Category: Life Insurance

Indexed universal life insurance is a type of permanent life insurance, a type of insurance policy that stays active for the duration of the policy holder’s lifetime provided they make the appropriate premium payments.

You could argue that life insurance means nothing without the beneficiary. Sure, it’s the policyowner who initiates the coverage and pays the premiums. But assuming that the insured doesn’t let the insurance lapse or sell it in a life settlement, the beneficiary is the one who ultimately benefits from that life insurance policy.

As the name implies, permanent life insurance covers you for a lifetime. As long as you continue paying the premiums, the insurer cannot cancel your policy. In addition to paying a death benefit, permanent life insurance policies also include a savings component through which your policy can build cash value.

Can seniors over 70 get life insurance? The short answer is yes. The life insurance options for the elderly aren’t as plentiful as they are for the younger crowd, but seniors can secure a death benefit even after age 70. 

A Return of Premium (ROP) life insurance policy guarantees a full or partial refund of the premiums you pay if you outlive the stated term of the policy. This feature is typically added as a rider to a traditional term life policy that has a 20- or 30- year term. Some ROP policies return only the base premium payments to the policyholder but not the additional cost for the ROP rider, while others return the full cost.

Yes, toilet paper is hard to come by and there’s no telling when you’ll be able to eat in a restaurant again. But the pandemic is also causing economic turmoil, driving changes in the stock markets, interest rates, and the insurance industry. Obviously, your portfolio has been hit hard by the turbulent financial markets. As well, your life insurance policy — or the prospect of getting one — may look very different as the U.S. pandemic response evolves.

What do insurable interest and gravity have in common? Both are fundamental concepts that impact our lives daily, and yet we hardly think about either one. Gravity keeps your feet on the ground, and insurable interest underpins every insurance policy you’ve ever owned.

Whole life insurance, sometimes called “straight life” or “ordinary life,” is a type of permanent life insurance and is the most well-known form of life insurance. Whole life insurance policies last the whole life of the policyholder and are paid out to the policyholder’s beneficiary or beneficiaries upon death provided that premiums are paid. It’s important to note that because whole life insurance lasts throughout the policyholder’s life, premiums are typically higher and cost more than term life insurance. Along with death benefits, whole life insurance also comes with a type of savings called “cash value” and may grow tax-deferred interest.

Life insurance is like pizza — it comes in many styles and the customization options are practically endless. But unlike pizza, it’s cost-prohibitive to sample life insurance policies to pick the one you like. And that means you’ll have to know your options and clarify your financial goals to land on the type of life insurance that’ll work for you.

Most people don’t think about how life insurance payouts work unless they’re filing a life insurance claim. If you’re in that situation right now, we feel for you. To make this difficult time a little easier, we’ve put together the information below to help you understand how the process works and what your options are if you find yourself the beneficiary of a life insurance policy or need to help someone else make a claim. Here are the steps you will go through in the payout process.