One of the biggest fears that life insurance customers have is that their insurance company will go bankrupt before they can pay out the death benefit they’ve promised. It makes sense to be afraid – life insurance policies can be issued and be in-force for 50 years before the death benefit needs to be paid out. And who can guarantee that an insurance company will still be in business then?

That is why your State Guaranty Association exists. The State Guaranty Association in each state guarantees that an insured can get the cash value of his or her policy or that the beneficiaries can receive the death benefit even if their insurer becomes insolvent when it’s time to pay.

Naturally, there are limits. The limits vary by state but are commonly capped between $100,000 and $300,000. You can visit our state specific insurance guide pages and find your state to see what your limits are. It’s also important to remember that guaranty associations are there to protect you from insurer insolvency, but not much more. If your policy lapses, you neglect to pay a bill or you insist that they didn’t send one, the guaranty association in your state won’t do anything to help you. They simply back up the payment of an insurer who has gone bankrupt – and only up to the limit. You will need to provide proof of a valid policy and comply with all other association requirements.

As always, the best defense for consumers is a good offense. And what that means for life insurance customers is that they should thoroughly research their insurance company before they buy insurance. You can do that by visiting the A.M. Best website to see their evaluation of your company’s financial security before you buy the insurance policy you are considering. A.M. Best studies the financials of insurers and assigns a letter grade to each company that represents how financially secure they are.

Understanding your current health and recent health history isn’t always enough for underwriters. Sometimes, they want to find out about your habits and personality also. They do this because the way that you act and react can play a part in how dangerous your day to day life is and how likely you are to suffer an untimely death because of your actions. One way that they determine this aspect of your risk is by pulling your motor vehicle report (MVR).

No matter how you look at it, there is no easy way to determine how much life insurance you need to carry. In reality, there is no wrong number; there are simply numbers that would pay off all your debt and keep your family comfortable and other numbers that might just pay for your burial and not give your family anything. But the amount of life insurance coverage you want to consider could depend on your stage in life.

Whole (or permanent) life insurance policies are more than meet the eye. Sure they offer a death benefit that caries through the rest of your life as long as you pay your premium and keep the policy in force, but more than that they offer an additional benefit of premiums accruing into something called cash values.

Universal life insurance might sound like a policy that covers more than just your life, but in reality, universal life insurance is simply a life insurance policy that offers a death benefit as well as the option for cash value accumulation. With universal life insurance, you have a varying premium that you can pay.

One of the most basic and popular types of life insurance policies available is the whole life insurance policy. Whole life insurance policies pay out a death benefit over your entire life, unlike term policies which only pay for a certain period of time. In addition, they accrue cash values.

Once you get your life insurance quote, there is just one thing standing between you and the issuance of a life insurance policy. And that thing is life insurance underwriting.

If you have been comparing life insurance rates then chances are good that you have looked at term life insurance. Term life insurance is a terrific product for people who:

1. Need a high dollar death benefit with a low dollar premium.
2. Need a temporarily high amount of life insurance death benefit.
3. Need a gradually decreasing amount of life insurance.
4. Need a simple, small burial policy.

One of the more popular forms of life insurance out there is variable life insurance. But why is this complex form of life insurance gaining such popularity, and how can it benefit your financial foundation?

Your life insurance policy doesn’t have to just cover you. In fact, you can simplify your life and budget by adding family coverage riders to your life insurance policy. These riders provide affordable coverage for your spouse and children.

There are many life insurance riders that can affect your premium. Some provide you with a return of your premium while others waive your premiums during a time of disability. These premium riders can be a real insurance policy saver and add additional values that many consumers love.

A life insurance policy is not as straight forward a product as you might think. In fact, you can build a life insurance policy that adds additional benefit beyond the death benefit paid upon death of the policy holder. These additional benefits come in the form of riders, which are additional contracts that can be tacked on to a life insurance policy.

Cheap life insurance is one of the primary goals of most consumers. From newlyweds to new grads, newly retired individuals to working professionals-no matter what stage of life you are in chances are good that you want cheap life insurance.

One of the most confusing aspects of shopping for life insurance lies in trying to understand all the terminology used in the industry. Agents tend to talk to clients as if they already understand terms like lapse, rider and cash value and consumers often don’t want to admit that they aren’t exactly sure what these terms mean. Following are some of the most commonly used terms in the industry to help make your search for life insurance a little bit easier.

If you can’t afford to buy life insurance there could be another way for you to get it-and that is through premium financing. In a premium financing arrangement, you are loaned the annual premium costs and the collateral on the loan is a stake in your life insurance death benefit proceeds.

If there is one extremely important asset that you have which is almost impossible to attach a dollar value to, it is your life. How do you determine what your life is worth to those who love you and would miss you after your death? Unfortunately, you can’t.

Life insurance policies can have many different types of value added aspects. They have the death benefit, the possibility of cash value accumulation, and accelerated benefit and other riders. But there’s one more benefit that life insurance policies offer, an asset that you can sell to another investor.

While children yearn to become adults, those who have already reached this exalted life stage understand the challenges it holds. Adults must find a balance between developing their career, raising children and sometimes looking after ageing parents. This level of constant clatter causes many adults to neglect their own financial affairs. In order to protect your financial future, you must begin thinking about setting financial goals-goals that include the purchase of life insurance.

When you are buying either term or whole life insurance you may be asked to go through a medical exam as part of the underwriting process. This is not necessary for most young people taking out small policies, but for applicants in their 40s and 50s who want more than $100,000 in coverage it is likely you will at least need a paramedical exam. A paramedical exam is usually completed at your home or office by a licensed medical professional hired by the insurance company.

Life insurance rates are determined by your health, gender, age, weight and smoking status. An extremely healthy non-smoker might qualify for a super cheap life insurance rating class like preferred plus but a smoker might only qualify for standard smoker. Of course, like anything there are a few exceptions.

Before you start off on your quest to buy a life insurance policy and begin searching for online quotes, you need to understand the difference between term insurance and permanent (or “whole life”) insurance. While the terminology may seem foreign to you now, the differences are actually very easy to understand.

Your life insurance death benefit proceeds have a very important responsibility: to replace the money you would have earned had you lived. It also has to provide certain guarantees to your family-the guarantee that your kids can go to college and the guarantee that your family isn’t going to be thrown out of the home they love. This is understandably an overwhelming thought and can make the purchase of a life insurance policy very intimidating. Here are 3 easy steps to help you start the process.

When you are in your early twenties, your life often revolves around climbing up the corporate ladder during the weekdays and partying on the weekends. During those years, when death seems like such a far away notion, the thought of life insurance coverage and comparing life insurance quotes is probably not in the forefront of your mind. Unfortunately, not buying life insurance while you are young means that you miss out on some of the best life insurance rates of your life and can jeopardize the financial security of your future family.