Life Insurance
Life insurance is a contract where the insurance company pays a decided sum of money to specific beneficiaries when the policyholder, also known as the insured, dies. In exchange, the insured pays premiums to the insurance company during their lifetime.
There are two types of popular life insurance policies:
• Term life – expires after a certain number of years
• Permanent life – remains active until the insured dies or stops paying their premiums. Permanent life policies can include whole life, final expense, and universal life.
Life insurance policies have a number of benefits like earning cash value that you may borrow from in a time of need, and help you provide financial support to beneficiaries (which could be your surviving dependents or anyone else) after your death. Some policies also offer “living benefits” which allow you to access a portion of your death benefit while still living to help pay for LTC, HHC, or just take a cash payment in certain instances.
While term life policies don’t offer these types of benefits, you can typically find a permanent life policy that offers cash value and/or living benefits.
Who Should Get Life Insurance?
Life insurance policies can help you provide financial support to beneficiaries (which could be your surviving dependents or anyone else) after your death. The following are some examples of people who could benefit from life insurance:
- Adults who own property together
- Elderly parents who want to leave money to adult kids who provide their care
- Families who are worried about funeral expenses
- Parents with special-needs adult children
- Parents with children under 18
- Young adults who want to lock in lower rates (the younger and healthier you are, the lower your premiums will be)
- Wealthier individuals/families who expect to owe estate taxes
- Individuals who are looking to create tax free income stream in retirement
Suppose you have other people (whether they’re adults or children) who depend on your income or debt that will continue after your death. In that case, life insurance could be a good idea for your family.
When Is The Best Time To Get Life Insurance?
Everyone’s circumstances, needs, and goals differ, so there isn’t a single right time to buy life insurance. However, generally, it’s always better to buy younger. The younger you are, the lower your premiums will be for the life of your policy. As you age, it’s also more likely that you could develop a medical condition that could disqualify you from getting life insurance or make it much more expensive.
Below are some questions to ask yourself to help you decide when to buy a life insurance policy.
• How many dependents do you have?
• How old are you?
• How much is your cost of living?
• What health issues do you have?
• How much money do you already have saved?
Find The Plan That's
Best For You
Get The Life Insurance Help You Need
Get the life insurance policy you need to keep your family protected after you’re gone with American Insurance Group. We can help you decide whether a life insurance policy, final expense insurance, or other product is a better fit for the needs of you and your family.
