Life Insurance Questions!Please help?
If you want to put someone down as your beneficiary do they have to be a certain age?If you are buying a house and you go get life insurance will your agent ask you who do you want to leave your house to?Which is best permanent or term life insurance?Can you make changes to the policy at any time?What is the top 3 life insurance companies ? Best ratings..
Thanks
January 22nd, 2010 at 12:12 AM
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January 22nd, 2010 at 12:12 AM
If they are under 18, then the money usually either goes to a trust until they turn 18, or their guardian gets access to it.
No, the agent doesn’t ask who you want to leave your house to. You need to have a WILL, to specify that. But your agent DOES ask who you leave your life insurance to - that person is the BENEFICIARY, and you have to name them, on your policy.
For the most part, you can make changes like beneficiary or address changes any time. You can check ratings at http://www.ambest.com. And as to what is best, it depends on exactly what you want it to do for you. What "best" means.
January 22nd, 2010 at 12:12 AM
A beneficiary does not have to be a certain age. It is generally best to name an adult (a parent or a bank) to hold the money in trust for a child.
Life insurance agents do not get involved in decisions about wills. They might advise you to seek the advice of an attorney.
Term or permanent insurance questions depend on a persons needs over time. Term insurance can cover specific needs such as mortgage protection. Other tempoary needs such as covering the time until the children finish college.
You can change the beneficiary or an address at any time.
I sell life insurance. I believe my company sells the best policies. This is the reason I went to work fo American General Life and Accident. Their life insurance will pay someone if you die but they will also pay you if you get sick and do not die. Their policies will pay for critical, chronic, or terminal illness to YOU while you are alive. barry33781@yahoo.com
January 22nd, 2010 at 12:12 AM
Your house has nothing to do with life insurance beneficiary designations. You specify who you wish to "leave your house to" in a WILL.
Yes, you can designate anyone you wish to be a life insurance beneficiary. However, if a child receives a life insurance benefit, a trustee or custodian for the money will be required.
January 22nd, 2010 at 12:12 AM
I’ll try to pick them off one at a time here.
1) certain age? No. You can name anyone you want as the beneficiary. If the person is under the age of majority (18 in most places) you will need to name a trustee that will be in charge of the money until the beneficiary is old enough to take care of it on their own.
2) House? Your life insuance agent will have nothing to do with what happens to your house. That is something that would be taken care of with a Will or family Trust. The agent will only ask who you want the insurance money to go to.
3) Which is best? Depends on the situation. Both ave a very specific purpose and niether is an ideal one size fits all. If the need will go away within a specified period of time then go with term (IE: Your mortgage will be paid off within 30 years, so term is best for that). IF it’s a perminent need that won’t go away (IE: funeral expenses, charitable giving, estate fees and taxes, etc) then whole life is better for that. It is not uncommon for people to have a little of both depending on the needs.
4) You can make certain changes to policies, but it depends on the company. Changing the beneficiary? anytime. Changing the insured amount? Depends…lowering it? Anytime. Increasing it? Depends on when and how much. You can also ger Riders that will allow you to make certain changes, like depending on your age, you can get a Gauranteed Insurability Rider that will allow you to buy more insurance without providing medical evidence.
5) Top 3 companies? Depends on where you live, what type you are looking for and what your demographics are. No company is the best at everything all the time. One company might have the best rates for $500,000 30 year term for a 30 year old, but their rates for $250,000 for that same person aren’t the best. Go to an insurance broker and they can shop around for you to find which companies are the best for you!
January 22nd, 2010 at 12:12 AM
Just pick a big and well known company.
Your beneficiary can be any age but if you do that it is a good idea to set up a "trust".
You can get a term policy with level death benefit and with level premiums for 30 years. You need to get some quotes and some advice from some local insurance agents.
Good Luck.
January 22nd, 2010 at 12:12 AM
Life insurance has nothing to do with who receives the house. The life insurance beneficiary is who receives the life insurance, and can be different from who receives the house.