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Life Insurance - Introduction to Policies, Quotes and What It Means

Updated on August 15, 2011

Life Insurance – What This Term Really Mean?


Life insurance is the best way of providing protection to all your loved ones and family members in case you pass away; well, the reality is harsh but this is true and you never know when the time comes. It is important to know what life insurance is and what the benefits you can avail with it are. There are certain life insurance policies that work in their own various ways in providing some good will to your left over family if you are no more. There are certain important things you need to know so I am briefing a few common ones below.

Life insurance is crucial especially when it is about providing protection to your family if you die suddenly; you have to do this. There are no buts, if, or ands about this topic because you cannot leave them hanging over with problems such as the funeral costs that can start from around 15 thousand dollars and go all the way to 50 thousand dollars just for a basic burial and ceremony. Your death ceremony alone can turn out to be really expensive and it can alone change the entire way your family is living or will live after you are not there.

There are various life insurance benefits to avail and they usually your loved ones will avail them if something happens to you. Choosing the right policy is important to get your family’s life better financially if you die. Your family would already be stressed, tensed, and grieved upon your death so why put them under financial pressure as well? Life insurance can easily help them cover up all the bills or costs regarding your funeral and finance them more in order to lead a normal life even when you are not there.

The only way to realize the important of life insurance is to have a picture of what can happen if you die without having life insurance. Imagine if you have to die tomorrow and your life is not insured; what would your family do then? How will they manage paying the bills or accommodate the income that you used to make for them? Life can really get out of control once the money problem steps in. You can easily save your family members from all of such troubles by getting the right life insurance policy for yourself immediately.

Importance of Buying a Life Insurance Policy


Getting a life insurance policy counts as the best investment you would ever do to secure your family’s future from the financial perspective. However, when getting a life insurance policy you cannot keep your eyes closed and you have to be careful. In fact, I would say that all sorts of financial investments should be done after thorough research and learning about every single aspect. The major factor regarding the life insurance policies is that you should get sufficient coverage in a reasonable price; the cost of your insurance premium needs to be lowered down and there are ways to get this done.

Always consider purchasing a life insurance policy when you are young; earlier is better. Many people think that life insurance is useless for them when they are young because they think that it is just the beginning; eventually they end up losing so much money on buying the policy later on. Life insurance companies would provide you with the best rates if you take this decision earlier in your life. If you get your life insurance done in a younger age; even the insurance premiums would cost you a lot cheaper.

When you are buying a life insurance policy; always calculated the costs that would include your premium assets like your home and annual earnings. If suppose the time comes and you depart; your family should get enough that all those costs should be easily covered through your life insurance. Consider getting coverage for as much financial loss as you can while your younger days are going on. You also need to make sure that your insurance company is considering your age while increasing the insurance premium; half birthday should not be used for this matter. Half birthday means raising premiums after every six months even before you get a year older. In this case, over 20 years of time you would be paying a lot more.

You need to educate yourself sufficiently and make the right decision regarding the life insurance policy term. Everyone carries different needs therefore a single policy cannot fit all; see what type of policy would suit your requirements. If you are around 25 to 30 years old then go for a 20 year long life insurance policy. Similarly, if your retirement days are coming closer then opting for a ten year policy would be a wise decision to make. Think of your family’s future and secure them right away.

Life Insurance Policies – Availability of Different Options


Times have changed these days as you can easily opt for an insurance policy online but this might limit the communications that would make things even better between the company and you. This is the reason why you need to do proper research and gain knowledge over various life insurance policies to know what you need, what you should do, and what each of the policy contains. An example would be; avoid over buying insurance, you need to make sure that you not over-covered under a life insurance policy. If you are over-insured then the insurance premium would also go up till the roof for you. Similarly, you can also not settle for a policy that would provide you enough coverage.

The premium rate gets affected by various different factors such as your health for instance. If you are in good shape and healthy; you will pay lesser premiums compared to several others. Things such as a bad driving history, obesity, drugs, drinking, smoking, and other such extreme hobbies would surely raise your premiums causing you to pay a lot more that would make sure life insurance policy a burden. Also, make sure you do not lie at any single step when the process of your policy is going on. If your insurance company finds out that you gave them false information at any time in your application; your policy might even get cancelled without any warnings and you will lose all your money.

