For many people, the first introduction to life insurance is when a friend or a “friend of a friend” gets an insurance license. For others, a close friend or relative died without having adequate coverage or any life insurance. For me, I was introduced to a life insurance company where I had to set appointments with friends and family as I learned the ends and outs of the industry and hopefully, make some sales.

Unfortunately, however, this is how most people acquire life insurance – they don’t buy it, it is sold to them. But is life insurance something that you truly need, or is it merely an inconvenience shoved under your nose by a salesperson? While it may seem like the latter is true, there are actually many reasons why you should purchase life insurance.

As we grow older, get married, start a family, or begin a business, we need to understand that life insurance is absolutely necessary. For example, picture a safety net. You may be the greatest tightrope walker in the world, without a doubt. You could perform without a net, but, “Why?” You cherish your life and the life of those close to you and you wouldn’t do anything that showed that you felt differently. Let’s face it, we have no control over the unpredictability of life or of unforeseen occurrences. With that in mind, just as a safety net protects the uncertainty life, so does life insurance. It is an indispensable and fundamental foundation to a sound financial plan. Over the years, life insurance has given many caring and responsible people the peace of mind knowing that money would be available to protect the ones most important in their life, family and estate in a number of ways, including:

1. To Pay Final Expenses

The cost of a funeral and burial can easily run into the tens of thousands of dollars, and I don’t want my wife, parents, or children to suffer financially in addition to emotionally at my death.

2. To Cover Children’s Expenses

Like most caring and responsible parents, it is necessary to be sure that our children are well taken care of and can afford a quality college education. For this reason, additional coverage is absolutely essential while children are still at home.

3. To Replace the Spouse’s Income

If one parent passes away while the children are young, the surviving caring parent would need to replace that income, which is essential to their lifestyle. The responsible surviving parent would need to hire help for domestic tasks like cleaning the house, laundry, and cooking. Add to that equation if it is a single parent, helping with schoolwork, and taking your children to doctor’s visits.

4. To Pay Off Debts

In addition to providing income to cover everyday living expenses, a family would need insurance to cover debts like the mortgage, so they wouldn’t have to sell the house to stay afloat.

5. To Buy a Business Partner’s Shares

In a business partnership, the partners need insurance on each other partner’s life. The reason is so if one dies, the others will have enough cash to buy his interest from his heirs and pay his share of the company’s obligations without having to sell the company itself. They have the same needs (due to the risk that one of the partners might die), and they simultaneously purchased insurance on each other’s life.

6. To Pay Off Estate Taxes

Estate taxes can be steep, so having insurance in place to pay them is essential to avoid jeopardizing assets or funds built for retirement. Use of insurance for this purpose is most common in large estates, and uses permanent (rather than term) insurance to ensure that coverage remains until the end of life.

7. To Provide Living Benefits

With the advancements in medicine and rising healthcare costs, people are living longer, but cannot afford to. Living benefits is an option to use death proceeds before the insured dies to help with obligations or necessities to ease the pressure on themselves and others.

How Much Coverage Should I Buy?

The face amount, or “death benefit” of an insurance policy (i.e., the amount of proceeds paid to the beneficiary) should be high enough to replace the after-tax income you would have earned had you lived a full life, presuming you can afford the annual premiums for that amount. In other words, the insurance replaces the income you didn’t have the chance to earn by living and working until retirement due to a premature death.

The proper amount of insurance allows your family to continue their lifestyle, even though your income is no longer available. The actual amount that you should purchase depends upon your present and probable future incomes, any special circumstances affecting you or your family, and your existing budget for premiums.

Whole Life or Term?

Some people prefer to drive Cadillac, Lincoln or Rolls Royce, which come with all of the electronic gadgets that make driving safe and as easy as possible. Others prefer less customized makes, equally reliable to their more expensive cousins, but requiring more hands-on attention.

