Ok, I apologize. You’re not really a dummy. After all, they didn’t teach us Life Insurance 101 in high school or college.It could have been more helpful than calculous, I’ve still never used that in real life. So if you’re buying insurance for the first time or even the 2nd time, this blog post will give you the basics, so you can go into the life insurance world like a boss.
Life insurance is the best safety net that you could ever purchase for your family. If something tragic were to happen to you, your family could be left with a massive amount of debts and other final expenses. Your life insurance policy will give your loved ones the money that they need to pay off all of your bills. Losing a loved one is never easy, but not having a life insurance plan is going to make the situation a thousand times worse.
So whether you're young and needing insurance or your searching for life insurance for seniors over 65, we can answer your questions and help you get the coverage you deserve. This article is going to look at the various factors that you need to understand about life insurance before you purchase a policy.
The first step in buying life insurance is deciding how much life insurance you need. There are online calculators you can use to help you figure this out, but I find that most people intuitively have a number in their head.
Most people want their mortgage to be paid off should something happen to them, provide funds for their kids’ college education, and replace their income for a set amount of time. Another factor that will help you determine how much coverage to buy is budget. If you have a budget of $50 per month, or $100 per month, getting quotes and comparing rates will give you an idea of how much coverage you can buy based on your budget.
When you’re looking to get life insurance, it’s vital that you buy enough insurance coverage for your loved ones. If you didn’t have enough life insurance, your family could be left with additional expenses and no money to pay off those bills. When you’re determining what your life insurance needs are, there are several factors that you’ll need to consider.
The first thing that you should do is calculate how much debt and other final expenses that your family would be responsible for after your passing. The first goal of your insurance policy is to give your family the money that they need to pay off your bills. Make sure that you add up all of your major bills, like your mortgage, car payments, and student loans. The total that you get is the minimum requirement for your life insurance plan.
The next number that you should crunch is your annual income. If you’re one of the main income earners in your house, your family could struggle without your paycheck every month. The secondary goal of your insurance policy is to replace your salary if you passed away.
Aside from having a life insurance policy, it’s vital that you get the right amount of coverage for your loved ones. The vast majority of people that have a policy are drastically under-insured, which is one of the worst mistakes that you could make for your loved ones. So whether you decide you need $500,000 of a million dollars of life insurance coverage, we can help get you started in the right direction.
Step 1 is figuring out how much coverage you want to have. Once you know, move on to step 2.
After you know how much coverage you want or need the next step is figuring out what type of policy to buy. This is where people get caught up in doing a lot of research, but i’ll try to break it down and make it simple. There are basically 2 types of life insurance policies - Term life, and Permanent Life (which includes Universal and Whole Life). For 95% of people term life is the right solution. Let’s discuss the main differences.
Term Life is a policy that you buy for a set amount of years. You buy coverage for 10,15,20,25 or 30 years at a fixed cost for each year. You have coverage during that time and once it expires the coverage is over.
Permanent coverage - as in Universal Life or Whole Life can be coverage that lasts your entire life.
These are the basic differences. So why not buy permanent coverage? Simple. Cost. Term life is significantly cheaper than permanent life insurance. If you need to have a $500,000 policy to protect your family during your working years, chances are you will be able to afford the term payments, but not permanent coverage. Most people buy term life because it is much cheaper and provides protection for their family during the years they need it most. If you do have a need for a permanent life insurance policy, I recommend buying a guaranteed no lapse universal life policy. Essentially these work like lifetime term policies - no cash value buildup, not complex, and one of the cheapest forms of permanent coverage you can buy.
Another option is to buy a no medical exam life insurance plan. These plans are going to allow you to purchase insurance coverage without being required to undergo the medical exam before they accept your application. These plans are a great option for anyone that’s been declined for life insurance coverage in the past. These plans are a great choice for people that have poor health or any pre-existing conditions. There are several advantages and disadvantages to these no medical exams that you should take note of before you buy a plan.
The biggest advantage is that you can be approved for coverage regardless of your health or overweight issues. It’s important that everyone has the insurance protection that their family will need.
Another advantage is that you can be approved for life insurance much faster than you would be otherwise. With a traditional plan, you could have to wait up to a month to be approved for coverage, but with a no medical exam you can get life insurance in a matter of days. If you want to get life insurance as quickly as possible, a no medical exam is going to be the best option.
Another disadvantage is that you’ll be limited on how much coverage you can buy. Most insurance companies are going to only allow you to purchase around $250,000 worth of insurance protection, which isn’t enough coverage for most families. If you need more life insurance than that, you’ll have to buy more than one plan.
Ok, now that you know how much coverage you want, and the type of policy you are going to buy, (which is probably term) let’s go to the final step, which is choosing a life insurance company.
The first step here is comparing rates among top life insurance companies. I don’t recommend going to Allstate or State Farm - not because they aren't good companies, but because they only sell you their own company insurance, don’t offer choices, and they don’t have the best pricing for life insurance.
I recommend working with an independent life insurance agency like ChooseTerm.com and comparing rates among high quality life insurance companies. When I say high quality companies, I mean life insurance companies that are rated A or A+ by A.M Best, and have been in business for over 50 years. These are the types of life insurance companies that we work with, and they you will find if you compare quotes using our instant online life insurance quotes calculator right below this blog post.
Every insurance company is different, which means that you’re going to get different rates depending on the company that you get the quote from. If you want to save money on your life insurance, you’ll need to get dozens of quotes before deciding which plan works best for you.
Some insurance companies have more lenient medical underwriting, while other companies have stricter standards. Finding the perfect company could be the difference in getting an affordable life insurance policy or getting a plan that’s going to break your bank every month.
Getting life insurance can be an overwhelming process. There are thousands of different companies across the market and several different kinds that you can choose from. Luckily, we are here to help you get the best insurance coverage for you and your family. We are a group of independent insurance agents, which means that we work with some of the best life insurance companies across the nation. Don’t waste hours and hours on the phone calling different agents. Let one of our agents do all of the dirty work for you and bring you a personalized set of quotes in a matter of minutes.
If you have any questions about life insurance, or about the life insurance options available to you, please contact one of our agents today. It’s our mission to ensure that you’re getting the best plan to meet your needs. We know that shopping for life insurance is not a fun task. Nobody wants to think about his or her death, but it’s important that you get the perfect insurance plan possible. Not having life insurance coverage is one of the worst mistakes that you could ever make for your loved ones. If something tragic were to happen to you, and you didn’t have life insurance protection, your family would be responsible for all of your bills, which is going to make the whole situation a thousand times worse.
You never know what’s going to happen tomorrow, which means that you shouldn’t wait any longer to get the insurance protection that your family deserves. Contact one of our agents today and we would be happy to connect you with the best plan possible.