It was a sad day in my sister-in-law's house two weeks ago. She and my brother-in-law had a funeral to attend.
My brother-in-law coaches my son's soccer team of 7- and 8-year-olds. The dad of one of the kids on the team kissed his wife last Friday, left for work and was killed in a car crash on his way there. I met him several times at my son's games. He was a nice guy, probably close to my age (I'm 42).
When the topic of life insurance comes up, especially among people my age, the comment I hear most often is, "I don't need it, I'm healthy—there's nothing wrong with me." There was probably nothing wrong with my kid's teammate's dad either, except that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I get more e-mail messages about insurance than just about any other subject. I think there are two reasons: 1) There's a lot of clutter to cut through because the insurance industry has come up with so many different products, and 2) So many people don't know what kind of coverage they need in the first place.
You are a lucky individual, my federal friend. You have a life insurance policy as part of your benefits package through the Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance Program. It's solid coverage and much better than the basic coverage available to many people in the private sector (none). The Office of Personnel Management has a ton of answers to FAQs about FEGLI on the program's Web site, and your human resources office should be equipped to help you too.
There's a debate in the financial planning community about whether the optional coverage FEGLI offers is worth the money, considering the drop in rates over the last 10 or 20 years for comparable term life insurance. But all my planner friends agree that having FEGLI coverage is much better than having none at all; and they all agree that term life is a better deal than any of the cash-value products that are on the market.
Educate yourself about the options you have to cover yourself and your family, and feel free to ask questions or comment. Mike Causey and I have done a number of Your Turn programs about insurance, and there are lots of resources on the Web. But however you do it, do it. Because you never know what will happen tomorrow.