Whole life is the “Cadillac” of insurance; these companies try to do everything for you, specifically investing a portion of your premiums so that the annual cost doesn’t increase as you grow older. The investment characteristic of the insurance means that premiums are generally higher than a similar term policy with the same face value. After all, whole life insurance is intended to cover your whole life.

Term insurance, on the other hand, is temporary life insurance. There are no excess premiums to be invested, and no promises or guarantees beyond the end of the term, which can range from 1 to 30 years. The annual premium for term insurance is always less than whole life, lacking the investment component, but your premiums will rise (often substantially) once the term period expires.

Both types of life insurance, term or whole life (or one of their derivatives) have benefits and drawbacks; both have their place depending upon the needs, desires, and financial objectives of the purchaser. A knowledgeable professional insurance agent can help you decide which type of policy is best for you depending upon your circumstances. But whichever you select, be sure that you have enough coverage to meet your objectives in the short term and the long term.

The Last Word

Some people mistakenly believe that life insurance is a scam. This is because the money for premiums is lost if death doesn’t occur during the coverage period (in the case of term insurance), or because many people live to a ripe old age and continue to pay their permanent insurance premiums. Such naysayers compare life insurance protection to gambling, and forgo the protection entirely.

There are others, who have the belief that life insurance does not help them. To those individuals, the answer is: You are absolutely correct! The truth of the matter is that life insurance is a way for caring and responsible people to help ensure that their family can continue to move forward in the event of your untimely demise, a truly difficult time of loss. Of course, there is no bet – you will die, but no one knows when. It could be today, tomorrow, or 50 years into the future, but it will happen eventually.

Do you have life insurance? Why or why not?

Life insurance in the UK is becoming more and more popular with many people now realizing the importance and the benefits of a good life insurance policy. There are two main types of popular life insurance, both of which offer a range of invaluable benefits to UK consumers.

Level Term Life Insurance

Level term life insurance is the most popular type of life insurance policy with UK consumers, and this may be because it is also the cheapest form of insurance. With level term insurance, you and your family can enjoy peace of mind at an affordable price. If you die during the term of this insurance policy, your family will receive a lump sum payment, which can help to cover a number of costs as well as provide some degree of financial security at what will inevitably be a difficult time. The money could assist with costs such as:

• Mortgage repayments
• Funeral costs
• Education costs for the children
• Day-to-day living

One of the reasons that level term life insurance is a fair bit cheaper than other life insurance is because the insurer only has to make a payment if the insured party passes away, and even then the insured party has to die during the term of the policy for the next of kin (or the named beneficiary) to be eligible for a payout. One of the great things about levels term insurance is that you can benefit from cover for just a few pounds each week, and because the payments remain the same throughout the term of the policy, you’ll never have to worry about rising payments.

The reason why a level term insurance policy is so called is because the repayment remain level throughout the term of the policy, so you will never have to worry about the cost of your policy rising. The policy is also taken over a fixed term, which is where the ‘term’ part of the policy comes in. This means that you can enjoy easy budgeting and low cost repayments, and you’ll know exactly how long you will be making payment for. On the downside, once the policy expires you will not be able to reclaim any money and the policy will be cancelled, so you will then need to look at taking out alternative life insurance cover.

The average term of a level term life insurance policy – unless otherwise specified – is fifteen years. There are a variety of factors that contribute to the cost of the policy such as whether you go for the most basic package or whether you include a bolt-on such as critical illness cover, whether you are a smoker, your general health, and the term over which you take the policy out.

Whole Life Insurance

Unlike level term life insurance, whole life cover offers a guaranteed payout, which to many people makes it better value for money in the long run. Although the repayments on this type of cover are more expensive than level term insurance, the insurer will make pay out whenever the insured party passes away, so the higher monthly payments will guarantee a payout at some point.

