Life insurance and chessed funds

amother

Orchid

Sun, Apr 12 2020, 9:44 pm

amother [ Lilac ] wrote:

Mostly true. Regardless of what a widow has in the bank, yeshivos are not charging Them much tuition unless the widow offers it. And the 1 million is not supposed to replace the widows income- it’s a supplement so that they can get by. Many “regular” families are getting by on much less, or struggling without an end in site. 1 million is nothing to sneeze at. And again, if it’s a large family, the primary breadwinner should have multiple policies to cover expenses. They should not be put on the community because they couldn’t afford premiums. It’s a cost of life, just like a place to live is. For people with preexisting conditions, the reason it’s hard to get a policy is precisely because they are more at risk of the policy needing to be used. Which is all the more of a reason to make sure the persons family is Financially protected before having children.

In theory, I agree. Practically, it isn't easy to prioritize life insurance over food, and completely ludicrous to make that a condition of procreation. It's easy to talk about how cheap it is, but some of us have pre-existing conditions. And I have had to drop many "small" expenses over the years on some months because we didn't have that amount either. If you drop your life insurance for a month, you lose it. As I posted on the other insurance thread, we didn't have the under $10 needed for renter's insurance one month. Just didn't have it. Policy got cancelled. Of course, the following month we had a theft... Looking back over the past decade, we could theoretically have made life insurance payments (if we could get in the $50-$75 area for both of us combined) about 80-90% of the time. Obviously that would not have been very helpful.

amother

Lilac

Sun, Apr 12 2020, 9:49 pm

amother [ Orchid ] wrote:

In theory, I agree. Practically, it isn't easy to prioritize life insurance over food, and completely ludicrous to make that a condition of procreation. It's easy to talk about how cheap it is, but some of us have pre-existing conditions. And I have had to drop many "small" expenses over the years on some months because we didn't have that amount either. If you drop your life insurance for a month, you lose it. As I posted on the other insurance thread, we didn't have the under $10 needed for renter's insurance one month. Just didn't have it. Policy got cancelled. Of course, the following month we had a theft... Looking back over the past decade, we could theoretically have made life insurance payments (if we could get in the $50-%75 area) about 80-90% of the time. Obviously that would not have been very helpful.

Not over food but definitely over buying a house. And it should certainly be something that is thought about before or right after having your first child. It’s hard because it’s just a protection- doesn’t buy anything physical and it’s hard to prioritize when families are just making it. But giving up pizza 4x a month for most people will pay the premium (I understand that with a preexisting it may be more than that)

Again this is a message for the future and not to speak out against those that r’l have died. If I could I would give to every single one of those appeals so that almanos and yesomim who are grieving have one less thing to worry about.

asmileaday

Sun, Apr 12 2020, 9:51 pm

amother [ Ivory ] wrote:

Be careful before you post here.

Firstly if there are any family members reading this you don't want to cause them anymore pain.

Secondly if you aren't giving major money to those Chesed funds MYOB about what financial arrangements people should have had. No one asked you and now is too late

Thirdly don't be so quick to talk. I remember a frequent complainer about the collections for those who don't have life insurance...Untill her husband died and a collection was taken up for her family...
(yes her husband did have life insurance but not enough)

Nobody is directly criticizing the deceased ch"v. But at a time like this raising awareness is quite effective. People see how important it is.
I know people who haven't gotten life insurance because they don't know what they should get, they're not sure, they're lazy, they're procrastinating etc... Seeing threads like this can give them the push to actually get it.

As an aside, I mentioned it on the other thread too, people should at least sign up for Areivim. It's super cheap, they only collect when there's a death and I don't think they're so strict with pre existing conditions. You can have it in addition to regular life insurance.

amother

Orchid

Sun, Apr 12 2020, 9:56 pm

amother [ Lilac ] wrote:

We don't own a house. Married over a decade and still renting (and probably will be for the foreseeable future). The last time we bought takeout food for the family is about a year ago, I think. It was pre-made sandwiches in a grocery store. One pie of pizza in the last 6 months when I treated a friend. Not everyone has that much fungible income.

We did join Areivim, and so far BH have been able to cover that (some months a few days late).

amother

Coral

Sun, Apr 12 2020, 10:03 pm

I know personally one of the ppl that passed a way from the virus, he had life insurance, but with being the sole breadwinner, it's still not enough to cover cost of a big family, wife has no way to go out to work now with many little kids at home

The life insurance is enough for the big expenses, Bar mitzvas, weddings not ye daily basis.

Also, I think almost every father that passes a way at a young age leaving a house full of kids ppl make a chesed fund, it's just that now with the many ppl you hear many cases at same time

amother

Navy

Sun, Apr 12 2020, 10:04 pm

Quote:

Agreed. My DH had a friend in kollel pass away when he was 27 leaving his wife with 3 small kids.
The kollel yungerman went out en masse to buy life insurance policies. A crisis close to home can be a wake up call. Both me and DH have policies because of that which we bought in our early 20s.

amother

Lilac

Sun, Apr 12 2020, 10:10 pm

amother [ Coral ] wrote:

Life insurance should be enough to replace income- another policy should be purchased if the calculation works out to not be enough

amother

Lilac

Sun, Apr 12 2020, 10:15 pm

amother [ Orchid ] wrote:

you did what you needed to do by joining areivim. It sounds like as a family you are exceedingly responsible and do not represent the general public when it comes to what is considered necessities (take out once in a while, house, manicures, coffee at the local shop etc etc)

amother

Pink

Sun, Apr 12 2020, 10:21 pm

A very close relative of mine is one of these people who a fund was set up for. He passed away leaving a wife and a bunch of young children.

I am not going to get into the details here because it is no ones business. Either donate or don't donate.

I promise you with complete and total honesty that he did the absolute best he could and there are very very good reasons why his family needs this fund. There is an answer to every single point raised here so please don't judge. Just give a few dollars if you have it. If everyone gives just $5 to a few of these funds we can help so many of these people who did everything the right way but still need the help.

amother

Lilac

Sun, Apr 12 2020, 10:24 pm

amother [ Pink ] wrote:

No one is judging. I actually just went on and donated to 5 or 6 funds. This thread serves the purpose of helping people make choices for the future. It is not denigrating those who have passed. And every point here is a good one.

amother

Lilac

Sun, Apr 12 2020, 10:57 pm

amother [ Babypink ] wrote:

The money is being raised now regardless of whether there's life insurance or not. No one ever talks about social security survivor benefits which are substantial.

Right. And if there is sufficient life insurance to replace 10-14 years of the deceased persons income at the time of death, there should not be a need to rely on the public. 1 million policy correctly invested will replace income of 100k for 12-13 years.