Is Gerber Life Insurance worth it?

Jeannette - posted on 08/10/2011 (4 moms have responded)

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I was just wondering if it was worth it to start the Gerber Life Insurance plan for my son? I was only going to do the $5,000 dollar one which is a little over $3.00 a month. I mean, it kind of makes sense to do it, plus then the amount grows and in 25 years, if he wants he can take the money out to pay for a house or for school loans. I looked into doing their college savings plan, but unfortunately I cannot do the cheapest payment of $38 a month. My son does have a savings account, but we do not put money in, unless we have extra or money we get from selling his old things, which is rare. We also put all our change in his piggy bank, which will eventually go into his account.

Anyway, so is it worth is to start the life insurance policy for him or would it just be better to start putting $5.00 a month in his savings account? Thanks for the advice.

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4 Replies

Laura Zoey - posted on 01/15/2012

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Suze orman says no. And I trust her!

Vanessa - posted on 01/15/2012

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any life insurance policy with cash value attached is not worth it and they are not supposed to sell it to you as a savings account that you can borrow from, if you borrow any money from it they will charge you up to 8% and subtract the amount you borrowed from your death benefit, so you pay the same premium plus interest to the company to borrow your own money and you end up with less coverage because they subtract the amount you borrowed from your face amount (death benefit) I purposely repeated myself.........

Good Day! - posted on 08/10/2011

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No, I wouldn't get it. It's always a good idea to have 3-6 months of living expenses in savings for emergencies, such as the death of a child (God forbid). If you have that in place for your family, then you can start putting your $5/month into a high interest savings account for your child.

That being said, my husband and I have term life policies on ourselves. This is to financially take care of each other and our children should something happen to one of us. Term life is very inexpensive, but it expires. But that's okay, because by the time it expires, we'll have our IRA's to fall back on.

Leigh - posted on 08/10/2011

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I think it is a matter of personal decision. We did one of the policies for our son (now 21 months old), right after he was born. I figured that it was a good investment - it grows with him and once he turns 21 he can decided if he wants to keep it. I looked at it this way... my husband had Leukemia when he was 19 years old. He has been cancer free now for 8 years (he's 33) and considered cured since 5 years cancer free. But, b/c of his medical history he cannot get life insurance. Luckily there is no genetic link, but lets say my son gets sick with something that keeps him from getting insurance when he wants/needs it to protect himself and/or his future family. He at least has this policy. And, God forbid something happens to him, we at least have a policy that would cover funeral expenses and give use enough money to cover counseling for us (which would be much needed). I figured it was worth my $25/month.