There are a number of different types of whole life insurance policies, and consumers can select the one that best fits their needs and their budget. As with other insurance policies, you can tailor-make your whole life insurance cover to include additional cover such as critical illness insurance. The variations on whole life insurance cover include:

Non-profit UK whole life insurance policies: This is the simplest form of whole life cover, and enables you to enjoy the convenience of level payments through the term of the policy until you die. Upon death, your family received a payout and the policy becomes null and void. If you want to pay a little extra, you can take out a policy that is fixed over a specified term, which means that you will only be making payments for a certain amount of time, but your family will still receive a payout when you die.

With-profit UK whole life insurance: This is a cover and investment type scheme, where your monthly payments are split between your cover premiums and the investment side of your policy. You will enjoy a guaranteed assured sum, and you may find that your insurer adds discretionary bonuses.

Low cost UK whole life insurance: One of the cheapest forms of whole life cover, this type of policy features a decreasing term plan, and the policy is combined with a profits fund. As bonuses are added to the profit side of the policy, the policy term decreases. This provides a cost effective solution for those that want to enjoy the benefits of whole life insurance cover without having to make high monthly payments.

Unitised UK whole life insurance policy: When you purchase this type of whole life cover, you will also be investing in with-profit units. This means that when the insurer makes a payout, the sum awarded will be dependent upon the value of the units in comparison to the value of the death benefit (the payout will be based upon whichever is the highest in value). Each month units are cancelled in order to increase levels of death benefit cover, with reviews carried out from time to time to ensure adequate levels of death benefit cover.

Summary

Both level term insurance policies and whole life policies offer valuable peace of mind to policyholders. The cost of this type of life cover is a small price to pay for the peace of mind that comes with being protected, and you can increase this peace of mind by adding extras such as critical illness to your policy for just a small extra fee.

As a nation, we like to insure just about everything we can…our cars, our homes, our belongings, our pets, and even our credit repayments. It therefore makes sense that we should insure the most important thing of all – our lives.

Life insurance is something that many of us tend to postpone. After all it is for an eventuality that is not likely to happen today or the next day. This procrastination is what gets many people and their families into trouble. Get a life insurance quote without delay.

The importance of life insurance:

In the event of your untimely demise, your family still has to pay the bills, educate the kids and pay back all the liabilities ranging from short term credit card loans to mortgages. Getting Insurance quotes is the first step in ensuring your family’s financial security.

Even when people get life insurance, many of them don’t buy adequate cover or the right type of insurance products for their needs. Getting the right policy requires some study of the available products in the market and then picking the right policies to meet your financial security goals. Getting a life insurance quote is the best way to start the analysis.

This gives you an idea about the types of products available to you and what they mean in terms of premium payments and benefits.

An overview of the options available:

There are two major categories of policies, the term insurance and whole life insurance. While term insurance has just an insurance component in most cases, whole life insurance has both insurance and savings components.

There are different types of term insurance policies. Each gives you an insurance cover for a certain number of years. Depending upon the policy, some of them give you the option to exit or renew the policy at fixed intervals.

These intervals could range from one to a number of years. Depending upon the type of risk cover they offer, the premium of these policies could increase or decrease as the years go by. Once the policy expires, all the benefits under these policies cease.

Whole life coverage on the other hand covers you for the rest of your life. These policies tend to be expensive when compared to term insurance due to two reasons. One, they involve higher risks and the risk increases with your age.

The second factor is the savings component, or cash value that they include. This cash value accrues throughout the policy period and is paid upon your death to your family.

The type of policy or policies that you should opt for depends upon your circumstances and goals. If you are confident that you will be able to pay all your debts and accumulate enough savings to support your family even after retirement, then term insurance may be enough.

If on the other hand you have dependents needing financial support throughout their lives, like children with special needs or suffering from disabilities, whole life plans could be the best for you. Most people usually have a mix of different types of insurance policies which gives them the optimal cover with minimal premium outflows.

Determining your life insurance requirements:

How much insurance cover is good enough? Again, the answer to this question depends upon your current expenditure, liabilities and anticipated future expenses and liabilities. Your life style and the kind of life that you would like to guarantee to your family also plays an important role. Here are the important factors to consider:

1. Your current monthly income and expenses and anticipated increases in the future. Your coverage should be able to generate funds that can be invested in safe assets to generate similar income levels.

