Tips for Buying Life Insurance in Colorado

Posted on October 20, 2012 by Chris Huntley

If you want to know where to find the best deals on low cost life insurance policies in Colorado, then read on.

We’ll show you what’s available and explain the differences to help you make an informed choice.

Also, we’ll give you some valuable tips on how to find the right policy that suits your individual needs.

Life Insurance Policies Available in Colorado

Colorado is what I would call a “no exclusion” state. For example, if an insurance company comes out with a new 10 year term policy and they want to sell it in all 50 states, there are usually a few problem states like Washington or New York, where the product might not get approved in (every state has to separately approve the new 10 year term product to be sold there.)

But I rarely ever see policies being offered in certain states, but not Colorado. You pretty much have access to just about every company’s policies that are available in any other state.

Having said that, let’s review the types of policies you do have available to you.

There are 2 types of life insurance policies which can be found in Colorado. The types of life insurance are known as term insurance and permanent insurance. They both have some similar features with when it comes to death benefits, but permanent insurance has a cash value feature which I’ll explain about later on.

Term Life Insurance Explained

The cheapest form of life insurance you buy is term insurance. Term life insurance covers you for life but you buy the policy in chunks of time such as 10, 20, or 25 years. You will be given the option of renewing the term, buying a different term or may even be given the option of switching over to permanent insurance such as a whole life policy or a universal policy.

Another good thing about the premiums is that they are fixed for the life of the term policy so what you’re paying per month in year one, will be the same that you will be paying in the final year of the policy.

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How to Buy Life Insurance

Posted on May 1, 2012 by Chris Huntley

There are a few ways to explain how to buy life insurance. Some people prefer using their local insurance agent from State Farm, Farmers, AAA, etc. Others needing life insurance might see an advertisement from an insurance carrier such as Met Life, and call the company directly.

How to Buy Life Insurance

The best way to buy life insurance, in my opinion, is to get multiple online life insurance quotes from a company that offers quotes from several different carriers. For example, a company such as Select Quote or Accuquote will be able to provide quotes from multiple companies.

Selecting the Amount You Need

The two questions you need to know before purchasing life insurance are “how much do I need?” and “what type of insurance is right for me?” We’ll first address the amount of death benefit needed.

Most people purchase life insurance to cover a specific financial need. One of the most common is when an income producing spouse and/or parent wants to protect against his or her loss of income due to an unexpected death. This is a wonderful reason to have life insurance in place on your life.

Say you make $60,000 per year and you’re a 38 year old male. You might be working for another 20 to 30 years before you’re able to retire. Just imagine how much future income is lost if something happens to you before reaching retirement age!

Since income replacement is a very common reason to purchase life insurance, we provide an income replacement life insurance calculator on our site for free. Just go to: How Much Life Insurance Do I Need?

If the life insurance calculator is too complex for your needs, a good rule of thumb is to carry 5 to 10 times your annual income on your life. Of course you’ll need to take your current assets and debts into account. The individual who has $500,000 in a personal IRA may have a decreased life insurance need in comparison to an individual with nothing in the bank and $100,000 in credit card debt, all things equal.

Other valid insurance needs are to cover debts, a mortgage, a business loan, to cover a key employee (known as key man insurance), to pay for estate taxes or death taxes, and to pay for death and funeral expenses.

Which Type of Life Insurance is Right for Me?

Please read the section above before this section. If you’re need is for income replacement, you almost certainly need term insurance and nothing more. Term life insurance covers you for a specific period of time, and is typically much less expensive than whole life or universal life insurance.

On the other hand, if your need life insurance protection for the rest of your life, or if you are interested in the ability to grow cash value (from which you can borrow or withdraw funds), then you will need to consider a whole life insurance or universal life insurance quote.

If you’ve read the sections on selecting the amount you need and what type of insurance to buy and are still confused, call us at 877-966-9383 to tell us your situation and we’ll help you.

How Much Will I Pay?

This question depends on several factors. Life insurance companies charge different rates to males and females of the same age and health status, so sex is the first variable. They take mortality risks into account such as health problems (heart disease, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc) or other risks not related to your health such as occupational risks, hobbies and activities, and family health history.(continued on page 2)

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Indexed Universal Life

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Chris Huntley

Before reading this article about indexed universal life, you’ll want to read and understand the basics of my previous article titled Universal Life Insurance Premiums, which offers an explanation of how universal life works and some sample quotes.

