universal life insurance - Life Insurance Recommendations

Guaranteed acceptance life insurance: your last choice

May 23, 2011

4:59 PM

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Don’t fall for mail order offers for guaranteed issue life insurance or guaranteed issue life insurance. Better options are out there. You can potentially save thousands on premium or get twice as much coverage with another carrier.

I received the other day a mail solicitation from United of Omaha Life Insurance Company for guaranteed acceptance life insurance. This is also called guaranteed issue life insurance or graded benefit life insurance. They say “You Cannot Be Turned Down.” They offered coverage choices from $10,000 to $3,000.

Wait. This is last resort life insurance. Don’t even consider this until you’re sure you can’t get something better. Just to give you an idea, a 65 year old woman, preferred non smoker rate, can get $25,000 of guaranteed universal life, fixed rate to age 110, with Genworth for less than $10,000 whole life with a 2 year waiting period with United of Omaha for graded benefit whole life insurance.

Take these steps when shopping for a small final expense life insurance policy.

#1 Choice For excellent, good, average, or even poor health

Fully underwritten life insurance. Full and immediate benefit. Applications require a blood test and short paramedical exam. Carriers generally request your medical records, all at no charge to you. This way life underwriters can gage your risk classification and make you an offer for coverage. This will save you lots money over a no physical exam policy. Genworth and North American offer lifetime guaranteed permanent coverage, called no lapse universal life, starting at a $25,000 benefit, and multiple carriers, including Lincoln National and Aviva, offer coverage of $100,000 and more for seniors. Unless you’re in really, really poor health, try this first. There is no cost to you to apply, and the worst they can do is offer you a higher rate or turn you down.

Plan B: 2 years after any major health problem, or with multiple serious health problems

If your health is marginal, or you want a smaller less expensive policy than $25,000 with Genworth or North American, the next step is simplified issue whole life. It has a full and immediate benefit. There is no physical exam. There are many, many carriers that want your business. Comparison quote with an independent broker. AARP offers this type of product but ask yourself, since both AARP and New York Life draw a profit from the policy, won’t going to directly to one carrier be less expensive? Here are some final expense simplified issue whole life carriers:

Liberty Bankers Life
Settlers Life
Transamerica
Foresters
Royal Neighbors
Columbian Life
Philadelphia American
American Continental

Plan C: Major health problems but not terminal

Graded Benefit Life Insurance If your health is very poor, coverage is offered with a 2 or 3 year waiting period for full benefit. More expensive

Plan D: Terminal health, or nearly terminal health

Guaranteed Issue Life Insurance No medical questions. Guaranteed approval. 2 or 3 year waiting period. Most Expensive.

Please contact me for a free and confidential quote.

Licensed Agent: Sean Drummey
phone: (910) 328-0447
email: spdrummey@gmail.com

Whole Life is better under age 40

by Sean Drummey

May 16, 2011

4:40 PM

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In Your 20's or 30's, In your 60's, In your 70's, Universal Life, Whole Life

I was running $100,000 permanent life insurance quotes today for a woman in her late 30’s. I quoted MassMutual for whole life. Premiums for guaranteed universal life with PennMutal were about half as much. But I recommended whole life even though it was more. Being under 40 the quality of whole life is worth the extra price.

With a participating whole life’s dividends like MassMutual, the face amount increases over the years: $101,000, $102,000, etc. There is also paid up insurance. Whole life has guaranteed cash value and dividends will increase the cash value higher. Over time the policy holder will have many options as those dividends and cash value increases to vary their premiums.

With the guaranteed universal life it’s a fixed course. The face amount remains level. $100,000 all the way. That’s my biggest concern with setting a level face amount too in one 30’s. What will $100,000 be worth 40 to 50 years from now? The payments are level but if you miss a couple of payments, changing banks or whatever, you may rescue the universal life with the cash value, but the lifetime guarantee is broken.

Granted with a universal life (UL) you can opt to structure it with an increasing face amount and to endow, worth it’s cash value, just like a whole life. But it’s not guaranteed to do so like whole life. When you add whole life type features into a UL, the premium rises so close to a whole life you might as well go for the real thing. That is when you’re in your 20’s or 30’s.

Now when you’re in your 60’s or 70’s it’s a different story. You don’t have time to build up cash value in a whole life and the premiums are much higher. A guaranteed UL is better.

Whole Life or Universal Life?

by Sean Drummey

April 12, 2011

2:21 PM

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Universal Life, Whole Life

The short answer is Universal Life.

Whole life is much more expensive than universal life (UL), so unless your wealthy or under 40, universal life generally makes more sense. To get the quality elements of whole life, considering adding a few whole life features to a regular UL.

