PTR - Life Insurance form

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Huursoldaat

USNA 2026 Dad
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Nov 16, 2021
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Under what circumstance would a MIDN choose life insurance? DS doesn't have any dependents and I'm not in need of any benefit should he die. So I'm advising him to skip it. Am I missing some nuance here?
 
Huursoldaat said:
Under what circumstance would a MIDN choose life insurance? DS doesn't have any dependents and I'm not in need of any benefit should he die. So I'm advising him to skip it. Am I missing some nuance here?
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The SGLI is a long-time group life term insurance policy, very inexpensive, that covers members in combat zones, performing hazardous duty, etc., coverage usually not obtainable from most life insurance policies. Very few companies offer individual term or while life no-combat-exclusion coverage, and they are well-known to the military.

Any policy a military member may have prior to coming into the military may or may not pay out, depending on cause of death, nature of duties and location.

The member can sign up for it at anytime. The member can take a lesser amount and add more coverage later. I think this is sensible. I think the beneficiary percentages can be split.

Similar to most life insurance policies, it’s there to cover existing debt, such as credit card, optional career starter loan taken in 2/c year, car loans and mortgages down the road, and provide funds for spouse and dependents.

Some choose to get it and make a family member(s) the beneficiaries. As one USNA sponsor mid mentioned to me, if he died in a training accident or some other incident before he had a family of his own, he wanted to help his family then, since he wouldn’t be around later in life to care for aging parents or help out a sibling. He also came from a family where he was the first one to earn a college degree and was poised to far outstrip his family in means in the coming years. Family situations and context will differ.

It is automatically deducted from DFAS Navy pay. Once the military member can control their own pay through DFAS account log-in, it’s easy enough to adjust.

As I mentioned above, taking a lower amount, and increasing it later as family, property and debt increase, might be a reasonable way to go.
 
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Capt MJ said:
The SGLI is a long-time group life term insurance policy, very inexpensive, that covers members in combat zones, performing hazardous duty, etc., coverage usually not obtainable from most life insurance policies. Very few companies offer individual term or while life no-combat-exclusion coverage, and they are well-known to the military.

Any policy a military member may have prior to coming into the military may or may not pay out, depending on cause of death, nature of duties and location.

The member can sign up for it at anytime. The member can take a lesser amount and add more coverage later. I think this is sensible. I think the beneficiary percentages can be split.

Similar to most life insurance policies, it’s there to cover existing debt, such as credit card, optional career starter loan taken in 2/c year, car loans and mortgages down the road, and provide funds for spouse and dependents.

Some choose to get it and make a family member(s) the beneficiaries. As one USNA sponsor mid mentioned to me, if he died in a training accident or some other incident before he had a family of his own, he wanted to help his family then, since he wouldn’t be around later in life to care for aging parents or help out a sibling. He also came from a family where he was the first one to earn a college degree and was poised to far outstrip his family in means in the coming years. Family situations and context will differ.

It is automatically deducted from DFAS Navy pay. Once the military member can control their own pay through DFAS account log-in, it’s easy enough to adjust.

As I mentioned above, taking a lower amount, and increasing it later as family, property and debt increase, might be a reasonable way to go.
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Both of ours selected a lesser amount. To ensure coverage of funeral expenses and small amount of debt. Plus some. Will increase after commissioning. In a few days!
 
While one cannot imagine the need for this, I suggested to DS that he elect a portion of it.

You never know what life will throw us.

Cautionary tale, the Midshipmen who died while trying to alert the authorities to the terrorist attack in Pensacola had thought he had elected life insurance. But the deductions never came out of his checks. Just a mistake and something he didn’t catch.
He had just bought a house and vehicle.

With his death came expenses and payments to be made.
His mom has talked openly about taking out the policy and making sure it is indeed deducted from the midshipman’s pay (this is for MIDN to do not moms and dads).

Several untimely deaths have occurred over the last few years to Midshipman. While it is a scary document for your young adult to complete, it is worth some deep thought.

That discussion at our kitchen table in May of 2020 was my “this is NOT college” moment.
 
Huursoldaat said:
Under what circumstance would a MIDN choose life insurance? DS doesn't have any dependents and I'm not in need of any benefit should he die. So I'm advising him to skip it. Am I missing some nuance here?
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I recognize that this is a difficult issue for some and as a parent, I get it. When my son was getting ready to report to USNA, this was not something that I spent any time mulling over, we opted in and that was that. On reflection, we could have saved a few bucks but having served a career where stuff happens and sometimes the folks who wanted to save a few bucks ended up on the wrong end of things influenced my thoughts on the issue. Generally speaking (very generally), the military's pay system (FOR ACTIVE DUTY) is great at running along without changes. It is generally the changes that are where things drop through the cracks. This is true for promotions, marriages, etc as well as things like changing the SGLI amount. Once it is properly started, it will run indefinitely until something changes. Changes do get submitted but sometimes they don't get entered correctly or some other issue pops up so in my mind, getting it started up and letting it run was the right choice.
 
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OldRetSWO said:
I recognize that this is a difficult issue for some and as a parent, I get it. When my son was getting ready to report to USNA, this was not something that I spent any time mulling over, we opted in and that was that. On reflection, we could have saved a few bucks but having served a career where stuff happens and sometimes the folks who wanted to save a few bucks ended up on the wrong end of things influenced my thoughts on the issue. Generally speaking (very generally), the military's pay system (FOR ACTIVE DUTY) is great at running along without changes. It is generally the changes that are where things drop through the cracks. This is true for promotions, marriages, etc as well as things like changing the SGLI amount. Once it is properly started, it will run indefinitely until something changes. Changes do get submitted but sometimes they don't get entered correctly or some other issue pops up so in my mind, getting it started up and letting it run was the right choice.
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It’s one of the things that is normally reviewed prior to deployment - or members are urged to review it - to update beneficiary choices.

Stories abound of the sailor who is killed in an accident, and the ex-spouse is the SGLI beneficiary and current spouse/family get zip.
 
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