any recommendations for good life insurance firms? I am having a diificult time narrowing down on one that is fairly rated with a reasonable premium. Reviews online appear to be all over the place.

We recently got a new policy with AIG. Shopped around and they were the lowest price for us and also a trusted name.

Send a message to Stive.

Primerica

Prudential, AIG, Protective tend to be competitively priced in my experience.

It really depends on your specific health. For example I'm a bit overweight and prudential has the best underwriting for that so I bought my term there.

nactownag said:

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For example I'm a bit overweight and prudential has the best underwriting for that so I bought my term there.

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Can you tell us your age and what you are paying? I'm looking to add some coverage. 38 and big boned.

There are several good options when it comes to life insurance. Each case/individual is different due to needs, health class, budget, timeline, etc. We have just about every major life insurance carrier available to us to write and we would love to help you out. The companies listed above are all good options, but feel free to PM me or email me, morgan.moudy@rolloinsurance.com, if you would like me to shop all of our carriers for you. We can discuss what you want/need and which options are best for you. I would be happy to help if wanted.

The reviews and prices will be all over the place because there are too many unknown variables so the online comments/prices won't be able to accurately get info to you.


Some companies are better priced for unhealthy people (typically your lower rated companies), some will blow the others out of the water if you're healthy. Some want/prefer a younger book of business and thus price the older term insurance policies out of contention, some price their books consistently throughout a persons life cycle. Are you pricing 10 year? 20 year? 30 year? Adjustable premiums? Younger? Older? Being conservative about your health when entering info (i.e. guessing 5 lbs over your weight or 5 lbs under)?

One of the other big reasons you'll get varying numbers is that some companies use what's called a "knockout" method of underwriting. For example: you have high blood pressure so you're automatically bumped down to the next level of pricing. You have high cholesterol too? Bump him down again. There are some companies that use a "t-chart" method. You have high BP, you get bumped down. You have fabulous vitals and your BMI is in great shape, the BP issue is offset and you're back to best rating.

All that means is that it's hard to peg a product line that's all over the map because of the multitude of variables that either aren't included or are assumed with the online pricing tools.


In the end you're buying term insurance so don't overthink it. The likelihood of needing it is insanely low. The likelihood of having an issue if you needed a claim paid is also insanely low. There are lots of good companies and there's an extremely good chance that whoever you pick this time around will be dropped for something else at a point in the not so distant future when a kid shows up, a new home is bought, a business is bought or sold, or you want to give the business to an acquaintance or relative that approaches you about it. If you want to do it yourself via online and 1-800-application help numbers, pick a company you feel like you've heard of or know something about that is competitively priced, but know that you're not saving yourself any money by not going through an agent/broker/advisor. If you want someone to explain some things to you, do some of the sorting for you, and walk you through the goods and bads, ask around among friends or family or there are some guys here that can help as well.

Good luck.

30, male, 6' tall, 285lb. blood pressure on the high side but not terrible. most everything else is ok.

20 year term. 1 million death benefit. plus I added a 500k accidental death benefit. Basically if I die in an accident then it pays 1.5 million anything else is just 1 million.

I pay $1280/year. I think the accidental death added maybe 150-200/year to the cost so just a regular 1mm 20 year term was around 1050-1100/year or so.

Did you just go direct to all three or is there a clearinghouse you use/recommend to get quotes?

Would encourage you to look into Thrivent Financial as well.

I sold myself my policy. I am an Edward Jones CFP

Do you get commission when you sell to yourself? Would be nice to offset some of those premiums

Football&Finance said:

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Do you get commission when you sell to yourself? Would be nice to offset some of those premiums

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Yes you do.

I probably got about $400 net before taxes.
One time commission no renewals and I'll pay over 20k in premiums.

nactownag said:

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I probably got about $400 net before taxes.
One time commission no renewals and I'll pay over 20k in premiums.

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Yeah those greedy/selfish insurance guys sticking it to you.

Thanks for the great suggestions...I am currently shopping around and before any medical tests Mutual of Omaha is the cheapest for the 20 yr term I am looking at...new York life for now is the most expensive. I am waiting on AIG ..we will see what they come up with. Any opinions on Mutual of Omaha? Morgan..will email you soon about specifics

I should also add that one other thing I found to be important for my future planning is the convertibility of the policy.

Wife and I each have a 1mm policy so we will have the option at any time to convert them to permanent with no medical underwriting.

I suspect later in life I will want to own a policy for estate planning purposes and don't want to worry about my health preventing me from getting that done.

General question - how much life insurance do you have/ recommend? I am 37 with 2 kids. My wife is a similar age. We both make roughly the same low 100s

Very general rule of thumb is 10-12 times income. Variables that tweak it one way or another are: multi-income family, debt, number of children, age, etc.

The tweaking usually gives it a variance of 2-3. So if your financial situation was very strong, 2 kids (instead of 4), dual incomes, you might be able to get away with 8 times income. On the flip side, if you're a single income household, 4 kids, lots of debt, it might be as high as 15 or 16 times.

And the higher incomes usually buy/need more coverage. Not the other way around.

Really depends on what your desired income replacement would be in the event of your absence. Simply satisfying all outstanding debts and/or providing college funding for your kids typically wouldn't require an astronomical face amount. Satisfying those debts, college funding AND providing the income replacement of say 70-80K a year for the next 15-20 or the rest of your spouse's life is an entirely different conversation.

Very helpful. Thank you.

Lots of great info here.

Basically I ended up using one of the calculators the insurance companies provided online and came up with my amount.

I pay $64/month for 1.5 million in coverage. 20 year term I bought at 32. I am a 34 year old male.

Also, as far as how much. I think working the numbers on what you would want your spouse to do with the money is the best bet. The people selling are typically going to suggest on the high end because that's just how it works. Some of that is because they've known people who died with too little. Some might be that a higher premium pays more commission. Either way, see what's right for you and your situation. I know a million is more than enough for my wife based on our current lifestyle and the investments I have her lined up to make if something happens. The rest is just cushion to pay for kids college and stuff. For $64/month. Totally worth it to me. May not be for others.