What happens to your SGLI when you get out

Your military life insurance doesn't end the day you separate. It ends 120 days later, and if you want to keep it, the clock is already running.

If you're getting out this year, life insurance is probably not near the top of your list. While you were in, it took care of itself. SGLI came out of your pay every month, for up to the $500,000 maximum, and you may not have looked at it since you named a beneficiary at your first duty station.

That changes when you separate. SGLI keeps covering you for 120 days after your separation date, and you don't pay for those days. On day 121, it ends. So does the coverage on your spouse and your kids. What you do in those four months decides whether you keep any coverage, what it costs you, and whether anyone asks about your health.

The government's answer is Veterans' Group Life Insurance, or VGLI. It lets you keep up to the same amount of coverage as a civilian. Below is how it works, what it costs at every age, and the dates you can't miss.

Three dates, all counted from your DD-214

Everything runs off one date: your separation date, labeled "Separation Date This Period" on your DD-214. It's block 13b on the February 2022 edition, and block 12b on older copies. It isn't the day you clear post or the day you sign out. If you're on terminal leave, you're still on active duty, SGLI still covers you, and the clock hasn't started.

Day 120. Free SGLI ends, for you and your family. If OSGLI, the Prudential-run office that handles VGLI for VA, has your application and first premium by this day, your VGLI starts on day 121 and you never have a break in coverage.

Day 240. The last day you can get VGLI without answering any health questions.

One calendar year and 120 days. The last day to apply at all. Count to the one-year anniversary, then add 120 days. Leap years can make this 486 days rather than 485. After it, VGLI is closed to you for good.

Say your separation date is January 29, 2027. Your three dates are May 29, 2027; September 26, 2027; and May 28, 2028.

OSGLI usually mails you VGLI information 45 to 60 days after you separate, but you don't need to wait for it.

The gap nobody mentions

Here is the part that catches people. If you apply on day 150, you're still eligible, and nobody asks about your health. But from day 121 until the day OSGLI receives your acceptable application and first premium, you have no SGLI or VGLI coverage, unless an SGLI disability extension applies; another policy may cover you. VA's own timeline shows that gap. Most summaries leave it out.

Compare your options early and arrange any replacement coverage before SGLI ends. If you choose VGLI, allow time for OSGLI to receive your application and first premium by day 120. If you send the paper form, a legible postmark dated within the deadline counts as on time.

What VGLI costs

VGLI's price depends on two things: your age and how much coverage you keep. VA doesn't charge more for tobacco use, for gender, or for your health. While you served, $500,000 of SGLI cost you $26 a month: $25 for the insurance and $1 for traumatic injury coverage. Here is what VGLI costs.

Two things stand out. Under 30, VGLI costs about what you paid on SGLI. And the price isn't set for life. VGLI is renewable five-year term insurance, so every five years your premium resets based on your age at that point.

Here is what that looks like in practice. Someone who starts VGLI at 30 with $500,000 pays $40 a month. At 35 it renews at $50, then $70 at 40, $95 at 45, $145 at 50 and $250 at 55. At today's rates, keeping that coverage from 30 to 60 adds up to about $39,000 in premiums. VA can change its rates at any renewal, so treat that as an estimate.

You can pay monthly, or less often for a small discount: VA's handbook gives examples of 2.5% for paying quarterly, 3.75% for twice a year and 5% for once a year. Retirees can pay by allotment from retired pay, and anyone receiving VA disability compensation can have the premium deducted from it.

One time-limited break: VA has paused VGLI premiums from November 1, 2026, through January 31, 2027, for people already covered. If you're applying now, you still pay the first premium to start your coverage.

How much coverage you can keep

You can keep anywhere from $10,000 to $500,000, in $10,000 steps, but never more than the SGLI you had when you separated. If you take less now, you get chances to add more later: on your first VGLI anniversary, and every five years after that, you can add $25,000 as long as you're under 60, up to $500,000 in total. It isn't automatic. You have to ask for it in the 120 days before the anniversary.

You can lower your coverage at any time, though raising it back up takes proof of good health. VGLI never builds cash value. It only pays if you die, and if you stop paying, it lapses after a 60-day grace period. You can apply to reinstate it within five years, but you'll have to meet health requirements.

If you're not sure how much you need, VA has a life insurance needs calculator that walks through what your family would owe, what income they'd lose and what survivor benefits they'd get.

VGLI or your own policy?

