The main purpose of purchasing life
insurance will always be to protect the people you care about in case something
happens to you. How much capital would you need to pay off your debts, provide
for your loved ones or take care of all your business?
Once you understand the priorities
that you want to protect with life insurance, it's fairly easy to determine the
correct amount of coverage.
What type of life insurance
The next question is what type of
coverage will best meet your needs. In order to get the right amount of
coverage, you also need to make sure that the premiums fit comfortably within
your budget.
Term insurance benefits
Term insurance is cheaper than whole
life insurance because you are renting the insurance. Your coverage is
considered pure insurance in this case because it does not develop cash value
and does not participate in company dividends.
Instead, it allows you to get the
right amount of protection for the cheapest premiums available. Term insurance
has also grown over the years to provide more comprehensive options. You can
get a return of premiums policy where you pay more during the term of the
policy, but the insurance company reimburses all of your premiums at the end of
the specified term.
There are also term policies that let
you lock in your age and health for the rest of your life, so that you can have
the coverage and premiums locked in for the rest of your life. It is an
efficient and inexpensive way to obtain permanent insurance.
How long should you lock in your premiums
The longer you can lock in your
premiums, the more beneficial it will be in the long run. The insurance company
takes into consideration the risk of mortality during the level period of the
term. If you are 35 and have a level 20 term policy, the rates will be fixed
until you are 55. And since you lock in premiums at a younger age, the average
risk and rates will be lower than lock in your premiums at age 55.
Most people have a need for insurance
that will last the rest of their lives. If you can permanently lock in some of
your insurance at a younger age, it can save you significant premiums. This
happens quite often when people will have to apply for new coverage after their
current policy's fixed rates expire, and because they are now older and have to
pay a lot more in premiums.
Your health is also locked in when
you purchase the policy for the first time. Many people looking for insurance
in their 50s and 60s struggle with a type of illness that causes the cost of
life insurance to double or triple. The same logic that applies to locking your
age is also good to keep in mind when locking your health. We don't know what
will happen to us, and if our insurance is blocked, our insurability and
premiums will not be affected by a medical event.
Level term insurance
I always recommend getting a flat
term policy rather than one that will start to drop and increase premiums every
year. Tiered futures let you lock in your age and health for the rest of the
term, while rising premium policies get more expensive each year depending on
your new age.
Because term insurance is a less
expensive way to get the right amount of protection, I believe it is the right
choice for a large majority of people considering life insurance.
Cash value life insurance: when to think about it
First, a word of caution about how
the life insurance industry works.
An agent who pushes a business above
the others is doing his clients a disservice. Every business has its pros and
cons and every business has focused on certain demographics to try and create a
competitive advantage. There are 17 life insurance companies in Fortune 500
alone. These companies have very similar investment portfolios and operate more
routinely than not. Eight of these companies are mutuals, nine are joint stock
companies, and they all operate for profit. The most important thing anyone can
do is have an agent who can help them shop the market for the company that will
best meet their needs.
How the cash value of whole life insurance works
The other risk associated with whole
life insurance is that you don't understand how the cash value of the policy
works and take too much. The cash value of the policy is liquid, but the
insurance company will let you buy about 97% of it to protect you against the
lapse of the policy. Any money taken out of the policy is loaned out of the
policy with interest.
Suppose you are in the first 20 years
of your whole life policy and take out a loan against the cash value of the
policy. The interest rate on loan is 8.0%, the interest rate on non-loaned
dividends is 6.85% and the interest rate on dividends loaned is 7.9%. Note that
the insurance company increases the interest rate on the amount loaned or the
amount borrowed on your cash value. This lowers the cost of the loan, but the
loan still creates a continuing obligation to pay interest. For example, the
cost of borrowing here would be 6.95%.
(The interest rate loaned (8.0%) +
(the interest rate on the non-loaned dividend (6.85%) - the interest rate on
the loaned dividend (7.9%)) = cost of the 'loan (6.95%).
The cash value of the policy is
really a double-edged sword because it carries a significant risk that you
cannot keep up with the premiums. It is practically aimed at people who can
repay the loan quickly so that the policy continues to develop dividends
instead of an obligation to pay interest. This is great for people who are
never tempted to borrow from the policy, as the dividends will compound and
potentially cover the cost of the annual premiums. When this occurs, the risk
of lapse will be negligible. However, it does take a while to achieve and it really
depends on how disciplined you can afford to be with the added cost of these
bonuses. If you'd rather be in control of your money up front, there's an
argument that you can buy futures and invest the rest instead of leveraging the
general fund of insurance companies.
Your personality profile and budget must be online
I recommend that you look at both
your budget and how much control you want over your money for at least the next
ten years if you are considering the whole life. Because term insurance can now
permanently lock in your age and health in the same way as whole life
insurance, the bigger question is whether or not you want to control the
investment of the difference in premiums. Many people prefer whole life
insurance because they don't have to think about investing the difference; the
insurance company does it for them. They can also increase their death benefit
by the amount of the growth in the cash value and act as their own creditor if
they ever want to borrow money from the policy.
Some other points about whole life insurance
The cash value component of a whole
life insurance policy needs to be addressed. The first is that the cash value
is based on the composition of the dividends. So the longer you keep the
premiums paid, the better. The second is that if you go with a reliable
insurance company, they will usually pay unsecured dividends based on the
results of an insurance company's investments. This is when the rating is
important to consider, as you are now participating in these dividends. Plus,
if you've allowed the cash value to rise and take out modest policy loans later
in life, you'll likely have enough dividends to keep pace beyond the interest
obligation. keep on going. However, if you surrender the policy, the gains will
be taxed as capital gains and you will also have to pay a surrender charge. If
the policy is in force and you die while there are still unpaid loans, the
death benefit will be paid after covering the cost of the loans you took on the
policy.
Term Insurance Vs. Whole Life
I believe the most important factor
in all of this is the human element. If you are patient, conservative, and
comfortably able to continue paying premiums without the temptation to borrow
at cash value, you are a good candidate for whole life insurance. The majority
of people have fluctuating budgets and circumstances where they are better off
with something that locks in their age and health and gives them the
opportunity to invest the difference elsewhere.
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