I have seen cases where people were non-smokers and started smoking till the day they died; because of this one small change in their lifestyle the company denied to pay the funds to their families. This might be very dangerous and your loved ones can get into some serious trouble having no financial support or you with them.

Remember, the younger you are the better it is you take a life insurance policy. You can easily choose and get cheaper rates in those young days. Even if there is no financial dependent present; you can still choose from a number of life insurance policies so choose wisely. Lastly, never depend on the life insurance plan provided by your employer because these are provided in groups and same policies are given to all the employees; this might not suite your needs that well. Get your own life insurance policy that would suit your needs and cover your requirements like you want it to.

Steps Involved in Getting Term Life Insurance Quotes


There are so many sources through which you can easily get term life insurance quotes. These quotes can then be used to compare policies and decide where to buy your life insurance from. The recommendation of Insurance Information Institute is to get term life insurance quotes from at least different insurance companies and compare them. I am listing below the basic resources of acquiring these quotes.

Internet is surely the number one and the most common way of getting any insurance quotes. There is a online quote application or request form that you have to fill in that ask you about your health, age, and the desired coverage amount and term length. After getting this done you will then start receiving quotes from companies, agencies, and brokerages. Once you find the quotes that you are interested in, compare them and finally choose one. You can then contact the company and talk to a representation to clear up things and make sure that this is the right type of term life insurance policy for you.

Also, many people make use of insurance comparison websites; this makes your quotes shopping even easier. Usually, such websites would have a single form that you will complete and it will automatically get delivered to several insurance companies, agencies, and brokerages. In the end you will get several quotes that you can choose from.

You can also get term life insurance quotes directly through a financial advisor or an agent. This would require you to have an agent or advisor who is already there for you; these are the people from whom you can get quotes from. They can easily help you find out the best quotes and choose the right type of coverage covering your situation sufficiently. Now, there are agents or advisors that might represent just one insurance company to you so in this case you should acquire quotes from else where as well. The main reason behind this is getting the best rates; term life insurance costs vary depending on the company.

Lastly, you can get term life insurance quotes through mail or directly by phone. There are several commercial and advertisements regarding term life insurance on television. You can simply call up their toll free number to ask for the quotes. They will be mailed directly at your door step in a day or two. Remember, I would suggest that doing it online is the best way.

Universal Life Insurance – A Brief Introduction


Universal life insurance is a pretty common life insurance type that people are opting for these days. It is basically designed to give out a death benefit at the time of the insured person’s death. Another advantage is the premium rates that would depend on the market and its interest rates. There are a number of benefits that you can get with a universal life insurance policy.

Security is the first great feature of universal life insurance. There are many incidents that can cause a sudden death of the person and his or her family goes through a lot of grief and tension; eventually the financial hardship also steps in to make things worse. Universal life insurance makes sure that such incidents are also covered and sudden deaths can also be compensated with your loved ones in the form of financial benefits. Secondly, you also get to enjoy some flexibility in this insurance type; the amount of life insurance is decided by you along with the benefits and premium payments as well. The schedules when premium payments should be done can be adjusted by you at any time you want and even the death benefit amount can be changed incase you decide to do so.

The interest rate is also guaranteed in universal life insurance. Your account value would grow on a certain interest rate and that rate would not come down below a defined level that means you can continue earning money and your family’s protection would stay or rise even more. In case you die suddenly due to an incident or any other cause; the death benefit would proceed and the insurance fund would be given to your chosen beneficiary without any income tax charges on it. What more can you ask for? It is simply amazing.

However, remember that every benefit comes along a risk as well. The risk over here would the market of interest rate that you need to keep an eye on at all times. In case the rates raise up then your policy’s value would get higher as well. In case the market is going low; the case value would get diminished therefore CIO will be applied. What you can do then is pay higher premium rates when they are actually low in order to be on the safe side. When the market would rise back up; you will already be safe from losing money or paying a lot more.

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