(619)564-4873 — “Call NOW for an Instant Life Insurance Quote”

A common question I get from my clients is, what is the difference between 20 Year Term Life Insurance and 10, 15, or 30 year term life insurance?  20 Year term simply fixes your premiums for 20 years.  You know how your medical insurance or auto insurance seem to increase every year?  Not so with 20 year term life insurance.  You are able to lock in your price for a period of 20 years. 

After the 20 year term, your premiums would rise, at which point you could convert the policy to a permanent type of insurance, such as universal life, or if you are still healthy and insurable, you could get a new 10, 15, or 20 year term.  The same is true for 10 or 30 year term.  You lock your premiums in for that term. 

Benefits: Say you buy a 20 Year level term payment policy.  Your payment cannot increase during your term, even if you start smoking, or gain 100 pounds.  Even if you got cancer in year 10, your premiums could not increase.  It costs a bit more than 10 or 15 year term, but that’s because you’re locking in your premium for a longer period of time, and there’s a much higher probability of there being a death over 20 years rather than just 10.  Then, if you didn’t die, you could still convert the policy to Universal Life, without proof of insureability.  This is an important benefit.  Most term policies have the conversion option built in, but not all do, so make sure yours has this.  Every term policy I sell has a conversion option.

Which do you need?  It depends primarily on your age and how long you’ve got left to work.  I use an income replacement model to calculate the term and face value needed.  Say you’re 60 years old and only plan to work another 10 years.  10 year term will probably suffice, because if something happens to you tomorrow, your spouse will be able to replace your income for 10 years with the death benefit proceeds.  However, if you’re 50 years old, you should probably have a 20 year term policy.  This is a simplified version of how I calculate the amount you need and what type of term.

Premium Payments: Another factor you’ll have to consider is the cost.  10 year term is the least expensive, while 30 year term costs the most, since it provides the most benefits. 

Please note we have the lowest 20 Year Term Life Insurance prices anywhere on the web.  Our quoting form on the right quotes 130+ carriers.  Most quoting sites only quote 80-90.

I sell life insurance all over the U.S., although I am headquartered in San Diego, CA.  I am able to sell to clients in other states with a non-resident state license.  Some of the most recent states I’ve gotten non-resident licenses in are Colorado (CO), Arizona (AZ), and Washington (WA).  If you live in San Diego, CA, please consider meeting with me face-to-face to discuss 20 Year Term Life Insurance.

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Watch Short Video on Return of Premium Life Insurance:  An Insurance Policy that Actually Pays You Back

I’m an insurance professional, but admit I’m tired of paying premiums to all my types of policies with nothing in return.  This video clip introduces Return of Premium Life Insurance, a term life insurance policy that pays you back all your premiums at the end of the term if there has been no death.

I am unaware of any types of auto insurace, homeowners insurance, or health insurance policies that offer Return of Premium as does Term Life Insurance.

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If you’re the insured on a life insurance policy and die within the first two years of the issue date, the insurance carrier has the right to contest your claim.  Most of the time, what this means is they’ll investigate to find out if you made any misrepresentations on your policy application.  If the misrepresenation is “material”, meaning that had they known about it at the time of underwriting, they would not have offered you insurance, then they can deny the claim.

During the carrier’s investigation, they’ll look for things you concealed from them on the application.  Common facts people hide the truth about is their medical history, their occupation, smoking, and hazardous activities such as SCUBA diving or rock climbing.  A carrier’s investigation may include requests for medical records, an autopsy report, and a statement from the agent.  They may also question the deceased’s friends and family members. 

Say you went on vacation to Mexico and had a heart attack and had bypass surgery.  When you returned to the U.S., you purchased a U.S. life insurance policy, and did not disclose your medical history in Mexico.  If the carrier insures you, and you die within the first two years, they could find out you witheld information from them and deny the claim.  That means your beneficiary(ies) don’t get the death benefit.

Suicide: Most life insurance policies also have two year suicide clauses in them, which say the carrier doesn’t pay the death claim if you commit suicide within the first two years.  In such a case, thier liability is usually limited to a refund of premiums.

AFTER TWO YEARS, the policy is said to be “incontestable”.  You can die any way want (including suicide), and the insurance carrier still has to pay out.  I read about a case recently where a person with HIV successfully purchased a life insurance policy.  He was able to do so by lying on the application about his condition, and having a friend show up for the medical exam, giving blood and urine in his place.  When he died four years later, even though he had committed fraud, the insurance carrier had to pay out.

