When I first got married, my oldest brother gave me the advice to “over insure” yourself. It doesn’t cost that much and makes sure you have a good night’s sleep knowing that if you don’t wake up, no one has been left in a vulnerable place. Since I’m the key breadwinner in our family, I’ve always taken that advice seriously – but no longer.

Two things have changed – first we reached financial independence (FI) a few years ago. Second, my son is now seventeen and isn’t too many years from being able to provide for himself.

Like many people, I’ve carried about 8x-10x my annual salary in term insurance for many years. (Don’t even ask me about whole life insurance – I view it as one of the dumbest investments you can ever make). The term insurance I’ve had is through my company (basic + 4x salary extra you can by) and an additional term policy through GE Capital (now Genworth), that I bought when Jack was a baby.

When my DW and I were reviewing our FIRE plan at the end of last year, I noticed that we had spent over $1,000 in premiums last year. What a great expense to eliminate this year. My wife was a little hesitant to have “no coverage”, but discussed in the context of our overall FIRE plan, she understood that it had become an unneeded cost. In fact, I probably should have gradually cancelled policies and dialed back our coverage a little at a time over the last 5-7 years as our needs changed.

How’s your coverage? Are you over insured? Cutting insurance premiums is a great way to recognize your FIRE status and strengthen spending plan at the same time.

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