Life Insurance by Jeff Podcast

Life insurance is one of the most important purchases that you’ll ever make for your family. It’s one of the only ways that you can protect your family, regardless of what happens to you. Because it’s so vital, you should be 100% sure that you’re making the best decision for you and your loved ones, but depending on your situation, that can be frustrating and difficult. Life insurance is something that is unique to your particular lifestyle and needs. So it comes as no surprise that being over the age of 70 is another contributing factor to the type of insurance you end up needing. Perhaps the most important thing to remember when shopping for insurance at the age is to not have any type of lapse in coverage. It is for this reason that it is recommended to obtain a policy that is immediate in coverage. This equates to any beneficiaries of the policyholder receiving a payout in the event of death immediately after the creation of the policy.       What Should My Coverage Be If I am Over 70? There are several different factors that you need to consider when trying to decide which coverage type is going to work best for you. At age 70, you might not need to have life insurance much longer. That’s why buying a short term policy is going to be the best option. You can find a life insurance policy for 10 or 20 years, which should be long enough for your life insurance needs. Because term life insurance has an expiration date on them, they tend to be much cheaper than the other coverage options. If you’re looking for the cheapest life insurance, term policies are the way to go Not all policies will offer this but it may also be a good idea to look for a terminal sickness driver when shopping for a policy. This provides the opportunity for the policyholder to benefit from coverage in the event of a terminal sickness. An additional benefit that is worth considering is a long-term excellent care protection. This allows for the care (both medically and non-medically) of a person that is diagnosed with a chronic illness and can no longer care for themselves. If you acquire a whole lifestyle plan after already being diagnosed with a chronic or terminal illness, there are some important points to keep in mind. Oftentimes, life insurance companies will not start protecting the covered for at least a few years. This equates to limited payouts for the covered in the event that they were to die within the first couple of years after initial coverage. This is a great option for those who have otherwise been denied coverage. The plan allows for a 5-10 percent payout for the first couple of years to the beneficiary. This is a very generous payout for an otherwise normal policy on somewhat who is considered relatively risky. What are the protections and rates that I can expect over the age of 70? The best term and whole life insurance companies estimate that an average person will live to be at least ninety. It is for this reason that the protection period offered to a mature of age 70 is typically 10 to 15 years. This hopefully will cover a policyholder for the remainder of their lifetime. A phrase protection policy at this age is typically used in order to cover the expenses of someone after death. The risky part of this is the case that you outlive the policy and need to reinstate it at a much higher premium. Not only this but you may even be declined coverage which could be extremely detrimental on the finances of your family. It is for this reason that it is highly recommended to for matures over the age of 70 to buy into a whole lifestyle strategy. This type of coverage lasts until age 100. There are other plans that extend to age 120 as well. These policies vary in the amount of premium but are most likely worth the extra expense as they provide peace of mind. Sample Term Quotes for Life Insurance for Seniors 70 Year...

There are dozens of different insurance products, each of them has their own set of advantages and disadvantages. Trying to decide which one works best for you can be a long and complicated process, but it’s vital that you understand all of the options and what they provide. One of the insurance products receiving some interest in recent years has been the universal index life insurance policy. These life insurance policies are permanent life insurance policies, build cash value over time, and provide the ability to take advantage of stock market gains. While the universal index life insurance policy can be a way to aggressively grow your cash value in a life insurance policy over time, it's important to be aware that there are drawbacks to these types of policies as well.   How Universal Index Life Insurance Works As with most life insurance policies, your premiums go to the insurance company, which then invests the money in bonds, stocks, funds or other investments. The insurance company makes money, hoping to make enough from premiums and investments that it can afford to pay out benefits when the insured's life ends. With a universal index policy, part of your premium is invested in a fund that is connected to a particular index. (Many policies are indexed to the S&P 500.) When that index does well, your cash value builds faster, and you earn more money for that year, to go into your cash value fund. If the index doesn't do well, your cash accumulates much slower. Many policies allow for a flexible premium, and you can choose to add more in order to help you build up your cash fund. Most universal index life insurance policies come with a guarantee that you will be credited a certain amount each year -- regardless of how well the index does. This might be a very low number, such as 1% or 2% (or even a guarantee that you just won't lose money), but it's still an assurance that you won't lose cash value. Additionally, it its worth noting that most of these types of life insurance policies also have caps. This means that you won't end up growing your cash value by as much as you would like if the index does really well. Pros and Cons of Universal Index Life Insurance Policies One of the biggest advantages of a universal index life insurance policy is the potential for growth, while you receive protection from volatile markets. Your cash value, depending on the state you are in, might also come creditor protection. Plus, it is usually possible to withdraw money from your cash fund without running into the same penalties and restrictions that come when you withdraw early from a tax-advantaged retirement account. On the downside, though, is that most of these policies come with fairly high fees. The commissions are often front-loaded, so it can take years before your cash fund sees significant growth. Later in life, you might not have enough value in your cash fund to keep the policy in force, and your premiums might go up if you want to keep the policy current. And, of course, your gains are limited by the process used by the life insurance company to figure out how much you end up with from stock market increases. In some cases, you might be better off just investing in an index fund on your own, without doing it through an insurance policy. Overall, I still can see a place where these type policies can make sense.   Currently, I can no longer participate in a Roth IRA, so I've been looking for another potential option to  defer some money.    An index universal life policy just might be the ticket.   I'll have a follow up post that shows what I bought and how much I'm paying. The Alternatives After reading about the pros and cons of Universal Index Life insurance policies, you may have decided that they aren’t the best option for you. Don’t worry, you aren’t the only one. They are complicated and confusing plans that have...