When you read about indexed universal life, what you’re dealing with is a particular method that the interest is credited to your cash value, which may offer a greater opportunity for interest earnings. When you’re dealing with universal life, the higher your cash value grows the better, since that ultimately means you can pay less premiums down the line, or pull more cash out of the policy, whichever you want.

What is Indexed Universal Life?
Many universal life contracts now offer an interest crediting strategy that’s tied to a major equity index, like the S&P 500. For example, rather than earning a non-guaranteed 4% per year, which is set by the insurance carrier, you might elect to try your odds in an indexed strategy, where you could earn as much as 8% or 10% in a given year, depending on the performance of the stock market.

One Year Point to Point Strategy with Cap
The most common indexed strategy is a one year point to point with a cap or participation rate. Say you pay $500 into your policy this year, and only $200 is needed for policy costs, and you’ve elected the one year point to point indexed strategy with a 8% cap, tied to the S&P 500.

In this case, your company would mark the current index value of the S&P. Say it’s at 1300 today. Then a year from now, one year after the $300 was allocated to the indexed strategy, the S&P’s level is marked again. Say it went up to 1360. That’s a gain of 4.6%. Your $300 would be credited with 4.6%.

But what if the S&P went up to 1500, a gain of 15.3%. Here your cap of 8% would come into play, and your $300 would be credited with 8%.

What if the Index goes down?

In most cases, the money allocated to a strategy tracking an index that stays flat or decreases during a segment, will make 0 gains for the year (or however long the segment is). In some cases, a minimum guaranteed interest rate, such as 1%-2%, is available for index strategies over a 5 or 6 year segment. This is the way Aviva Life Insurance’s 1 and 2 year point to point strategies work, which currently offer a 2% guaranteed minimum during the 5 or 6 year segment, respectively. (As of the time of this writing, 3/1/12)

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Whole Life vs Universal Life: Which is Right for Me?

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Chris Huntley

Do you need to know the difference between whole life insurance and universal life insurance?

In this primer, I will explain the differences between the two policies and outline some of the pros and cons of these 2 types of permanent life insurance policy options.

What whole life and universal life insurance share in common is that they both offer death benefits along with a cash value accumulation feature which grows on a tax deferred basis.

Whole Life vs. Universal Life Breakdown

However there are some fundamental and significant differences between the 2 types of policies. Let’s look at them in more detail.

Whole Life Insurance

Whole life insurance could be said to be an ideal product for someone who can pay a set premium for a good deal many years, but who lacks the know all or is not investment savvy. You could also describe the cash accumulation feature as a fixed form of a savings plan.

For this reason whole life is generally is viewed as a less flexible form of permanent insurance than universal life.

Whole life plans vary considerably between life insurance companies. These plans come with a variety of options and sub options to choose from so it is best to sit down with a knowledgeable independent insurance broker like myself to gain a better understanding of your needs to find the policy most suitable for your situation.

Basic Types of Whole Life Policies

With a whole life policy you have 2 essential options to choose from, and some insurance companies only offer one type of whole life policy, so be clear you understand your choices and what type the company is offering. This includes:

Participating Policy – A participating whole life policy generally costs more but allows you to participate and receive the payment of dividends. You participate in receiving the profits made by the insurance company. When the investments made by the company perform well, then your cash value accumulation feature performs well.
Non-Participating Whole Life Policy – Is considered a very inflexible form of whole life policy. You cannot make any alterations to the death benefits, the premiums and the cash surrender feature which are all predetermined.

Here are the basics:

Your premium is used towards 3 separate components of the policy. The first goes towards the death benefits or mortality charge. A second portion goes to the administration costs, and the final portion goes towards the cash accumulation or investment portion.

The premiums you pay are fixed and are for a pre-determined period of time such as 25 years for example.

The monthly, semi-annual or the annual amounts of the premiums you pay are mostly fixed and rarely flexible.

In the early years of your policy, the majority the premium is paid towards the death benefits and very little is paid toward the cash value accumulation feature.

The cash value accumulation, which could also be referred to as the investment return is directly dependent and affected by interest rates so when they are low, you earnings or dividends are significantly lower as well.

