Monday, April 26, 2010

Life insurance policy replaced

I have (finally) completed the task of replacing my term life policy. The old policy was issued out of the US through an employer sponsored scheme.

There were four problems with the old policy (i) it wasn't for enough money (ii) the annual premium was not fixed (iii) there was no guarantee of future coverage and (iv) there was a risk that 30% of the proceeds would be lost to US withholding taxes.

With the new policy, I have a fixed premium for 10 years with the option of continuing for a further 10 years at a higher annual premium (which has been fixed now), my future coverage is guaranteed for at least 20 years (I can quit the policy at any time) and there is no issue of US withholding tax. The cost per dollar of coverage is about the same. I have increased the size of the policy to reflect the increased mortgage on our home taken out last year to fund investments.

I can now tick off one more item on the road to retirement.

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