Increasing face amount
Endow at age 100
guaranteed to age 121
guaranteed cash value

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Higher Quality Permanent Life Insurance

by Sean Drummey

March 28, 2011

3:56 PM

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Universal Life, Whole Life

Permanent life insurance is either universal life (UL) or whole life. UL is much more affordable, so generally that’s the best choice, unless you’re very well off. But UL’s don’t automatically include whole life’s quality features, so let’s look at three whole life features you can structure into your UL.

Whole Life has a lifetime guarantee. You can add a lifetime guarantee to a Universal Life. For example, let’s take a 59 year old female, best health rate.

Lifetime Guarantee

Annual Premium	Face Amount	Product	Carrier
$1,116	$100,000	Guaranteed Universal Life	Aviva Life & Annuity
$2,995	$100,000	Whole	MassMutual

Both have lifetime guarantees but this guaranteed UL has a level face amount and participating whole life, like this one, the face amount increases over the years. Is that important? It depends how old you are. 59 is a bit young to have a level face amount. What will $100,000 be worth 20 years from now?

So let’s structure the UL with an increasing face amount and quote North American, since they have a critical care rider which allows you to accelerate out your death benefit if you need long term care.

Increasing Face Amount

Annual Premium	Face Amount	Product	Carrier	Feature
$1,559.00	$100,000	Universal Life	North American	Increasing Face Amount: solve $1 at age 100

Continue reading “Higher Quality Permanent Life Insurance” →

Survivor Universal Life Uses

by Sean Drummey

March 23, 2011

11:55 AM

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In your 60's, In your 70's, Product, Universal Life

A couple for estate planning purposes may create one life insurance policy that pays out when the last surviving person passes away. The product used for this is called a SUL or Survivor Universal Life. To lock down the death benefit, a lifetime guarantee is usually part of the coverage, so look for the the letter G in the mix, as in SUL-G. It is less expensive to have a joint policy as a couple than two separate individual policies. Also you qualify for coverage even if one of you is uninsurable or in poor health. It’s uses are generally:

Estate Taxes

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Dial-A-Guarantee

by Sean Drummey

March 17, 2011

11:19 AM

Lifetime Guaranteed Coverage

by Sean Drummey

February 14, 2011

10:52 AM

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In your 60's, Product, Universal Life

One key element to permanent life insurance is the age guarantee. If you’re over age 60, look for something called guaranteed universal life, or GUL for short. The best of these products guarantee coverage at a fixed rate to age 120 or beyond. Banner Life has a good product that guarantees cash value accumulation as well. All you have to do with a GUL is pay on time. The contract provides a lapse protection guarantee as long a you make timely payments.

Whole life insurance was traditionally guaranteed to age 100 with guaranteed cash value. Universal life, UL, came out in 1980’s promising higher returns but took out those guarantees. About the year 2000, carriers introduced universal life with lifetime guarantees. A guaranteed UL is much less expensive than whole life, so much of what you see out there today are guaranteed ULs.

Which company has the best guaranteed UL for you will depend on your age and health. As an independent broker I have access to multiple carrier comparison quote systems not available to consumers on the internet. You can compare term on the internet but not permanent. Let me know, and I show you the top 5 for your age and health.

If you bought cash value life insurance in the 1980’s or 1990’s let me review it for you. It may not be a permanent as you think.

Incentive for Smokers to Choose MassMutual Whole Life or UL

by Sean Drummey

October 27, 2010

2:31 PM

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Universal Life, Whole Life

MassMutual is the only life insurance carrier I’m aware of that allows whole life or universal life tobacco policy holders to switch to non tobacco rates, if they have quit tobacco use for one year. So let’s say you smoke cigarettes and plan to quit, um, one day. With an eye to the future, you take out a MassMutual whole life or UL with a tobacco rate. You pay along on your policy, and lo, that steely willpower day comes: New Year’s Eve, a birthday, baby on the way, when you finally quit. Contact MassMutual after a year, fill out a few forms and do a urine sample. You don’t have to all the way through underwriting again; basically it’s a limited set of questions that have to do with smoking. If you’ve developed a nasty smoking related condition along the way: coronary artery disease, cancer, emphysema, to name a few, you won’t be permitted to switch.

Quit pounding coffin nails, before the lid is too tight, and you lower your premium to non smoker rates. Plus your UL or whole life policy cash values perform much better off the tobacco road. Granted, many people never quit, but this a viable avenue for a far better deal on your UL or whole life insurance, and another incentive for quitting to lay down on the path.