2. The period that your family will need financial support. This could depend upon other earning members in the family and the likely earning members of the future.

3. Take into account your current liabilities like mortgages. Your family should be in a position to pay up the loans in case of your death.

4. Your anticipated future liabilities like the education expenses of your children.

Getting the optimal insurance cover:

The type of insurance and the options that are available to you depend on many factors. These include your age and the amount of premiums that you can afford to pay. Several other factors could also limit your choices to some extent.

The best way to arrive at the optimal mix of life insurance policies is to get a life insurance quote. Online life insurance quotes are the best because they allow you to input certain parameters and pull out the available policies for you from many different providers.

This helps you weigh your options and narrow your choices.

Whatever the method you use, don’t procrastinate. Start now by requesting a life insurance quote. Keep in mind two important things before you decide to buy any policy.

One is the reliability of the insurance company. Check out their ratings and customer service history. The second important thing is to read the terms and conditions very carefully. Life insurance is after all a long term commitment with critical implications. You certainly don’t want to go with the wrong company or pick up the wrong policy.

Nobody enjoys thinking about their own death, but then death is a definite eventuality for everyone.

Irrespective of how secure your family’s financial situation is today, it makes sense not to underestimate the importance of having sufficient insurance for the lives of the earning members of your family.

Death of a loved one is a very traumatic experience and it is really very unfair and thoughtless to add the anxieties of huge financial problems to that pain.

Make sure that your family is well protected from a financial meltdown in the event of the death of an earning member by having sufficient life insurance cover.

When it comes to life insurance, it is best to get it early. Don’t wait till the worry about mortgages and other financial burdens pile up. It is best to start the life insurance cover before the pressure of family life begins. If you have missed the bus, it is never too late to get the required insurance cover.

Life is not cheap, but fortunately cheap life insurance is available. Picking the right insurance is however not so easy.

There are many companies out there, each with many types of policies and options. Most people have a portfolio of different types of policies to obtain the right cover for their needs.

The best way to get information that will help you decide about the insurance options that you have is to get cheap life insurance quotes online.

You can then experiment with the type of policies and durations available and arrive at a blend that will give you sufficient cover while keeping the premiums manageable. Let us take a quick look at some of the more popular policies available.

Term life insurance:

This type of insurance covers the person for a fixed number of years. Many people prefer this kind of policy to obtain a large insurance cover during their working years. This makes sense because that is the time when a person’s death will have the maximum financial impact on their family.

The insurance cover ends when the term ends or the person dies, whichever comes first. The following types of term insurance policies are available:

1. Annual renewable term insurance:

The policy is valid for one year from the date of purchase and can be renewed at your option till a particular age is attained. The premium usually increases with increasing age due to the increased risk of death.

2. Renewable term insurance:

The policy is initially for a certain number of years. At the end of the term, you have the option of renewing it for another term irrespective of your health situations at that time. Since this kind of policy has an increased element of risk for the company, their premiums are usually higher than the annual version.

3. Level premium term insurance:

In this type of policy the premium is constant for the duration of the policy.

4. Decreasing term insurance:

This kind of policy is designed to provide cover to pay for a specific liability like a mortgage or a long term loan in the event of the death of the insured person. The death benefits under the policy decrease each year as the liability decreases.

5. Increasing term life insurance:

This can either be a part of the policy conditions or could be a rider added to a policy. Basically it means that in the event of the death of the person during the policy term, in addition to the policy value, the premiums paid for the policy will also be returned.

Whole life insurance:

Whole life policies cover the insured person till the end of their lives. There is no fixed end date. Unlike term insurance policies, whole life policies have an investment component or cash value which accumulates over time. Premiums are constant and distributed over a number of years. Such policies usually have provisions for loans.

Universal life insurance:

This policy is a special type of whole life insurance, which gives some flexibility regarding the insurance cover and cash value components.

