Save Money on Your Life Insurance
January 8, 2013 
1 Comment
Life insurance premiums are based primarily on two factors: health and age. With the many advances in medical technology, insurance companies have begun to look at these factors in a new light. A new change in life insurance underwriting and pricing has occurred giving you the opportunity to either save money or increase the legacy you can leave to your loved ones.
As our average life span continues to lengthen insurance companies have updated their Mortality Tables. These tables help insurance companies determine the amount of premium to charge for a life insurance policy. As the insurance companies continue to recognize that we are living longer they are able to significantly lower the premiums they charge. Make no mistake, life insurance premiums are at the lowest they have been for both new buyers and people who are looking to improve their current policy.
If you bought a term life policy two or more years ago, depending on your health, it is very likely that you would be able to purchase the same amount of overage for less cost now than your current policy premium. Or on the other hand, you may be able to purchase a larger death benefit for your family for the same cost as your current policy.
If you have a current whole life or universal permanent life insurance policy, you may have built up significant cash value. Many people don’t realize that the cash value in most policies is actually used to pay a portion of the death benefit to their beneficiaries. For example, a policy that has $20,000 of cash value in it and a death benefit of $100,000 will commonly be paid to the beneficiary as follows:
- The beneficiary will receive the $20,000 cash value and the insurance company will pay out of their pocket $80,000 for a total death benefit of $100,000.
- This is what they agreed to pay in the life insurance policy contract.
Many people can help their family by improving their life insurance policies by using the cash value that has been building in their current policy. Remember, the cash value is your money.
So how can you use your own policies cash value to your advantage and still own a life insurance policy to protect your family?
- You can use your policies cash value to purchase a new policy with the same amount of death benefit you currently have and reduce your current cost for it.
- You could use your policies cash value to purchase a new policy with more death benefit for your family and pay a similar cost as you are currently paying.
All it takes is a conversation with a life insurance solutions specialist who can determine if the life insurance policy you currently have is the best available for you, or if there is a better product available now that may be better for your specific situation.
If you have not had your policy reviewed within the last 2 years it is very likely that you are missing out on significant savings. If you are one of these people, you should take a few minutes and find out if there is something better out there for you.
