In life, there might not be anything more important than having a safety net. Whether that means stashing extra money away in your savings account or buying a backup turkey when you’re cooking Thanksgiving dinner, having a plan for an emergency is never a bad idea.
When it comes to safety nets, life insurance is unquestionably one of the most vital to have in place. However, it can be daunting to find the right plan, for the right price, and with the right insurer. This article will run through some of the basic concepts to keep in mind when shopping for a policy and share some tips on how you can find the best life insurance quotes.
The Best Place to Find Quick Insurance Quotes
When making a large purchase, the best way to feel confident about your decision is to do your research and shop around. When you decide you are ready to search for quotes you will want to seek out platforms that can provide a life insurance quick quote, offering you options from a wide range of companies. You will also want to do your research and if the platform providing the quote will allow you easily complete the application online as well.
Types of Life Insurance
In order to find the best quotes for a policy, the first thing you will need to know is what type of life insurance fits you best. Two of the major categories to consider are term life insurance and permanent life insurance.
Term life insurance provides you with coverage over a fixed period of time. This can be anywhere from 5 to 30 years. Your beneficiaries only receive a payout of a death benefit if you die during the term of the policy. Usually, your premium will be higher the longer the term of your policy. Term-life insurance policies are often significantly cheaper than permanent policies and could be a good option to provide you with coverage during your working years when your family members might be most impacted by the loss of your income. Permanent life insurance, on the other hand, provides you lifelong coverage as long as you continue to pay your premium.
Permanent life insurance is further divided into two main categories, whole life insurance and universal life insurance. Whole life insurance typically provides that policyholder with additional benefits like a guaranteed premium that stays the same over the life of the policy, a death benefit that does not decrease over time, and a cash value that grows over time.
The cash value will be a percentage of the premium and similar to a retirement account. The policyholder can take loans or withdrawals from it when needed. Any outstanding loans or withdrawals will be subtracted from the death benefit, however. While whole life insurance certainly offers a greater number of benefits, keep in mind that it generally is the most expensive type of life insurance.
How much coverage do I need?
Now that you’ve run through the major categories of life insurance and have decided on the type that makes the most sense, you should examine how much coverage you actually need.
A key consideration is what you intend your life insurance to pay for. For instance, you may not require as much of a death benefit if you are only seeking to cover funeral costs. If, however, you would like the death benefit to replace your income, a larger amount of coverage would make sense.
You also need to factor in your current financial situation. If you already have a significant amount of savings, you may not need to rely as much on your life insurance to take care of your family members when you die. The number of factors involved here may sound overwhelming but luckily there are tools that can make things easier. Calculators like this one from the nonprofit, Life Happens, can give you a good idea of where your coverage needs to be.
What factors impact your quote?
In addition to the type and amount of coverage, you will also want to pay close attention to the factors that determine how much your insurance will cost and how much coverage you’ll be able to obtain.
Your gender, age, and health status are three important factors that will impact your quote. Women will have access to lower rates because on average they live longer than men.
Young people, likewise, would tend to have their policy for a longer term and pay more in premiums over the course of the policy, so they are likely to be charged lower rates. Health status, similarly, helps your insurer determine the overall financial risk they will incur by issuing you a policy.
The process of receiving your final quote from the insurance company is called underwriting. During the underwriting process, you will be asked to provide the insurance company with detailed health information and may need to grant them access to some of your health records. You may also need to undergo a medical exam, although insurance companies are now increasingly relying on other health-related data and risk models to make coverage decisions.