As you can see there are a number of life insurance cover options, and with different companies having different type of products aimed at different needs, the choices can be astounding.

It makes great sense to get cheap life insurance quotes online which will give you a better idea about the life insurance options available to you.

There is a defined moment when many of us start to consider getting life insurance to protect family members and loved ones. It could be after a child birth or a catchy insurance commercial that tweaks your interest. When this moment strikes, the first thing most people do is get a quick online quote to understand their ballpark rates. A more detailed assessment follows afterwards. Some elements of this assessment are intuitive (age, health condition, smoking status, occupation, etc.). There are, however, some other surprising assessment criteria that underwriters also consider. Such as…

1. Driving History: Yes, your driving history matters, not only for your auto insurance premiums but also your life insurance rates. If you had a DUI accident in the recent past, you will likely experience significant higher quoted rates than somebody who has a clean driving history. Remember that smaller offenses fall off your driving record after three years (for insurance purposes).
2. Be Happy: Having a history of depression can hijack your life insurance premiums, almost doubling them. Happy people experience less health issues and stress, and thus represent lower risk for insurance companies.
3. Policy Date: The policy’s starting date can be sometimes adjusted (also called backdating), meaning that in some cases you can benefit from lower premiums (based on your younger age; if you turned 50 this week but backdate your policy to last month, for example). Obviously you will need to pay all the premiums starting from the backdated time point, but you can benefit from a lower rate going forward.
4. Dangerous jobs (e.g. stuntmen, bomb squad member) can mean higher risk for your life and thus lead to higher insurance premiums. Do you think that your job is dangerous?
5. Payment frequency: Paying for a life insurance policy on an annual basis saves insurers administrative costs, and they reward you with lower premiums than if you’d paid for your insurance monthly. In this case, though, you’d need to plan carefully because a big annual charge can create a significant hole in your household budget if you forget about the annual premium.
6. Travelling (to dangerous destinations): Some destinations are more dangerous than others and some are very dangerous (war zones, areas with known history of kidnapping, etc.) Consult an insurance broker or your agent to understand how your future plans can impact your insurance coverage. Your policy can be declined or you might be able to get a life insurance policy, but it would explicitly exclude the time you are abroad. In some cases, a simplified issue no medical life insurance policy is a solution since it does not ask travel questions. It is important to know, though, that a simplified issue policy is more expensive than a standard one and its coverage is typically limited to $50,000 – $300,000. You can test this out by getting an anonymous simplified issue no medical life insurance quote via one of numerous insurance online platforms.
7. Sports (extreme): Being involved in extreme and/or dangerous sports, especially professionally, can impact your life insurance premiums (for example: sky diving, cliff diving, scuba diving). Similarly to getting insurance while travelling to dangerous locations, you need to understand which cases are not covered by your life insurance policy.
8. Private pilot licenses: This one usually falls into a category of dangerous hobbies – licenced pilots (only private) might experience higher insurance rates. When calculating insurance premiums, an insurer will consider both the pilot’s age and experience. This information will probably not asked during the initial quoting process, but will be required during the detailed assessment later.
9. Your citizenship: If you are not a Canadian citizen or resident, you will not be able to apply for a Canadian life insurance policy.
10. Your income: Insurance companies can decline your life insurance policy if your household income falls below a particular threshold, typically $30,000. The reasoning behind this is so insurance does not stretch your budget beyond its capabilities. Note that you should still speak with a broker to create a detailed future plan for insurance protection, and brokers that are also financial planners can help you triage your upcoming financial expenses to best manage your needs. It’s a good idea to check with your insurance broker, if your income might be an issue, before submitting your application. Remember, that once you have been declined for a life insurance application, it may impact your next applications since some insurers include in their surveys, “have you ever been declined for a life insurance application?” Similarly to a pilot license, this question might be not be included in initial quote questions, but will be asked later by your insurer.