Beware of NEW Two Year Contestability Period:  If you let your policy lapse and reinstate it, or in some cases when you make a policy amendment, your two year contestability period might start over again from that date.

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You just got your annual annuity statement in the mail and you’re wondering the difference between your annuity value and surrender value.  Simply put, your annuity value is your account’s value without any surrender charges, fees, or market value adjustments.  Your surrender value tells you how much your annuity is worth if you were to cash out of your policy today.  It includes charges I’ll discuss below.

CALL (619)564-4873 TO SEE WHAT YOUR SURRENDER VALUE IS.  FREE CALL.

If you’re planning on withdrawing money from a fixed or equity-indexed annuity, consider the following: Surrender charges, MVA or Market Value Adjustment, Free Withdrawals, Taxes, and mid-strategy withdrawals.

Surrender Charges: This is a penalty your insurance carrier charges for withdrawing funds before your surrender period is over.  Annuities have surrender periods anywhere from 1 year to 12 years.  A typical annuity surrender schedule starts higher in the beginning years and decreases each year.  Take a single premium deferred annuity with a 9 year surrender period, for example.  It might look like this: 12%, 12%, 12%, 12%, 11%,10%, 9%, 8%, 6%, 0% in Premium year 10 and thereafter, +/-MVA (I’ll explain MVA in a minute).

Free Withdrawals: Some annuities have provisions allowing a surrender penalty free withdrawal of up to a certain percentage of your annuity value.  The most common I see are 50% of the initial premium during the surrender period, or 10% of the annuity value during every policy year.  Note on the latter, some insurance carriers don’t allow 10% withdrawals during the first policy year, and also note that surrender penalty-free withdrawals don’t exlude you from paying taxes, only surrender charges.

I’ve gotten calls from people telling me their surrender penalty was as high as 20% the first year.  This is possible when the policy holder got a premium bonus when entering the annuity.  So if you got a 10% bonus on your $50,000 deposit, and it vests immediately, your annuity value is $55,000 on day one.  The insurance carriers raise their surrender charges for these bonus products.  A 9 year surrender schedule for a contract with a 10% bonus might look something like this: 18%, 18%, 17%, 16%, 15%, 14%, 13%, 11%, 9%, and 0% thereafter +/-MVA. 

Market Value Adjustment: It is generally understood that insurance carriers buy bonds as underlying investments to deferred annuities.  To protect themselves, there may also be a market value adjustment when you withdraw more than your “free” amount.  Generally speakign, if interest rates have been rising since you bought your annuity, the carrier’s underlying bond is worth less, so if there would be a negative market value adjustment.  If interest rates have been falling, as has been the case in the past couple years, there could be a positive MVA.   

When you look at an annuity statement, you should always easily be able to locate the surrender value.  This amount is your current annuity value minus any surrender charges, and it may or may not include an MVA.  Some surrender values include MVA’s, while others do not.  You’ll have to call your carrier to ask if there is an MVA on your policy and if that is reflected in the surrender value.  Some carriers may have other fees that apply.

Taxes: Be sure to consult a tax professional before withdrawing from an annuity.  Your withdraw may be subject to ordinary income tax.  Annuities are treated with LIFO (last in, first out) tax consideration.  In other words, by IRS standards, first you withdraw your gains/interest, and then your cost basis.  Also, if you withdraw funds prior to age 59 1/2, you may owe a 10% early withdrawal penalty imposed by the IRS.

Middle of year Strategy Withdrawals - Also be aware that if you invest in an equity-indexed annuity strategy, like a one year point-to-point with a cap, that if you withdraw mid-year, no interest will likely be credited to your account, even if the index that the strategy benchmarks is up for the year.  If you know you might need to access funds within 12 months of getting an annual statement, it’s best to allocate the appropriate amount in your annuity’s fixed strategy, or guaranteed one year strategy.  Most insurance carriers will credit any gains if you withdraw in the middle of your policy year from these strategies.

If you have any questions about your particular annuity withdrawal, I’ll be happy to help you even if I’m not your agent.  You can call me, Chris Huntley, at (619)564-4873.

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A little known resource exists for seniors to creatively pay for their long term care services.  They can sell their life insurance policy, and fund their health costs with the proceeds.  The sale of a life insurance policy is called a life settlement. 

