Add insurance policy details to an asset

A policy lives on the Assets page like any other asset, so it is shared and exported the same way. Policies with no cash value show how much they cover instead of a balance.

Steps

1. Go to Assets (opens in a new tab) and select Add Asset.
2. Under What type of asset?, choose Insurance, then the kind of policy: term, whole, universal, variable universal or indexed universal life, or disability, homeowners, renters, auto or umbrella insurance.
3. Choose the owner. For life and disability, the owner is the person the policy covers.
4. For life and disability, answer How do you get this policy?: Through your job or On your own.
5. Enter the coverage amount. The label fits the policy: Paid out if they die, Monthly benefit, Home rebuild coverage, Belongings coverage or Liability limit. For life insurance through your job, 1× salary and 2× salary fill it in from the owner's pay.
6. For home, renters and auto, enter What you pay first (the deductible).
7. For a policy you bought yourself, set Policy ends if it has an end date. Term life also asks How many years does it last?
8. Set Review again on if you want a reminder. For a work policy it is an optional Open enrollment reminder.
9. Add a Beneficiary note if you want a reminder, such as "spouse, then kids equally". Do not put account numbers or other sensitive details here.
10. Under What it costs:
    • On your own: select Add premium bill.
    • Through your job: select Add it to my paycheck deductions, choose the paycheck and enter the amount per paycheck. For disability, also pick short-term or long-term. If nothing comes out of your pay, select My employer pays for it.
11. Save the asset.

How it works

• No cash value, no value to enter. Term life, disability, homeowners, renters, auto and umbrella policies store a value of $0, so they never change your asset totals. Whole, universal, variable universal and indexed universal life policies ask for Cash value today, and that cash value counts toward your net worth. What a policy pays out (Paid out if they die) never does.
• Each cost counts once. A policy you bought yourself is paid by a linked bill. A work policy is paid by a paycheck deduction linked to the policy, which lowers your take-home pay, so it is never also a bill. The deduction is added to your paycheck when you save the policy, and you can edit it later under that income's deductions.
• Work policies are ongoing. They have no end date or term. Work coverage usually ends if you leave the job.
• Permanent life never ends. Whole, universal, variable universal and indexed universal life have no end date or term.
• Already have a premium bill on a work policy? The policy shows a note. Add the paycheck deduction, then select Unlink bill so the cost is not counted twice. Nothing is deleted.

FAQ

Why does my term life policy show $0? Term life has no cash value, so its value is $0 and it adds nothing to your asset totals. The coverage amount you enter is kept and shown on the policy. A policy's coverage amount never counts toward net worth.

Where do I enter what the policy costs? For a policy you bought yourself, the premium is a bill: select Add premium bill inside the policy. For a policy through your job, the cost is a paycheck deduction: select Add it to my paycheck deductions, or My employer pays for it if nothing comes out of your pay.

Who is the person covered? The person who owns the policy in Beyond Payday. To change who is covered, change the policy's owner.

Good to know

• Changing a policy to a non-insurance type removes its policy details.
• Home, renters, auto and umbrella policies don't cover a person, so they don't ask how you get them.
• This tracks your policies. It is not insurance advice.