As you can see, many aspects outside of your health impact your life insurance quote and policy. You should remember that underwriting rules (application assessment) are different across insurers and thus, it is advisable to work with an insurance broker who deals with numerous life insurance companies and can share his/her expertise with you as you navigate through this complex process.

It’s no secret that the majority of Canadians today don’t really understand the life insurance policies they own or the subject matter altogether. Life insurance is such a vital financial tool and important part to your financial planning that it is incumbent upon you to have a basic level of understanding.

Here are 3 quick pitfalls that are important to be aware of.

Incomplete Details In The Application

All life insurance contracts have a two-year contestability clause which means the insurer can contest a submitted claim within two years of the application date if material information was not disclosed during the application process. If you have forgotten to note a relevant fact in your application pertinent to the claim it is possible that your claim could be denied. Fraudulent acts such as lying in the application would not only have a claim denied but possibly also have your policy rescinded entirely. It goes without saying that one should always be truthful when completing a life insurance contract or any insurance contract for that matter. A copy of the original application often makes a part of the policy and generally supersedes the policy itself. Having-said-that, each insured has a 10-day right to review their policy once they receive it. In that time period if you feel the policy is not up to the standard you thought it to be, you can return it to the company and all premiums paid would be refunded

Buying The Right Term Coverage For Your Situation

This process should first start with a question: “What do I need the insurance for?” If your need is to cover a debt or liability then perhaps term is best however, if your need is more long-term such as for final expenses, then permanent or whole life would be a better fit. Once you have established your need you’ll then have to decide what type of coverage you want; term or permanent.

Term contracts are the simplest to understand and the cheapest because there is an “end” to the policy; generally 5, 10, 15, 20 sometimes even up to 35 years. If the policy is renewable an increased premium will be required come the end of the term and this is often a big shock to the client’s bottom line. As an example: a 35 year old male, non-smoker with a 20-year term and 300k benefit may pay anywhere from $300 to $400 per year in premiums. When this policy renews at age 55 his new annual premium could go as high as $3,000 per year! Most people don’t understand this and come term end are devastated, generally unable to continue the policy. It is recommended that your term program have a convertibility clause so that you have the option of converting your term life into a permanent policy. You can exercise this right at any time within the term of the policy without evidence of insurability. Taking a term policy without a convertibility clause should only be done when making your purchase for something of a specified duration. Also, the short side to term life is that it does not accumulate any value within the policy whereas permanent/whole life does.

Permanent/whole life is a very complex from of life insurance because it has both insurance and investment aspects to it. These policies are most beneficial because you have value built up in the policy and you are covered until death however, they are much more expensive than term insurance. An option that you can consider is a permanent policy with a specified term to pay it. Using our previous example, you could have a permanent policy that has a 20-pay term meaning you will make premium payments for the next 20 years and after that you will have your policy until death without ever making another payment towards it. It is very important to understand the variables along with your needs before you make your purchase.

Buying Creditor Life Insurance vs. Personal Life Insurance

One of the biggest misconceptions people have is that their creditor life insurance is true personal life insurance coverage and will protect their family in the event of their death. Far too often consumers purchase these products, generally found with their mortgage and credit cards, by simply putting a checkmark in a box during the application process agreeing to have the plan. It sounds like the responsible thing to do but many families are left in paralyzing situations come claim time. Creditor life insurance, such as mortgage life insurance, is designed to cover the remaining debt you have. Making timely mortgage payments is ultimately declining your remaining balance. Creditor life insurance also declines as your debt declines. Keep in mind that the lender is named as your beneficiary in your policy so consequently, upon death your remaining balance on your mortgage or credit card is paid to the lender, not your family. In a personal life insurance policy you choose the beneficiary and upon death the full benefit amount is paid to the beneficiary of your choice.

Personal life insurance is a great asset to have for a large number of reasons. When you buy life insurance your buying peace of mind but, you must have your situation properly assessed and be sure that you are clear on exactly what it will do for your family.

