Posts filed under 'Juvenile life insurance'
If you talk to most life insurance applicants who fall into the obese or morbidly obese categories according the their BMI, they have usually been told that they aren’t insurable or that the prices are so high as to render uninsurable because they can’t afford it.
Let’s not dance around the subject. Life insurance underwriting is all about assessing mortality risk, your chance of dying compared to someone in average health. One of the things they consider are the risk factors that you have and the health issues you might, or in some cases are likely to acquire.
In the case of obesity, it is a known risk factor for high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, cancer and diabetes. So honestly it is not just the weight that impacts the outcome of the life insurance application, but the compounded perceived risk. Given the risk factors, while you may not agree when you have to pay higher premiums, life insurance companies are actually pretty generous with their build charts.
As I was running quotes for a person 5′11 and 395 pounds today, I was impressed by the fact that, number one, he was insurable and number two, while he may not be able to afford all he wants, he can still afford to make sure that his family is taken care of. Back when I did a series of blogs on the TV show Fat March, it generated a lot of attention to see the contestants on that show go from uninsurable to insurable, to great rates as their weight came down. Probably the most important aspect of that show and that series of blogs was the great discussion it generated over not just life insurance rates, but how life style changes could have such a huge positive impact on health and longevity.
Bottom line. If your only issue impacting life insurance at this point is weight, bite the bullet and find an independent agent to shop for the best possible rate for you. The picture isn’t going to get any prettier if you drag your feet and other health issues pop up and compound the issue. While there is a point where weight alone can keep you from getting traditional life insurance, chances are you aren’t there even if you’ve had a decline letter or two.
October 7th, 2008
How often do we hear it? A friend or family member has had a heart attack or been diagnosed with cancer at an age that is just, well….wrong! We expect health problems and death when someone gets into their 80’s. It’s not nearly so common in their 50’s and 60’s, or even 70’s anymore. But there’s that once a year shocker where somone we know that is in their 30’s or 40’s has some serious health issue diagnosed. Quite often we hear about their death. The question is, if they knew it was coming, would they consider life insurance differently?
I’ve been there and understand that bomb proof, immortal feeling at that age. We see bad things happen to the wrong people at the wrong age all the time and, because we have a shield of immortality (or denial) around us, we think we are somehow living in a different world. Certainly it could happen to them, but not to us.
Consider for a minute that there is something that would cost less than a dinner out every month. Life insurance can be that inexpensive and in will ensure the future of your family in the event you happen to get being one of them. It can not only insure you now, but it can also guarantee, or lock in your insurability for later years when the chances of health problems increases. Wouldn’t it be great to know that you were still insuring your family’s future for the cost of a dinner a month when you had recently been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, breast cancer or melanoma. Once you have that great rate, it can’t be changed just because your health does.
Maybe life insurance isn’t the most popular subject, but it’s one that should be discussed earlier rather than later. Better that business partners set up a buy/sell agreement and buy business life insurance when they are both healthy. Better that a husband and wife discuss the real needs and make a purchase that will ensure financial security while they are young. I personally think buying juvenile or children’s life insurance with a guaranteed insurability feature is a tremendous gift. One they may not understand for years, but one that can make a huge difference for them down the road.
Like I said yesterday…..it’s time to talk about it. Too much is left undiscussed and as a result, not acted upon. How about we have a very frank discussion for the forseeable future about this whole idea of pulling all of our collective heads out of the sand and taking a look a reality? I’m up for it!!
May 3rd, 2007
Want to throw a wet towel on an adult conversation? Ask your friends how much life insurance they carry on their children. The normal answer would run the gammet from, “why would I do a thing like that” to “that’s not something I want to talk about”.
Just suppose for a moment that juvenile or children’s life insurance isn’t some morbid thought, but a potentially valuable gift to your child. OK, who said “life insurance can’t be a gift to my child because for the life insurance policy to do anything my child has to die and I don’t want to talk about it”?
