Category: Preferred best rates

5 Top Reasons For higher Life Insurance Rates and How to Avoid Them

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April 23, 2013

3:40 PM

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Consumer, life quotes, preferred best, Preferred best rates, preferred rate, quote illustration, rate classifications, Underwriting, Weight, Weight loss, Whole Life

 

Weight
overweight = higher rates

What to do?

1. Carrier build charts vary considerably.  Shop for the most favorable.

2. Wear light clothing for the paramed exam.  There is usually a 5 pound clothing allowance.   If borderline between rate classes, make sure the paramedical examiner has an accurate scale and you meet the weight required, especially if withing a few point.

Don’t bother waiting to lose lots of weight before applying for coverage.  If the weight loss is over 10 pounds within the last 12 months, underwriters automatically add back half the weight.  Waiting to lose a significant amount of weight may takes time. That savings is usually offset by a higher age rate.

 

Age

Birthday_Cake_Candles

1/2 birthday matters. Most carriers rates go by nearest attained age.

What to do?

Apply 4 to 6 weeks before the age rate changes. It is permitted to backdate the policy up to six months to save age.  Some carriers and products set rates by actual age.  Find out if a carrier with actual age rates saves money.

 

High Blood Pressure

PSdiaHTA

possible preferred best
Aviva   UL only
Banner
ING   ages 61-80
John Hancock
Lincoln Life
Minnesota Life
Principal
Transamerica  – Ages 50 and up
United of Omaha

For borderline high pressure, take a few precautions for the paramed exam.  Artificially high blood pressure and pulse readings may be caused by alcohol, tobacco, caffeine and stress.  Schedule the paramed appointment at the least stressful time of the day, and when you are not rushed to minimize elevated blood pressure readings.

 

Family History

 

Did a parent have or pass away from heart disease or cancer prior to age 60?

If yes, what to do?

Be careful in choosing a carrier. Underwriting guidelines and rates classifications vary considerably.  Sometime sibling history is included and other major health conditions.

 

Not Comparison Shopping

This takes many forms, but ending up with unsuitable more expensive coverage is a result of not taking the time and effort to shop for the best deal.  Direct mail life insurance is the most expensive.  Life insurance requiring a blood test has much lower rates.  Choose participating whole life over non participating whole life unless much older.  For permanent life insurance, insist on reviewing an illustration.  Compare multiple illustrations using the same assumptions.  Contact an independent agent rather than a captive agent that only represents one carrier.  Solicit more than one agent in order to compare proposals.  Do not automatically assume that a carrier’s underwriting decision is the most favorable.

Life insurance: needed and inexpensive

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January 24, 2013

1:42 PM

Leave a comment on Life insurance: needed and inexpensive

10 year term, Age 60, In your 40's, In your 50's, level term, preferred best, Preferred best rates, Preferred Plus Rates, preferred rate, rate classifications, standard, Standard Plus, term, term life rates

Morning Interior Maximilien Luce, 1890

My American consumers evidently have a limited understanding of life insurance, but life insurance is really not all that difficult.  A competent agent can explain the basics in a few minutes.  Most people need term life insurance which for most is inexpensive and has a fixed rate for decades.  For example age 50, $250,000, 10 year term is $21.12 a month at preferred plus and $38.35 a month at standard; age 60, $250,000, 10 year term is $43.09 at preferred plus and $75.38 a standard.

It boils down to recognizing the need for coverage.  Does someone depend on your income?   What would happen to your children or spouse if you died?  What are your family’s needs for estate planning?

It’s hard to consider one’s own death, but that becomes easier as you get older because people you know start dying.  This usually starts in high school and accelerates in your 40’s and 50’s.

Applying for life insurance, even if you regularly see a doctor, gives you a broader understanding of your health.  Life insurance, fully underwritten, the least expensive kind, requires a blood test and often a review of medical records, all at no cost to the applicant.  The carrier then determines a risk classification: preferred best, preferred, standard plus, standard or substandard.  It’s objective with measurable criteria.  That decision can be very revealing because often doctors do not adequately inform patients of their risk, and people often do not know or adequately understand the state of their health.