Life insurance is more important that you will ever know. You may think it is a waste of money while you are young, but that may be when your spouse and children will need it most. This article can help you decide which kind of life insurance you need and how much to get.
Disability insurance is a good idea, especially if you live paycheck to paycheck. It will pay you cash in the event that you are hurt, sick or can’t work for any other reason. Your medical insurance will pay your doctor bills, but they won’t cover your day to day living expenses.
Understand the types of life insurance available before making a decision on which to purchase. Most insurance policies focus on Term Life or Whole Life and knowing the difference is key. Bear in mind that with both of these types of policy, they can be tailored to your specific needs and situations. Do your homework.
Save money on your policy by cleaning up your bad habits and improving your health. Your policy will be priced based upon your risk class, which is determined by many different health factors. Losing excess weight, quitting smoking and getting your cholesterol in check, will reduce your premiums.
When you buy life insurance, you should be sure that your coverage is sufficient. Your beneficiary can pay the mortgage, loans, or college tuition with the money.
Sometimes in life insurance, more coverage is actually cheaper. As the amount of coverage increases, the cost per thousand dollars of coverage will decrease. For some companies, the math works out such that buying a bigger policy actually costs you less per month in premiums. Always ask for price quotes for multiple levels of coverage when shopping for insurance.
Life insurance can help ease the burden to your family by helping with funeral and burial expenses. Policies also pay your family an amount that you designate. For a relatively low monthly cost, your family can be covered $100,000, $250,000, $500,000, or another amount that is right for you.
Make adjustments on your plans as needed. Life changes to your policy can greatly affect it. Things that can cause a change to coverage, include marriage, divorce, birth of a child or the beginning of caring for an elderly parent. You could even reach a point, most likely after your kids reach adulthood and your retirement amount is achieved, where you could stop life insurance coverage altogether.
Consider term life insurance to provide education funds for your children. Especially if you are a single parent, term life insurance is a very affordable type of protection that can provide for college costs and other expenses for your children. Once your kids have finished their education, you can drop the coverage.
You should have your life insurance policy amended as things change in your life. Some examples of things that you may want to report to your life insurance company is if you have new children, an increase in the amount of debt that you have accumulated or if you have gotten a divorce. You can typically change information over the phone.
If you have an old whole-life policy that you’ve had for several years, you should not attempt to replace it. The reason is because you could lose the premiums you have paid, and you could have to pay new administration fees. If you need more insurance on a whole-life policy, then you should just purchase more instead of discarding your current policy.
How much should I expect to pay? This depends on a number of things, such as your overall health, habits and sometimes even your hobbies. The insurance company will probably require you to have a medical exam prior to approval. A good tip is to lose weight and stop smoking. This could reduce your rates by a substantial amount.
To make sure you receive the best possible quote, shop around and compare rates when purchasing life insurance. Different carriers use different factors in determining risk and premium requirements, so cost can vary significantly among different companies. While shopping, be sure to consider the reputation and stability of the selected carrier to make sure they will be around for the long term.
When purchasing life insurance, the issue of term or whole life insurance is one of the first decisions you need to make. Generally, term insurance is much cheaper but whole life policies have a cash value. The question you need to ask the agent is what are the fees and cost associated with cashing in a whole life policy? In most cases the fees are very expensive, and term life ends up being a much better value for your money.
As previously stated, life insurance is more important than you will ever know. It is not a waste of money, but a wise investment in your family’s security. By taking the advice of the above article, you can properly plan for your spouse and children to make sure they are covered at a time when they need it most.
