Why Buy Term Life Insurance for Children?

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Chris Huntley

Should you buy life insurance for your children?

Many people don’t think so, but there are some sound financial reasons why you shouldn’t be so hasty to dismiss this notion out of hand.

Planning for the future is what life insurance is primarily about and even your children should be considered in preparing their way down the road.

Reasons To Buy Life Insurance for Children

Life is full of uncertainty. It’s simply not possible to predict the future so here are some reasons why it might be in your best interest to buy life insurance for your kids.

1. Future Insurability

Today’s children are not as healthy as they were because lifestyles have changed. Many children today live a sedentary life which does not bode well for their future health. Child obesity is rampant in today’s society because of eating habits, lack of exercise and spending too much time with the tech toys and other devices.

What this means down the road is the potential for a whole range of health problems such as diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol levels and high blood pressure. Your children will grow up, start their own family and will need to buy life insurance just like you have right now.

If your children haven’t changed their lifestyle they could develop severe health problems by the time they are starting their lives. The cost of life insurance could be prohibitive and costly for them when they do apply.

You could buy a $100,000 – 30 year term policy for the kids right now and will provide them with coverage so that they will have insurance policy well into their forties or even their fifties. This will give them some coverage for their own families down the road.

2. College Aged Kids

What about student loans? The cost of college and university is expensive and many kids have to run up a huge pile of debt until they graduate and start work. The average annual cost of tuition runs anywhere from around $13,000 to $36,000 per year depending on the college they attend. For a four year program that comes to an average cost of between $52,000 to $144,000 in debt that has been racked up.

But what were to happen if they were to die young? It’s not something that any parent likes to think about, but sadly, tragedies such as accidents and disease do happen. These debts still have to be paid. A term policy would be the ideal solution so everybody has that peace of mind.

Save for The Kids Tuition

The other side of the coin is to consider buying something like a universal life insurance policy and start a savings plan while they are still young. A permanent life insurance policy like a universal policy has a cash value accumulation feature which can be taken out as a loan down the road.

You start the policy when they are young and then you have the advantage of a non taxable savings feature which builds over time from both the premium and the interest earned. Depending on the amount of life insurance you buy, this could easily build up to $50,000, a $100,000 or even more.

The children can use this cash value and either take the money out as a loan or even surrender the policy completely to pay off college debts or even use the money to buy a home or start a business. It’s a great way to give them an early and welcomed financial boost in their young lives.

3. Affordability

Another good reason to buy life insurance for the children right now when they are still quite young is that the policies are very affordable. You don’t necessarily need to buy a huge policy on your children as the policy can be as small as $5,000 or $10,000 which would only cost you about $5 – $10 per month if that’s all you can afford in your budget.

4. Preparing for Any Eventuality

Nobody wants to think about the worst case scenario and this is something that no parent wants to ponder or even imagine, but even young children die in accidents and terminal illnesses.

If your child were to become terminally ill, it’s simple but terrible fact that the medical bills could be astronomical. Every parent would do whatever they could to get the best possible medical treatment for their child regardless of the cost.

Even with a medical plan, and getting hit with the double calamity of losing your child in the end, you could also end up being financially devastated from the medical bills which still have to paid.

And lastly, there will be the funeral expenses to consider. As horrific as this worst case scenario sounds, it is something which is possible, and is something which we should think about preparing for now rather than when it is too late.

Where Can I Find an Affordable Life Insurance Policy for My Children?

You always want to talk to an independent agent like myself. We can access and research dozens of companies so you are assured we will find the best policy at the most affordable rates. Whatever your concerns, we can give you valuable advice and help you to find a policy that suits you.

Whatever your needs or questions then please call me direct at 877 – 966 – 9383.

7 Reasons Prudential Stomps Other Insurance Companies

Posted on September 14, 2012 by Chris Huntley

I’m licensed with over 2 dozen life insurance companies.

By far, the company I recommend most often is Prudential.

Let’s take a look why an agent who could quote any number of companies would prefer Prudential.

7 Reasons You Should Consider Prudential Life Insurance

1. They Approve Cases Others Decline – I can’t tell you how many people get declined by other life insurance carriers such as Farmers or Ohio National, but will be approved by Prudential.