Obtaining a cheap life insurance policy can be easy to do with the proper research and knowledge. I hope by now you realize you need to buy term life insurance. If you have any intentions of taking care of your family and their best interests, then it should be a non-issue. Now that we have that settled, let’s talk about how to get the cheapest term life insurance policy possible. Let’s Start With What You Shouldn’t Do You can make costly mistakes when buying life insurance, and that’s why this is a good place to start. Here’s what you want to avoid: Shopping on life insurance comparison websites. In addition to the fact that comparison websites are confusing places to do serious business, the real purpose of the sites is to gather information – yours. The goal is to allow every insurance agent in town to get your contact information. You get few serious quotes, but a lot of inquiries asking for you to complete this and that application – so that you can actually get a quote. There may be a serious policy in there somewhere, but it will take a lot of time and effort to get there.  Note:  We do not do this. We not sell your information and will be only contacted by one of our internal insurance specialist. Using a single company agency. There are “insurance agents” who are more like employees of a single insurance company, than insurance agents in a real sense. Because they represent only one company, you will be forced into only what the company has. And that may not be the right policy for you. Buy through your co-worker’s cousin who just got into the business. DON'T LAUGH! Some insurance companies are revolving doors. Agents come - and go just as quickly. One of the reasons is that some agencies push hard for new agents to sell to family and friends. Once the supply of familiar contacts has been exhausted, the agent is out looking for a new career. And you don’t want to buy something as important as life insurance from a newbie anyway. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s move on to what you actually should do. Do a Background Check - On Yourself! On any life insurance application that you complete – other than on a guaranteed issue policy – you will be asked a large number of questions about your health, and just about everything else in your life. It’s important to answer this questions honestly, because the company will investigate all of your answers. For example, it will do little good to not disclose a certain health condition in hopes of getting a lower premium. Once the condition is discovered, your premium rate will be adjusted accordingly. So before applying for life insurance, be ready to give factual answers for the following categories: Your family history - You should be prepared to provide serious health conditions of the members of your direct family line. That can include parents, siblings, and even children, as all can indicate the presence of genetic issues. If your parents died young from health conditions then you may be in for higher rates. Your occupation. Some occupations are considered to be hazardous by the insurance industry. Insurance companies will charge a higher premium as a result. This is something that you will want to discuss with your insurance broker, so that you will be able to determine the best companies to apply to. Health conditions. Think carefully that any health conditions that you have, even if you don’t think they are serious. This can include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or a previous bout with cancer. It’s always better to disclose these conditions, than to ignore them and hope that the insurance company won’t find out. Your weight. They’re going to weigh you so there’s no point in giving an optimistic number on the application. What you do for fun. If you have any potentially hazardous extracurricular activities,

When you have diabetes, you may worry that you can’t get life insurance at all. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Approximately 8.3% of the U.S. population has some form of diabetes, making the disease one of the most prevalent health concerns in the country. Getting affordable life insurance with diabetes can take some extra effort, but it is possible to get a policy with a favorable rate. How Does Diabetes Affect Life Insurance? With diabetes, just what your medical treatment is like and how well your condition is managed can make a big difference. Be sure to let insurance companies know whether or not you have to take medication to control your diabetes and what dosage you take. Knowing your average blood sugar level can help you to get more insurance offers and better rates if you have good control over your levels. If your diabetes is generally under good control, you can expect plenty of offers and reasonable rates for life insurance with diabetes. The time that you were diagnosed with the condition is also important to insurance carriers. If you were diagnosed as an adult, you can expect better rates. Insurance companies also prefer diabetics who have not had the condition very long. Diabetes Questionnaire- What You Need Handy If you have any type of diabetes and you're looking to get approved for a term policy, you'll need to have all your medical records handy.   