3 life term insurance for a major comp

[stingray_on]

What is the name of your state? Ca

I have 3 term life insurance and my agent has forever try to change it to universal or whole insurance. I am 52 and I would love to have it all in one tidy place but the cost is outrageous. After 3 to 5 years , they(premuims) keep going up. The premuim are like $105 a month for 400,000 claim.

I have thought of changing insurance but I have had this agent for 20 years and I dont look forward to getting a physical, with my luck, they find something and I will be screw with a pre-existing.

Any ideas to tidy things up?

 

[stingray_on]

Any suggestions?

No one has been in situation before? Please help.

 

[efflandt]

It really depends where you stand with your retirement savings, mortgage, dependents, etc.

Insurance is to make up lost income for your dependends in the event of your demise. So if you have invested wisely towards your retirement, your retirement savings should offset (decrease) the amount of insurance you need as you get older and insurance gets more expensive. Hopefully the closer you get to retirement, the more you will have in self sufficient assets that will support your dependends, even if you are not around to enjoy it.

So you need to look at the big financial picture to determine if you still need as much insurance, or if other investments and equity can take care of a portion of that. More expensive types of insurance (other than term) only make sense if you are not disciplined enough to save and educated enough get a better return on your money yourself.

 

[Dandy Don]

You should be doing the calculations about this with an insurance company agent (not the one you currently deal with, unless you also want to do a comparsion) to see if it would be worth it for you to switch or not. I have found Zander Insurance (www.zanderins.com) a very reasonable company with reasonable rates.

 

[Some Random Guy]

Get another insurance agent. He is obviously working against you to get sky high commissions for the universal/whole life policies.

If you are that worried about the physical - get one yourself before applying!

 

[sturgbe]

First off, what is your current health status? Life insurance may be cheaper now than when you took these policies out initially. Actuarial, insurance is getting cheaper so it MAY be advantages for you to consolidate.

Your current agent may be asking you to convert into a permanent policy for a couple of reasons...
1. you are uninsurable and your term premiums will continue to increase beyond that of what the permanent coverage will cost. The permanent insurance policy MAY have a conversion option that permits you to convert your term without any underwriting (no matter what health conditions you have) and may even give you a credit of one years term premium. This may be the best thing to consider based on your health.
2. He is driven by commissions.

Here are a couple of question that need to be addressed first.
1. what is your health condition (any medications)?
2. How long do you need coverage for?
3. How long is the term insurance good for (5/10/15 years)? And when do the premiums increase and what will they increase to?
4. Does your current insurance have a conversion option into a permanent plan? If so, what is it and when does it expire?

FYI: At your current age and a standard rate class (health) $400,000 of term insurance will run at about:
10 years level: $85 / mo.
15 years level: $120 / mo.
20 years level: $140 / mo.
30 years level: $291 / mo.

Good luck,
stu

 

[stingray_on]

Good replies

I have considered checking another agent , if for anything get a second opinion. My health overall is good, I have acid reflux but that's about it. They did find some pulp in my colon a few years ago so every other year , I get a colonsconspy. The policies are 5 to 7 years and the recent increase was 15 dollars a month. I am paying around 105 dollars a month for term for the 3 policies.

I got some good ideas. I will follow up and keep you guys posted.

 

[Dandy Don]

You may want to also consider crunching the numbers with a certified financial planner; in other words, getting an obective opinion from someone other than an insurance agent, from someone who is not trying to sell you something and who would obviously be somewhat biased as an insurance agent would tend to be.

 

[sturgbe]

It is a fact that a true comprehensive "Financial Plan" should have the component of life insurance somewhere in the mix. That said, what are you really trying to acomplish?

I would be careful before going out and getting a "financial planner'' to look specifically at your insurance needs. It has been my expierence that most financial planners really do not have an understanding about life insurance. Some do, most do not! I am giving you free unbiased advise and I am a CFP in CA. Don't pay for something that you may not need. Does your current agent do business with all companies (Broker) or is he captive?

If you have an estate worthy of permanent insurance you should definately consider seeing a specialist but if you are only interested in cheap term insurance then we have given you all the tools needed make a better choice.

Based on the information you provided in your last reply, you will not qualify for a Preferred rate. Standard is a good possibility depending on height/weight, cholestrol, blood pressure etc...

Stu

 

[cbg]

The bottom line is that there is no right or wrong answer to this question. It's whatever you want the insurance to do for you.