Learning how to buy life insurance is not complicated, but some good tips can make it much easier to understand
Life insurance is one of the most simple forms of insurance you can purchase. Yet the biggest percentage of people allow it to turn into a total fiasco. Some to the point they give up and don’t even buy it at all. We are going to go over how to buy life insurance the smart way and eliminate all the confusion some consumers create for themselves.
If you follow these simple steps below, I guarantee you will be happy you read this blog post. None of this is rocket science, it is more like common sense than anything else. You should then have total confidence and be able to comfortably apply for life insurance like a professional. I put this list together using my over 25 years of experience with tried and proven results.
#1. Connect with an agent that specializes in life insurance
This is the first and most important step you can make. You need a professional to guide you through the process and explain everything in detail so you fully understand everything. This is where most people make their first mistake by taking on this task by themselves which turns into confusion. An independent insurance agent will do just about all this work for you and for no cost at all.
A captive agent like with State Farm or Geico only has one company to show you where an independent agent like us use over 40 life insurance companies. The main mission for your agent is to prevent any headaches and make every step simple and easy.
#2. “Why you need life insurance” will be an important question
The answer to this question will spin off these main questions that will need to be considered. This is the most important section of your application.
- How much of a death benefit will you need? The death benefit amount otherwise known as the face amount will be the most important factor in designing your policy. You will have to calculate this number by comparing your income to your expenses and also remember your future expenses like college tuition down the road.
- What type of life insurance would work best? You have a choice between low cost term life insurance and the permanent types such as universal life and whole life insurance. To point you in the right direction, you are going to find that term will be your best overall choice. Universal life will be over double the premium and whole life could easily be five times the cost of term.
- How long will you need life insurance is also a very important question you have to address. It all depends on your specific age and how long you will have expenses like mortgage payments and supporting children.
#3. Do you have any health problems or a hazardous occupation?
Working with relatively serious health conditions or even possible dangerous occupations can be very challenging when you are applying for life insurance. Even being active in some of the dangerous sports can have its side effects when you are getting ready to apply. We make it a habit of pre-screening these three potential hurdles so we know what to expect right away so we don’t have any surprises during the application process.
Any one of those three issues can have a direct impact on the health classification you are assigned. The better the health classification, the lower the premium. All life insurance companies underwrite their applications differently. What this means is we use a specific company for each applicant in question. Life insurance is not a one size fits all type of product. If we run a medical pre-screen and choose the proper life insurance company. You will be given every advantage possible to receive the best results.
#4. Choose the best company and submit your application
I can’t stress enough how important it is to use the correct life insurance company for your health history and lifestyle. This is why it is so important to use an independent agent who has an arsenal of carriers he is contracted with. You will be at your very last step in the process now so submit your application and your agent will monitor the progress all the way. Now will be the time when the company you just applied with will do all their research. If you are applying for a no medical exam policy, your approval time could be as short as 24 -48 hours. Full underwritten applications will take about 30 days. At this point in time you can sit back and take it easy while your waiting for your application to be reviewed.
#5. Now you can go over the results with your agent
Your agent can brief you in on the final results of the application process. If there is any question that your final rates could be improved. Your agent can contact the underwriter for reconsideration or simply submit your application to another company. One way or another your agent can add the final touches to the application process and help you get the lowest rates.
In Conclusion
If you connect with an experienced independent agent that specializes in life insurance. You will find he will be doing all the leg work at no cost to you. All you will have to do is answer the medical questions when your asked on the telephone interview. Don’t waste anymore of your valuable time bouncing around from website to website.
Give us a call 7 days a week 9:00 am to 9:00 pm and we will help you from the very beginning to the very end and guarantee you have the best policy and the lowest rates possible. If you are not ready to apply, no problem at all. We will still be more than happy to help you.
Don’t hesitate to use our quoting system on the right to see your up to date rates.
All the Best,
Jack Venturi