Below are some sample questions to which you will need to have the answers to. 1.      Date of diagnosis:  Age at onset:  2.      Most current glycohemoglobin test reading:  Date:  Average A1C:  It is very important to have these numbers for any useful pre-underwriting premium estimate.  If the proposed insured is unaware of recent values for this test, please have her/him obtain these values from their healthcare providers.  A typical value lies between five and nine often expressed with a decimal such as 7.3.  Slightly higher or lower levels are possible.  3.      How often does the proposed insured visit their physician for a diabetic checkup: Monthly: Every three months: Every six months: Once a year: Less than yearly:  4.      The proposed insured controls his/her diabetes by: a. Diet/exercise: b.  Oral medication: c.  Insulin (units per day):  5.      Recent readings: Current height: Weight: Weight one year ago: Reason for change: Average fasting blood sugar reading: Blood pressure:  6.      Does the proposed insured take any other medications?  If yes, please list name of medication, prescription or otherwise, dates used, reason for Rx, diagnosis date.  7.      Has the proposed insured experienced any of the following, if yes please provide details below under question number eight. 8.      Weight problems: Coronary artery disease: Neuropathy: Protein in the urine: High blood pressure: Abnormal ECG: Retinopathy: Albuminuria: Chest pain: Elevated lipids: Kidney disease: Glycosuria: Insulin shock: Diabetic coma: Alcoholic or drug abuse:  9.      Please provide any additional details regarding the proposed insured medical condition: It's not required to have the info for the phone interview, but any info you have just expedites the process and helps us determine which life insurance carrier is going to be the best for you.  If you do not like this process it is possible to get approved for life insurance without an exam but you will typically pay higher rates than if you can get approved through underwriting. Other Medical Problems Simply having diabetes doesn’t have to be an enormous risk for life insurance companies, but it may be one if there are other medical problems in ad...

Special risk life insurance is a lot like high risk life insurance, you can get it but you’ll wind up paying more than those the insurance companies deem not a risk. Smokers and seniors are the primary example of those who companies deem a ‘special risk’, along with any other person with a pre-existing medical condition. Fortunately, those who are a special risk can still find special risk life insurance policies from companies willing to work with them or law firms working on their behalf. Perhaps one of the best things about a special risk policy is that your premiums can decrease after a year or more with no complications. With benefits like that waiting for clients, getting a special risk policy doesn’t seem so bad. But to really know if a policy is the right choice for you, you need to get all your facts about it.   Where to Get Special Risk Life Insurance? Most find it easiest to go through a special risk advocate to get quotes and estimates, and it’s not a bad idea. Having an in-home specialist to act as your go between, someone who knows what companies will look at, you’re chances of getting the best rates for your policy is pretty good. You may not always get the policy you were hoping for, but you’ll certainly get a secure plan for yourself and your family. Companies are re-evaluating their quoting policies and procedures, trying to keep up with the competition from other companies, and the chances of a special risk advocate finding a dependable policy sure beats trying to find one by yourself. Your Online Options But maybe letting someone look for you isn’t how you want to get your policy. Looking for special risk life insurance is almost like looking for high risk life insurance, but you already have a powerful advantage, the internet. Insurance companies are willing to give you free quotes, giving you an idea of how much you’ll be paying a policy. But beyond that, contact an insurance company you like, find out if there are any benefits you can receive, any discounts or decreases in premiums you’ll gain after being a client for several years. Another option is to try a website, like TheLifeInsuranceBlog.com, that specializes in special risk cases.  Keep in mind that as a special risk case, you’re likely to have higher initial premiums, but insurance is a must for your family’s financial security.  If the premiums through standard underwriting are too high you might consider a policy with no physical exam.  The nice feature about these is that you can frequently get your policy in less than two weeks. Finding Special Risk Insurance Finding the right special risk life insurance can be difficult, but there is always a company willing to insure even special risk clients. It can take time, but taking advantage of all the resources available to you makes getting special risk life insurance a much easier process than it once was. This article: Special Risk Life Insurance – How Special is it? is written by Jeff Rose CFP on his blog about Term Life Insurance.

