LIFE INSURANCE

[dovy2]

I agree with the idea, but I don't think getting something for free will make or help people realize that they need it on their own. You need to lead the horse to water and teach it to drink. Bringing the water to the horse only solves the issue in the short term.

I can only really talk for myself, but until someone cold-called me and pushed me.. I never got around to it..
I'm sure there are many like me, and this initiative would be the push that many need

[Lurker]

I can only really talk for myself, but until someone cold-called me and pushed me.. I never got around to it..
I'm sure there are many like me, and this initiative would be the push that many need

They called you and pushed, but they didn't buy it for you and move on. Again, I see value in buying it or subsidizing it for people, but explaining to them why they need it and pushing them to get it is its own thing.

[JACKBLUE]

I actually was thinking about this a while back.
Avg. Price for term is 40-60 / month. That's about 500-700 a year.
Tzedaka campaigns avg. btw 100k-1M each. sadly, at least a hundred (Yesomim) online campaigns a year.. besides the thousands collected daily by meshulochim...
Being generous, in think it's fair enough to say that we're looking at 50+ million a year in Tzedaka campaigns for Yesomim...
Do the math: 50M / $600 = enough to pay over 83,000 people's life insurance...
I think some askanim need to get involved.. and make the switch to sponsoring or at least subsidizing LI for every married yungerman

This is a very good idea. But realistically speaking this can never happen. There will be so many politics and fights of who’s eligible and which insurance agent gets the policies etc....
The only thing we can do is awareness. Every couple that gets married should somehow feel that they need to get LI.

[dovy2]

This is a very good idea. But realistically speaking this can never happen. There will be so many politics and fights of who’s eligible and which insurance agent gets the policies etc....
The only thing we can do is awareness. Every couple that gets married should somehow feel that they need to get LI.

You actually just gave me another idea, maybe a team of life insurance agents should band together, and they should be the ones subsidizing the first year or so...
Even though they would be giving up most their commissions, with the quantities of new applications (especially if done in coordination with rabanim, roshei kollelim etc) they won't be losing much

[Mordyk]

You actually just gave me another idea, maybe a team of life insurance agents should band together, and they should be the ones subsidizing the first year or so...
Even though they would be giving up most their commissions, with the quantities of new applications (especially if done in coordination with rabanim, roshei kollelim etc) they won't be losing much

It should not come from the sales people.  They will start with whole life discussions etc. That young people can't really afford.  We need straight up awareness from concerned individuals

[JACKBLUE]

It should not come from the sales people.  They will start with whole life discussions etc. That young people can't really afford.  We need straight up awareness from concerned individuals

+1. The only ting that will help is awareness. Should it be the parents of every couple or rabbis in Yeshiva and teachers in school. It should come from respectful people.
Every couple that gets married should know that they need to get a term.

[Lurker]

I think we need to create a kollel-style model for basic life information and skills. Pay people to come to classes on applicable financial issues, maybe by offering to subsidize certain products for a limited time if they attend. Some people will take nothing from it other than the money, but I think it will go a long way towards educating most people on things like budgeting, basic bookkeeping, buying vs. leasing, renting vs. owning, emergency funds, life insurance, etc. Maybe even touch on some concepts like value and cost-benefit analysis.

[bubkiz]

I think we need to create a kollel-style model for basic life information and skills. Pay people to come to classes on applicable financial issues, maybe by offering to subsidize certain products for a limited time if they attend. Some people will take nothing from it other than the money, but I think it will go a long way towards educating most people on things like budgeting, basic bookkeeping, buying vs. leasing, renting vs. owning, emergency funds, life insurance, etc. Maybe even touch on some concepts like value and cost-benefit analysis.

Much of this can be accomplished by a small booklet that explains some basic concepts in clear to understand language.

[Lurker]

Much of this can be accomplished by a small booklet that explains some basic concepts in clear to understand language.

I don't think people are motivated enough to read it on their own. The information is already out there is very understandable terms for those who are interested.

[AsherO]

I think we need to create a kollel-style model for basic life information and skills. Pay people to come to classes on applicable financial issues, maybe by offering to subsidize certain products for a limited time if they attend. Some people will take nothing from it other than the money, but I think it will go a long way towards educating most people on things like budgeting, basic bookkeeping, buying vs. leasing, renting vs. owning, emergency funds, life insurance, etc. Maybe even touch on some concepts like value and cost-benefit analysis.

#cantfixstupid applies to financial literacy as well, quick fixes like this won't work because the stupid people don't realize their own stupidity and think they know better.

