Veterans Group Life Insurance - VGLI

If you’re a veteran, the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs has your back in the life insurance department.

When you’re in the armed forces, you can be covered by the Servicemembers Group Life Insurance (SGLI) policy, with your family as the death beneficiary. That way, they’ll get a bit of an income if you die while out and about on the job.

When you complete your service, you have about a year and a half to get your SGLI converted to a VGLI, the Veterans Group Life Insurance policy. It’s basically the same thing—life insurance for your fam, if you’ve completed your service. It won’t expire once you hit a certain age, and you can increase coverage by $25k every five years until age 60, with a ceiling of $400k...if you want.

VGLI doesn’t come for free though—you’ll have to make premium payments based on your age. Still, if you’re a veteran interested in maintaining life insurance for your family, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better insurance policy on the market.

VGLI ignores gender, tobacco use, job status, recreational activities—all things that would increase your risk, and therefore your payments, in the private life insurance market.