Reader’s Question:

Are the ages of my children important in determining how much life insurance coverage I need? What other things would I consider before I purchase my life insurance policy here in Houston, Texas to support my wife and kids?

Garrick

Houston, TX

Yes, the ages of your children should be considered when determining how much life insurance Houston, Texas you should purchase. If your children are still young, it means you need more money to look after them in the future. If they are old enough to support themselves, they might not need as much in the event that you pass away.

You have to take into account that if your children are below 10 years old, you would certainly like to ensure that your monthly income is covered 10 years after your death. If they are in their teenage years, you have to be certain that your life insurance Houston, Texas can support your family for five years at a minimum. If your children have already grown up, then you do not need as much life insurance. In case your children are all above the age of 18, you only have to take into account how much your wife needs.

When determining how much life insurance coverage to purchase, you also have to take into account whether your wife has a full-time or part-time job and how much percentage of the bills is paid through your salary. In case you and your wife combine your monthly incomes to pay for your bills, you have to take into account the percentage of the bills that is dependent on your salary. Even if your wife works full-time and has a salary that is equal to what you earn, your family might depend on both your incomes to pay your mortgage, loans, car financing, etc. In figuring out your life insurance needs, you have to calculate what your family spends and find out the amount of money your family needs outside your wife’s income so that they can live on for five years at a minimum.

Tags: life insurance, life insurance coverage

Reader’s Question:

I’m doing some research on how to find the right life insurance company. There are just too many insurance companies and I know it’s very important that I purchase life insurance coverage from the best life insurance company online. Can you give me some tips?

Becky

Arlington, TX

Hi Becky! I totally understand your fear. One of the important things that you need to consider when buying your life insurance coverage online is how to get it from the best life insurance company. Here’s how:

• Find out if your potential insurer is licensed to conduct business here. This can be done easily by calling your department of insurance hotline number or through visiting their website.
• You should also check your potential insurer’s ratings. There are private companies that offer rating services. They can give you an idea about the status of your potential life insurance company. Remember, these rating are just opinions but they can help you assess your potential insurer. When you do check with rating agencies, make sure that you ask them about the scale that they are using and how they determine their highest rating.
• Check on your potential insurer’s customer service. The right life insurance company must also know how to treat their customers the right way.
• Lastly, Make sure that your potential insurance company has solid financial strength.

Those are four simple things that can help you find the best life insurance company online. And since you are thinking of getting your life insurance online you may want to consider shopping around for your insurance needs. This is one effective way to do your comparative shopping. This can be done easily by visiting the car insurance websites. Good luck on shopping!

Readers Question:

Is it recommended that I buy life insurance online? What are the things that I should know about buying life insurance in general? Thanks!

Cristo

Baltimore, MD

Good question. Yes, it is definitely recommended that you buy life insurance online. In fact, the Web is fast becoming the most popular way for people to get life insurance coverage in Maryland, and everywhere else! Thanks to the abundance of life insurance portals – websites dedicated to life insurance coverage – that makes it possible for anyone to access the latest rates and offers in the market today.

Life insurance portals have also enabled people to better compare their options when it comes to life insurance plans, since information is instantly available and comes from a wider selection of choices. Unlike agents or independent brokers who usually have a very limited range of options, or would only choose to sell you what they can get the most commission out of, life insurance portals makes for a level playing field for everyone.

A few other things to keep in mind while looking to buy life insurance online:

1. With the plethora of offers and types of life insurance plans available, it would be wise to first know what kind of life insurance coverage best suits your needs. Term life insurance is temporary and pure life insurance coverage best for people who only need to be covered for a definite period (while paying mortgage or raising a family; for example), while Whole life insurance is more expensive but provides lifetime coverage and accumulation of wealth.

2. Buy while you are healthy. For women, it’s also recommended that you buy coverage before getting pregnant. Rates are at its most affordable during these times. Also, only buy life insurance if you have dependents.

3. Group life insurance coverage can actually be more expensive than individual life insurance plans. This is because high-risk members tend to push rates up for everyone.