CALL (619)564-4873 FOR A FREE APPRAISAL OF YOUR LIFE INSURANCE POLICY

Say you’re 70 years old with a $1 Million guaranteed Universal Life policy.  Here’s how it works:  An institutional investor, also known as funder or provider, pays you a lump sum (typically 3-5X the surrender value) to purchase the policy from you.  Depending on your health and how expensive the premium is, you’ll get anywhere from $50,000 to $500,000 to sell your policy. 

The transfer of funds and ownership changes are made in escrow.  The provider becomes the new owner, premium payor and beneficiary  of your policy.  Here’s how they make money.  You remain the insured person on the policy.  Once you die, they collect the $1 Million death benefit.

You can use settlement money however you like.  If that means hiring in-home caregivers or moving into an assisted living home, both are acceptable.  The most common life insurance policies settled are term or univeral life policies with a face value over $250,000, with the insured over the age of 65.  If there has been a change in health since the policy was issued, that increases the settlement value.

Some caveats about selling your life insurance policy:  You should only sell a life insurance policy if you no longer want or need the coverage.  For example, if you were to outlive your spouse and have no children, you probably no longer need the coverage.  The proceeds are taxable.  You’ll want to consult a tax advisor.  You may be able to borrow from your policy if it has cash value to pay for long term care costs.  If you are terminally ill (one year or less to live by insurance company’s standards), many policies allow you to access up to 25% or 50% of your face value while you’re still living.  This would be a more favorable option than settling the policy if you only have a year or less to live. 

Also read here about Other Factors to Consider Before Selling Your Life Insurance Policy to pay for long term care costs.

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I know I have the best term life insurance prices on the web, but this is ridiculous.  Last week, I got a call from a SelectQuote agent.  You know who SelectQuote is, right?  They’re the company all over the TV, all over the radio, and have a great web presence as well, and they are always boasting about the great rates they have.  So much to my surprise, this SelectQuote agent was calling me because he wanted to buy a term life insurance policy from me through Ohio National. 

When he told me that he, himself was a life insurance agent, I tried to talk him out of buying from me.  I tried to explain that he should be the agent on his own policy so he could get the commissions from it.  This is what EVERY life insurance agent does.  In fact, I change to a new policy every year or so, so I can get paid commissions again.  I shared this strategy with him, but he said even with his commissions, it made more sense for him to buy from me, because my price was so much lower!  The story ends with me taking an application from him and his wife last week.

SelectQuote is one of those companies that offers what I call the core group of term life insurance carriers.  When you get a quote from 95% of agents in the U.S. or companies online, they all offer the same group of carriers.  These are carriers such as Banner, American General, Hartford, ING, and MetLife.  This is a fine list; don’t get me wrong.  I represent all these carriers.  But they leave out a handful of quality carriers who consistently beat their price.  Among these are Ohio National, Western Reserve Life, Savings Bank Life, and Cincinnati Life. 

I succeed because I offer the lowest prices for term life insurance from ALL the best carriers, not just the core group.

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Not all life insurance carriers judge high cholesterol the same.  Say your total cholesterol is slightly elevated at 239.  With many carriers, you would only qualify for their preferred or regular plus health rating, which are their second and third best offers.  With ONE carrier, though, Genworth, you can still get their BEST offer!!  Preferred Plus!  Genworth.  They are the most aggressive life insurance carrier on cholesterol.  Whether your cholesterol is 240 or 300, you can get affordable term life insurance here.

So when you get a quote on the right hand side of this page, and a carrier like Banner Life or Cincinnati Life shows up as the lowest price, keep in mind you may not be able to qualify for their best health rating if you have high cholesterol.

Here’s what Genworth will allow to get their Best Rate, Preferred Best.  Total cholesterol: 240 mg/dl, if cholesterol/hdl ratio is 5.0 or less and if your good cholesterol (hdl) is 45 mg/dl or higher.  To quote this on the right, use “Preferred Plus”.

Their Second Best Rating allows total cholesterol: up to 270 mg/dl, Chol/HDl ratio at 6.0 or <, and hdl of 40 mg/dl or >.  To quote this on the right, use “Preferred”.

Their Standard Rating allows total cholesterol: 300 mg/dl, Chol/HDL ratio of 8.0 or lower and hdl of 35 mg/dl or higher.  To quote this on the right, use “Regular”.

If you have high cholesterol or any other medical condition, you should call an independent agent like me, who can evaluate your specific case and see which carrier can offer you the lowest price based on your particular situation.

