Can someone give me Life Insurance Advice?

20-30 yr term.

Buy as much coverage as you feel comfortable spending each month.
I used to sell life ins and that's what I'd do.

Let customer decide.

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And I guess the longer term is the way to go?

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It depends how old you are and how much you think you will have when your term ends. Mine will run until I'm 55 and by then, I hope I have saved well enough that we won't need a new policy.

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How old are you?
How old is the kid?
Any plans to have more kids?

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I'm 28 and my son is 2

No plans to have more kids, but it's always possible I suppose

How much does your wife make? Will she be getting annual raises? If she makes decent money (50k or so) and her career is stable then I'd say $500,000 term over 30 years and obviously whatever your employer offers. Mine offers 1.5 x's my salary at no charge so I essentially have $600,000. My wife makes more than I do so it's more than enough.

Note - I am no insurance expert, I was just doing all this a year or so ago so it's still fresh

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should i advise her to get a poicy too? (wife)

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Yes, dude. Unless you are a doctor and won't need help paying your mortgage and being a single father, obviously she needs a policy. What's wrong with you guys not having life insurance with a kid and mortgage? You both want to stick the other with all that if you kill over

yeah, it's something i've needed to do for awhile.

Depends on what you want the life Insurance to do for you.

As a rule of thumb I always cover all debt, no matter what. I then usually suggest anywhere from $15-$30K for final expenses/funeral expenses (if you haven't looked at what those costs these days, it is ridiculous).

Other points to consider, does your wife work? If so, income replacement may not be as important (though still important), then if she doesn't work. Say you wanted to provide your wife with $3,000 per month of income for 5 years to help her ease into being the single parent, that would be another $175K or so of death benefit.

As for your kid, how old is he/she? If it were me, and I passed away, I would want their Education completely funded. If you know you plan on having more kids in a few years, I would think about going ahead and planning for that, because you don't want to be in a position where you couldn't get anymore.

Depending on how young you are, the policy duration for you will vary. If you are young, I would get the longest policy you can. I know many think that you won't need life insurance into your 50's and 60's, but I have seen WAY too many instances where it has been needed, but not able to be gotten, so it is always best to leave yourself with flexibility and options.

As CQQ said, GET A POLICY ON YOUR WIFE I would advise sitting down with an adviser, and have them help educate you on this stuff. If you are recently graduating, I'll almost guaratnee you know at least one person who has started to sell life insurance

Hope that helps some. If you have any other questions, please fire away.

The only reason to get insurance on a child is for funeral expenses if u cannot afford that out of pocket. The idea is to keep the family income intact. ..A child's death, while tragic, does not adversely affect ur financial status. ..

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The only reason to get insurance on a child is for funeral expenses if u cannot afford that out of pocket.

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That's one reason, but it also establishes the availability of life insurance for the future. If a child develops a disease (diabetes, cancer, etc). It can seriously hinder any chance of them obtaining coverage once they reach adulthood. By buying when they're young (like somebody said $2 per month) you guarantee that they will be able to add coverage in the future (without proving eligibility). I've got a $25,000 policy on both my kids- $3 each per month.