The manner in how the cash value accumulation feature is invested is determined strictly by the insurance company. You have no say in the matter.

Pros of a Whole Life Policy

Suitable for a long term insurance policy.
Takes the worry out of your hands.
Premiums, death benefits and cash value accumulation are relatively fixed.

Cons of a Whole Policy

Options are few and policy standards are inflexible.
Insurance company does not disclose how it allots the amount of premium you pay.
No choice offered for cash value accumulation feature.
No premium options.

Universal Life

Universal Life Insurance is considered as a newer, but more flexible version of Whole Life insurance. This type of policy is considered very suitable for individuals who have larger amounts of money to invest and are looking for a combination of life insurance features such as death benefits which can be combined with a tax shelter investment vehicle.

Universal life is also referred to as unbundled insurance. The policy delineates or separates how the administration, the death benefits and cash accumulation features are to be handled. This type of policy has more direct involvement and participation of the policy holder who has a variety of options and choices to make.

Universal Life Insurance Basics

Provides disclosure on how your premiums are divided between death benefits, administration costs and cash value accumulation feature.

Premiums you pay are more flexible. You can opt to pay lower premiums in your earlier years and pay higher premiums later on, or visa versa. You can even opt to take a premium holiday.

Allows you to alter your Cost of Insurance (COI). You can choose between either level or an increasing cost of insurance.

Can vary your death benefit options so that they are fixed, increasing or decreasing over the life of the policy.

Allows you to choose your cash value accumulation investment options which can also be changed to suit the investment climate more suitably. You can choose from a savings account option, indexed based investments such as a GCI, or growth oriented equity funds.

Pros of Universal Life Insurance

Provides more disclosure on how your premiums are used.
Allows for more flexibility in how you pay your premiums.
Permits you to more actively participate in how your cash value premium investment is to be invested.

Cons of Universal Life

Have high surrender charges in early years of the policy.
Too many options for the uninitiated.
Can have a negative impact on your cash surrender value if you make a bad investment or neglect to keep track your investment options.

Bottom Line

Both types of these permanent life insurance policies have their good points and bad points depending on your particular circumstances. It is always best to have discuss both types of policies with an independent insurance agent like myself to get the best detailed information available

3 Essential Tips for Buying Life Insurance on Your Parents

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Chris Huntley

In most cases, you can purchase life insurance policies for your parents with their knowledge and approval.

But how do you go about doing this, and what is the appropriate amount and type of coverage?

We will cover these questions and more in this article.

The most popular types of policies for parents are term life insurance, whole life insurance, and second-to-die policies. See below to determine the best type of coverage for your parents.

Essentials for Buying Life Insurance on Your Parents

1. Is Buying Life Insurance on My Parents a Good Deal?

Prior to age 85, it seems life insurance can still be purchased for a relatively affordable premium. As you can see, the older your parents get, the higher the cost for the same coverage.

Here are a few quotes for $100,000 of coverage:

60 years old	$72 per month
65 years old	$132 per month
70 years old	$229 per month
75 years old	$395 per month
80 years old	$767 per month

Please note the quotes above are for a 10 year term policy for a healthy male, who can qualify for non tobacco rates, and are accurate as of 6/10/2013. Actual rates will depend on your parents’ health.

…Ok, back to question #1 – “Is it a good deal?”

Obviously, life insurance can still be quite affordable if your parents are in their 60’s or 70’s, and they’re only getting $100,000 of coverage, as in the example above.

But let’s say you need more coverage than that, and they are over age 80… Is it still worth the cost?

For example, you would pay $14,560 per year for an 83 year old mother in good health for a $250,000 policy guaranteed for life with North American Co for Life and Health.

If we assume our 83 year old has a life expectancy of 10 years, you will have paid $145,600 into the policy after 10 years. If she were to pass away at any point before that, it seems to be a great rate of return on your premium. You certainly wouldn’t be able to match that kind of return in any alternative investment.

If your parents are younger than 80 and in good health, life insurance is an incredible leveraging tool, and makes even more sense than in the example above.

Honestly, life insurance loses leveraging power after age 85 and is pretty expensive. See the quote form on the right for an instant quote.

