Life insurance is not all the same. Some policies you have a time when the policy is paid up, so you are not continuing payments for ever. Also, depending on what type policy, your payments may stay the same and not be high. There is alot to consider. I was executor of my grandfather's estate. Here is one example. He had 4 paid up policies that left my grandmother with quite a bit of money and that is in addition to property, investments, etc. that he left her. On the other hand, my FIL cashed out his paid in full policy and invested that money. He passed away about 6 years ago and my MIL has a nice nest egg invested. They also had other investments, no debt, etc. but it has enabled her to continue the lifestyle she was accustomed to, which includes traveling. So, again, it depends on what you have. But to answer your question, and at the age you stated, and with no debt, etc. I wouldn't be paying high premiums. tina

Thanks for the additional thoughts. I know I explained things sort of clinically and coldly, but DH and his ex-wife are very realistic about these things and we often talk about the possibilities of the future. When you have a kid like this, you DO need to be very practical. For example, when she turns 18 next year, she'll need to be adopted by us (her mother is bowing out), otherwise, she'll become a ward of the state and we don't want that to happen. WE want to make the decisions about where she'll live and who will care for her, not leave that up to the state. That's not to say that this isn't an emotional decision for DH, as has been pointed out. It certainly is, however, DH has had to remove himself from some of the emotion to make these decisions. The funeral is already planned, right down to who is doing what at the service - precisely so they don't have to worry about making those decisions when emotions are running high. There won't be a squabble about the finances, because we pay for everything as it is, even though step-daughter lives with her mother...we'll pay every last dime of the funeral, just as we'll pay every last dime of her existence until that point, and will do the same for step-son's college. That's just a given, since ex-wife has no money whatsoever (there was never any alimony required when they divorced, additionally she remarried before DH and I got married). Even though we foot the bill, in the interest of keeping the peace and out of respect for the kids, we do take ex-wife's opinions into consideration and more often than not, decisions are made jointly. As suggested, I guess I'll tell DH to decide if we do more research into insurance or pay the premium for this year and see where that takes us. We do expect the premium to go up every year and no, we have no idea of what life expectancy looks like. It could be next week or it could be several years. Sorry, looks like I've rambled a bit but wanted to provide a bit more context for the question. Thank you.

This being a fairly long thread, I'll answer a couple of points from ole joyful on behalf of the OP (but if I've gotten anything wrong, pls do correct me - I'm going on memory here, having contributed several times): >>This was term insurance/most are guaranteed renewals ... but usually at a substantially increased annual fee. >> No. This was an offer from the US Government. It is an unlimited term policy, which is unheard of from a private carrier. The premium remains the same in perpetuity, until the policyholder dies or allows the policy to lapse. >>If he could delay purchasing, until a time when people depended on him financially, he could (but - would he have?) invest the value of the premium for a few years until his need developed. >> The annual premium is a MAXIMUM of $365/yr and a minimum of $3.20/yr. I don't think there's an investment on this earth that would turn even the $365 maximum amount in a five- or ten-year period, into enough money to purchase a lifetime of premiums for a $400,000 30-yr Level Term policy on a male who is ratable for occupation and may by that time be ratable medically as well. Being ratable for occupation normally means a premium penalty from 40-150% in annual cost. The federal government is offering to insure this young man for: - The same premium a highly-rated A+ private carrier would charge to a healthy, non-smoking, "low-risk occupation" for $400K face amount - But instead of a 30-yr Level Term that would go up dramatically at age 54**, this policy remains in force and the premium remains the same, forever. ** For those that are not conversant with Level Term, the premium remains the same for the set number of years, but after that jumps so high (because you are now 10, 20, or 30 yrs older) that everybody drops the policy. So you want to have the term policy last until you have no need for it any longer. How high does it go? Well, after the Level Term period expires, it becomes an Annual Renewable Term policy, which is what ole joyful is referring to. For example, on a $250K policy I purchased on a 15-yr Level Term, I was rated standard for health, no rating for occupation. My premium is currently $600/yr. At the end of the 15 yr term, the annual premium jumps to $4,525, the year after that $4,912, then $5,360, etc. etc. Therefore, I will allow the policy to lapse at the end of the Level Term period.

Usually with a 20-pay whole life policy, you pay a stated premium for 20 years and then the insurance continues throughout your life, with no more payments required. If so, for how many years have you been paying on this policy? (How many more years of $715.00 per will it take to fulfill your obligation of 20 years in total to complete your end of the bargain/contract?). If you are almost totally positive that you will never remarry, a wife who isn't able to care for her own needs with no financial infusion from you, at or after marriage and your death ... ... and if you're positive that you'll never have any children that may have need of care following your death until they are grown and providing fully for themselves ... ... and are absolutely positive that, should you collect such a wife and possibly kids, whether yours or included as baggage with the marriage, you'll be in almost-perfect enough health that you'll be able to qualify for insurance at that time, at a reasonable cost, or later ... ... then maybe it'd be a useful idea to let this policy lapse, collecting whatever benefit may have accrued, thus far. But ... can you make the guarantees as suggested above? Food for thought. ole joyful