Living Life with a Purpose

Does it seem like life is often a blur? The older you get the faster time seems to fly by, especially as you approach the end of the year, or you reach a milestone marker in your life such as passing from one decade to another. Where does time go? Once spent it isn't recoverable. Are you purposeful in your planning and preparing for all of life's events? What about the future? Are you prepared for what life may offer? Do you live your life with a purpose?

Over the last couple of years, I have researched a lot of life insurance products and various life insurance carriers. There are several very good products and companies in the marketplace to help you protect assets and provide for your family. I am appointed as a licensed agent in several states and with some great name brand companies.

The need for life insurance is one consideration. The type of life insurance to meet that need is another. That consideration opens the door for other possible motivations for buying an insurance policy when you’re young and single such as securing coverage at a lower cost than in your later years and providing financial options for the future. Life insurance tends to be less expensive when you’re young and healthy.

For example, let's say if you are in your 20's life insurance is probably the last thing on your mind. You might be preoccupied with getting your career off the ground, meeting your basic expenses, and figuring out how to handle all the other responsibilities of being an adult. You also might be single, with no spouse or kids who depend on your income. So why would you want to buy life insurance? In fact, there are some compelling arguments for buying life insurance well before you think you might need it.

Life insurance costs less when you’re younger, and you may develop health issues as you get older. What if your health declines as you age? For example, what if you develop:

• A chronic condition such as high cholesterol, or Type 2 diabetes that isn’t well managed by medication, diet, and lifestyle changes?

• High blood pressure or coronary artery disease?

• A high-risk cancer?

• A weight gain over the years that eventually pushes your body mass index into the obese category?

Then, you might become uninsurable or have to pay a higher rate. There are some options, but they can have limitations and higher costs associated with the premiums, not to mention limited coverage amounts. You won’t be able to buy nearly as much life insurance with these kinds of policies; they’re meant only to help cover your final expenses, not to help replace your income and provide ongoing support for your family. In addition, some providers have an age floor on these policies, meaning you might not be able to buy one until you’re at least 50 years old. Going without life insurance for decades is a risky move.

Some policies are pretty cut and dried, like term insurance. It's good for special needs for a limited amount of time, and then it's done. Term life provides you affordable, convenient coverage for a certain amount of time –– the term during which you pay your premiums –– and it is often convertible to a permanent policy. But it's like renting instead of buying. Did you know that less than 2% of all term policies are ever paid out?

Other life insurance products, such as permanent or whole life, have various versions that can be customized to meet your individual needs. With whole life insurance, you’re guaranteed a death benefit, and you’re able to build cash value over time. Your cash value grows tax deferred so it’s there when you need it. That cash value offers a source of funds in the future for things like home down payments, business investments, or emergency funds. In addition, you have the opportunity to earn dividends, which are usually not guaranteed.

In addition, provisions called riders can be added to policies allowing for things like the purchase of additional coverage in the future. That could be useful should a family grow or commitments increase. Group insurance provided through an employer typically doesn’t offer such add-ons and lacks portability should you change jobs. Usually, group coverage has a certain amount of coverage based on your salary. Plus, it is a "golden handcuff" model, meaning that if and when you leave the company the coverage stops.

Helping one another is at the core of our existence. We do it through actions and active support of family, friends, and our communities at large. And the right kind of life insurance helps make it possible to when you are still alive and after you’re gone as well. For instance, many people use life insurance to throw support to their favorite charities or schools. This can be done in a variety of ways, from making a charitable organization or college a direct beneficiary of a new policy to using certain types of insurance policies to make annual donations.

One of the best products I have seen is Indexed Universal Life. It's created to provide some significant long term benefits for the owner of the policy as well as the insured. Essentially, you can use it as your personal bank. And because of the IRS code 7702, an IUL can provide life time income if you need it. I have one that I found that I believe is the best in the industry that builds generational wealth.

Also, if you're in the market for a simplified issue life insurance policy where there is no medical exam (just answer a few health questions) I found a product and a carrier that is the easiest to buy. Contact me to learn more about these types of products. I look forward to helping you prepare, protect and plan for the future. You, too, can live life with a purpose

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