During times of recession, paying for a life insurance policy might not be a top priority for most people. But it is even more important to have a safety net for your loved ones when times are bad.
This article may start off with a list of why life insurance is essential even during bad times.
Stay at home parents may not think that they need life insurance. Write an article to explain why they might need it, and the benefits of having it.
For example, stay-at-home parents of young children still have financial value to their family. If one of them dies, their surviving spouse will need to keep working to pay the bills, which means the kids will need a nanny or daycare.
Whether someone is self-employed or a small business owner, they still need life insurance if they have dependents. And you may go further by covering the specific reasons for business owners to buy life insurance in case they pass away, such as:
Not everyone needs life insurance. But there are a handful of situations in life that you may need life insurance more than you might think of.
Create an article for readers to use as a guide when it might be the right time to look into buying a life insurance policy.
Here are some of the critical occasions:
You may cash in from an insurance policy with a cash amount. While term life policies are designed with no cash value, whole life policies, universal life policies and annuities accumulate cash value over time.
You can access the cash accumulation through withdrawal, policy loans, partial surrender or full surrender of the policy. But such alteration could cause a reduction in your original death benefits.
Although no one wants to even think about the death of their parents, the truth is that they are more likely to pass away earlier than us. Doing so can provide peace of mind during difficult times like this.
There are some benefits you may want to tell your readers in this article:
| Do you know?
The Major Life Insurance Motivators are Burials/Final Expenses and Wealth Transfer A 2020 report stated that 84% of Americans indicated that burial/final expenses were a reason they acquired life insurance, and 66% stated wealth transfer as another reason. |
Life insurance, after all, helps dependents cover the ongoing living expenses (e.g. bills) when a breadwinner dies.
Your young children are not making a salary to support you. And no one is depending on them financially in a worst-case scenario.
But in fact, some people do buy life Insurance for their children with reasons such as:
Some people treat their pets as their own children. And no pet owners want to leave their pet unattended if they die. However, you literally can’t name your pet as a life insurance beneficiary.
But there are steps you can take through your life insurance policy to make sure that your pets are protected if you die. Write an article to discuss the available alternatives such as setting up a pet trust, naming a guardian or caregiver.
There is no life insurance exclusion for the coronavirus and as long as one discloses all details honestly during the application process – life insurance companies will not deny the death benefit to the beneficiaries if you die from the coronavirus.
In this article, you may also answer related questions such as:
Insurers determine the premiums of a policy on the basis of your health and medical history. So in this article you may talk about some of the possible scenarios.
The way an insurer will treat an application from someone who has contracted the coronavirus will vary. Some may postpone the offer for up to 90 days or until he/she can provide a proof of full recovery.
Or if the applicant has come into close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, he/she may also be required to postpone the application or provide a statement of good health for the application to proceed.
Hence, it’s reasonable to assume that a global health crisis like the coronavirus would have some impact on your policy acceptance and premiums, if you are currently in the application process stage.
While insurers may increase the premium or impose exclusion from the coverage on applicants with pre-existing conditions like, the good news is that they may still be able to get life insurance.
You can go through some expectations when applying for life insurance with these pre-existing conditions:
Anxiety may lead to depression. And having major depression does increase suicide risk compared to people without depression. (Source: HHS)
It is still possible to get life insurance with mental health conditions. Life insurance companies will consider your condition when reviewing and approving your application for coverage.
In many cases, anxiety or depression without additional complications or symptoms, or mild to moderate depression,
If your life insurance application is denied by an insurer, you may still be able to get group life insurance through your employer.
Many employee benefits packages include life insurance coverage based on the multiples of your annual salary. You are entitled to it even if you have pre-existing conditions or a family medical history. (Source)
The good news is – it’s not the end of the world. And there’s always another type of policy you can apply for. For instance, if an insurer rejects you for a permanent life insurance policy, you may want to try a term life policy instead. And before you do so here’s a few steps you may consider:
For more information: check out this article from Dave Ramsey.
Every life insurance provider states certain conditions under which the death claim can be denied. Some of them include death due to suicide within the first two years of the policy, drug overdose, illegal activities, dangerous activities (e.g. skydiving or riding a motorcycle), murder by a beneficiary, or acts of war.
Some insurers have denied claims within the contestability period for reasons such as lying about income, not disclosing another life insurance policy, misrepresenting pre-existing health conditions, not mentioning smoking habits, or even because premiums weren’t paid. (source)
A premium is the amount you’ll have to pay for life insurance. An insurance company determines your premium through a process of underwriting by calculating the overall risk for an insurer to pay out a claim during the life of a policy. Here’s a list of 10 factors that will affect your life insurance premium:
For more information, also read this post from lifeinsure.com.
Yes, most life insurance companies will pay death claims should the insured pass away anywhere in the world. But insurance companies always require proof of the person’s death. General exceptions like act of war or commiting suicide within the first 2 years from the inception of the policy still apply.
Reminding your readers that it is essential to notify their insurer about their future travel plans. They will then decide whether the existing policy is valid based on the location, duration and nature of the travel.
International life insurance may be an alternative. It works similarly as a term life insurance if the insured dies outside of the U.S.
If your life insurance policy’s term has come to an end, you can just let the coverage expire and go without life coverage. However, if your children are still young and financially dependent on you, there are a few options to continue the coverage, and they are:
And one of the most asked questions is: “Do I get my money back?” It all depends on whether it is a term insurance, whole-life insurance or return of premium (ROP) policy.
So it will be a rich discussion whether your readers are considering buying life insurance or having a life policy that will expire soon.
Do you know?
Suicide is Not Covered Within the First Two Years of a Policy
Sadly, suicide is the tenth leading cause of death for Americans. (Source: American Foundation for Suicide Prevention) That’s why many life insurance policies have special terms i to account for suicide.
Woo! This one sounds like a detective story. It is not uncommon for people to pass away with life insurance policies that their loved ones never knew existed. Sometimes even the owner of a life insurance policy forgets that it exists if the policy was paid up years ago.
If life insurance money is unclaimed it also means that the policy and the money spent on it were a complete waste.
There’s no “one-click” solution to this. But sometimes common sense applies. You can write an article to list out ways to uncover insurance policy. Examples may include, look for old annual statements, check bank transactions, contact major life insurers, etc.
It is not an insurer’s obligation to notify beneficiaries of life policies – they don’t even know an insured has died. The steps are similar to find out if someone has life insurance. And you may also include resources for online search as well as professional service. Here are the websites for people to search for unclaimed assets:
Have questions about what you've read? Feel free to contact your local FUSA Insurance Agent and they can help you out!
Find an Agent