For more information about cholesterol, click here.

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When getting a life insurance quote, your agent should ask you at least 10 questions about your health and lifestyle.  If he doesn’t, you’re in danger of the old bait and switch move.  This is a shameful sales tactic agents use to hook you in.  The agent tells you you’ll qualify for the best health rating and quotes you their lowest premium based on lack of information (because he didn’t ask the proper questions), or the quotes are a blatant lie just to get you to apply for the policy. 

Then the insurance carrier approves you at a lower health rating (and higher premium).  Now the agent has to call you with the new price (the switch).  By now you’ve already waited a month or so to hear this news, and the agent tells you you probably can’t get a lower price elsewhere, so you should accept the offer.  You agree and end up paying more for term life insurance, universal life insurance, or whatever the case may be.

A good agent asks questions about all the following before giving you a quote.  As it relates to health, the agent should ask about any medical conditions you have or have had in the past 10 years, whether you’re taking medications or not, if you smoke, and even will inquire about your build.  Of course, you’ll also have to reveal your date of birth, as age is a primary factor in calculating premiums.  He should also ask whether you have a history of cancer, diabetes, or heart disease in your family.  Due to genetics, life insurance underwriters do factor this into your offer. 

The life insurance agent should also ask some questions about your lifestyle, such as if you participate in any hazardous activities, like skydiving, rock climbing, racing, and so on.  Have you had any DUI’s, DWI’s or tickets in the past 5 years?  What is your occupation?  These questions may seem intrusive, but it’s good common sense, isn’t it?  If you race speed boats or had a DUI 2 years ago, you’re a riskier person to insure than the average joe, right?

Keep these factors in mind when you get a quote on the right hand side of this page.  If you think any of the health or lifestyle factors I mentioned would make you a riskier person to insure, you might not qualify for the best rating “preferred plus”.  Try “preferred” or “regular” for more conservative quotes.  The best thing you can do is talk to an independent life insurance agent like me, who will ask you all the right questions, find the carrier that has the lowest premium for your specific medical condition or lifestyle choice, and give you an accurate quote. 

Call me at (619)564-4873 and I’ll show you exactly what life insurance agents should ask their prospective clients.

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Occassionally, I get an applicant who has had a DUI or DWI in the past.  How does a DUI affect your ability to get life insurance?  It affects your health rating, which affects your premium.

Most insurance carriers stipulate that if you have had a DUI or DWI in the past 5 years, you cannot qualify for their best health ratings, such as preferred best or preferred plus, or preferred.  Some examples of these carriers are American General, Banner Life, Genworth, ING, West Coast Life, and Met Life.  If your DUI or DWI was more than 5 years ago, however, it will be overlooked, so long as all signs point to you being a responsible person who doesn’t abuse alcohol.

A couple factors your underwriter would take into consideration are how often you drink now and your GGT (Gamma Glutamyl Transferase) levels from your blood profile.  There is a question on every life insurance application that asks how often you drink alcoholic beverages, what type, and how many ounces.  Normally, if you say that you have a glass of wine 5 times per week with dinner, that’s fine, but if you once had a DUI, that could be a red flag for the underwriter.

Then from the blood work, they do a GGTP test, which measures the level of irritation in the liver.  If you take a lot of medication or drink a lot, your GGT level may be elevated.  According to MedHelp.org, normal levels are from 2-65 U/L.  If your number is above 65 and you had a DUI, your underwriter could look at that as an indication that you drink more than you are owning up to on the application.  Then he/she would most likely order a CDT.  If that is positive, you’ll be declined.

But if your DUI was a one time incident more than 5 years ago and you rarely drink now, you should still qualify for the best rates with most carriers.  There are a handful of carriers who won’t allow a DUI in the last 10 years, such as Minnesota Life and Lincoln Benefit.  Stay away from these two carriers if your DUI was between 5-10 years ago.  AXA is another super stringent carrier on this issue.

If your DUI was less than 2 years ago, I don’t know of any carrier who will insure you.  If it was 2-5 years ago, your best bet is with Banner Life and Genworth.  These two offer their standard or standard plus ratings depending if your DUI was more than 2 years ago.  If you’ve had a DUI or DWI in the past and want life insurance, the best thing to do is speak to an independent agent like me, who can assess your specific case and decide which carrier will give you the best rating and lowest premium.

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