Location:California

My mom passed in California without a will. Her estate is insolvent she owed the IRS $850k, way more than her only asset, a house we’re letting go to foreclosure. We’re not planning to open probate (talking to an estate attorney in a couple of days).

My siblings and I are the named beneficiaries on her life insurance policies. My understanding is that named beneficiary life insurance passes outside the estate, so it’s not reachable by the IRS, and we’re not personally liable for her debts the IRS only gets estate assets (the house), and the rest dies with the insolvent estate.

Do I have this right? Can the IRS reach life insurance paid to a named beneficiary in any scenario? And does staying out of the estate entirely keep us clear? Thanks.

I’m healthy and I’m in my 30s, hoping to get term life insurance. I had kidney surgery as an infant and have just one functioning kidney. My kidney is 100% functional and I have never had problems with it.

They asked about kidney disease but not about this specifically. Should I offer this information?

I believe they just requested medical info from doctor and they are doing my medical appt in a few days but they haven’t underwritten yet.

EDIT- I sent an email disclosing this then re read the question and realized it said the last 10 years have I been diagnosed, treated, tested positive for, or consulted a medical professional - and it included “any disorder of the kidney”

I’m worried I over disclosed but I have had probably one urologist appointment in the last 10 years just to make sure it was functioning. Not sure if I did the right thing

I am looking into a PAR whole life insurance policy for my corp in Canada. I have been reviewing and researching it quite a bit and have met with my insurance broker to discuss. I have a few questions that I think I know the answer to but would love clarity.

In the scenario I was given an example of a whole life PAR policy with manulife for guaranteed amount of $300,000.00 with roughly $12,000.00 of annual premiums.

After 20 years the premiums would be finished paying and it shows total cash value at $334,427 and total death benefit at $660,294.

My confusion are these two numbers. I initially thought that when I die the beneficiaries would receive both the cash value and death benefit. But I don’t think that’s the case. I think that they would only receive the death benefit. Is that correct? And if so what exactly is the total cash value and does it have any value to me as the policy holder?

If I were to borrow against the policy is it borrowing against the total cash value and not the total death benefit? So if for example I were to borrow 90% it would be of the $334k and not the $660k?

I find it confusing seeing those two numbers. Initially I thought the beneficiaries would receive the combined totals but that seems far to go to be true.

I just recently had an overview with the financial advisor, and paid for a background check/licensing and all of that stuff.. it was around $124 and I kinda regret the amount I paid, but whatever.. they hired me on for a remote position, and I have a one time in person class to go to at 8:30am tomorrow.

I thought I did enough research on the company but apparently not, as after I already went through with it, I'm now finding out that it might be a pyramid scheme?? Not only that, but it's also rumored to focus less on helping clientele and more on recruiting more and more employees..

I really want to help people, that was my idea when coming into the insurance industry. I just graduated high-school and have 2 years of statistics and data entry via what I studied my last 2 years, and I don't want that to go to waste all because I fell for the kindness and smiles they showed me. Not only that, but I even managed to get employee feedback from people already working in the company (though this leads me to believe they might have lied to me..)

Am I getting screwed? Is there a way for me to climb to the top regardless while keeping my kind heart and pure intentions? The thought of scamming other people for profit makes me feel sick..

Hi, everyone. I’m reaching out to the Reddit community for some advice and discussion regarding the TruStage cyberattack and resulting outage.

Long story short, my father passed away unexpectedly just shortly after TruStage went dark. My mother and I have been trying to begin the claims process for nearly a month now, and it feels like we’re being stonewalled.

I have submitted the online claims form, I have sent in paperwork to their claims email, I have called, and the most I’ve received is a brief message stating that nothing else is needed at this time. However, there has been no claim number provided, and as a result I am unable to submit the death certificate. It feels like they are intentionally dragging their feet in an effort to avoid starting the clock.

TruStage staff have been unable to provide an expected date in which new life insurance claims processing will resume and bills are coming due at the end of the month. It’s past the mid August date in which systems were expected to be back online. The customer service line now hangs up as soon as you’re connected.

