Husband vs. Wife: Do We Both Need Life Insurance?

Mrs. Fuchs says: I checked with Suzy Orman, who basically said the same thing in a Q&A in The New York Times.

Mr. Fuchs says: Why did you have to go check with her?

Mrs. Fuchs says: I trust you, honey. But I verify with Suzie.

Mr. Fuchs says: Cute.

Mrs. Fuchs says: Franks also spoke about laddering policies. We’re out 20 years on you, but perhaps we can do a 10-year on me, until the kids are in college. Whatever the exact choice we make, we have to make it seriously. You can make a joke about some aspects of personal finance, as The New Yorker a few weeks back in a cartoon. A couple is sitting at a desk with their financial planner, who says: “What should you do? Here’s what you should do: invent a time machine, go back sixteen months and convert everything to cash.” Financial losses, as painful as they are, can be played for laughs, but when someone dies, there is really no time machine. No change to recoup losses, or do it over again.

Mr. Fuchs says: I’m sobbing.

Mrs. Fuchs says: Stop.

Mr. Fuchs says: In all seriousness, I do fear that you are right again. As Franks says, when it comes to financial planning, you have to look for possible downside. Here, there aren’t too many. “No one has ever sent a check back to the insurance company,” he told me. “What’s the worst that can happen? You can remarry a rich woman and have even more from the insurance policy.”

Mrs. Fuchs says: Why, I oughta—