Hello, fellow 'stachers,
I feel like I was duped about 11 years ago. Our principal allowed an insurance salesman to set up shop in our faculty room, and being a real noob at the time regarding finances, I was sucked right in. The rep. was offering a shiny, new calculator just for listening to his spiel! He was hawking supplemental cancer insurance through Washington National (was Conseco at the time). It sounded like a good deal at the time, since it has a return of premium with a 20-year maturity date. Apparently (just found out today when I called the company, haha), I also purchased supplemental accidental death and dismemberment insurance, which also has a return of premium with a 20-year maturity date. The cancer insurance runs about $71.00 per month, and the accident insurance costs about $33.00 per month. For 11 years now, I have been seeing a $104.00 deduction on my pay stub for these two insurance policies.
I am a little bit torn as to what to do here -- I have already plugged about $13,700.00 in premiums into these policies. If I hold them for 9 more years (to maturity), I could get back about $25,000.00 if I do not have any claims (return of premium is amount paid in minus any claims). That being said, this money is not earning any interest, which bugs the hell out of me. In fact, it bugs the hell out of me that I even bought this stupid supplemental crap, and apparently forgot about it until several months ago when I really started scrutinizing ALL of my financial house.
Bottom line: Do I keep the insurance, and cash out in 9 more years with 25k (that has not been growing, other than the premiums paid in)? Or, do I just drop the damn thing, kiss close to 14k goodbye, and instead invest the remaining 10k (in something like VTSAX, where a lot of my savings goes) that I would otherwise pay in premiums over the next 9 years?
This may seem like a no-brainer to most of you, but I really hate to throw away the 14k. But I guess this is insurance just like any other - we pay in money, and then hardly, if ever, use it. I already have insurance through Blue Cross/Blue Shield, paid for by my school district. Not sure if I really need this supplemental garbage.
I surely appreciate any thoughts on this from the Mustachian Collective.