Some declines may be due to things like elevated liver enzymes, a history of stroke or heart attack, or any number of health concerns. Many insurance companies are quite picky about who they approve, but Prudential tends to be more lenient.

Take mental health disorders, for example. Most companies will decline applicants if they’ve had a history of PTSD or bipolar disorder. While these are by no means automatic approvals by Pruco Life, I can tell you that I have had several cases approved by “PRU” with these conditions.

There have also been cases when clients have come to me, and have literally been turned down by multiple carriers, and Prudential approves them. The one that was most remarkable was a man with stage 3 kidney disease, who was declined by Protective, Lincoln Benefit, and MetLife, but Prudential approved him. No, it wasn’t cheap, but at least he was able to get the insurance he needed.

2. Lenient Build Chart – When you’re shopping for the lowest term life insurance rates, your goal should be to find the company that will approve you at their best health class. That’s because insurance companies charge lower premiums for their better health classes.

Prudential’s build chart (the chart that dictates what rating you can be approved at based on your height and weight) is very lenient, allowing applicants to “fit” into their best class when they would not be approved at best class with other companies.

For example, take a 52 year old woman looking to purchase $1,000,000 of 15 year term. If she is 5’8 and weighs 180 lbs, she can qualify for Prudential’s best class, which has a weight limit of 190 lbs, but if she were to apply with an agent who didn’t know what he or she was doing and had her apply with a company like Banner Life Insurance, she would not be able to qualify for their best rating, because their cutoff for their best class is 160 lbs.

Prudential is rarely the “cheapest” quote when you look at the top 10 quotes until you factor things like height and weight in. In this case Banner’s best class premium is $97.56 per month, which is much better than Prudential’s best class of $121.95 per month. But now that I’ve explained the build chart, you see she would actually qualify for Banner’s second best rate, which costs $126.44 per month, making Prudential the clear winner!

What’s even more impressive is for applicants age 65 and over, Prudential’s build chart becomes even more lenient. For example, take a 67 year old man who is 6’0. At Prudential, he would weigh up to 228 lbs to qualify for their best class, whereas at Banner, the limit for best class is 207 lbs.

So you can see why I use Prudential for my “big boned” clients.

3. Free Living Needs Benefit (Similar to Long Term Care) – Most companies offer some sort of accelerated death benefit, which allows you to access a portion of your death benefit (usually 50%) while you’re still living if you are diagnosed with a terminal disease.

Prudential takes it a step further and allows their policyholders to access their death benefit while they’re still living if they have a chronic illness, and are confined to a nursing home, with the expectation that they will remain there. (This benefit is available in most states, but not all.)

This benefit is free and is automatically attached to Prudential’s policies (even their term policies).

4. Non Tobacco Rates for Cigars, Pipes, Chewing Tobacco – Let’s say you use some form of tobacco, but not cigarettes. Do you feel you should have to pay smokers rates?

Every other company on the planet does, but not Prudential. They have a special Non Smoker Plus rating for “non cigarette” tobacco users.

If you’ve purchased another policy and were listed at tobacco rates due to one of these forms of tobacco, you could literally save over 60% by switching to Prudential.

What’s really cool about this too is they don’t limit the cigar use like so many other companies do (such as allowing up to 2 cigars per month). With Prudential, you can use as much cigars, chewing tobacco, or pipes as you want and Pru actually expects the urine specimine to be positive for nicotine.

5. Family History Penalty – Beware when applying for life insurance with other companies if you’ve had any incident of cancer or heart disease in either parent or any siblings.

Most of these companies, including Banner Life, American General, Genworth, and Minnesota Life, will exclude you from their best class if any of these family members have had “any incident” of these diseases prior to age 60.

Prudential is again more forgiving since their underwriting guidelines for best class read as follows: “No death of parents or siblings from coronary artery disease, cerebrovascular disease, or cancer prior to age 60.”

See the difference? As long as your parent or sibling lived through the heart incident or cancer, you can still get Prudential’s best class.

What’s more, Prudential only penalizes you for family history of cancer if it’s a type of cancer with a high degree of familial risk, such as breast, colon, melanoma, ovarian, pancreas, prostate, and stomach.

