Seven reasons you might need to spruce up your life insurance

Spring cleaning means sorting through paperwork, shredding some, and reorganizing others into appropriate files. It’s also the perfect time to review your insurance policies. Here are seven life changes that should prompt a review for effectiveness of coverage and appropriateness of premiums. If you answer yes to any of the following questions, we suggest you come in for an insurance review: Have you increased the size of your family through marriage, adoption or the birth of a child? If so, you may want to make sure you’ve purchased enough coverage and that your beneficiary designations are up to date. Have you decreased the size of your family through divorce or the death of a spouse? These are also life events that should spur you to update your beneficiaries and review the scope of your policy. Has anyone in your immediate family become disabled since you purchased your policy? If the financial increase is significant, the additional cost of care might prompt you to update your coverage. Have you lost a job, received a promotion, started a new business or expanded an existing one since you purchased your policy? Depending on your age, these changes in job status could affect your insurance needs, particularly if you now own your own business. Are you now a primary caregiver for an elderly parent or grandparent? Have your financial responsibilities increased due to this change? Is your policy close to expiring? Are you healthier now? Have you quit smoking or lost a significant amount of weight? If so, you could qualify for lower premiums. Life insurance policies tend to be items people purchase and store away.  This can lessen the effectiveness of the policy and eliminate the opportunity to save money on premiums. For these reasons, we recommend an annual review. If you have any questions or would like a review, our insurance specialist Matt Weyers would be glad to sit down with you… | Read More »

Guarantee life insurance for the next generation

If you are a parent or grandparent you may not even think about your little one’s ability to purchase life insurance. But the fact remains that when they decide to purchase life insurance for themselves at a later date, they may not be eligible. Life insurance is written and priced based on health and age. With our nation’s health as a whole declining rapidly, the next generation’s ability to purchase affordable life insurance may be threatened. A great example of this would be diabetes. If you as a family member want to take the “what if” out of your little one’s ability to purchase life insurance in the future, you do have that right and option because you have insurable interest. When you do this for your loved one, it should be with a form of permanent insurance. Some options would be Whole Life (WL), Universal Life (UL), and Guaranteed Universal Life (GUL). WL is the most expensive up front but it does lock in a level premium for the remainder of the insured’s life. Universal life would be the least expensive of the three permanent options, but if market conditions change drastically after the policy is written, the planned premiums might not be enough to carry the death benefit for the insured’s entire life. The premiums with UL are adjustable and, if needed, more money in the future can be paid in to keep the policy alive. GUL is a very simple permanent option. It has a level premium and level death benefit for the life of the contract. This type of insurance is also guaranteed to stay inforce as long as the planned premiums are paid. Examples of guaranteed lengths are ages 95-126 depending on the company. With any one of these options, a crucial question to ask is, are there guaranteed future purchase options for the insured? This would allow the insured, regardless of health, to purchase… | Read More »