Life insurance and financial planning

Life insurance is not for the people who die. It is for the loved ones who are left behind.

Life insurance is an inexpensive, but essential, part of any insurance plan if you have people who rely on you for your support. If you have a spouse, children, or any other dependents, life insurance can protect them by replacing the income that would be lost should you die before your time. In its most basic form, life insurance is term insurance that protects you for a period of years you select, as needed to cover you through your working years. Term life insurance is very inexpensive. Life insurance is available in many different forms, however, and can be used for more than just insuring your life and replacing lost income.

Living benefits of life insurance

Life insurance can be used to provide living benefits as well. For example, if you get diagnosed with a terminal critical illness, some life insurance policies will pay you a benefit amount to pay for all of those unanticipated expenses without having to wait until death. Still others can be used to pay for costs associated with long term care needs that may arise if an accident or illness renders you unable to perform daily tasks of living.

A two-step process

Determine the amount

Selecting the right life insurance plan begins by determining the amount of life insurance that would be needed to replace what is lost by the death of the insured. That can be done through a needs analysis performed by your insurance professional.

Determine the type and cost

The second step in getting the right life insurance plan is to determine the type and finally get the price with the right company. For every living benefit you add to a life insurance policy, the cost for that policy goes up. For tight budgets, a simple term policy is likely the best solution. Living benefits can be added with a separate policy, with a lower face amount, for a minimal monthly cost. Let me design a package to best meet your life insurance needs.

How health affects your price

When I price a term policy, I look at how long you want the monthly cost to stay fixed (10 years, 15 years, 20 years, or more than 20 years) and which health class you fall into, as a smoker or a non-smoker.

• Excellent health means no high blood pressure, no high cholesterol, and a body mass index (BMI) below 25.
• Good health means no high blood pressure, no high cholesterol, and a body mass index below 30.
• Average health means all others.

Please note that some health conditions may make you ineligible for life insurance, like a history of heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, organ transplant, cancer, and in some cases diabetes, severe depression, or other health conditions.

If you want a customized life insurance quote, use the button below to send me a note through the contact form.