Finding an Inexpensive Life Insurance Policy in Three Easy Steps

Obtaining the right insurance coverage provides valuable financial protection. Life insurance can provide protection for your family’s financial security. Protecting their family is a reason many people buy themselves a life insurance policy in the first place. Additionally, people can buy life insurance policies for other people, like if a child wants to purchase a policy for their parents and vice versa.

Finding the right policy that fits your budget and meets the coverage you need is essential. Here are some tips that will help you find the right fit:

Researching Policy Options

When researching rates, you want to try and find premium rates, which vary on the kind of insurance policy you select. The main two categories for life insurance policy are permanent and temporary. 

Permanent life insurance is made up of two categories: universal life and whole life. Both of these kinds of permanent life insurance routes accumulate cash value over time. The cash value accumulated can be used to pay premiums, purchase paid-up additions, or to be borrowed against. 

Temporary life insurance, also known as term life insurance, can provide a death benefit payout if the insured person passes away throughout the during of the policy coverage. 

Policyholders can select the term length and death benefit amount. Depending on the company, some offer additional coverage options, called rides, that can be added on to your policy. The benefits of these range from the return-of-premium riders to accelerated death benefit riders. These add on riders increase the value of the policy, which in turn affects the overall rates. Riders vary by company and can also affect your monthly premium. 

Whole life policies offer coverage that is permanent but also have the highest premiums, with a guaranteed cash value growth rate. Policyholders can choose the amount they want when they sign up for the policy, but most whole life policies also include high death benefit amounts. 

Final Expense insurance policies are an excellent option for those who need less coverage or only enough to cover funeral expenses. Final expense insurance is a type of whole life insurance that is specifically designed for seniors. That being said, the death benefit amounts are significantly lower. Premiums tend to be lower because the death benefit is only enough to cover funeral expenses generally. 

In regards to universal life insurance policies, there are only a few. The primary difference with these policies is how the funds are invested. The cash value of indexed universal policies is invested in indexes; these are diversified investments. The cash value of variable universal policies is invested in various accounts, which include bonds and stocks. 

Universal life insurance premium rates generally tend to be lower than whole life insurance premium rates because there is no guarantee of cash value growth over time in the investments. 

Hiring an Independent Agent

Even though there are a number of types of life insurance policies among life insurance companies, not every company carries every kind of policy. It is worth it to figure out what kind of life insurance policy you want before working with a company. 

Working with a life insurance agent to help you find an affordable policy that meets your coverage needs can help you if you are unsure of what kind of life insurance policy you want. A licensed agent can help you through the process of figuring out the type of policy you want, selecting, and applying for a policy. 

Working with a licensed independent agent has several other kinds of advantages. An agent can help you fully understand the underwriting process and find a policy that fits your specific needs for your situation. They can also help you compare coverage and terms across companies, as well as compare premium rates across policies. Riders and premium rates can vary between companies. An independent agent can sell policies from several companies, so they can help you compare similar policies across companies. 

Deciding to work with an independent agent can make the entire research process easier because you do not have to directly reach out to companies and instead can just work with one person to find the rates and company best for you.

Be Cautious When Using Quote Websites

Quote websites can be useful for several reasons. If you do not want to work with an agent, you can do your independent research. Additionally, quote websites allow you to quickly and easily view your options from the comfort of your own home. 

How do you know if you are working with a good company when there are so many life insurance quote websites to choose from?

To start, it is essential to understand the type of quote website you are using. Some sites, like bestow, HavenLife, and Ladder, only show quotes for the policies that those websites offer. A benefit of working with them is that these companies assist their clients through the application process. 

Then there are other websites, like Geico and Progressive, that can show you quotes from numerous life insurance companies. This allows visitors to their sites to quickly compare policy options across many companies. The downside is that these companies only show quotes and connect the visitors to the companies; they do not help with the application. 

Lastly, there are other sites, like Quotacy, that not only show quotes from multiple life insurance companies but also assist clients to understand the application process and help them apply. Agents from Quotacy even help their clients to make updates to their policy even after they buy one. 

Second, it’s essential to know what kinds of policies the website shows. The primary focus of most online tools is on term life insurance. Each one has unique features, even if there are many shared characteristics across quote websites. An excellent example of this is Ladder, which allows policyholders to adjust their coverage during their policy term as their needs and situations change. 

Then there are other quote websites that focus on showing quotes for various kinds of permanent life insurance. This is true for many sites that only offer quotes, like Progressive and Geico. However, sites like Policygenius and Quotacy that offer more comprehensive services also show quotes for permanent life insurance policies. 

Locating Inexpensive Life Insurance 

Life insurance provides many benefits, including paying off any debt you have, financial protection for your family, helping to replace lost income, and even cover funeral expenses. 

The first step is to determine what your individual needs are and what kind of life insurance policy best fits your situation. Even though protection is highly valuable, it is important to find a plan that suits you and your monthly budget. Then, you can find an independent life insurance agent to help you do your research into premium rates offered by various life insurance companies and their policies.