Term Life Insurance
Today a term life insurance policy cost about one third less than it did a decade ago. What is the best way that you can take advantage of this information? Read this article and find out.
Obviously, if you don't own any insurance, now is the time to get a policy. But what if you already have life insurance? What should you do?
If your health is still good you should look into what a replacement policy would cost. You might be very pleasantly surprised.
Of course you won't want to cancel your old policy until you're approved for a new one and made your first premium payment, but if you are approved your savings can be significant.
Here's what I mean. Let's say that in 2000 you or your significant other was a thirty year old male and purchased a twenty year level term policy with a half a million dollar death benefit. In other words the beneficiaries would receive a payout of half a million dollars if the policy owner dies before 2020. However, if after the twenty years he's still alive and kicking the policy would expire and no one would receive anything.
About ten years ago the premium for that policy would have been about four hundred fifty dollars a year. Today, if the same person, who's now forty years old, is still in good health he could get a new ten year level term insurance policy with the same five hundred thousand dollar payout for around three hundred dollars a year.
The cost of coverage goes up as a person gets older. However, because the premiums on term life insurance have dropped significantly, if the same person wanted to add an additional ten years to the coverage he could now get a brand new twenty year policy for roughly the same amount of money he is paying for his current policy.
Some people are reluctant to buy a term life policy because it will end at some point in time and they will no longer have the coverage. That's why some people buy whole life policies. However, whole life policies can cost upwards of ten times the amount of a term policies.
But how long do you really need to be covered by insurance?
Realistically, most folks have the greatest need for life insurance when they are younger. At that time in their lives they often have a young family but have not put a significant amount of money into savings.
Usually a person's assets grow over the course of their life. If that happens, once their children leave home, unless they have a disabled child who could survive them, some people feel that there is often no need to have an insurance policy.