Life Insurance
Would you rather have life insurance or death insurance?
When was the last time you heard that someone was on the verge of death, but then their life insurance policy came in and saved their Life? Let’s be honest, up until very recently life insurance was a phrase to soften the true meaning and intent of the policy, which is death insurance. But who would want to buy that? Well, apparently a whole lot of people!
There are over 18 trillion dollars of death benefits in force in the United States. Most of them will never save the policy holders’ life. It may save the lives of the people left after their loved one’s death, but not the policy holder during their actual life. That’s all changed! There are new policies offered by a select few companies that pay out up to 95% of the face amount upon diagnosis of a critical illness, like cancer, for example. These policies have living benefits.
Do I Need to Purchase or Update My Life Insurance Policy?
To determine whether or not a new or updated life insurance policy is beneficial for you, take a look at the questions below.
- What are the odds my policy could become lapsed by my home state if I become chronically ill and require assisted living?
- Would my loved ones wind up with financial difficulties if I died at this very moment?
- Do I possess any outstanding debts (loans, credit card debt, asset payments, etc.) that my family could inherit once I’m gone?
- Would my loved ones experience any difficulty in securing final expenses for me?
- Do I want to make sure loved ones are able to purchase my share of my business after my death?
- Would my significant other fall into financial hardship trying to care for our kids?
- Do I provide the primary source of income for my household?
- Have my finances been altered in any way since I purchased the life insurance plan I have now?
Important Steps to Take
Up to 30-40% of life insurance companies you’ll find today do not pay out like they should. Worse yet, the government is allowed by law to capitalize on the cash values from your life insurance and use it to cover custodial care/assisted living expenses. We assume people don’t pay life insurance premiums for fun, but they instead pay these premiums with the intent that the benefits will pay out to their loved ones.
To ensure this, we encourage you to start a brand new life insurance account—preferably, life insurance with living benefits—and assigning ownership to your most trustworthy child(ren). These living benefits will increase financial stability for you and your loved ones. You could then safely lapse your old policy without worrying about the financial risk. A note of warning: there is currently a 5-year look back at your assets (with the threat of legislation to increase the look back period,) so time is of the essence to put your life insurance in someone else’s name.
What’s Next?
American Family Seniors Services can help you choose the best life insurance policy for you and your family. We provide many plan options, including Whole life, Term, and Indexed Universal Life. Regardless of the type of plan you choose, we can help you get started or update your current policy. Contact us for more information on whole life insurance, living benefits, Indexed Universal Life Insurance and more.