Most people’s first reaction to life insurance is pretty easy to guess… “I don’t think about it much. I don’t plan on dying anytime soon.”
But once you start thinking about it – and if you have a family, you owe it to them to think about it – questions start popping up.
- What kind of life insurance is out there? Which is the best kind to buy?
- How much life insurance will I need? How much will that cost me?
- How do I buy life insurance? Who do I buy it from?
In this section, Surface Financial Group will give you the answers to these life insurance questions, and hopefully help you along the way to finding a policy that meets your needs.
Types of Life Insurance
Universal life insurance
A flexible premium life insurance policy that you can structure to meet your individual needs. Universal life policyowners can change or vary what they pay in premiums, paying more one month and less the next as their income fluctuates, as long as they pay enough, or there are sufficient policy values to cover the monthly charges that keep the life insurance policy in effect. For convenience, most life insurance policyowners choose to pay a planned premium on a regular basis.
Many universal life insurance policies offer death benefits options, such as death benefits that increase every year or the ability to reduce the amount of death benefit in the future if needs change.
For example: if you need additional life insurance during childrearing years, you can structure the death benefit to remain at a certain level for say 20 or 25 years. At the end of that period, you can reduce the death benefit to better fit your needs.
Term life insurance
A policy that has a level premium for a specific period of time. At the end of the period or time, the coverage for life insurance can be continued at a premium that increases annually with age.
For example, if you were to buy a 10-year term life insurance policy, the premium would be guaranteed not to increase for those 10 years. Then, if you still wanted the coverage, your premiums would begin increasing.
On average, term life insurance policies are sold for initial periods between 5 and 30 years. While traditionally the least expensive life insurance on the market, it is possible to buy universal life insurance with more flexible benefits at similar cost.
Whole life insurance
A policy that provides a guaranteed death benefit and guaranteed cash value for a guaranteed premium.
Some whole life policies pay dividends that can be taken as cash or used to purchase additional life insurance or reduce future premiums.
How much Life Insurance will I need? How do I buy Life Insurance?
This varies greatly from person to person. The amount of insurance that one might need is based on what they are looking to pay from it. Some choose to cover funeral expenses while others choose a plan that would completely pay off all of their debts.
Surface Financial Group can help you make a decision on what plan would best fit your needs. Contact us today to find out more information.