Trying to figure out if it is time to drop term life insurance on my wife. All the educations and weddings are paid for and we are nearly debt free empty nesters. I am sliding toward early retirement in that I am not actively prospecting for new clients and have wrapped up last years gigs. My spouse, OTOH, has hit the biggest job of her career, likes the challenges of her job and brings home a big paycheck as well as my HC benefits. She intends to keep on keeping on as long as it is possible.
Much of our NW is in 401k- ish not yet taxed assets. I am not 59 1/2 so penalties I am not wanting to take stand between me and those funds for another couple of years. So, my question: If a spouse dies early and all their non taxed assets transfer to the living spouse, is that money available to live on until SS and pensions kick in? We currently have enough term life insurance to bridge that gap, but I am thinking about "self insuring" if I knew I could manage living on our retirement assets.