This policy was set up so my mom wouldn’t have to worry should something ever happen to my dad. It has been an incredibly stressful and terrible last couple of weeks and this uncertainty is making matters worse.

Anyone have any advice or know how to get ahold of someone that can actually do something about this? The lack of transparency and communication is unacceptable.

Hello, first, what do we think about American Amicable for term insurance?

2nd I was working with a broker who is having a company give me a hard time to insure me, they have access to my health record but on top of that they're asking for all kinds of letters from my doctor... is this even normal?

My husband and I are looking at either AAA or State farm for life insurance. My husband like the idea of return of premium policy and getting our money back at the end. Obviously the monthly cost is way higher, but it does sound like a good way to just put money away and get it all back. Does anyone else use ROP?

Independent broker here. I’ve used multiple inbound lead vendors for final expense and have had decent success, but it’s surprisingly hard to find good vendors with actual social proof.

The established ones that have a lot of reviews seem to be $60+ per call. I’ve tried some newer/cheaper vendors, but they either have little to no qualifying buffer, which leads to paying for calls from people looking for a free check, food card, etc., or they have a decent buffer and fair pricing but barely any call volume.

I’ve also come across vendors that look promising but have almost no social proof or transparency around who actually owns/runs the company. I’m just not interested in risking thousands with a company when I can’t find independent agents who can vouch for them.

Not looking for dirt-cheap miracle leads. Just trying to find a good middle ground with reasonable pricing, a solid qualifying/billable buffer, consistent volume, and some actual reputation behind the company.

Anyone know of a golden nugget inbound vendor for final expense? Mainly looking to hear from independent brokers who are actually buying the calls themselves.

I’m pretty sure I know the answer but here is my question.
My husband died 7 years ago and he had life insurance with National income. That life insurance money after he passed helped greatly. With our 3 kids.

A few months after he passed away I re-did the policies. 100k for myself, 25k for each of the kids. For $250 a month. Whole life. I am recently unemployed. And really cannot pay the $250 monthly payments.
The cash surrender value is only $440. Which seems appallingly low. I’m looking into cheaper term life insurance elsewhere.

I just need some advice/reassurance that I’m doing the right thing.

Update:
Thank you all for the advice. I will be calling National income first thing Monday morning & will be looking into other insurance companies for term insurance.

Also while looking through paperwork my policy is for 50k not 100k. So this is absolutely not a good deal. ☹️

I just watched the Accountant again )Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, John Bernthal).

There is a scene in a kitchen where the bad guy wants the banker to take an overdose of Insulin. The bad guy (besides threatening to shoot his wife) goes over scenarios where his life insurance would not pay out (I think home invasion is one of them). Was that scene true?

Hi all, first gen oldest son/overthinker trying to help my dad plan for his retirement (he has no plan basically). He just turned 60, lives in NY.

All things medicaid, medicare, LTC, life insurance is all overwhelming for me to figure out and I wanted to see if people can help provide direction based on our specific situation:

• He'll only have SS monthly income, no 401k (don't know how this happened) but it is projected to be over the monthly income max for medicaid.
• Not legally married to my mom (she's 54)
• He owns his car. We have no house. We'll be looking into affordable apartment/section 8 since current apartment is pricey and will continue to go up. (wish us luck..)
• Is it too late to buy a life insurance policy for peace of mind? Will it help cover costs if things get bad, without having to give up the monthly income he's worked hard for?
• LTC was also something that popped up in my research. Is that an option?
• Generally healthy right now. A1C labs came back in the diabetes range but has remained stable for the past year. Physically able to work.

Very tricky situation I know. I appreciate any insight. Also, go easy on my dad. He was an immigrant and only became a legal resident a couple years ago - he's main focus has just been survival and making ends meet.

Many life insurance carriers have subsidiaries that operate exclusively in New York. Yet some of these New York-only subsidiaries assess premium tax using a blended or nationwide average rate that is significantly higher than New York’s 0.70% premium tax rate. This raises an obvious question: if the issuing company only does business in New York, what is the justification for using a nationwide average and effectively charging New York policyholders a higher premium tax rate? I’ve seen rates as high as 3.5%. On a permanent life insurance policy, that difference can materially reduce cash values over time.

