If you have a family, purchasing life insurance is a good idea. In the unfortunate event that something happens to you, having life insurance will insure that your family is taken care of financially. This article will give you some great tips to decide if purchasing life insurance is right for you.
It is important to have sufficient life insurance. You should have enough insurance to cover at least five years of your current salary if you are married. If you have children or many debts, you should have upwards of ten years salary’s worth of life insurance. Insurance will help your loved ones to cover expenses when you are gone.
Look for term life policies than include an option to convert to permanent coverage. This option will allow you as the policy holder to change your term policy into a permanent policy that will cover you for the rest of your life without having to undergo medical exams. This is a very useful clause if you start to suffer from health issues while still covered under your term insurance.
Avoid the whole life policy and go with the term life policy instead. Whole life policies combine an investment with the standard term policy. The term life policy will pay out the amount of coverage that you have selected either in a lump sum or over the course of 20 to 30 years.
Don’t put off buying a life insurance policy. The older you are when you purchase the policy, the higher your premiums will be, even for the same amount of coverage. Also, if you are young and healthy, you won’t have any trouble getting approved for coverage, which might be a problem as you grow older.
Life insurance comes in many different variations that can fit just about any budget. Once you know the amount of coverage you need, decide whether you want insurance that provides permanent coverage, or just need term insurance to cover you until large expenses are paid off. Once debts are gone and the kids move out, you may decide to self-insure and won’t need life insurance coverage anymore.
Try to get life insurance through a financial adviser, instead of a broker. The brokers make commissions off of life insurance policies, while financial advisers charge flat fees. The adviser will be more helpful with finding the best policies for their customer’s needs, while the broker will want to suggest policies that will provide them a higher commission. This isn’t every broker, but it could be if no good relationship is formed with them and the customers.
Even after you’ve found a policy that you feel you love, you should still make sure to compare multiple policies to see if you can find a better deal on any other life insurance package. You never know; you might find the same package for 20% less per month. That would be a huge difference in the long-term.
After a significant life event like marriage, divorce, or the birth of a child, make sure you update your life insurance. If your family is increasing, you may need to increase the amount of coverage. If your family is decreasing, you may be able to reduce the total amount. In all cases, make sure to keep your beneficiaries current and limits appropriate to your current lifestyle.
To save even more money on your life insurance premium consider purchasing a policy on-line. While many companies use agents or brokers to sell life insurance, if you are comfortable purchasing on-line you can reap significant savings. With lower overhead costs, companies offering life insurance on-line can offer significantly lower premiums to their customers.
To save money on your life insurance, make an annual payment rather than monthly payments. Many insurance companies charge a small administrative fee for monthly payments because of the added administration expenses. Paying your life insurance premium annually saves you these fees, which can add up over the life of your policy.
When purchasing a life insurance policy, be truthful on all medical exams or history profiles. Should anything happen and the carrier discovers you provided false information when purchasing a policy, they can legally deny a claim which defeats the purpose of buying life insurance. Letting your insurance company know about any pre-existing conditions or risky hobbies, may result in slightly higher premiums, but prevent problems with claims.
One important piece of advice when purchasing life insurance is to buy when you are healthy. If you have some type of medical issue or a pre-existing condition, in many cases life insurance will be very expensive or not you will not be able to purchase it at all.
As stated in the beginning of this article, purchasing life insurance is a good idea, especially, if you have a family. Insurance helps to provide for your family, in the unfortunate event that you pass away. Hopefully, this article has given you some great ideas to decide if purchasing life insurance is right for you.