Let’s just talk about adults for a minute. Hopefully we can all agree that life insurance has value in our adult lives. OK, I think I got about an 80% positive response to that. Now, if you could pay a very small amount of money to ensure, no matter what your young adult child’s health was, that they could get life insurance at affordable rates, would you agree that there might be some value in that? If your child developed some illness during their growing years it could probably be construed as a gift, couldn’t it? A prudent thing to do to make sure they can do the right adult thing at affordable prices?
All right then! Let me tell you how to accomplish that and then I’ll tell you how to answer that awkward question and sound like you are just, well, savvy.
The best policy out there that will guarantee that your child can buy $100,000 or more of insurance when they reach age 23 has a one time cost of just $250. You are purchasing something that gives them a guarantee as much as 23 years down the road that there is no other way for them to have guaranteed. The kicker is that it also includes a small amount of term insurance as they grow up. $5000 through age 13. $10,000 when they reach 13 through age 18 and $15,000 from age 18 to 23. This is no more than final expense or burial insurance. At age 23 they can do a conversion of that policy to a universal life policy of up to $100,000 in coverage WITH NO EVIDENCE OF INSURABILITY. All of that for a one time payment of $250? Yes!!
Now, when your friend asks you how much life insurance you carry on your children, tell them you bought a guaranteed insurability policy so that when your child grows up, they are going to be able to buy insurance no matter what there health is. If they really push on the children’s life insurance question, tell them that the guaranteed insurability policy has a small death benefit rider on it if, God forbid, anything should happen while they are growing up. Tell them you weren’t really interested in children’s insurance, but it just came with the package at no additional cost.
March 4th, 2007
My experience is that there is actually a mindset, especially with parents, that if they carry life insurance on their child they could somehow increase that child’s chance of an early death. Let me assure you that there is no statistical link between a child’s mortality and whether or not they had a reasonable amount of life insurance.
Why carry juvenile life insurance? The first reason, the one most parents don’t want to think about, is that even though the chances are very small, occasionally a child will die prematurely. While we all say that we can probably scrape together the money it takes to pay final and burial expenses, the truth is that is the purpose of life insurance. There is a very good chance that a child’s untimely death will be far more expensive than you would have ever imagined, and a small insurance policy is only going to help defray those expenses, not pay them in full.
Now back to the greater value of life insurance for children. Now that we have gotten over the bump of dealing with the thought that a child might die prematurely, here’s the reality. They probably won’t!
The greater value, the gift in a children’s insurance policy, is the fact that it generally is guaranteed issue life insurance so getting it is not a traumatic event and the policy will generally guarantee the child’s insurability as an adult. I worked with a 22 year old client the other day who had battled leukemia through his teenage years. It appears he has won that battle, but $100,000 of term life insurance is going to cost $1200 a year. If his parents had bought the right policy when he was young, his insurability would have been guaranteed at a rate that would have allowed him to have a universal life policy for about $200 a year. He is an adult paying for his own insurance, and the gift of juvenile life insurance, whether purchased by his parents or grandparents, could be saving him $1000 per year now. It would save money and give him permanent instead of term insurance. That is huge!!!!!
Parents and grandparents. Give the gift of life insurance!
February 11th, 2007
Advocate is defined in the dictionary as “one that supports or promotes the interests of another”. There are several “advocacy” groups that promote life insurance to their members or to the group of people that they would suggest they are advocates on behalf of.
Let me suggest three advocacy groups that you would suspect would offer the best possible life insurance products to their members or audience, when in fact they offer downright bad deals and try to gloss it over by appearing to be your “friend”.
Let’s start with Gerber. I’m not sure if their baby food is any good, but I can tell you that the juvenile life insurance, or children’s life insurance they offer, is far from a good deal. They offer a guaranteed issue product, but from a price and benefit standpoint it pales in comparison to what can be found through an independent life insurance agent. Pretty baby on the jar. Lousy life insurance!
