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5 Questions To Ask When Selecting Life Insurance

Shopping for life insurance can be a deeply personal experience. It is, after all, your family that you want to protect. We asked Robert Bland, chairman and founder of Life Quotes, Inc., a GEICO partner, for five questions to ask about life insurance before making one of the most important purchases of your life. Continue reading to learn life insurance tips and what you should consider asking.

1. Do I have debt or dependents? Who should be my beneficiary?

What would happen to your family without you? Their financial security is one of the first things you need to consider, and income replacement is one of the top reasons why people buy life insurance. “Life insurance is a very effective purchase to care for your loved ones or create an estate.” A life insurance beneficiary is who you select to receive the money from your policy’s death benefit if and when you pass away. Most commonly, this is a spouse or child.

2. How much coverage do I need?

How much life insurance you need can be a tough but crucial question to answer. The industry benchmark is 10 times your annual income, but that can vary depending on your personal circumstances. “How would your family make ends meet if your paychecks stopped coming in? Imagine what amount of money would be needed to replace your income each year for the next 20 to 30 years.”

Consider other outstanding large debts such as your mortgage; you’ll want to add that amount to your coverage as well. “It’s a good idea to have enough life insurance to cover any debts, like your home mortgage, and then add a little extra coverage to the policy that leaves your family a nest egg.”

GEICO can help with life insurance.

3. What term should I get?

One way that term life insurance makes the whole process easier and less intimidating is how flexible (and affordable) it is. Term life insurance provides straightforward death benefit protection without any expensive “cash value” or investment component add-ons. “Discuss your general income needs with an agent who will help you calculate the best policy terms and limits within your time frame.” (Get info on Whole Life Insurance here.)

4. What’s my medical history?

You may be fit as a fiddle, but you’ll still need your health records for the initial assessment. “Get all the facts about your health history in order because you will be asked about them.” Don’t be discouraged, though; a standard term life policy will typically cover death by any cause at any time, except for death by suicide within the first two policy years (one year in some states).

5. How do I get the best price?

You can compare multiple quotes on life insurance right away through the GEICO Insurance Agency. “Prices vary significantly, and you can see that on our site in seconds.” When shopping for life insurance, you should look for companies that offer flexible payment options that allow you to pay on a monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, or annual basis, which makes term life insurance even easier to afford.

By Sam Song

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  1. Deanna R. Jones says,

    Thanks for the information! I’m about to get married, so I need to know how to find the right life insurance plan. Asking yourself about getting term life insurance is a very good point. If you have any debts that you’re currently paying off, then it’s important to have the insurance that you need to cover those debts so that your family won’t have to pay for them.

  2. Grant Harper says,

    I have been thinking about getting life insurance recently, because I want to be sure that my family is secure even if something happens to me. All five of these questions seem like they will be really helpful before I choose my life insurance. I especially want to look at what term I should get, since this is what I have been unsure of. It might be best for me to talk to an insurance agent and get advice on what is the best policy for me right now. Thank you for the excellent post!

  3. Paige Smith says,

    These are all really great ideas for looking for the best type of insurance available. I think something that really should be evaluated in this is asking yourself about how much coverage do you really need. A lot of times insurance companies will bundle insurance policies in order to receive a small discount. However, they do this only so it is harder for you to leave the company considering you already went and added two policies with the current insurance company.

  4. Zach says,

    Life insurance can save your family if you ended up going and leaving behind a lot of debt or leaving them without an income. I know plenty of people that have lost their loved one who was also the primary source of income and it really hurt them. Having life insurance can help in those dire of situations to make sure that you don’t have a hard time providing for your family.

  5. Gerald Vonberger says,

    Picking the right life insurance is pretty difficult. I recently discovered that when I started looking at it. The right coverage is hard to get right, especially in conjunction with the term. I like your tip about getting the best price by getting separate quotes to find the right price.

  6. Kelsey says,

    Finding the right amount of coverage is something very important to figure out. It is great to know how to figure that number out for yourself. My parents have already started looking into getting life insurance for themselves so I hope they find a good plan.

  7. M Zak says,

    Be sure to consider future earnings. We are “seniors”…a financial planner DID NOT give us the advise, back in the 80’s, to purchase 10x our annual incomes. Now, at our ages, our term policies are cut-in-half, and we are beyond the ages of purchasing more term insurance at any “reasonable” costs.

  8. Andres Almendares says,

    Need to know how much do I have to pay for me and my wife for life insurance as a Senior citizen over 65 yrs. old.

  9. Edmond Vandergraff says,

    I definitely agree that you should have all of the facts about your health history in order. You really can’t hide things from the insurance companies. The best thing to do when selecting an insurance company is to do your research. That way you can find the best option for you personally.

  10. nZenSum7 says,

    1st find out how much TIME must elapse BEFORE the policy you’re considering will become fully effective for the benefit amount you choose to be paid-out upon your death. If you are a senior over 65, the ‘catch’ which states “1 year” or “2 year” ownership of the policy is required prior to full benefit pay-out can really put you in a considerable “pickle” respecting the choice you make. Also if you are elder, then you also want to clarify & choose between “whole life” or “term” policies. Buying Whole Life when you are over 65 is the least wise. It is way more expensive as a rule, and your older age really doesn’t allow enough “future time” for the whole life maturity benefit to occur. Term policies are less expensive & ordinarily require the single year preparatory requirement. My credit union bank automatically provides a small death benefit policy with options to up the ante if I choose; so it’s a good idea you check with your bank & find out if it is providing you similar benefit — lotss of times people don’t even realize their bank is providing this kind of benefit to its customers.

  11. bellyfat says,

    It’s a good idea to have enough life insurance to cover any debts, like your home mortgage, and then add a little extra.