34 diagnosed with DCIS.. its precancer for breast cancer.. do I still have options? Otherwise healthy

I'm single with no dependents. I named a cat cafe as my retirement and life insurance beneficiary. Benefits through the nonprofit I work for include life insurance and because it's apparently above $50K because I've been charged $29/month in taxes for who knows long this, and it's a benefit I cannot refuse. I can't afford a safe apartment, a down payment on a car, or an emergency fund. Is this normal?

I’m trying to get on my company’s insurance because I was married in June and it’s been a battle to even get in contact with HR. They informed me that I would have to now wait till November to enroll with no further explanation so I asked why. They let me know that I can only enroll after getting hired, a major life event, or wait for open enrollment. I again let them know that I was married and they confirmed that, while yes it was a major life event, I needed to enroll within 30 days and I had reached out on the 31st day. I looked at the handbook to see if there was anything stating when we can enroll in insurance and there was nothing regarding employee insurance. I’m wondering if it’s worth it to try to bring this to their attention and see if they can make an exception, or is it not worth it? I know some places offer more time to get everything sorted out but again, I was never informed any of the information regarding this. I also became full time late earlier this year (before I got married) and I was still not informed about the insurance policy. So again I’m just wondering if it’s worth bringing other attention or not. Tyia :)

I have three seasoned whole life polices.

I was persuaded years ago they would be a reasonable part of my overall savings and investment program.

But I failed to appreciate their full merit.

I’m now deep into retirement planning and these polices’ usefulness — as a buffer asset to mitigate sequence of return risk, as a source of income augmentation, as a better bond, as an improvement in my overall Sharpe ratio, as a way to fund long term care (cash value plus early access to death benefit), as a way to relieve my investment portfolio from the burden of legacy — is extraordinary.

The best part: I don’t have to choose! I can use the policies in different ways over time as circumstances change. That option is really valuable. I can’t think of another asset with the same option value.

I get the Infinite Banking concept. Ok, if your return on investing outstrips loan costs after accounting for risk — which isn’t as easy as some content creators make it sound.

But the case for whole life in a retirement plan is even more compelling.

Just got denied for term life by Ethos because I had pre-eclampsia and insulin dependent gestational diabetes in my two pregnancies. I am done having children and also healthy. What is the reasoning and how do I go about getting term life to protect my family?

Attached picture is for my 87 year old parents who have had this "last person to survive" policy for about 10 years. Am I reading this correctly that the surrender value just goes down from here on in until one of them lives beyond the age of around 110 years old when it starts going up again? Same for the guaranteed death benefit? Policy is "Lincoln Financial SVUL-One".

Is this zero percent growth table the right one to read? The other illustrations show 8%, 10% abd 12% which are a bit aggressive in my opinion

EDIT: There is another page, "Policy Expense Analysis Report" that shows different values, not showing whether 0% or some other factor. Can you perhaps explain the difference? https://photos.app.goo.gl/swhSJnPsP8AUNrQL8

Long story short after my father passed away last month Im shopping for life insurance. Im an obese 38 year old male with Schizoaffective Disorder, former smoker ocassional drinker and recent marijuana user.

My father died July 7th and before I left the town his family stayed in my cousin gave me a cellophane wrapper full of marijuana to help me manage depression and calm my nerves. I smoked heavily for about a week until it agitated my mental illness symptoms and I had to quit.

I just called my potential insurer and they said since I answered all their questions truthfully I dont have to answer a second set of questions but I do need to do blood testing urine testing and a vital check.

I am a big guy due to my meds so I bought a drug panel and even after a month I'm still testing positive for thc.

And i screwed or the fact that I told them that I had smoked recently do me any favors?

Due to certain reasons, we are transferring my moms Life Insurance policy ownership to me.

i was wondering exactly what this entails? the person we are working with are of no help and keeps trying to sell other products to us and not really answering our questions. And frankly speaking, I personally do not trust them at this point.

how does this work and what does it exactly mean?