Servicemember's Group Life Insurance

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808jetsfan

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I am working with DD on her appointee kit. One of the items is Servicemember's Group Life Insurance for maximum of 400k. I am not a big life insurance fan, unless you have a spouse/family and a mortgage and we (parents) do not need financial assistance from my DD. Is it hard for military to get life insurance later on and is it that highly recommended?
 
808jetsfan said:
I am working with DD on her appointee kit. One of the items is Servicemember's Group Life Insurance for maximum of 400k. I am not a big life insurance fan, unless you have a spouse/family and a mortgage and we (parents) do not need financial assistance from my DD. Is it hard for military to get life insurance later on and is it that highly recommended?
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SGLI is designed to be a very inexpensive group term life policy for military members. Very simple - you die, your named beneficiary gets the proceeds. Most importantly, it does not have a combat exclusion or hazardous duty clause, as many life insurance policies for civilians do. Service members can opt out or take lesser amounts. It’s a good thing to have when families and mortgages are acquired. Some single military members take it if they were expecting to contribute/were contributing to family support or siblings’ education.

Down the road, when it’s time to look at individual term or whole life policies, there are well-known military-focused companies which offer life insurance without combat or hazardous duty clauses.

I’ll list one example, which is a non-profit association, Armed Forces Benefit Assn.
www.afba.com

Armed Forces Benefit Association (AFBA)

Insurance for Those Who Serve
www.afba.com www.afba.com
 
808jetsfan said:
I am working with DD on her appointee kit. One of the items is Servicemember's Group Life Insurance for maximum of 400k. I am not a big life insurance fan, unless you have a spouse/family and a mortgage and we (parents) do not need financial assistance from my DD. Is it hard for military to get life insurance later on and is it that highly recommended?
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The amount of SGLI can be changed later without issue. We have an annual requirement to review and update as necessary.

My son selected a very small amount while working on his appointment kit even though I encouraged him to take more as it is very, very cheap.
 
I advised my son to turn it down or take the minimum. In my view, life insurance is meant to take care of those that depend on you financially. He has no dependents so no need for life insurance. This obviously gets more complicated and has nuances when you are talking whole life or Universal, but we are not - we are talking term insurance at the moment. When he goes active duty, he can start thinking about his bigger financial picture and adjust his insurance as needed as he goes through life.
 
BuckeyeDad20 said:
I advised my son to turn it down or take the minimum. In my view, life insurance is meant to take care of those that depend on you financially. He has no dependents so no need for life insurance. This obviously gets more complicated and has nuances when you are talking whole life or Universal, but we are not - we are talking term insurance at the moment. When he goes active duty, he can start thinking about his bigger financial picture and adjust his insurance as needed as he goes through life.
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This is very good advice.
 
I want to change our option, but we submitted the form. Can it easily be changed now or wait until next year?
 
I am completely opposite of all on here. Both myself and my husband work for different government sectors we both have the basic life insurance plus the maximum additional multiples and family. We carry life insurance policies on all of our children and have since they were young. So when my son asked me, I explained why we have such high amounts on ourselves and them, then I went on to explain how I designated beneficiaries. I told him it is his decision, but you never know what will happen in life. He asked why I carry insurance on him and I explained that when my sister died at 17 she did not have insurance and the financial burden of her death was extensive. I told him it is never something you want to think about, but you dont know what can happen in life. He talked about how one of his friends who was only 19, was recently found dead in his barracks and that he hoped he had insurance. He also spoke about how unexpected it was when those few cadets died at the academy this year. Then without hesitation he said that he wanted the higher amount.

Then I explained how beneficiaries work and told him how to set those up and how he could split amounts between beneficiaries or always change them later. This insurance is at such a cheap cost, that if they start it now and it's coming out pretax they will never even see an impact on pay, but if something happens it is well worth it...
 
Before anyone accuses BBMomma of resurrecting a zombie thread, there was a spam post that brought this to the top of the forum and it has since been deleted.

Stealth_81
 
BBMomma said:
I am completely opposite of all on here. Both myself and my husband work for different government sectors we both have the basic life insurance plus the maximum additional multiples and family. We carry life insurance policies on all of our children and have since they were young. So when my son asked me, I explained why we have such high amounts on ourselves and them, then I went on to explain how I designated beneficiaries. I told him it is his decision, but you never know what will happen in life. He asked why I carry insurance on him and I explained that when my sister died at 17 she did not have insurance and the financial burden of her death was extensive. I told him it is never something you want to think about, but you dont know what can happen in life. He talked about how one of his friends who was only 19, was recently found dead in his barracks and that he hoped he had insurance. He also spoke about how unexpected it was when those few cadets died at the academy this year. Then without hesitation he said that he wanted the higher amount.

Then I explained how beneficiaries work and told him how to set those up and how he could split amounts between beneficiaries or always change them later. This insurance is at such a cheap cost, that if they start it now and it's coming out pretax they will never even see an impact on pay, but if something happens it is well worth it...
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This is a two year old thread brought to the surface by what I suspect is a spam post the mods will delete, but the topic comes up every year as applicants review SGLI selections, and I know I saw one of the SA forums where it had come up again.

It is inexpensive, it has no combat exclusions, it can be signed up for or adjusted at any time - well, not for that first summer at any SA, where they don’t go do personal things like this. There are strategic ways to think about the benefit amount and how it can be apportioned and to whom and why. Or it may not be right for you at all. Take the time to think it through from 360 degrees and periodically reassess.

DH and I, many years ago, while we were on AD and still to this day, chose to specify in our wills that we wished to drastically reduce the burden of our physical passing in our estate and for our heirs. If feasible, our bodies after death will be donated to the military medical school at USUHS in Bethesda, or the nearest medical school with an anatomical gift program. We like the idea of our bodies being still able to provide a service to others. After this “tour of duty,” cremation occurs, and we both have specified the Navy burial at sea program.
www.militaryonesource.mil

Navy Burial at Sea, Military Funeral Honors | Military OneSource

Learn about the Navy's Burial at Sea Program, a military funeral honor for a deceased service member or veteran's cremated or casketed remains.
www.militaryonesource.mil www.militaryonesource.mil
Our estate lawyer was amazed by our choices and planning, but it is right for us. The point is death happens, take some time to think how you would like certain things to happen and take steps to ensure that it does.
 
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And when they say you can change it - you can change it daily if you want. It is not expensive as stated, but seriously consider why you need it before blinding signing up for it.
 
You can use it to support your family/dependents later on. Some use it to ensure any final expenses are covered. Others have used sgli as a parting gift to friends. You get to decide.
 
Stealth_81 said:
Before anyone accuses BBMomma of resurrecting a zombie thread, there was a spam post that brought this to the top of the forum and it has since been deleted.

Stealth_81
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Wow, I didn't even realize how old this post was... oops. Thanks for looking out for me 😉
 
It’s always a timely subject….never out of style
 
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