VGLI isn't your only choice, and it isn't always the cheapest. Its real advantage is that nobody looks at your health if you apply by day 240. That matters a lot if you're leaving with injuries, a pending VA claim or anything an insurer would ask about. Depending on your age and health, a private term policy can cost more or less. The only way to know is to get a quote for the same amount before day 120 and compare the actual numbers.

VA's own comparison of the options looks like this:

There's one more route. Within those first 120 days, you can convert SGLI into a permanent policy, such as whole life, with one of the insurers on OSGLI's participating company list, without proving you're in good health. The company may ask health questions to offer you a better rate, but you don't have to answer them. You can do the same with VGLI at any point later.

If you're married

If you're the spouse reading this, this section is for you. Your coverage under Family SGLI ends 120 days after your service member separates, the same day theirs does. It can't be moved to VGLI, which only ever covers the veteran. Your one way to keep it is to convert it to a permanent individual policy, such as whole life, with a participating insurer within those 120 days. It's your decision, you apply to the company yourself, and you don't have to prove you're in good health.

Start by calling OSGLI at 800-419-1473 and asking for an FSGLI conversion notice. The insurer will also want your spouse's final leave and earnings statement showing the spouse coverage deduction, and their DD-214, NGB-22 or written orders as proof of separation.

Coverage on children can't be converted at all. If you want life insurance on your kids after day 120, it has to be a new policy.

Who gets the money

The beneficiaries you named for SGLI carry over to VGLI for only 60 days after VGLI starts. After that, if you haven't named anyone on VGLI, the money is paid in the order set by law: spouse first, then children, then parents. That may not be what you want.

The fix is to name your beneficiaries on the VGLI application itself, and to check them again after any marriage, divorce or birth. A few things trip people up. Your DD 93, the emergency data form, isn't your SGLI beneficiary designation; you check SGLI in milConnect under "Manage my SGLI." A divorce decree doesn't change your beneficiary either; VA says state court orders don't override the person you named. And money left directly to a minor goes to a court-appointed guardian, so if you'd rather choose who manages it, VA's forms let you name a trust.

If you're leaving with a disability

If you're totally disabled when you separate, meaning you can't work or you have certain severe losses, such as the use of both hands, both feet or both eyes, you can keep SGLI free for up to two years under the SGLI Disability Extension. You don't need a VA rating to apply. You request it on form SGLV 8715 any time in those two years, and it isn't automatic. When it ends, you can move to VGLI.

Separately, any service-connected rating, even 0%, makes you eligible for VALife, VA's guaranteed-acceptance whole life policy, for up to $40,000. There's no deadline to apply after your rating comes through, as long as you're 80 or younger. Full coverage starts two years after you apply.

Guard and Reserve

If you had full-time SGLI, you get the same 120 days after your release from your unit or assignment, and the same VGLI deadlines. Part-time SGLI, the kind that only covers you during drill and training, usually can't be converted to VGLI. VA lists the specific cases on its VGLI eligibility page.

How to apply

The fastest way is online through OSGLI's VGLI site, where you upload your DD-214 or latest leave and earnings statement and pay your first premium. You can also send the paper form, SGLV 8714, with a copy of the same document and your first premium, to OSGLI, PO Box 41618, Philadelphia, PA 19176-9913, or fax it to 800-236-6142. You can't apply through milConnect; it only handles SGLI while you're serving. For questions, call OSGLI at 800-419-1473.

One example, start to finish

Example (fictional) Kayla Brandt is a 24-year-old Army specialist leaving through the medical evaluation process for a knee injury. She can still work full time, so the Disability Extension doesn't apply to her. Her separation date is January 29, 2027. She has $500,000 of SGLI, her husband, Ray, is covered under Family SGLI, and her SGLI beneficiary is still her mother, from a form she filled out in 2021.

She applies online in March and keeps the full $500,000 for $30 a month. Her rate stays at $30 when VGLI renews at 29, rises to $40 at 34 and to $50 at 39. On the application she names Ray as her beneficiary and her mother as contingent, so the 2021 form stops mattering. The same week, Ray calls OSGLI for his conversion notice so he can decide on a permanent policy of his own before May 29. If her VA claim ends in any service-connected rating, she can add VALife on top.

This is general information, not financial advice for your situation. For free one-on-one help, call Military OneSource financial counseling at 800-342-9647. It's open to you and your immediate family until 365 days after you retire or are honorably discharged.