Life insurance is one of the most important investments you can make to protect your family.
Think about how you protect what you value. You purchase insurance to protect your home against the storms of life. You purchase insurance to protect your automobiles against accidents and the unexpected.
You even purchase insurance to protect your health and well-being.
Life insurance is the best investment you can make to protect your family for the future. Even after you’re gone, they’ll be secure.
Your smart decisions today will protect them tomorrow. Making those smart decisions is as easy as contacting our life insurance agency. We will help you navigate the many choices available for life insurance in Santa Clara.
Why Life Insurance?
No one likes to think about the time their family might need life insurance. But you’ll have peace of mind, knowing they are covered.
Should something happen to you, will your spouse be able to pay the bills? Will your family be able to stay in the home you’ve enjoyed together?
What if your spouse gets sick? Will your kids still be able to go to college without worry? Will your spouse be able to enjoy retirement worry-free?
Life insurance preserves the future you’ve planned. You’ll rest easy knowing you’ve protected your family. Even if something unexpected happens, life insurance will provide for your loved ones.
What Kind of Life Insurance Do I Need?
There are many options for life insurance. One or more will provide the right kind of coverage for your family.
How will you know the best choice for your circumstances? There’s not a one-size-fits-all answer. Most people find that several insurance products combined work best to offer the highest value and level of protection.
A qualified life insurance agent is the key to finding the right policy. You need someone who is an expert in the industry. It’s also imperative your life insurance agent is honest and has your best interests in mind.
CB Acker Associates is the premier life insurance agency serving the Santa Clara area. Our agents have decades of experience in life insurance. They will listen to your needs and work hard to find the best solutions possible for you and your family.
Here are some of the life insurance options you and your CB Acker Associates life insurance agent may consider:
Term Life Insurance
Term life is the simplest life insurance option. It’s also the least expensive life insurance, making it a popular option for people in many different circumstances.
Term life offers financial protection for a specified period. You pay premiums, and if you die, the death benefit goes to your beneficiaries.
With term life insurance, the policy pays death benefits only if the insured passes away within the covered period. It’s easy to remember this if you remember the “term” in its name. Your beneficiaries will only get the benefit if you die within the “term.”
The term can vary, but they are often 10 to 30 years. Likewise, premium amounts vary, depending on the insured’s age and the policy’s term.
Your beneficiary can receive death benefits in several ways, including as a monthly annuity payment or a lump sum. Many people opt for a lump sum, which can help pay funeral and final medical expenses.
There’s no cash value to term life insurance, meaning you won’t be able to take the cash value of the policy out before you die. However, many life insurance carriers in California offer term life insurance policies that have the option to convert to a permanent policy.
Whole Life Insurance
Just as the name implies, whole life insurance is valid for your entire life. Regardless of when you die, your beneficiaries receive the death benefit. You could consider it a “permanent” form of life insurance.
Premiums for whole life insurance start higher than those for a comparable level of term life insurance. By averaging the cost of the premiums, you pay the same amount each year.
Level premiums mean you may pay more than the actual cost of protection when you are younger. But as you age, the cost of your premium compared to your insurance protection decreases. However, your premium will remain stable the entire time.
Another benefit of whole life insurance is its ability to build cash value. You can withdraw this cash equity or use it to continue insurance coverage.
You can also use the cash value as loan collateral, giving you more flexibility.
Universal Life Insurance
If you’re looking for even greater flexibility, you may want to consider universal life insurance. Universal life insurance offers more flexibility than traditional whole life plans by offering adjustable premiums.
Three components are treated separately in universal life insurance:
- The premium
- Cash value
- Death benefit
Universal life insurance allows the insured to change premium payments, or even skip payments if necessary. The premiums get credited to an interest-bearing account. The interest rate is either variable or fixed.
The funds in this account cover the cost of your insurance and other expenses.
The policy’s value equals the minimum amount needed to keep the insurance coverage in place. Withdrawing cash won’t affect the death benefit.
Variable Universal Life Insurance
Variable life insurance is an attractive option for those who want a potentially higher death benefit.
It is similar to investing in mutual funds. The premiums paid for insurance coverage are placed in stocks, bonds, or other investments.
