Had a similar situation for myself. Since I started my first post-college job I've done the max term life insurance I could for every employer possible, and kept it after I left the job. Your ten year term insurance may be renewable without a health cert, but if not, you'll have to drop it because the rate will be too high.
Tips for maximizing insurance with serious health conditions: change jobs often and sign up for new plans, and look for organizations that offer group rates without a health exam. I believe Elks Foundation does this, for example. Beyond that, you're better off funding your 401k and self-insuring with a nice stache on retirement than paying those rates.
I had the same thought... keep switching jobs and sign up for new plans. Not realistic, but it could work, ha!
Does she need life insurance?
Insurance is a 'bet against' yourself and only to be considered if there is concrete need to hedge against a risk.
For instance I am sole provider for wife/kids. I took out $1M policy 10yrs ago on myself to provide coverage for them in case I died; until I had assets built up. We now have decent assets and SS benefits, so will not renew the policy when it runs out this year.
Suggest pump the $$ into 401k instead.
The want or need for life insurance is more a product of deciding to start a family this year. Once we have kids it would be nice to have coverage in order to safeguard them and provide for their future, as well as supplement lost income (~55k/yr). Our assets at present would be unable to do so. As some others have mentioned, I would expect in the next 10-15 years we would be in a position that life insurance would no longer be necessary as a safety net for our children.
It sounds like maxing out her 401k contributions might be the best option.
Glad to hear your wife's treatment was successful and that she's doing well years later. Have you looked at whether your family needs for her to have life insurance coverage? We had a term policy when we were a single-earner family with young children. Now that we're two-earner, kids are older, and assets have accumulated, we've cancelled.
Thank you! It was a hell of a ride but she's a fighter and we're looking towards a bright future. Do we need coverage... that can be debated. I'm of the position that I think we do for the short term. We have yet to accumulate enough assets and are going to be starting a family in the near future. If she were to pass away, not only do I take on her debt, but now I'm supporting a child on my income alone, it would be tough. Truly, the coverage would be used if necessary to pay off her debt obligations and help to take care of our children.
What are your life insurance needs? For what expenses or duties do you rely on her or her income? I would start with needs. You are already looking at solutions, but defining true needs first is really helpful when problem solving.
Just talking this through has helped tremendously. Our initial motives in obtaining life insurance were to have a source of funds to pay off her student loan debt (~47k) and supplement her income to help provide for a child if we end up having one. Of course this is all based on the assumption that something unfortunate happens with her health in the next 5 years.
We are currently on an aggressive debt pay-down plan and are projected to have all debts (aside from our mortgage) paid off in a little under 4 years. Assuming nothing happens with her health in the next 4 years and income remains stable, that $47k of student loan debt becomes a non-issue. It also frees up a lot more cash in which realistically, we could live off my income alone. The only problem I haven't yet decided on is a concrete solution to make sure our child is taken care of in the event something happens in the short term. There's definitely a lot of "ifs" and variables in play.
As mentioned earlier, maybe maxing out her 401k is the best option. I'm open to other ideas as well. Thanks for all your responses thus far!