Life Insurance
 

Ive been looking at getting life insurance lately.

Do any of you have life insurance or any knowledge of it. I was looking at the differences between term and whole life insurance online and still am unsure of what options are better.

There are also a whole bunch of companies out there. Which ones are the better ones to go with?

Your best to speak with a life insurance advisor as they know more about it and are licensed to discuss it with you. Term is usually good for a certain amount of time and whole life you can keep till you die or it will have cash value that you can cash out for certain amount depending what age you cash out at. It also usually has a built in investment value so will typically cost more than term.

Term Insurance is only good for you if you have temporary assets you want to protect in the event of your death such as a mortgage (since you know when you plan to finish paying it off so you can just buy a term to match the same duration to protect it). Term insurance may also be for you IF you REALLY can't afford wholelife or universal life but you need that piece of mind for the time being. Whole life and Universal life, in short, whole life covers you until age 100 and you can select a level cost of insurance (the cost of insurance spread out over the period of payment so it's a constant payment every month) or Universal life where the rates are variable (increasing with age)but you can build up the cash value inside the policy while you're young when insurance rates are cheap to cover the rising cost of insurance when you're older. As someone pointed out tho, UL costs more because of the ability to have a cash value and among other benefits.

speaking from experience, i started out with permanent insurance (i guess UL) for a couple of years when i was single thinking that when i pay it off there will be value to it.

then my needs changed and i started a family, got a mortgage etc. so i switched to term. i needed to ensure my family & said mortgage would be taken care of in case of unforeseen circumstances.

when i did perm i did it with a fairly big company, either 1st or 2nd biggest in the world. when i did term i went with the 4th largest, which was a lot cheaper. i did not know the prices fluctuate so much, but when i got term it was through a friend and he ran the numbers to show me what i would have paid had i bought perm from him because he asked why i went with the first company.

before speaking to an advisor, go to a forum like RFD and get the very very basics. Then read up and see what fits your lifestyle. THEN go speak to an advisor. Advisors in my mind are no different than sales people , you need to show that you know the subject so you dont get screwed over.

An independent, fee only financial advisor (not commission based) would be money well spent.
You may not even need life insurance.
How to find such an animal?
Ask the grey hairs, in particular those with their shit squared away.

Your best strategy is to make informed decisions. Personal finance can be complex.
An honest, skilled advisor will get you up the learning curve with minimal pain.

:)

I'm with Sun Life Financial and I've had a great experience with them. My Financial Advisor is Matt Prescilla. He was referred to me by my family (he's a friend of the fam). When I got my life insurance, I was maybe 18-19 y/o? He explained it to me very easily, he even came to my home for the interview process. They do a mouth swab for smoking/drugs, etc.
At the time, I was working FT so I got permanent life insurance which for me was about $45. The deal with their perm. LI is you pay $45/month for 20 years and you're covered for the rest of your life. If I stuck with it, I would have finished my LI payments when I was 38/39 and been covered til I die. The price never goes up for the length of the 20 years.
Last year when I started school, I wasn't working at all so I had to switch over to Term LI which is $10/month. The cost for this can increase every 5, 10 or 20 years.

Once I grad and get a job, I plan on switching back over to Permanent. The 20 year timeline will restart but I don't mind since I'm still young.
If you would like me to refer you just PM me and I will reply with all his details.
Hope this helps a bit!

at 18/19 did you have dependents or retired parents? If you had neither you did not need life insurance. The main purpose of life insurance is to ensure that dependents/obligations are taken care of if you pass away. I was offered the same by my SL advisor but I declined it for I have no dependents/obligations. Should anything happen to me I have enough assets that my parents can dispose to pay final costs.

Also if you are working, most extended plans offer 10k in basic life insurance. Which is plenty (depending who you speak to/what your final wishes are) for final costs.

-From my personal experience.

no, i didn't have dependents. my mom was on short term disability (now long term), she pays $300 for her life insurance because she got hers late. the whole reason i got it was pretty much in 20 years i'd be done with it and my future family would have everything taken care of. it's one less thing i have to worry about being a big expense once i have children. plus i figure its better to get it while i'm healthy rather than get it if i'm sick and have to pay a higher monthly. just wanna make sure my fams okay in the event that shit happens.. you never know nowadays :squint:

I know someone who can give you more in depth answer.

She speaks mandarin and english, she sold life insurance to me and my family for good rates.

If you are interested Msg me and I'll pm you her number :)