5 Tips For Getting Affordable Life Insurance
Everything you need to know to get the life insurance you need at a price you can afford
Introduction
At some point, we all recognize the need for and importance of having some sort of life insurance policy. One of the most common obstacles to people getting the life insurance they need is the cost, especially as we get older. However, getting enough life insurance for your specific needs doesn't have to stretch your budget. And that's what this short checklist of tips is all about. It provides you with some simple information that will help you get the life insurance you need at a price you can afford, to give you the peace of mind you want for your loved ones. So let's get started!
Tip #1: Understand your needs
This is probably the most important thing you can do when trying to find affordable life insurance. The reason is because you may not need as much life insurance as you think, thus you could end up paying for way more than is necessary. Of course, the opposite is true as well. You could not have enough life insurance as well! But as an example, a newly married couple with no plans to have kids and no mortgage, will have much different life insurance needs than a couple that has 3 kids with a mortgage. So it's crucial to start with analyzing your specific situation to get an idea of how much life insurance you actually need. A very simple formula you can start with is to take your annual income, and multiply it by 10-12 times to arrive at the amount of life insurance you should have in order to maintain a similar lifestyle for your loved ones, should you pass away.
Tip #2: Start as young as possible
One of the biggest reasons life insurance becomes so expensive for many people is because they wait too long to get it. The older we get and the more health issues we develop as we age, the more difficult it is to qualify for life insurance, thus making it much more expensive. Versus if we get life insurance while we're young and healthy, even if we don't see an immediate need for it in our life at the time, we'll be able to lock in much lower rates (permanently if we get traditional whole life insurance) AND we can start with a low amount of coverage for now and can always increase our coverage later if needed, which leads us to the next tip!
Tip #3: Start small, increase later
Many people think that if they can't afford the amount of life insurance they would truly need to protect their loved ones, then they might as well not have any and they wait until they start making more money. This sounds logical, but it's a mistake. One of the reasons it's a mistake is because you can start with a small amount of coverage and then increase it later. The benefit of doing this (this applies to permanent whole life insurance) is that your premium rating is locked in at the age and health conditions when you get approved. Here's how it would work:
Example of starting small:
Let's say you're 40 years old with no underlying health conditions and you get a traditional whole life insurance policy with $100,000 in death benefit coverage. Ten years later, when you're 50 years old, you decide to increase the coverage amount to $200,000. However, now you take medications that would normally cause your policy to be more expensive, plus you're ten years older. But because you were approved at the age of 40 with no health conditions, the fact that you're ten years older and now take medications does NOT impact the pricing of your death benefit coverage increase! So even if you can't afford the amount of life insurance you want/need, start with a lower death benefit to at least lock in your rating, and then increase the coverage later as your income increases.
Tip #4: Get multiple quotes
If you've ever needed an excuse to go shopping around, finding affordable life insurance definitely qualifies. This is not like buying a pair of shoes, however. This is the financial protection of our loved ones when we pass away, so we really want to conduct our due diligence to find the best company and policy for our specific needs. There are numerous different life insurance companies, many with a great variety of different policies and pricing models to accommodate just about anybody's needs. You can easily get multiple quotes online these days. However, it's strongly recommended that you work with a licensed agent to help you find the best and most affordable policy for you, which brings us to our final tip...
Tip #5: Work with a licensed agent
There is usually no cost to you for working with a licensed life insurance agent, since they are paid by the insurance companies themselves, either in the form of a salary or commissions. This can help you tremendously by having a trained professional in your corner that has access to multiple different types of life insurance companies and policies. They can help you put a plan in place to find the best and most affordable policy for you by learning more about your specific needs and then providing multiple options to choose from. This is also far better than buying life insurance online because you can have someone walk you through exactly what type of policy you're getting and how it works to protect your loved ones.
Final thoughts
In conclusion, we truly hope that you found these simple tips helpful and that they've provided you at least a little bit of clarity when it comes to getting affordable life insurance. Just remember to do your research, work with a licensed agent, ask a lot of questions, and you'll eventually find the right policy for you. If you would like to start your life insurance journey by requesting a couple of FREE Custom Life Insurance Quotes, simply click the button below to provide some basic information about your situation, and a licensed professional will contact you to discuss your options.