Quick “Life Insurance for My Parents” Video Tips

Ownership of Policy: One of the first things I ask the child when he/she calls me is who would be the owner and payor of the policy. In some cases, children are simply calling on behalf of their parents who are not internet savvy, and are doing nothing more than helping their parents, who don’t know how to buy life insurance, with the quoting and application process, but that the parents will be paying for the policy.

In other cases, you have children who will be the owner of the policy, pay the premiums, and also be the beneficiary of the death proceeds. Usually this is okay as long as the child can prove an insurable interest. This is 100% legal, but will require approval by the insurance company.

An insurable interest means that the child would be somehow financially affected by the death of his or her parents. So if your parents have a big mortgage on their home, and you don’t want to inherit their debt, life insurance may be in order. Or if you are responsible for your parents funeral and burial arrangements, life insurance may be used for this…(continue to part 2)

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What are the Different Types of Life Insurance

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Chris Huntley

There are two main types of life insurance policies, which are term and permanent life insurance.

Within the two main types, there are sub-types as well.

Which is best for you?

Here’s a general explanation for each different type of life insurance policy we offer, and who is best suited for each type.

Term Life Insurance

90% of our clients purchase term life insurance. Most term life insurance policies provide guaranteed coverage to age 95, with an affordable initial premium for a period of years (the term), such as 10, 20, or 30 years.

It is the most affordable type of life insurance because of the low cost premiums during the initial term. Generally speaking, the shorter the term, the lower the premium, so 10 year term is the cheapest and 30 year term costs the most.

After the initial term, the policy moves to an “annual renewable rate”, which will be determined by the insuring company at the end of the term. I typically see renewal rates at 4 to 8 times the premium during the initial term, so be sure to lock in as long of a term policy as you can afford, because you DO NOT want to pay those renewal rates.

A lot of people never anticipate paying the renewal rates. They may only need coverage for a short period of time, perhaps to cover a loan, a business agreement, or to replace employment income. In this case, term is the perfect solution, since its initial premiums are so low. Why pay whole life pricing if you only need the coverage for a short duration?

Note: Life insurance is not to be confused with Medicare Supplement Plans, which covers gaps in medicare coverage for insureds age 65 and older, as well as drug prescription plans and advantage plans.

For more information about Term Life Insurance, see our articles on 20 Year Term Life Insurance and 30 Year Term Life Insurance.

Permanent Types of Coverage – Whole Life and Universal Life Insurance

Whole Life Insurance

This policy is designed to cover you for your “whole life”. The premiums are higher than in term or universal life, but that’s because it has superior benefits. It actually builds some very nice cash value, and pays dividends, so the benefits are much better.

Two important benefits of whole life are:
1. Cash value is available for loan or withdraw
2. Dividends can be paid to you in case, used to reduce your premium, or to buy additional insurance, known as “paid up additions”.

Whole life illustrations usually show two columns with for guaranteed cash values and death benefit, as well as “projected” or “assumed” cash value, dividends, and death benefit. The premium is much higher than term or universal life, but you have a lot more benefits with this policy.

Take note that not all whole life policies pay dividends. If they do, they will be illustrated in the “non guaranteed assumptions” column as “Projected Dividends”. They are not guaranteed.

One benefit of the dividends, if available, is you could take them in cash, thereby reducing your total outlay. Or dividends could be taken as cash in your pocket, or for other purposes as I mentioned above.

For more information, see our article on The Cost of Whole Life Insurance.

Universal Life Insurance

This type of policy is similar to whole life, as it may provide coverage for life, but the coverage and premiums are much more flexible. Like whole life, there must be sufficient premiums or cash value to pay the policy costs and keep the universal life policy in force. But since the costs of insurance and rate of interest the cash value may earn are both variable, universal life is usually purchased and premiums are determined by “illustrating” these variables to see how the policy will perform. In other words, we guess. Then every year or two, a new illustration with “current” policy costs and interest rates is usually requested to see how the policy is performing.

The benefit to universal life is you may be able to pay far lower premiums to keep the policy in force for life than in whole life. For example, if you buy a UL policy in times of high interest rates, your cash values may accelerate rapidly, outperforming your original expectations, and allowing you to pay less in premiums in future years. But it can also work in reverse. If the cash values don’t grow as originally expected, you’ll have to pay higher premiums than initially illustrated to keep your coverage in force.