Next let’s talk about the AOPA. For those that don’t fly airplanes, that is the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. Go to their website and you will see how they purport to be advocates for private pilots in just about every area, including life insurance. Their company of choice is Minnesota Life. There are so many companies out there that can beat Minnesota Life for aviation covered life insurance, that if you weren’t depending on them to be your advocate, it would be laughable. If you dig into the life insurance end of their website you will actually find where they admit that they get a kick back from Minnesota Life which they use to further their advocacy. Maybe Minnesota Life’s rates are high because they have to pay the AOPA to steer business their way.
And last but not least, being old enough to be a member, our beloved AARP. Now claiming to be an advocate for us old folks and really not doing it is, well, WRONG!!!!!!!!!! AARP pushes a New York Life term product that is overpriced to start with, the price goes up every 5 years, and after age 80 it goes away. “One that supports or promotes the interests of another.” Now I don’t know if AARP gets a kickback from New York Life, but I do know that they don’t allow any other life insurance advertising in their periodicals or on their website.
You want an advocate? Someone who really does what the definition suggests? Get your insurance quotes for your term insurance, universal life insurance or whole life insurance from an independent life insurance agent. Get unbiased advice from an agent that isn’t being an advocate to a specific insurance company or an organization, but to you.
February 9th, 2007
Again, not a subject that most parents these days want to talk about, but it used to be very common. The truth is that the chance of a healthy child dying before adulthood is very small. So, in the minds of most loving parents is the thought, “why even think about it, let alone insure my child to help pay final expenses?”
Why did it used to be common? Back when I was a child my parents carried a small whole life policy, not because they were overly concerned with my premature death, but because they wanted to pass it on to me when I reached adulthood. The problem with the whole idea was that they carried a $1000 policy and when I grew up they passed on a $1000 policy. Inflation alone had rendered the size of the policy fairly useless.
One of the best examples of a newer, better way to have children’s life insurance is structured something like this. You pay a very modest one tme payment. Your child is insured initially for say $5,000. At certain ages the amount increases to say $10,000 and the $15,000. It kind of keeps up with inflation in that sense. At your child’s age 23, they can convert the policy to a $100,000 universal life policy WITHOUT EVIDENCE OF INSURABILITY.
All in all a juvenile life insurance policy with much more meaningful benefits if there was an untimely death, and the real jewel is locking in a child’s insurability for adulthood with a meaningful amount of insurance. This policy is priced so well that, even if it didn’t offer any death benefit at all during childhood, the premium would be worth guaranteeing your child’s adult insurability.
Why carry life insurance on your children? Because it can be a significant gift when they reach adulthood!!!
February 2nd, 2007
Now here’s a subject that 95% of parents don’t want to talk about. No parent wants to think that a child might die and therefore we don’t want to plan for that occurrence. I understand the emotional issue behind it, being a parent myself.
Children’s life insurance, sometimes called juvenile life insurance, can actually be a prudent way to give a child an inexpensive jump start on their own insurance portfolio when they become an adult.
There are policies out there that can provide small amounts of coverage, truly no more than burial policies, during a child’s growing years. Some increase incrementally as a child gets older. Usually at age 23 the child has the opportunity to convert their juvenile policy into a larger personal policy. The next thing I want to say is so important and is the key to the importance of a juvenile life insurance policy. That conversion DOES NOT REQUIRE EVIDENCE OF INSURABILITY!!! No matter what your child’s health is at the time, the company is bound to offer them the adult policy without any rating due to health problems.
These policies are very inexpensive if you buy them as stand alone policies. Do not add a child rider to your policy or buy a Gerber or Globe Life policy unless you just feel like paying more money than you need to for your children’s life insurance. If you have a child rider or a Gerber or Globe policy, seek out a more affordable alternative and cancel it once the new policy is in force.
January 26th, 2007