Term life insurance is extremely popular. If looking for insurance, do you understand the top features of term life insurance or the way it is different from other kinds of insurance? Continue reading for info.

What’s Term Life Insurance Used For?
People usually delay buying life insurance simply because they believe it is more than their budget can handle, plus they often overestimate just how much it’ll cost you. However, term life insurance is definitely an inexpensive method of getting the policy that you’ll require.

You might have heard term insurance known as short-term insurance coverage. It is because term life insurance policy offers coverage for a certain time period, or a specified “term” of years. If you were to die in the period specified by your policy, then a death benefit will likely be paid out.

But what can term life be utilized for?
Term life insurance can be used as a variety of objectives. A few common ways to use term life insurance may include:

• To replace your earnings if you were to die suddenly
• Help your loved ones cover one last expenses as well as hospital bills
• Leave your family with sufficient money to pay off financial obligations like a mortgage
• Ensure your kids are left along with money to help pay for school
• Provide needed coverage for a small child according to the divorce settlement
• Can be utilized by businesses for key person insurance policy or buy/sell contracts

Whole vs. Universal: Creating a Permanent Choice
Whole life as well as universal insurance are both regarded as permanent policies. Which means they are created to last your whole life and does not expire after a certain time period so long as required premiums are paid. Both of them have the possibility to build up cash value with time that you might have the ability to borrow against tax-free, unconditionally. Due to this feature, premiums might be greater than term insurance.

Universal Insurance Benefits
Universal Insurance can give you many different payment choices, such as a flexibility of changing your death advantages, along with the potential to build up cash value with time. Here is how:

• Since there’s a cash value element, you might be able to skip premium payments so long as the cash value is sufficient to cover your needed expenses for your month

• Some policies might permit you to decrease or increase the death advantage of match your particular circumstances**

• In most cases you might borrow against the cash value that could have accumulated in the policy

• The interest you will probably have gained with time accumulates tax-deferred

Whole Insurance Benefits
Whole life policies provide you with a fixed level premium that will not increase, the potential to accumulate cash value with time, along with a fixed death advantage for the life of the insurance policy. Additionally:

• Any cash benefit growth is tax-deferred

• Whole life may permit you to make withdrawals as well as loans against the policy

• Whole life provides the ease of budgeting for any regular as well as consistent premium payment each month

Understanding Important Differences
The flexibleness that the universal life policy offers is a key differentiator over whole life. Because of this, universal life insurance premiums are usually lower during periods of high rates of interest than whole insurance premiums, often for the similar amount of coverage.

An additional key difference would be how the interest rates are paid. As the interest paid on universal life insurance is usually modified monthly, curiosity on a whole life insurance policy is usually adjusted yearly. This might mean that during periods of rising interest rates, universal insurance policy cases could see their cash values increase at a rapid rate than others in whole insurance policies.

Many people may prefer the set death advantage, level premiums, and also the potential for development of a whole life policy. However, for individuals who would rather have more flexibility as well as choices with regards to their permanent insurance, then universal life may be the better option.

Choosing The Best Policy for You
Despite the fact that whole and universal life policies have their own special features as well as benefits, both of them focus on supplying your family along with the money they will need whenever you die. By working with a professional insurance agent or company consultant, you’ll the policy which best meets your individual requirements, budget, as well as financial targets.

Life Insurance Companies differ in their “underwriting philosophy” when it comes to diabetes. Offering life insurance for diabetics can be risky if the underwriters are not fully trained. Underwriters at the insurance companies that are fluent in underwriting diabetes have the ability to look at all of these factors and determine if the company will accept them as a risk. Moderately controlled diabetes cases would usually merit a “rating” or an increase in the premium, but not necessarily a declination for coverage. If the client with diabetes that is looking for life insurance is not controlled, then there are options – it will just cost them more for coverage!