4. Being a smoker can single-handedly make you pay life insurance premiums that are 3 to 4 times higher than average.

5. Living a healthy lifestyle is your best way to keep life insurance rates as low as possible. The less risk of you dying during coverage, the better rates you get.

Reader’s Question:

How can I check a life insurance company’s financial standing? And if ever that my life insurance provider here in California goes bankrupt, what will happen to my policy?

Irene

Anaheim, CA

You brought up some very interesting questions there! For your first question, you can refer to many companies and rating agencies on the web to run a search on the financial strength of companies falling under a particular industry. We recommend the following: J.D Power, A.M Best Co., Moody’s Investor Services, Weiss Research, Standard & Poor and Duff & Phelps.

Each of the said agency/company will have it’s own way or scheme of rating a particular company so it is best to understand first how they rated (which is not going to be a problem since they will make sure that people will understand the criteria used for the ratings). You should be able to check the financial rating of the particular life insurance carrier that you are interested to in. You can also use life insurance portals like this website to run a life insurance quote to determine which providers are offering the cheapest life insurance rates.

If you had the bad luck of choosing an insurance company that goes out of business in the future (which is rare), other life insurance carriers that are based there in California would have the responsibility of bailing-out, or buying-out the failing company (This practice is also done in all other states). The state’s insurance regulators would do their best to make sure that the affected policyholders would not lose their money. But usually, a larger life insurance corporation would take over on it’s own initiative.

Tags: Life insurance company, life insurance quotes, insurance ratings, life insurance advise, Top life Insurance providers

Reader’s Question:

I’m worried that I don’t have enough life insurance coverage here in Illinois for my family, how do I know I have enough?

Christian

Chicago, IL

This is a good question, many people don’t realize that the amount of life insurance coverage they are carrying might not be enough. Life insurance is a long-term financial commitment so it is very important to understand how to know that you have enough coverage for your family there in Illinois. Here’s what you can do to make sure you have enough coverage.

Evaluate Current Financial Needs
On a yearly basis, how much money does the household need? How much are your expenses? Getting a good idea of how much money your family would need in order to have a decent lifestyle just in case something happens to you would be a great start in determining if your current life insurance coverage is enough. This would include any mortgage, debts, or loans you may be paying regularly, as well as bills and daily expenses.

Consider Your Family’s Future Needs
It would be very important to also have some foresight towards your family’s future needs. You know you are paying for enough coverage if your life insurance policy can cover future needs such as college tuition, health care needs, paying-off long-term financial obligations and other monetary responsibilities that you don’t want to leave and burden your family with.

If you feel confident that your life insurance has enough coverage for these needs to sustain the family for at least a few years then you know you have enough life insurance coverage.

Tags: life insurance information, life insurance advise, life insurance agent, life insurance

Reader’s Question:

What are the things that I need to consider before I sell my life insurance policy in Illinois?

Joshua,

Springfield, IL

Before you sell your life insurance policy in Illinois, you need to keep in mind the reason for purchasing the life insurance in the first place. If you think that selling your life insurance will make things better, there are things that you need to consider.

If the reason for selling your life insurance is to get immediate cash, you should check other alternatives where you don’t have to sell your life insurance policy. You can check with your current life insurance company they have accelerated death benefit to offer. Although there can be an additional fee for this, it is better to do business with the company you can trust. You also need to discuss your decision with your beneficiaries especially if they depend on the face amount to pay medical treatment and the additional costs. You should also consult an attorney or financial planner on other financial aspects that you may not be familiar with such as the impact on estate settlements and probate if the proceeds are tax-free. Don’t forget also to shop around for other viatical companies the amount of payout differs from one company to another. Lastly, you need to ensure that the viatical companies or brokers are licensed.

Tags: life insurance

Reader’s Question:

Will I be able to buy a life insurance policy when I’m not in good health condition?

Lauren

Tulsa, OK

When you want to invest in life insurance, being in good health condition can help you acquire a lower premium than being otherwise. This is because a person with bad health condition is likely to pose a risk factor of dying sooner. Examples of these conditions are heart diseases and high blood pressure or cholesterol level. When a person is considered as smoker, the life insurance company may see him/her as having a high-risked factor because of smoke-related diseases.