Unlike whole life insurance’s guaranteed death benefit, the payout from a variable life insurance policy depends on the investments’ performance. When the market does well, the death benefit rises. When the market doesn’t fare well, the death benefit is less.
Variable universal life insurance simply combines a variable life insurance’s investment account with the flexibility of universal life insurance. In contrast, traditional universal life insurance has premiums placed in an interest-bearing account with a fixed or variable interest rate.
Most policies have ceiling limits on earnings. They also have floor limits, so that you won’t lose money on your policy.
Simplified Issue Life Insurance
Simplified issue life insurance is right for people who want to skip a medical exam and get insurance quickly.
Most life insurance policies require a medical exam to determine if you have underlying health conditions. Exams help the insurer know how much it will cost to insure you and set your premium rate.
But what if you need insurance immediately? Simplified issue life insurance allows you to skip the exam and get insurance faster, often within a few days.
There are a few disadvantages, however.
You still need to complete a medical questionnaire. Your insurer still needs to know important facts about your health. If you have too many red flags, you will be required to take a medical exam.
Simplified issue life insurance can also be limited in its coverage and how much your policy can be customized.
The biggest disadvantage to simplified issue life insurance, however, is the cost. If you are young and healthy, term life insurance will likely have the lowest premium. For people who are older or not in good health, simplified issue life insurance may be a good option.
Guaranteed Issue Life Insurance
If you don’t want to answer any questions about your health, consider guaranteed issue life insurance.
Like simplified issue life insurance, guaranteed issue life insurance does not require a health exam. It doesn’t even require the applicant to answer any health-related questions.
You only need to provide your age, gender, and state where you live. As long as you can pay the premium, you can get coverage.
The lack of health requirements makes guaranteed issue life insurance popular for the elderly. Like simplified issue life insurance, guaranteed issue life insurance is one of the more expensive options.
An important consideration is the lack of death benefit within the first year or two of coverage. Your beneficiaries will not receive a death benefit if you die during this period. The waiting period is a way to discourage very ill people from getting coverage just for the death benefit.
Final Expense Insurance
A death in the family is a traumatic time. It can also be financially devastating. But it doesn’t need to clean out the family’s coffers.
Final expense insurance helps ease the burden of preparing for a funeral. It provides money specifically for final arrangements.
Just how much will your funeral cost? More than you might think. The average price of a funeral in California today is between $7,000 and $12,000. And that doesn’t include the expenses of a cemetery plot, monument, or flowers.
To get final expense insurance, you need to meet with a funeral director to discuss the estimated cost of your funeral service. Then you’ll know how much insurance you need.
Final expense insurance is typically one of the most affordable life insurance options. It also provides tremendous relief knowing the money will be there if needed.
Your beneficiaries do not need to use the death benefit for funeral expenses should they decide to use it elsewhere.
In most cases, final expense insurance is a simplified issue policy. In some cases, you could get guaranteed issue coverage if you don’t pass the health questions.
Group Life Insurance
Some employers offer group life insurance as an employee benefit. It’s most often term life insurance; coverage ends when your employment does.
There are some advantages to taking part in your company’s group life insurance plan. Group life insurance is generally affordable. Because employers buy insurance at wholesale and offer it to many people, premium costs stay relatively low.
It’s also convenient. Many companies just require you to sign up, usually after your probationary period ends.
It’s often free, too. Companies will often provide a policy worth one or two years of annual salary as an employment perk.
Your employer’s plan is a good start, but why stop there? Often employers will allow their workers to purchase additional group life insurance. With low premium costs, perhaps you could afford to buy additional coverage through your group life insurance program.
Just remember that most group life insurance is term insurance. It will end when you leave your job. If you are an older worker or have other considerations, you will want to talk to a life insurance agent about which life insurance option best complements your employer’s plan.
How We Can Help
Choosing life insurance isn’t easy. There are a lot of options for life insurance in Santa Clara.
It’s easy to get confused. Our expert team at CB Acker Associates knows you have questions about life insurance. We have your answers. We make buying life insurance easy.
Whether you are interested in guaranteed issue, final expense insurance, or just have life insurance questions, let CB Acker Associates help make your dream policy a reality. You can schedule a free consultation or get a free quote by calling us at (659) 969-5844 or sending an email here. We look forward to hearing from you.
Together, we will find the best options to protect your loved ones.