My father had smoked for much of his adult life until he was 40. That is until he had me. He told me that seeing the burn holes from his ashes on his white undershirt was the reason he was determined to quit because he didn’t want those ashes falling on his newborn son. To quit smoking is one of the hardest challenges that many people addicted have to face but the benefits are huge. Most people understand the health benefits that go along with quitting smoking but many might not know or appreciate the financial savings that goes along with breaking the habit. One of those savings that you can experience is with your life insurance policy. We have shared in the past the cost of life insurance for smokers. The cost can be anywhere from two to three times what a typical nonsmoker would pay. Even rates for people that chew tobacco can be expensive, but what happens if you are finally able to kick the habit? Are you still going to have to pay rates as if you are a smoker? The good news is that if you kick the habit, you also have the potential to save a lot of money in your life insurance but if you are not working with an independent life insurance agent that knows what they are doing, that might not be the case. Let me explain.... Life Insurance For Someone Who Recently Quit Smoking We recently took a call from a gentleman that had quit smoking 13 months prior. When he initially applied for life insurance, he was able to get with a company that would give him a standard rating even though he hadn’t quit smoking for one year. Many carriers will give you the benefit of the doubt so as long as you actually kicked the habit. Since he had reached a year of quitting smoking, he was hopeful that he could reduce his rates even more. By the time he came to us, he had already talked to a few different agents and the most recent quote that he was given was a standard plus nonsmoker rate from MetLife with an annual premium of $1109 (see screen shot below). This was the independent agent that he trusted and felt knew what they were doing. Being the wiser, he decided to shop around just to make sure. Good thing he did. Working With an Independent Life Insurance Agent That Knows Their Stuff One of the biggest benefits of working with an independent agent is that they should be able to work with dozens of different carriers. But just because they can work with dozens of different carriers isn’t always a good thing if they don’t know the underwriting guidelines for each company. This situation was a case in point example. Our potential client was quoted a standard plus rating with an annual rate of $1109. This is because MetLife will only give a preferred rating if the individual had quit smoking for greater than five years. I was confident that we do better. Much better. Right now, the life insurance carriers that treat former smokers the most favorably will give you a preferred rating so as long as you quit smoking for a period of one year. Currently, these companies include Nationwide, Minnesota Life, and Principal. You can see their rates below. FYI, these premiums are based on the individual that was applying. He was approximately 40 years-old and seeking a $1 million dollar for a 2o year term. Non-Smoker Rates As you can see from the chart above, just because you can get preferred doesn't necessarily mean it will be cheaper. Nationwide would actually cost more for him at preferred than Metlife would at standard plus. A good independent agent will do their homework to find this out. What was cheaper was the two other companies with Principal being the cheapest at $924 per year. We were able to save the client $185 per year because we knew which carriers would approve him at preferred. Over the 20 year term that's $3,700 in savings! Bottom Line on Quitting Smoking

There’s no denying the importance of having life insurance coverage when you have loved ones to protect. For the most part, obtaining life insurance is rather simple. It requires making the decision to purchase it, seeking a life insurance agent to assist you, and figuring out how much you need. The one part about the process that many people find uncomfortable is the medical exam. If you’re not a big fan of needles and having your blood drawn, then getting life insurance might bring you into a state of anxiety. If this is you or if you’re just in need of getting life insurance fast, then you’ll be excited to know that there is a way to get term life insurance with no physical. That’s right; no needles, no urine samples, no excuses to prevent you from getting the life insurance that you need. If you’re interested in getting term life insurance with no physical, here’s what you need to know. In and Outs of Life Insurance Without a Physical To get life insurance with no physical exam, you’ll end up purchasing what’s either called Simplified Issue or Guaranteed Issue policies. Essentially these are policies that require no physical, no medical exam, and you can get up to $350,000 of life insurance coverage depending on the carrier. While you don’t have to take a physical, you do have to answer certain medical questions. If you can pass the medical screening questions, then you’re one step close to getting life insurance with no physical. Keep in mind that most of these insurances will still require a medical background and prescription check! 