Two popular types of UL’s are Guaranteed UL’s, which I will cover below, and indexed universal life policies.

“Guaranteed” Universal Life Insurance

This type of policy is built on a universal life base, but acts more like a term policy to age 100 or 120.

Most companies offer their UL policies with an optional “No Lapse Guarantee” feature, which essentially cancels out the “adjustable” features of a universal life policy and the need for cash value to sustain the policy. So you may have a no lapse guarantee to age 100 on your policy. In this case, you will pay the minimum premium necessary to keep your policy in force through age 100, and you will probably accumulate little to no cash, but with the “no lapse guarantee”, that’s okay. You don’t need it.

The problem with guaranteed universal life is that since you have no cash value to sustain the policy, you’re in trouble if you miss a premium. With regular universal life, no big deal if you skip a premium, but with guaranteed, you must stay on schedule or your “guarantee” could be in jeopardy.

Variations of Term Life Insurance

Hybrid Policies

Term/Universal Life Hybrids – A few companies have come out with a form of guaranteed universal life with options for very short “no lapse guarantee” riders. The “no lapse guarantee” portion of the policy may only last for a duration such as 10, 20, or 30 years. Just like guaranteed universal life policies do to age 100 or 120, these riders mandate that even if the policy has no cash value, the death benefit and premium are still guaranteed to stay fixed during the initial term selected. After the initial term, the policy reverts back to a plain universal life policy where higher premiums and cash value will be needed to sustain the policy.

Return of Premium Term Life Insurance

These policies charge you an additional premium so that at the end of your term, 100% of all premiums pay (for the base policy as well as the return of premium rider) are paid back to you if death has not occurred.

See our article on Return of Premium life insurance.

“Odd” Term Durations

While almost every company offers 10, 15, 20, and 30 year term, some companies offer other term lengths, but this is not the norm. Some offer 5 year term, but I have yet to find a 5 year term policy any cheaper than my 10 year term options, so I don’t sell them.

American General offers almost any term length you can imagine with their Select-A-Term product line, such as 16 year term, or 24 year term, etc.

Prudential (Pruco Life) has a term policy that offer insurance to age 65, regardless of your age, with the intention of providing coverage through your working career. This can lead to odd term durations. For example, if you’re 38 and purchase their Workforce 65 policy, it is essentially a 27 year term policy.

What’s the Difference? Which one is right for me?

If you only need life insurance for a short period of time such as 10 to 30 years, term is the way to go. If you want coverage in place for the rest of your life at the lowest premium available, you want guaranteed universal life.

If you want the flexibility of paying your premiums when you want, and are okay with constantly monitoring your policy values, then a vanilla universal life may be appropriate for you. And if you want coverage for life with guaranteed cash accumulation, then you should consider whole life insurance.

For more information, please visit our category about Types of Life Insurance or call us at 877-996-9383.

Monumental Life Insurance Review

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Chris Huntley

I’ve been in the insurance industry for 7 years, and have heard some good things and bad things about Monumental Life Insurance. We don’t offer their products because we are an independent agency. We prefer to keep it that way so we can use any insurance carrier we want for a particular client.

This is not an option with Monumental, unfortunately, since they require their “career agents” to be captive, meaning they can only sell Monumental Life Insurance policies.

A bit of history on Monumental

They’ve been in business since 1858. They have quite an impressive line of insurance related products, including term life, interest sensitive whole life, cancer policies, and accident insurance. Generally speaking, due to their age and great size, they are considered one of the most respected life companies in the U.S.

A few Positives – Financial Strength

They are rated A+ by the rating agency A.M. Best, which is issued to those carriers with superior financial health. They also have over $88 billion of insurance in force, and over $32 billion in assets, both as of 2010 financial statements. Compare that to the insurance giant, Prudential , whose life insurance company (Pruco Life) has just over $22 billion in assets.

Another advantage of doing business with Monumental is their parent company is Aegon, same as parent company for Transamerica Life Insurance, Stonebridge Life Insurance Co. This is a multi-national, enormous company, so it’s hard to think of Monumental ever becoming insolvent under the Aegon Group.

Monumental Products – Term and Whole Life

They seem to offer a wide variety of products and payment plans. Of course Monumental, has your traditional term life insurance policies, but nothing out of the ordinary such as 25 year term life insurance, like ING Reliastar has.

