KNOXVILLE OFFICE
450 Montbrook Lane
Knoxville, TN  37122

Buying Life Insurance 

When you buy life insurance, you want a policy which fits your needs without costing too much.  Your first step, is to decide how much you need, how much you can afford to pay and the kind of policy you want.  Then, find out what various companies charge for that kind of policy.  You can find important differences in the cost of life insurance by using the life insurance cost indexes.  At Benefits Management Group, we are able to help you with each of these shopping steps.

If you are going to make a good choice when you buy life insurance, you need to understand which kinds are available.  If one kind does not seem to fit your needs, ask us about the other types described below.  If you feel that you need more information that is given here, contact us toll free at 866-214-4407.

Choosing the Amount - One way to decide how much life insurance you need is to figure how much cash and income your dependents would need if you were to die.  You should think of life insurance as a source of cash needed for expenses for final illness, paying taxes, mortgages or other debts.  It can also provide income for your family's living expenses, educational costs and other future expenses.  Your new policy should come as close as you can afford to making up the difference between (1) what your dependents would have if you were to die now and (2) what they would actually need.

Use our Life Insurance Quick Estimator:

Term Life - Term insurance is death protection for a "term" of one or more years.  Death benefits will be paid only if you die within that term of years.  Term insurance generally provides the largest immediate death protection for your premium dollar.

Some term insurance policies are "renewable" for one or more additional terms even if your health has changed.  Each time you renew the policy for a new term, premiums will be higher.  You should check the premiums at older ages and the length of time the policy can be continued.

Some term insurance policies are also "convertible".  This means that before the end of the conversion period, you may trade the term policy for a whole life or endowment insurance policy even if you are not in good health.  Premiums for the new policy will be higher than you have been paying for the term insurance.

Whole Life - Whole life insurance gives death protection for as long as you live.  The most common type is called "straight life" or "ordinary life' insurance, for which you pay the same premiums for as long as you live.  These premiums can be several times higher that you would pay initially for the same amount of term insurance.  But they are smaller than the premiums you would eventually pay if you were to keep renewing a term insurance policy until your later years.

Some whole life policies let you pay premiums for a shorter period such as 20 years, or until age 65.  Premiums for these policies are higher than for ordinary life insurance since the premium period payments are squeezed into a shorter period.

Although you pay higher premiums, to begin with, for whole life insurance than for term insurance, whole life insurance policies develop "cash values" which you may have if you stop paying premiums.  You can generally either take the cash, or use it to buy some continuing insurance protection.  Technically speaking, these values are called "nonforfeiture benefits".  This refers to benefits you do not lose (or "forfeit") when you stop paying premiums.  The amount of these benefits depends on the kind of policy you have, its size, and how long you have owned it.

A policy with cash values may also be used as collateral for a loan.  If you borrow from the life insurance company, the rate of interest is shown in your policy.  Any money which you owe on a policy loan would be deducted from the benefits if you were to die, or from the cash value if you were to stop paying premiums.

Endowment Insurance - An endowment insurance policy pays a sum or income to you - the policyholder - if you live to a certain age.  If you were to die before then, the death benefit would be paid to your beneficiary.  Premiums and cash values for endowment insurance are higher than for the same amount of whole life insurance.  Thus endowment insurance gives you the least amount of death protection for your premium dollar.