Life Insurance

[Western]

I am needing to look for more life insurance possibly, since the policy through my wifes work are limited to enrollment/benefit changes to once a year.

Do you guy's have any recommendation or experience, pros/cons for any specific Ins. company?

Just looking for places to start "researching" the options
Thanks

 

[Bird]

I am needing to look for more life insurance possibly, since the policy through my wifes work are limited to enrollment/benefit changes to once a year.

Do you guy's have any recommendation or experience, pros/cons for any specific Ins. company?

Just looking for places to start "researching" the options
Thanks

Many, many years ago, I bought life insurance with Jefferson Standard insurance company. It later changed to Jefferson Pilot, and still later became Lincoln Financial. Of course it was all "whole" life; not cheap but builds cash value. I even bought a policy on each of our daughters when they were born, but cashed those in when they were grown and had their own insurance.

I certainly do NOT claim to know anything about insurance companies, but so far I've had good luck with this one. They just draft my checking account each month for the premiums and they have a website where I can see the status, cash value, loan value, etc. any time.

Are you going to be looking for term life or whole life, guaranteed renewable for xx years, or guaranteed renewable forever? With or without a required physical?

 

[forgeblast]

We have two different policys. A term life(which is the cheapest) that covers the cost of our house if one of us dies, and a whole life policy on each of us. The whole life we have is rolled back into itself and every 5 years we can add more to the value of the policy(ie another 25-30k.) We have state farm for our whole life and prudential for our term. I would say either is fine. Just remember buy when you are young, once you get a bit older, use tobacco or develop cancer your rates go through the roof.

 

[Western]

The small policy we have now had no physical requirements, just our info and the premium.

Not sure what we are looking for , I know my age will start to be a consideration. from what I've been told, once you hit "50", the rules get tougher and expensive. The small policy we have through the wifes work, is a single payout type. Doesn't build cash value and we can only modify it once a year. that's all I know for sure.

Life insurance wasn't something I thought of much when I was young, I was going to live forever, right.

I will look into those company's and see what they offer.

Thanks!

 

[Sigarms]

My only impression is that the longer you wait, the more will you pay for less.

I waited until I hit 40 and just got married to cover something for the house and property if something happened to me. I had to go with term so I wouldn't have to pay through the nose.

Term has a set pay out, but once your payment period ends (forever how long), that's it, you get NOTHING. I figure I'm better off paying "just in case" something happens to me so my wife has something to fall back on.

Best thing my parents did was get a small policy on me when I turned 18 and left the house. It's only 25k if I die, but it now runs me less than $100 a year. The reason why I think it was the best thing is that seeing what my parents did for me, I got a whole life policy for my son. Runs about 1k a year, but the cash value will add up by the time he becomes an adult, and he's covered. I don't intend to hand it over to him until he's settled down, so it should give him some financial protection down the road for his family if God forbid, something happens to him.

When my wife and I got married we went to Ameriprise (sp?), but God, it seemed nothing more than a insurance scam with a whole life policy. I could be wrong, but for what they wanted, we figured we'd be better off investing on our own.

 

[s219]

The reason the rates go up with age is because the insurance company will have less time to make money off you. When they balance the risk vs. reward, they need to charge more to make it worth their while. People who buy in young are a lower risk and they end up paying the insurance company longer, so the rates are lower.

Bottom line, if you wait until an older age to get insurance, it will cost more. But you've also avoided paying the insurance company for a long time, and hopefully you did something smart with that money. All else equal, I can definitely see how a procrastinator could come out ahead versus someone who started paying into life insurance at an early age.

 

[gbw]

All of the impartial advice I've ever seen says to buy term life only, and then only for the death benefit amount needed to take care of loved ones. It's not an investment.

Other forms of life insurance ('Whole life', etc.) are very poor investments and there are better choices available for investing dollars.

 

[strum456]

Bottom line, if you wait until an older age to get insurance, it will cost more. But you've also avoided paying the insurance company for a long time, and hopefully you did something smart with that money. QUOTE]


I agree. I recently fell into the trap of purchasing a Northwestren Mutual whole life policy. A life long frind of mine got a job at the comany and cold called me and asked if he could come talk about my financial goals. His "mentor" talked us into a policy and I signed on the dotted line without doing my research :thumbdown:

After I really looked into it, the whole life policy would earn 1.5 APR at best. They try to show you all the bright outlooks with their fancy brochures, but 1.5 was what I came up with mathmatically.

Now, compare the amount of money you have tied up in your whole life policy and the APR it is earning to the same amount of money put in something like a ROTH IRA and subtract what a term life policy would cost. When I did this calculation, whole life didn't even come close.

Moral of the story, I had whole life and cancelled it. I was told that Whole life has a very high commission compared to other investments (big surprise).

 

[strum456]

All of the impartial advice I've ever seen says to buy term life only, and then only for the death benefit amount needed to take care of loved ones. It's not an investment.

Other forms of life insurance ('Whole life', etc.) are very poor investments and there are better choices available for investing dollars.

That sums it up. We must have been typing at the same time. :thumbsup:

 

[Ron JD670]

I am needing to look for more life insurance possibly, since the policy through my wifes work are limited to enrollment/benefit changes to once a year.

Do you guy's have any recommendation or experience, pros/cons for any specific Ins. company?

Just looking for places to start "researching" the options
Thanks

First a disclaimer - I'm licensed in Oregon so I am not soliciting and cannot in other states. With that said find and meet with a good agent. Get some recommendations from friends and check the state insurance office (web site) if how long they have bee licensed and if there have been any issues.

A good independent agent will explain the differences between term, whole life, UL, and Variable Life. A company agent only reps one or two company programs Some times plans other than term are called permanent insurance. And they can be as long as you pay the premium. Term is useful for a specific time period - like paying off a mortgage or paying for college expenses if you die before the kid(s) graduate or even go to college. The UL an whole life allow you to accumulate cash for use later if you don't die early and provide death benefit if you pass on early. They can be great if you can afford the payments and wait for the cash accumulation.

As far as companies they all receive ratings and you want to stay with the A, A+, AAA rated companies. Again check with the state and see if the company has any issues. If you have medical issues or use tobacco some companies will be more flexible in underwriting. This is where an agent earns their commission. If you go on line you'll get quotes for the same companies an independent agent will quote but they usually give you the low ball rate. This won't be necessarily what you qualify for once you submit an app. A good agent can show you range of plans possible rates depending on your personal health issues.

Well I stop there
Good luck and best wishes
RoN