6. “Actual Age” Dating – Most other companies use an “age nearest” dating system rather than “actual age”. So even if someone is actually 47 years old, but they’ll be 48 in a couple months, in the eyes of most companies, they are already 48 years old and will pay the 48 year old premium.

Not so with Prudential. You stay your actual age until your actual birthday, and don’t pay more for insurance simply because 6 months have passed since your birthday.

7. “Specialty” Cases Approved – There are a hundred other types of cases we take to Prudential when either no one else will accept them, or Prudential has the best price.

One such type of case is someone with a recent DUI. I’m not saying they will always approve these cases, but I’ve had at least a dozen people get approved at a mild substandard rating with Prudential who had a DUI as recently as two weeks prior to having a DUI, whereas most companies will postpone any type of offer for at least 3 years after a DUI.

Prudential is also our “go-to” company for foreign nationals. They will approve non-U.S. citizens who come to the U.S. regularly, even if they don’t have residence established here. So if you live in Canada, Mexico, India or China, and have ties to the U.S. for business or family matters, we like Pru for these cases.

Another such specialty case would be preferred class offers for people with sleep apnea. Most other companies will offer no better than Standard for sleep apnea, but Pru frequently approves these cases at better than Standard as long as the applicant uses his/her CPAP daily, as prescribed.

I could go on and on about the types of cases Prudential “specializes” in, and awesome approvals we have gotten, but I think you get the point. If you’re shopping for term life insurance, be sure to ask your agent to give you a quote for Prudential, or call us for a quote at 877-996-9383.

Life Insurance Approval with History of Blood Clots

Posted on March 9, 2012 by Chris Huntley

It is not impossible to be approved for life insurance after having a blood clot, although many variables must be considered. At Huntley Wealth Insurance, we specialize in life insurance for impaired risk cases such as blood clots, so if you want a personalized quote, call us at 877-996-9383.

Of course, the main concern with blood clots is that a piece may break off, flow to the brain, and cause a stroke.

Standard of Better Approvals

In the best case scenario, if you had just one occurrence of a blood clot, small, which was treated with a blood thinner such as Coumadin. In many cases the clots dissolve after 6 months to a year. Once your doctor confirms the clot is gone, you may be able to qualify for preferred rates, and possibly the best health class rating as soon as 2 months after the clot is confirmed gone.

If your clot was treated with a clot buster, a catheter-directed thrombolysis, or thrombectomy, which is the surgical removal of a clot, you can still qualify in many cases 2 months after successful treatment.
The good news is that blood clots are among the most preventable types of blood conditions, so if you manage the risk factors, the insurance carriers are willing to take a fair look at insuring you.

The next best scenario is if your clot has not yet resolved, but is a small clot, and in a safer location, such as a clot in the Leg, Arm, or Pelvis. The most common client I get with a history of clotting had a clot in his or her leg. While there are few companies willing to make an offer with a current clot, there are insurance carriers who will consider.

Best Chance for Life Insurance Approval

You’ll be a much better life insurance prospect if you exercise regularly and are in good shape. That’s because obesity and lack of physical activity are two key risk factors for venous clots.
Another risk factor is smoking cigarettes, so non smokers are more likely to be approved with blood clot history. Of course, a person with well controlled blood pressure and good cholesterol levels are also lower risks than those with elevated levels.

Blood Clot in the Lung

When a piece of a deep vein thrombosis that starts in the leg, or less commonly the arm or pelvis, breaks off, it flows through the circulatory system until it gets lodged somewhere. It commonly stops in the lung, known as a pulmonary embolism and is life threatening.

No insurance companies will offer insurance until it has been dissolved, except perhaps a graded death benefit policy. Even if it has been dissolved, it may be difficult to be approved for life insurance if you have had multiple clots.

Managing the High Price of Life Insurance

If you do get insurance after multiple clots, the cost may be very high, particularly for a permanent type of policy such as universal life or whole life insurance. You might consider purchasing a shorter term solution in this instance, such as 10 year term or 15 year term to keep the cost down, with the goal being that the longer it has been since your last clot dissolved without reoccurrence, you may be able to qualify for a better rating down the line.

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