If you are a young person, married, and about to buy basic insurance, term insurance is not the long-term answer. You need permanent coverage until you die, at the lowest net cost. Why? Well, take the case of Mrs. Widow, age 78, at the other end of life. Her husband had carried twenty-year level-premium term life insurance for $500,000. He died fifteen years after it had passed its twenty-year mark. It was too expensive to renew and after all they had bought it to cover the family's Manulife Vitality needs until the children were through school. Unfortunately, retirement savings were inadequate, and Mrs. Widow has had to sell their home, hoping she can manage to live off the net sale proceeds until she dies.
Along with understanding the underwriting guidelines, you need to get familiar with how each carrier works, i.e. whether they require a preliminary offer, whether the app can be filled out online, etc. You also need to know what health conditions are best met by what carriers. This sounds like a lot but Manulife Vitality Plan within months you'll have it down. Knowing the rules of the direct marketing life insurance game will help you get many more strikes.
The underwriting will be more leniant when you are younger. I don't know too many people that are happy get medical tests done. While these are necessary to secure a policy, what is required can be significantly less invasive when you are younger depending on the level of insurance. A typical policy these days asks younger individuals for a medical questionnaire, a blood sample, and a urine sample. When you are older they may require full paramedical exams, resting ECGs, physicals, etc. Note: Underwriting is case specific and will be determined based on face amount of the policy and previous health issues.
Personal connection is the secret ingredient of marketing and sales success stories. Just take an informal poll of the commercials on TV. How many commercials show pets, kids, grandparents and families? Stories personal connections Manulife Vitality health program and emotions sell. Does your sales presentation have the compelling elements?
While I am very glad to see that around 70% work 40 hours or less in a week, I remain concerned about those who work more than 40 hours a week. While the survey didn't ask, the consistent message I hear from medical transcriptionists is that they have to put in the extra hours to make ends meet financially. It's also no surprise in seeing this that we often hear MTs struggling with work/life balance issues.
This family's example we shows 18 years of income need. Insurance companies usually don't have an 18-year level term product. Usually, they will offer ten, fifteen or twenty year terms policies. In this example, we would recommend buying either a 15-year or 20-year level term insurance policy. Decide which one to buy based on your own analysis of your family's needs. Your final analysis will determine the length of time you will need this insurance.
So all those of you who do not have insurance coverage as of yet, go and buy yourself a term life insurance policy. It is the need of the hour and it is actually the best sort of plan.