1ClickCoverage National Brokerage has a new product that does not require a medical exam. The best part about this product is that you can do the application online and be approved within 10 minutes! This is the fastest approval for life insurance around. With 1ClickCoverage they ask a series of questions about your medical history, as long as you can answer no to these questions, you can be approved for life insurance today. Click here to apply now! This product will check out your MIB and prescription history to make sure you qualify for their insurance. Here are some sample quotes:   Simplified Issue carriers such as Assurity, Fidelity Life, and Americo; although they don’t require a physical, will request your MIB, your MVR (motor vehicle record), and your doctor records. They’re just trying to verify that based on the medical questions they ask match up what’s actually on your medical history. Keep in mind that if the insurance carrier has to request medical records from your doctor it can extend the time it takes for them to get you insured!   Pros of Simplified Issue Insurance One of the bright sides of getting a Simplified Issue product over and above the fact you don’t have to take a physical is that they issue rather quickly. To go into the traditional underwriting process can take at minimum four to six weeks, sometimes longer. With some of the Simplified Issue products, they will be in force in sometimes as little as 48 hours, in other cases, five to seven business days. At this point, you might be a skeptic; can you really get life insurance without a physical. You can, but there are some downsides. Cons of Simplified Issue Policies One big noticeable downside is the amount of coverage you can obtain. Assurity is the only Simplified Issue carrier that will allow you to get up to $350,000 of coverage. Here are some quotes for Assurity's non-med term product: The other carriers; Fidelity and Americo will only go up to $250,000, so if you’re needing a sizeable amount of life insurance coverage; whether it be to protect your family, secure a business loan with life insurance or protect an estate from death taxes, Simplified Issue policies might not give you the amount of coverage you need. Now, one option you do have is that you can take out a Simplified Issue policy with each of ...

When you reach your 30s, life is in full swing. If you’re like me, you’ve been in your home for a couple years, you have new kids on the way, and you’ve enjoyed a few pay raises at your job. You start being more financially conscious about your family need, and term life insurance becomes more of a priority. If you read the previous posts talking about buy life insurance in your 20s, you’ll see how the thought process can change and it is much different than purchasing life insurance for people over 50. When I bought my first term life insurance policy at the age of 26, I thought $250,000 was more than enough. Since at the time it was only my wife and I, it definitely was a good amount, but reflecting back I probably should have bought more. In my 30s, I welcomed the arrival of not only our first son but our second and third as well. After our first son arrived, it was only matter of weeks before I realized that I needed more life insurance. The thought of something happening to me and my wife having to not only run the household but also take care of our little son, I knew that I needed more. I immediately then got a quote for a $500,000 30-year term policy that brought my grand total up to $750,000. 30 Year-Olds and Life Insurance Amounts - How do You Compare? How does this compare to you and your situation? First a couple things about where we live. We live in the Midwest, so the cost of living is relatively cheap. Our first home was a modest home, and our mortgage was only $109,000. For those of you who live in larger metropolitan areas, I realize it almost sounds like a joke. We had very little debt, so the house was our only major liability. At the time, $750,000 of life insurance coverage was more than ten times my income, so I felt we definitely had enough. Still, this feeling of security lasted up until we had our second son. We also were in the process of building a new home and having that gut feeling again, I decided I needed more insurance coverage for my family. That’s when I decided to buy an additional term life policy totaling $1.5 million. I kept the other two in force so the total coverage was $2.25 million. Many of you may think that this is excessive and it definitely could be, but as a 30-year-old male who wanted to make sure that his family was more than taken care of if anything happened to him, I felt it was necessity. In total, my premiums for all three 30-year term life policies was roughly $2400. Please note, after a few years I ended up refinancing my life insurance policies and reducing how much I paid. Rules of thumb of buying life insurance in your 30's There are many different ways you can go about calculating how much life insurance you need. The first general rule of thumb that many people use is to take 10 times your annual income. So, if you’re making $60,000 a year, times that by ten and you should have at least a $600,000 term life policy. One point I would like to emphasize in that calculation is that I think that is the bare minimum, so anything less than that and you’re under covered, but in reality you should have more. While you’re in your 30s, most likely you will be working at least another 30 years, so making sure you’re covered should be a priority. Here are a few example quotes of what a 30 year term policy would cost. If you are looking for a no exam life insurance policy, here are a few quotes for a 30 year non-medical term policy. Other methods of calculating how much you need I use a ten times my income calculation as a guideline in my interest calculation, but being a numbers guy I decided to use a slightly different calculation. I figured that if my wife invested the life insurance proceeds money she should be able to average at least 5% interest off her investments. I then also figured that she would need roughly $100,000 a year to take care of the house and her three boys to help ...