The issue with subsidies is that once the subsidy period ends and the person needs to start paying, the policy will lapse. Term life is a hard sell for people who don't see the benefit, because one keeps paying but never ends up seeing the benefits (unless they Ch"V get a settlement from a covered relative).

The other issue is that the cheapest life policies are 15/20 years and those terms end while these people still have older children at hope, arguably when the policies are needed most (both considering their advancing age, and the financial needs for children in Yeshiva/Seminary/college and weddings to pay for).

[Lurker]

#cantfixstupid applies to financial literacy as well, quick fixes like this won't work because the stupid people don't realize their own stupidity and think they know better.

The issue with subsidies is that once the subsidy period ends and the person needs to start paying, the policy will lapse. Term life is a hard sell for people who don't see the benefit, because one keeps paying but never ends up seeing the benefits (unless they Ch"V get a settlement from a covered relative).

The other issue is that the cheapest life policies are 15/20 years and those terms end while these people still have older children at hope, arguably when the policies are needed most (both considering their advancing age, and the financial needs for children in Yeshiva/Seminary/college and weddings to pay for).

I very much agree that you can't fix stupid, but I think the issue in our communities is more ignorance than stupidity.

Subsidies can be done in ways to encourage the continuation of the policies. They can be structured as reimbursements for premiums, so that a person would have to actively cancel the auto-pay instead of passively letting it lapse. It can also be set up to pay a month or 2 of premiums for the life of the policy, to encourage people to keep the policies and to mitigate some of the costs.

There is no perfect solution. 30 year policies don't necessarily cover many who continue to have children 15-20 years into their marriage. The point isn't to solve every issue; it's to lessen the financial impact of tragedies on as many people as possible, including the burden on the general community as a whole.

[AsherO]

I very much agree that you can't fix stupid, but I think the issue in our communities is more ignorance than stupidity.

Subsidies can be done in ways to encourage the continuation of the policies. They can be structured as reimbursements for premiums, so that a person would have to actively cancel the auto-pay instead of passively letting it lapse. It can also be set up to pay a month or 2 of premiums for the life of the policy, to encourage people to keep the policies and to mitigate some of the costs.

There is no perfect solution. 30 year policies don't necessarily cover many who continue to have children 15-20 years into their marriage. The point isn't to solve every issue; it's to lessen the financial impact of tragedies on as many people as possible, including the burden on the general community as a whole.

Very interesting concept. But can this be considered tzedakah? Does it mitigate tzedakah?

[whacked1]

IINM there was a push a few years ago and a lot of yeshivas gave every rebbi a term policy as part of benefits package.

[Lurker]

Very interesting concept. But can this be considered tzedakah? Does it mitigate tzedakah?

From a legal standpoint, I'm sure creative accountants and lawyers could structure it so that it qualifies. From a halachic standpoint, I don't see why not, but I'm sure others here will set me straight 

[AsherO]

IINM there was a push a few years ago and a lot of yeshivas gave every rebbi a term policy as part of benefits package.

A large school or group of schools could probably negotiate a discounted group rate on premiums.

[whacked1]

others here will set me straight 

We've been trying to straighten you out for some time now. Now sure this will be the thing to finally get you in line. 

[AsherO]

From a legal standpoint, I'm sure creative accountants and lawyers could structure it so that it qualifies. From a halachic standpoint, I don't see why not, but I'm sure others here will set me straight 

The unfortunate reality is that these campaigns launched immediately as tragedy strikes pull on people's heart strings and get them to give generously.

Since we don't know who will end up R"L needing such a campaign, we have to pay premiums for the entire community. It adds up and it's a hard cause to fundraise for because it doesn't have the same emotional hook.

[Lurker]

We've been trying to straighten you out for some time now. Now sure this will be the thing to finally get you in line. 

Straightness is just an illusion of the space-time continuum.

[Euclid]

Straightness is just an illusion of the space-time continuum.

Ah yes, non-Euclidean geometry.

[Lurker]

The unfortunate reality is that these campaigns launched immediately as tragedy strikes pull on people's heart strings and get them to give generously.

Since we don't know who will end up R"L needing such a campaign, we have to pay premiums for the entire community. It adds up and it's a hard cause to fundraise for because it doesn't have the same emotional hook.

The campaigns will still be necessary. Not everyone will be able to get insurance, not everyone will participate, and there will still be huge holes that need to be filled.

The idea isn't to pay for everyone's insurance. It's to pay for a short period of time in the beginning to raise awareness, and maybe to subsidize a small portion of the premiums over time, in order to encourage people to keep paying for their own insurance. Again, there is no perfect solution, but having a bunch of askanim underwriting this project may have a net positive financial outcome over the current method of collecting after each tragedy.