Diabetic Life Insurance can be obtained no matter how severe the diabetes condition is. If the proposed insured has well controlled diabetes and a history of compliance with what the Doctor reccomends, then the rate for insurance will naturally reflect that. The better the control, the better the rate. Clients with well controlled diabetes have a great chance at getting a lower rate from a regular insurance carrier and would qualify for a policy that is fully underwritten. If, at the other extreme, the client has very poor control over the diabetes, the rate will be higher and the client will have to go with a life insurance plan that guarantees acceptance. This type of life insurance is called “guaranteed issue life insurance”.

Guaranteed issue life insurance for diabetics is more expensive than regular (fully underwritten) life insurance and is only sold as “whole life insurance”. This type of insurance can be advantageous, though, because it builds cash value and is intended to cover the client for their “whole life” as opposed to a “term” period of time. Another provision of guaranteed issue is that the premiums paid into the policy would be paid to the beneficiary PLUS 10% interest if the insured dies within the first 3 years of the policy’s inception. After that 3 year period of time, the guaranteed issue policy would pay the full death benefit to the beneficiary.

Fully Underwritten policies take the client’s full medical records into account. The doctor’s records are ordered, blood is drawn, a urine sample is taken, and a full screening is done to evaluate the client. If the insurance company decides to insure this applicant, it is after the company’s underwriters look at the case. If the client is fully underwritten and passes through underwriting, then they would have more options than just whole life insurance (in the case of those who are in need of guaranteed issue whole life insurance). Term insurance, Universal Life Insurance, Survivorship Universal Life Insurance, and regular Whole Life Insurance would be available to these applicants that are fully underwritten.

When evaluating a client with diabetes, the underwriters at the insurance company take into account whether the client is a type one diabetic (type I diabetic, type 1 diabetic, type 1 diabetes, type I diabetes) or a type two diabetic (type II diabetic, type 2 diabetic, type 2 diabetes, type II diabetes). Another thing that the underwriters look at is whether the client is a juvenile onset diabetic or an adult onset diabetic. And yet Another determining factor is the Hemoglobin A1C level (this is a more comprehensive test, showing the blood sugar levels over about a 3 month period of time as opposed to a quick “snapshot” blood level test).

If the client’s A1C level is below 8, then fully underwritten life insurance may be available subject to the client’s full medical file. If the client’s A1C level is above 8, then guaranteed issue life insurance is a more realistic goal.

One of the things that applicants fear in the case of insulin dependent type 1 diabetics is whether or not their insulin pump will prevent them from getting a life insurance policy. An insulin pump is actually a positive factor where life insurance underwriting is concerned because the client’s insulin level is kept at a constant level.

How often the client monitors their sugar or glucose levels in their blood is another factor. If the client habitually monitors their glucose level, then this is seen as evidence of compliance on the part of the client. If, on the other hand, the client does not monitor these sugar levels, then this could be seen as a negative in the eyes of the insurers and underwriters.

Have there been any low sugar episodes? Have there been any high sugar episodes? Is the client taking glucovance, glucophage, insulin injection, or other type of medicinal treatment? Is the client controlling the diabetes with “diet and exercise”? These are all questions that will be asked during the underwriting process (unless you opt for guaranteed issue).

By the way…ANYONE can get guaranteed issue; you don’t have to be “uninsurable”. Guaranteed issue is available for clients between the ages of 46 and 80 and up to $35,000 in coverage. Again, this is the more expensive type of life insurance and it is advisable that if you CAN make it through an underwriting evaluation, you should try unless you just want to pay more and be done with it!

So what kind of companies will accept clients with diabetes? Personally, I broker only with “A” rated companies that have the right combination of price, customer service, product variety, and recognition in the market. I deal with companies that take clients on a case by case basis as opposed to categorizing them “by the book”. I have fully researched the market, I am in touch with the underwriters personally, and I assure you that these companies have the proper credentials to back up their policies. My clients are provided with full company backgrounds and financial profiles. I deal with several companies that are in the market to insure diabetics. The reason why I am witholding exactly what companies I deal with is because I want to earn your business and represent you as your life insurance agent. Contact Me for a free consultation!