A lot of people want to get that one size fits all quote for life insurance. What you will find is that there is actually not a quote like that out there. Finding out how much life insurance costs takes a little bit of research and attention to detail, but with the right information you can find some very accurate quotes and see what is going to work the best for you. Be sure that you are checking these out so that you can get some quotes that are going to make sense for you and get the life insurance policy that is going to fit you the best. Age and Life Insurance One of the biggest factors that will affect the cost of your life insurance is your age. Age is a huge factor in determining how much it is and the older you are, the more that it costs. One of the best things that you can do is to lock in your cheap life insurance rates when you are young so that you can get the best rates and lock them in for a long period of time. Rates for a younger person in their 20’s can be as low as 20 bucks a month but for someone that was in their 50s it will be more like 50 or 60 bucks a month depending on health. Whole Life or Term Life There is a huge price difference between term and whole life insurance. Your term policies are going to be far cheaper than the whole life insurance. You will find that term life insurance is generally 2 to 3 times less than the whole life insurance policies are, so it will save you a lot of money to get a term life insurance policy over a whole life insurance policy. Health Conditions The rates for life insurance will drastically change if there is an issue with health. If you are taking medications for high blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol, or things of that nature, your rates will be affected. If you have had a heart attack or cancer in the last few years, your rate will be drastically affected and it is important to understand that. Be sure that you are honest with the agents you are talking to in regards to your health history so that you can get accurate quotes that will fit you. Get Your Free Life Insurance Quote Today! This article: How Much Is Life Insurance to Purchase? is written by Jeff Rose CFP on his blog about Term Life Insurance.

One of the biggest investments that a family can make for itself is in life insurance. Before deciding a life insurance policy, it is very important to understand the basics of life insurance as well as the different types. Different policies come with different types of benefits, making it pertinent that a family decides what type of benefits it needs. The most common types of life insurance policies are term and whole life plans. Basics of Life Insurance Purchasing a life insurance policy is so advantageous because it pays out monetary proceeds to a beneficiary in the event that the policyholder was to become deceased. In order to obtain a life insurance plan, a person needs to partner with a life insurance service provider by paying them monthly premium payments. There are many reasons as to why people take out life insurance plans. From wanting to be assured that their family will be financially protected in the event that their income provider becomes deceased to simply wanting money to pay for funeral costs, the reasons are endless. Life insurance is offered through many employers and also through private entities. In fact, some employers provide their employees with life insurance for free of charge. There are also some auto policies that are accompanied with life insurance. The exact monthly premium amounts that have to be paid by a policyholder for life insurance depends on the type of insurance obtained, the health of the policyholder, and also his or her occupation. If a person has a health condition that effects their mortality rates,  life insurance premiums will be higher in costs than those accompanied with a healthy person's policy. Occupation comes into play with the price of an insurance policy because those people with dangerous jobs tend to pay higher prices for a life coverage plan. For example, a skydiver would need to expect to pay more in monthly premiums than a teacher would. Basics of Term Life Insurance Term insurance policies tend to be the cheapest form of life coverage. A term coverage plan only pays out if the policyholder becomes deceased during a specified period of time. For example, if a term life plan is purchased with a 30-year range, the policy will only pay out if the policyholder dies within 30 years of the plan being purchased. Many people prefer term coverage plans because they allow them to save a considerable amount of money each month. The saved money can then be spent or invested in any manner that the policyholder sees fit. Like most other life plans, in order to obtain a term coverage policy, an applicant will have to go though a basic physical exam as well as fill out an application. Basics of Whole Life Plans Whole insurance policies are often referred to as permanent life plans. Unlike term plans, where premiums are only paid for a specified number of years, whole plans are intended to be paid by the policyholder until he or she becomes deceased. Permanent life policies tend to have higher premium amounts than term plans because a portion of the payments paid to the insurance company is applied toward the insurance plan while the other is used as a tax-free investment. Since a portion is used as a tax-free investment, whole plans build up a cash value. The cash value can be accessed either while the policyholder is still alive, or it can be paid out when the policyholder becomes deceased. This article: The Basics of Life Insurance is written by Jeff Rose CFP on his blog about Term Life Insurance.