Life insurance can play a vital part in planning for your future, and making sure that your loved ones are taken care of. It can also be extremely confusing. With all the different types of policies and coverages, there are many different options to choose from. As a life insurance agent serving Atlanta & Georgia, we represent multiple companies and offer a wide range of options.
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What is Life Insurance?
Like almost all other types of insurance, life insurance is a contract between an individual or entity and an insurance company. However, instead of insuring a home or automobile for damage or liability, the insurance company agrees to pay a benefit in the event the insured person dies. This benefit is paid to the beneficiary, which we discuss more below. There are many different types of life insurance policies, but in most cases they will include a policy owner, insured, and beneficiary. Often the policy owner and insured will be the same person, but that is not always the case. Most surprisingly, it’s estimated that 40% of Americans have no life insurance at all.
When Is a Good Time to Buy Life Insurance?
The obvious answer is that you would want it before you (or your family) needs to use it. There is no better time than today, or even yesterday, to purchase life insurance. There are certain life events that traditionally trigger people to think about purchasing or reviewing their life insurance needs. Some of those include, but are not limited to;
- You’ve had a new child, or even a grandchild.
- You’re recently married or divorced.
- You have opened or expanded a business, or brought on a business partner or partners.
- You are providing care or financial assistance to a parent, or anyone else that is relying on you.
- Someone you are caring for may require assistance or long term care if you are gone.
- You recently purchased a new home
- You’ve refinanced your home mortgage recently.
- You have debts that you would want your loved ones to be able to payoff if you were gone.
As you can see with most of these events, if someone is relying on your financially or otherwise, then you should strongly consider purchasing a life insurance policy.
How Much Life Insurance Do I Need?
This question is going to be highly dependent on your personal situation and will vary for everyone individually. There are several common formulas for calculating how much life insurance you need, one of those is the DIME method. DIME stands for Debt (not including your mortgage), Income (for the number of years your dependents will live off of it), Mortgage, and Education Expenses. Adding these numbers together can provide you will a ballpark estimate or even a starting point when calculating your life insurance needs. There are also a number of online calculators that you can find, which will ask more detailed questions about your personal situation. Again, everyone’s situation is going to be different, so you want to make sure and decide on an amount that works for you.
What Are Some of the Different Types & Life Insurance Strategies in Atlanta & Georgia
Term life insurance provides protection for a specified period of time. Some of the more common terms people chose are 10, 20, and 30 years. If you currently do not have any life insurance, then term coverage may be a good place to start. It is typically less expensive than other type of coverage, and in most cases the premiums will be level over the entire period of the policy. There are some policies out there where the premium can increase on a term policy. You will want to verify with your agent how long the level premiums will last. Depending on the insurance company and specific policy, there may be a provision included where you can convert the term policy to a permanent policy, which can be a nice option.
Whole Life Insurance
Whole life insurance is a form of permanent life insurance that remains in force for your entire lifetime, provided premiums are paid as specified in the policy. Many whole life insurance policies also build cash value over time.
Other Types Of Life Insurance
Besides term and whole life insurance, there are a number of other types of coverage which include;
- Life Insurance with Living Benefits
- Final Expense & Burial Insurance
- Guaranteed Issue
- Simplified Issue
- Group Life Insurance
- Universal Life Insurance
- Indexed Life Insurance
What Are Some of the Common Uses for life insurance
There are many potential uses for life insurance. Some of the more common uses that you many want to consider include;
- Income replacement
- Paying off debts such as a mortgage or credit cards
- Paying final life expenses such as burial or cremation
- Creating an estate or paying taxes
- Business uses such as key man or buy sell (see below)
- Charitable Donation
Life Insurance for Business Use
Life insurance has a number of applications for use in businesses. Whether it’s a two person partnership or a much larger organization, having the proper life insurance in place is important. Two of the most common uses for life insurance in business are to fund a buy-sell agreement or to insure the life of a key person in the business with “key person life insurance”(also called keyman life insurance).
High Risk Life Insurance
There are a number of different rating factors that go into determining life insurance premiums. These include factors such as age, health history, and even things like your personal hobbies. For example, if one of your hobbies is skydiving, that could affect the life insurance quotes you are receiving. One thing you can do to alleviate items that tend to be considered higher risk is to work with a broker who has access to many different insurance companies. Every carrier is different and you will find that some treat different situations differently. A broker should be able to tell you which carriers treat would treat your specific situation more advantageous.
Health Conditions That Typically Cause a Higher Risk Rating
- ADD/ADHD
- Alcohol Abuse
- Arthritis
- Asthma
- Atrial Fibrillation
- Autism/Asperger’s
- Basal Cell Carcinoma
- Cancer or family history of cancer
- Depression or Anxiety
- Diabetes
- High Cholestorol
- High Blood Pressure
- Heart Attack or other Heart Issues
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Overweight/Obese
- Pacemakers
- Sleep Apnea
- Stroke
Non-Health Factors That Typically Cause a Higher Risk Rating
- Alcohol or Substance Abuse
- Nicotine Use
- Chewing Tobacco use
- Cigar Smokers
- Cigarette Smokers
- Deployed Military
- Past history of DUI
- Pilot/Piloting Aircraft
- Helicopter Pilot
- Bungee jumping
- Hang gliding
- Mountain or Rock Climbing
- Scuba diving
- Skydiving
If you are looking for a life insurance agent serving Atlanta & Georgia, and you fee like you may be higher risk, contact us to discuss your situation.
Qualifying for Life Insurance
The process for qualifying for life insurance can vary depending on which carrier you are applying through. For instance, some carriers may are always going to require that you take a paramedical exam, while others may ask for it in certain cases or not at all. The amount of coverage you are applying for can also have an impact. Again, there are some companies who will not require a medical exam if the death benefit is under a certain amount. As you can imagine, if you are applying for a large amount of coverage (i.e. one million dollars or more), the insurance company may ask additional question or proof regarding your income to justify the larger amount of coverage.
In all cases, there is going to be an application to complete with information that is specific to you. This could include;
- Name
- Date of Birth
- Height & Weight
- Lifestyle questions which may include nicotine/alcohol usage and if you engage in any high risk activities
- Personal and family health history
- Financial information including annual income and net worth to help determine the appropriateness of the coverage amount requested
In addition to this, the insurance company may run a number of reports including; prescription check, Medical Insurance Bureau (MIB) report, and your motor vehicle report (MVR).
Once all the required information has been compiled for your specific case, the insurance company will review and make a determination on coverage. Sometimes they may have follow-up question, or request additional information such as doctors records.
What Life Insurance Company in Georgia & Atlanta Do We Work With?
As an independent life insurance agent serving Atlanta & Georgia we have access to over 20 different companies. Most of them are some of the major ones you have probably seen on TV and different advertisements. Some of those include Protective, Prudential, American National, Banner Life, Lincoln Financial, Pacific Life, AIG, and Savings Bank Life Insurance (SBLI). Plus many others.
Let us Help!
If you are looking for a life insurance agent serving Atlanta & Georgia, please feel free to contact us at 404-781-9415, or complete the quote request form to get started. As an independent life insurance agency and broker we can compare quotes from multiple insurance companies for you.