Many reviews pointed to the fact that their whole life policies do grow nicely as far as cash accumulation is concerned, and at guaranteed rates to boot….(continued on page 2)

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What’s the Best Type of Policy for You?

Posted on January 10, 2012 by Chris Huntley

The factors I always recommend my clients consider when trying to determine which life insurance company to pick are the company ratings and the premium.

How to Choose a Life Insurance Company

It is of utmost importance that the company you choose is a financially viable and stable organization.

A couple ways I use to measure this are by seeing how long a company has been in business. You have some companies like Genworth Life Insurance or Ohio National, that have been in business over 100 years.

They’ve been through recessions and depressions and are still going strong. That’s a good sign.

Also, be sure to ask your agent what ratings the insurance carrier has earned from a 3^rd party financial rating company, such as A.M. Best. You should aim for one that boasts an “A” rating, such as A++, A+, A, or A-.

Insurance Company Reviews

You can do a google search for just about any company you want to do business with, or agency for that matter. You might try googling something like what I wrote about recently, State Farm Life Insurance Review.

Life Insurance Quotes

Then, as I said, pricing must obviously be a consideration. What’s really interesting here is that finding the best price for life insurance is not as simple as putting your date of birth and amount desired into a quote form, and then picking the company who comes up at the top of the list as having the lowest life insurance quotes.

Instead, you should really discuss your case with an agent before determining which company to apply to. If you have any history of medical impairments such as diabetes, cancer, or heart issues, you will want to apply to the company who will approve you at their best rating classification.

Types of Life Insurance

Another factor affecting your life insurance quote will be the type of insurance you apply for. We represent companies with the full spectrum of term and permanent products. For a general explanation of your choices, please see our post about the types of life insurance, or for a more specific explanation on a particular type, you can go directly to the articles below.

10 Year Term Life Insurance

20 Year Term Life Insurance

30 Year Term Life Insurance

Universal Life Insurance

Whole Life Insurance

How Much Life Insurance Do I Need?

A general rule of thumb is at least 10X your income. However, this answer has many variables. If you have a lot of debt, such as a large mortgage or credit card debt, you may want to add the balances into your policy benefit. If you have cash and investments that could be liquidating in the case of your passing, then be sure to take that into consideration as well.

If you’re buying life insurance for income replacement purposes, you may want a lot more than just 10X your earnings if you are in your 30’s or 40’s, since you still have at least 20 years more to work before you retire. For help calculating how much you need based on your income and how many years you have left to work, please use our life insurance calculator.

Where to Start

As I explained above, every life insurance company has its sweet spot, where it may be more forgiving of a certain heath condition than others. It’s really best to speak to a knowledgeable agent who can sort through all the options and recommend the best fit for you.

Call us for a free life insurance quote or for assistance choosing a life insurance company at 877-996-9383. And if you found this article helpful, please “Like” us on Facebook or “Google Plus 1” us. Thank you.

What Everyone Should Know Before Buying Life Insurance

Posted on September 4, 2011 by Chris Huntley

Thinking about life insurance and don’t know where to begin?

Learn all about the basics of life insurance so you can make an informed decision.

I will show how life insurance works and what you need to know to get you started.

Many people buy life insurance for a variety of reasons, but it always boils down to one central and vital concern – you want to see that your family is financially protected and well looked after if you were to suddenly die.

Buying life insurance takes a bit of planning and some careful thought. After all, the life insurance policy you buy will be a long term investment. You want to get the right amount to cover you for a lot years into your future.

Reasons Why You Want Life Insurance

The first step is to decide on the reasons you will want to buy life insurance. Your objective to buy life insurance could be a single reason or include several of the reasons listed below. These reasons include:

Income Replacement
Pay for death and funeral expenses
Pay off your debts such as the mortgage, credit cards and personal loans
Cover medical expenses not covered by other plans if you are faced with a terminal illness
Pay for children’s college tuition
Retirement and savings plan
Leave a financial legacy to your survivors
Business reasons such as if you’re self-employed or in a partnership
You want to set up an estate

These are just a few of the reasons why you might need to get life insurance if you have a family of four. You need to give thought not for your current reasons for buying life insurance, but reasons which may come up down the road in your future.

