Life-Insurance-Filter (again): There have been some good threads in the past on understanding/buying life insurance, but I wanted to get a bit more specific this time around. To supplement my current coverage, I've decided to buy a term policy (possibly renewable), the duration and amount of which will fit my situation. What I wanted to get some insight on are the finer points of these policies. That is, if there are specific "fine print" items to look for (or conversely, to look out for), I'd like to know what those are.

Is cancelling my health insurance and investing the money instead a good bet, or a foolhardy risk? I'm young, in good health, and have no chronic health conditions. And compound interest means that I'd have hundreds of thousands of dollars more at the end of my life. I'm currently paying over $200 a month for an excellent health insurance plan that includes doctor's visits, prescriptions, and low to no deductible for most things. However, I'm living more or less hand-to-mouth. I'm 25 years old and work as a freelance writer, which makes it very difficult to invest any amount of money -- there is simply nothing else in my budget I can cut. If I cancelled the health insurance or downgraded to an emergency-room-only health insurance plan, and invested the money instead, I'd have a few thousand dollars in savings a few years earlier, which would give me a lot more financial stability and flexibility. (Hey, I can buy a car / move to a new city / travel now!) Or, heck, I could just keep saving that money -- the effect of starting a few years early would exponentially increase the longer I left that money invested.

Should I cancel my life insurance policy and use it to pay off most or all of my consumer debt? I'm Canadian, 50 years old, single, self-employed, with no dependents. I have about $15,000 in consumer debt and about $200,000 owing on my house. I'm covering my mortgage payments well, and am currently spending about $300/month on servicing the credit card debt. (I have 3% interest until October, but it goes up to 9% after that). There's a good chance that things will be busier for me in the spring, and I may be able to increase my debt repayment to about $1200/month, but I can't count on that.

I have to travel to Johannesburg for 3 weeks on business so I thought I'd check our corporate travel / life insurance. I'm covered for $20,000 which I consider way below par. I need business travel life insurance options. Our health insurance (Blue Anthem) dictates a minimum level of life insurance cover, which we have: $20,000. We also have business travel insurance which covers medical expenses extra -- but no life cover. Our UK staff have life insurance at 3x / 4x their annual salary (depending on number of dependents). I don't need extra comprehensive life insurance for my every day life - at least not from my company. But I would like to be cover in the event of a plane crash (wherever I travel on business) or a carjacking in Jo-Berg say.

I have to travel to Johannesburg for 3 weeks on business so I thought I'd check our corporate travel / life insurance. I'm covered for $20,000 which I consider way below par. I need business travel life insurance options. Our health insurance (Blue Anthem) dictates a minimum level of life insurance cover, which we have: $20,000. We also have business travel insurance which covers medical expenses extra -- but no life cover. Our UK staff have life insurance at 3x / 4x their annual salary (depending on number of dependents). I don't need extra comprehensive life insurance for my every day life - at least not from my company. But I would like to be cover in the event of a plane crash (wherever I travel on business) or a carjacking in Jo-Berg say.

Educate me about life insurance. I'm female; under 40; non-smoking; the primary wage earner in our family (I earn 2/3 of our income, my partner earns 1/3); we own a house and have a son who will be one year old in July. For many years, I had $100,000 in life insurance through my employer, however this benefit is no longer available to me so I've started shopping for insurance and, I have to say, everything seems prohibitively (ie: $100+ per month) expensive, and I'm having a lot of trouble sorting out the options. We're guessing that I need about a $250,000 policy (which would pay off our house and car, my funeral, plus leave some savings for our son).

Educate me about life insurance. I'm female; under 40; non-smoking; the primary wage earner in our family (I earn 2/3 of our income, my partner earns 1/3); we own a house and have a son who will be one year old in July. For many years, I had $100,000 in life insurance through my employer, however this benefit is no longer available to me so I've started shopping for insurance and, I have to say, everything seems prohibitively (ie: $100+ per month) expensive, and I'm having a lot of trouble sorting out the options. We're guessing that I need about a $250,000 policy (which would pay off our house and car, my funeral, plus leave some savings for our son).

Help me determine how fair my life insurance quote is. I received a quote from Fidelity for $1M 20-year term life insurance for $970/year. I'm pleased with Fidelity for other accounts so I figured I'd give them a shot for life insurance. I have no real frame of reference to see if this is a fair bid. I'd rather not go through the application experience with other companies to get comparative bids-I'd like to know where my quote fits in the overall ballpark. Additionally, I'm supposed to respond to Fidelity's bid soon. I've tried the online quickie-quotes but those aren't really meaningful.

Help me determine how fair my life insurance quote is. I received a quote from Fidelity for $1M 20-year term life insurance for $970/year. I'm pleased with Fidelity for other accounts so I figured I'd give them a shot for life insurance. I have no real frame of reference to see if this is a fair bid. I'd rather not go through the application experience with other companies to get comparative bids-I'd like to know where my quote fits in the overall ballpark. Additionally, I'm supposed to respond to Fidelity's bid soon. I've tried the online quickie-quotes but those aren't really meaningful.

Is there a way to get life insurance without the underwriter seeing the complete records of my two-plus years in therapy? There's nothing earth-shattering: Just a standard-issue case of depression and anxiety that, thanks to psychotherapy with a good shrink and a low dose of Lexapro, is now well under control. But the insurance company won't accept a letter from my doc saying simply that he treated me and that I have responded well. The rep assures me that only the underwriter will see the records of my treatment, and, like I said, there's nothing terribly shocking in there ... but it's intimate, personal stuff that I'd like to keep as private as possible.