

Ask HN: I'm quitting my job and I need advice on life & disability insurance - avgarrison

I plan on quitting my job in few months to pursue full time iPhone / Android game development. I'm curious what other, self-employed people are doing for all of those nice benefits you get form the corporate life. Luckily, my wife is a teacher, so I can get health insurance for our family through her job, but do you have any recommendations on where to get disability insurance and life insurance? What else should I know before getting disability or life insurance? Thanks!
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sokoloff
Your "life insurance" from your company is, in all likelihood, much closer to
a token benefit than something that's appropriately sized for your needs.
(Especially if you have dependents!) It's also not especially cost-effective
if you're "buying more of it" from your employer's vendor anyway.

Buy _term_ life insurance on your own for you and your wife, assuming you have
dependents.

(Google it; start with a link from Suze Orman's site, or anything. It's
largely commoditized for most people from what I can tell. I had to buy from
one of two specific vendors because many policies exclude dying when serving
as part of an airplane crew; I'm a private pilot; my family needs financial
support without regard to my manner of passing, so...)

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izend
That's why I don't understand why Canada doesn't attract more start-ups. Being
self-employed in Canada is much less risky than in the US as health insurance
is covered by the state.

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avgarrison
I agree with this. The #1 reason why I have been reluctant to leave my current
job is because it will cost an extra $700 / month to get health insurance
through my wife's employer. Not to mention the risk of what would happen if
she somehow lost her job.

~~~
thejteam
Wow. I have never heard of an employer plan that costs that much per month. At
those rates why even bother offering it as a benefit? Not sure your age or
where you live but have you looked at buying it yourself on the open market?
You can get a high deductible plan cheaper than that. I spec'd a plan for me,
wife, and 3 kids at the insurance company I am currently with through my
employer and it would only cost me 300 per month(pretty high but manageable
deductible, state of Maryland, adults in low-30's.)

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thejteam
Just buy enough life insurance to cover a burial and a year's salary. Your
wife is a teacher. She has a professional job and presumably a college degree.
She has summer's off so she can get part time work if she needs to. Life
insurance is a relic of when the wife would stay home and take care of the
kids while the husband worked. The fact that you are considering pursuing
android/iphone game development tells me you are pretty comfortable on her
salary anyway.

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callmeed
I have a close friend who is an independent life insurance agent. She got me a
good policy and got it done real fast. I have a $2M policy and pay under
$100/mo (I'm 36). Email me and I can get you her contact info.

I don't know much about disability insurance.

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brudgers
In General, Long Term Disability insurance is relatively less expensive
compared with short term (since the likelihood of a long term disability is
lower than a short term one).

