When purchasing life insurance, you first need to determine what kind of insurance you will buy (term life or cash value) and the amount of coverage you need. Term life - which has a certain coverage for a defined term of time without any "cash value" that builds up over time - is the most straightforward kind and is generally substantially less expensive. If you choose a cash value life insurance policy, it's especially important to choose a carrier that is financially sound and stable. If you use an insurance aggregator such as Intelliquote, they will display the Standard and Poor's, Moody's, and other ratings. The California Department of Insurance has a helpful Consumer's Guide to life insurance.
Typical costs:
Using Intelliquote, we tested several different scenarios for a fit male in California who has never smoked and is seeking a 20 Year, $500,000 term life insurance policy. For a 30 year old, the monthly premium would be $24-$31 a month, for a 40 year old, the monthly premium would be $31-$40 a month, and for a 50 year old, the monthly premium would be $83-$92 a month.
Using Intelliquote, we tested several different scenarios for an obese male in Illinois who smokes a pack of cigarettes a day and is seeking a 20 year, $500,000 term life insurance policy. For a 30 year old, the monthly premium would be $95-$177 a month, for a 40 year old, the monthly premium would be $195-$243 a month, and for a 50 year old, the monthly premium would be $471-$541 a month.
Nation-wide online life insurance aggregators include IntelliQuote[1] and ReliaQuote[2] , which will provide a quick overview of possible rates.
Once you've gotten ballpark estimates of what kind of policy you want and what kind of companies you're interested in, you may want to talk to a life insurance agent to pick a specific policy. Be aware, though, that insurance agents can have financial incentives to encourage to you to pick particular plans.
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I purchased two 30 year $500,000 term life policies when I turned 40 and wife 38. I pay $145 monthly. If we do not use the benefits (die) ALL the premiums are returned!
FARM BUREAU...My mother purchase a 25,000 life insurance/ retirement plan for me when i was 22. At a cost of $19.00 month now that im 51 i found out that she was lied to by the agent she was told that the plan would pay me 60,000 at age 70 and increse if i waited longer. I even have a printout of this by the agent.Just found out its worth about 4,000 about 2,000 less than i paid into it. So much for retirement. FARM BUREAU comment sorry nothing we can do.
My dad is now 84 years old. I took over paying their bills 1- years ago and became aware that he was paying (through draft) $68.78 monthly for a term life? policy worth only $19,000. This doesn't seem possible. I contacted a Metlife rep several years ago and didn't get anywhere with him. My dad was a young man workin for the Middle GA Electrical Membership Corporation. They cut back right-of-way, put up lines, when your lights go out due to a storm, they are the guy who go out in the weather and get things back up and running. But, $68.78 for just $19,000. He has been disabled since early 70 and has been paying this premium all these years AND many year sprior to that as far as i know. My mom had an 8th grade education and my dad only a 7th. This seems criminal to me that this has gone on all these years. They didn't know any better. When I realized this at first, he had already paid in almost as much as it was worth adn I felt we had too much invested to just drop it.....He is a veteran released on an honorable discharge, so it is possible he didn't need this, but who knows at this point. Can you give me an direction? I had not thougth about talkign to the insurance commissioner or an attorney, but I may.
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