

I hope your long term prognosis is good!

The next 5 years should be fine. 10 years is less clear. Probably be dead by 70. Got some living to do.