Decide How Much Life Insurance You Need

Once you are comfortable with the reason you want to buy life insurance, you need a rough ballpark of how much you might require to cover these reasons. As a rule of thumb, the basic minimum amount recommended by many experts is that you should have about ten times your annual wages.

It also depends on how much you can afford to budget yourself for, and what is reasonable for you.

Next, you have to decide what type of life insurance policy to buy. So, let’s start with the basics.

Types of Life Insurance

There are 2 types of life insurance to select from and they include:

Term Life Insurance
Permanent Life Insurance

Let’s look at each in a bit more detail so you will have a basic idea of the differences.

Term Life Insurance

Term life insurance is the most popular to buy because it’s so basic and easily the most affordable type of life insurance which is available.

Term life insurance is pretty straightforward. You buy term life insurance for periods of time such as 5 years, 10, 20 or 30 years for example. The main features of term life insurance include:

Pays out death benefits only
Death benefits are not taxable and are paid as a lump sum
Premiums are guaranteed for the term you buy
Is renewable
Can often be switched over to a permanent life insurance policy

All you have to do is decide on the amount of death benefits you want and the length of time or term you want.

You should know that term life insurance is cheapest when you are younger and becomes progressively more expensive to buy as you age.

If you are a family of four and relatively young, then you should buy a policy now rather than later. If you are younger I would also suggest you buy a longer term policy, because it will become a lot more expensive to buy when you go to renew.continue page 2……

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How to Qualify and How Much You’ll Pay as an Adult

Posted on May 1, 2011 by Chris Huntley

The best life insurance deals for adults found here

Everything you need to know about purchasing life insurance as an adult.

At Huntley Wealth Insurance, we help our clients find affordable adult life insurance, ranging from 10 year term life insurance to permanent insurance with level payments to age 120. We offer life insurance coverage to adults up to age 90.

Maybe you are an extremely healthy adult. We love healthy adults. We also put an emphasis on insuring individuals with health issues, though. So if you have ever been diagnosed as having depression or hypertension, or whatever else you can think of, you will get the attention and care your adult life insurance needs require at Huntley Wealth Insurance.

As an added bonus, I want to share my picks for the top life insurance companies with you! It will help you navigate through all your options.

How Does Taking Medication Affect My Policy

Some insurance carriers are more liberal on certain medical concerns than other companies. Let’s say you have struggled with heart disease, for example. Every life insurance company is going to price that impairment differently. Having said that, the best strategy to acquire affordable term life insurance with medical issues is to apply with the insurance provider that will be the most liberal on your particular health issues. We recommend speaking to an independent life broker who knows which companies are best for which medical impairments.

How is My Premium Calculated?

There are 5 main determining variables in calculating your premium. The first is how many birthdays you’ve had. Coverage at 49 years of age costs less than life insurance at age 66. A younger policyholder will pay less than an older one.

Number two is sex. Men are charged a higher premium than women. The third factor is how much coverage you want. It’s obvious that $750,000 of coverage will cost more than $100,000.

Next is length of term. It costs more to lock in a level rate for 30 years than for 10 years. The last factor which determines your premium will be your health rating class. Most companies have preferred ratings, standard plus ratings, standard ratings, and substandard ratings.

Term and Whole Life – Which is Better?

Many of our adult clients buy term life insurance. Term is generally more affordable than whole life and its purpose is to provide temporary coverage, such as 10 or 20 years. That’s because life insurance is most frequently needed to replace income lost in the event of a spouse’s death. So if you think you will work 15 more years, a 15 year term policy may be the most suitable product for you.

You don’t build cash value in term life. 10 year term means the premiums stay fixed for 10 years, and 15 year term means the payments are fixed for 15 years, and so on. Whole life insurance provides guaranteed coverage, and builds cash value. If cash value is not necessary, you may really want a guaranteed universal life policy to age 100. Guaranteed UL’s may offer coverage for life, but you will not see the build-up of as much cash value and maybe none at all.

I’d Like To START – What’s My Next Step?

Please get a free quote using the form on the right. On the following page, you may request an application for the policy you’d like. Please note if you use our quote form, quotes appear on the next page. Other sites ask for much more. Or feel free to call us at 877-996-9383 for life insurance quotes by phone.

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