If the medical examination shows that you have a bad health condition, the life insurance company may still offer a standard premium but relatively higher than originally quoted before the medical examination. The life insurance company will send a letter that explains why you are placed in a certain category, which apparently affects your life insurance premium. If you are not happy with the category you were placed in and like to lower your premiums, you can check the result with your doctor. Depending on your health condition result, the doctor may give instructions that can help you better your condition. Ensure that you follow your doctor’s instruction and monitor the progress. After a few months, you can go back to your life insurance company to let them know that you are trying to improve your health condition so that the company may then offer a lower life insurance premium.

Tags: life insurance

Reader’s Question:

What should I know before I make a decision whether I take accelerated death benefits or not?

Jan

New York, NY

Accelerated death benefits are few of the benefits that you can add when you have a whole or permanent life insurance. With accelerated death benefits, you can immediately access cash that can fund the accumulated expenses while you are seriously ill. The life insurance company makes it possible for you to collect part of your life insurance death benefits. You should note however that there are certain conditions when the life insurance company pays these benefits.
Before you make a decision on purchasing an accelerated death benefits, you need to consider whether the balance from your policy is sufficient to fund the final expenses for example. Some examples of these final expenses are burial and funeral expenses. Aside from this, you should also consider the impact of this benefit to your Medicaid eligibility since the receipt of payments from this life insurance benefits may be considered part of the income. Lastly, you also need to consider the tax implication although federal Government usually life insurance proceeds are usually exempt life insurance proceeds from tax.

Tags: whole life insurance

Reader’s Question:

This would be my first time to buy a life insurance policy and I would like to get some advice on what to do, and what not to do, when I look for a life insurance provider here in Pennsylvania.

Ortega

Erie, PA

Before setting out to get a life insurance policy there in Pennsylvania, it would be very important to identify your goals and requirements or your reasons as to why you would want to get coverage. Here are a few things to keep in mind while looking for a policy.

1. If employed, get a good idea if the company you work for includes group life insurance coverage as part of the coverage. If you see yourself working for that company for the next ten to fifteen years then it would be a good idea to find a life insurance package that would supplement your existing policy.

2. Life insurance policies are bundled packages, if you decide to get a policy with a death benefit of $240,000, why not bump it up to $250,000? You could actually get lower premiums if you buy higher.

3. Shop around. The Internet is a rich medium to get accurate and timely life insurance rates. By going through the quoting system of a few life insurance portals you would already get a good idea which companies offer the most competitive rates available.

4. If you have special circumstances regarding your health or medical condition, seek out a company that specializes on life insurance policies for those with diabetes, asthma or any other pre-existing illnesses. You could save up to half on premiums as compared to going with a general life insurance provider.

Tags: life insurance, life insurance advise, life insurance costs, life insurance cover

Reader’s Question:

I don’t know how to begin, but I want to make sure I get a good Life Insurance policy here in North Carolina. Any tips?

Gene

Charlotte, NC

There are countless of people out there who, like you, would want to make sure they choose the right kind of life insurance. You realize how important it is to choose the best policy for you or your family’s need and recognize that going into a life insurance policy would be a long term commitment, financially speaking. But with hundreds of available choices out there, its not a surprise that a lot of people don’t even know how or where to begin. So here are a few things to keep in mind on your search for the best life insurance provider there in North Carolina.

Determine Why You Need Insurance. Do you want to make sure that your family or loved ones are financially covered in the event of your demise? Do you want to get a lump sum payment for keeping yourself alive and well over the next ten or twenty years or would you like to make sure that your affairs are all in order when your time is near? Understanding why you need life insurance coverage would make it easier for you to avoid the wrong kind of policies.

Also go with a reputable company with a good financial standing and who has been in business for the longest time. You want to make sure they are still there a couple of decades down the road. Look for proven excellent customer service as well since you want someone you know will take car of you and your beneficiaries needs.

Tags: buying life insurance, life insurance coverage, life insurance, advise