Getting the right life insurance policy is a very intricate part of your life’s financial planning, and that is stressful enough as an idea. However, when it comes to understanding the logistics involved, you may need a guide to help you through. Start with these life insurance buying tips and get a new understanding for better shopping.
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.
Even if you do not provide an income to your family, a life insurance policy might be worth considering. If you are a stay at home parent, there would be costs associated with child care and house upkeep in the event of your death. Funeral costs can also be expensive. Talk to an insurance expert to decide how much insurance is right for you.
A person should not wait until they are sick to consider life insurance. Many preexisting conditions can make you ineligible for a life insurance policy. If you are eligible, premiums will likely be higher than they would be for a healthy individual. Taking out a policy while you’re healthy is the best way to protect yourself, and your family.
Familiarizing yourself with some common life insurance terms can help you determine which type is best for you, as well as how much coverage you want to purchase. Cash value refers to the portion of your policy that is available for you to withdraw as loans for various purposes, such as education costs or credit card debt. A premium is simply the periodic payment that you make to keep the policy active. Another term you might see is dividends, which refers to the money you may receive back on your premiums if the insurance company overestimated their expenses and ended up with a surplus. A dividend is not guaranteed.
Even if your employer offers life insurance, you shouldn’t depend on this policy to meet all your needs. These policies are often fairly limited, and have the disadvantage of not being portable. If you leave your job, you will also leave your life insurance behind, which means you will have to find a new policy to replace it.
Pay attention to your gut feelings when dealing with advisers or agents trying to sell you life insurance. If an agent tries to convince you that ratings are not important, or possibly not available, or if they act as if they know more than anyone else, take the time to file a complaint with the customer service department.
If you do not have any major health problems, do not go with guaranteed issue policies. Getting a medical exam will save you money, and the guaranteed issue policies do not need that, and has higher premiums. You don’t need to spend more on life insurance than is really needed.
People under the age of 50 may want to opt for term life insurance as opposed to whole life insurance. Once you’re 50, the rates are fairly steep and hard to keep up with. Under 50; however, and the term payments are reduced significantly and the policies are much easier to carry.
Some smaller life insurance policies out there, like those that are less than $10,000, might not require you to have a physical, but these are also usually costly for their size. The companies offering these policies are assuming that unhealthy people are opting for this option so they can be insured, so the prices are steeper per month.
Establish an exercise program before you purchase life insurance. The better health you are in, the lower your risk class will be. If your weight is within reasonable limits, you do not smoke and your blood pressure is not too high, you could save a substantial amount of money over the course of your policy.
Use an online calculator to help you determine how much life insurance you need. Things to consider are the costs of supporting your spouse until he or she retires, paying for your children’s expenses until they graduate from college, and the cost of paying off your mortgage and automobiles.
When purchasing life insurance, remember that insurance agents make much higher commissions from whole-life policies than they do for term policies. The cost of whole-life insurance is much greater, thus agents are pressured to push you toward buying these policies. If you know that term life insurance is the best deal for you, stick to your guns and resist high-pressure sales tactics–or buy online to avoid them.
You are always going to feel the anxiety that is natural when buying life insurance, simply because it is a very serious part of the overall financial planning for not only yourself, but your family as well. If you want to ensure that you are taking the right approach to shopping for life insurance, use the advice in this article.
