1. Primerica: Primerica Insurance or Prime America is 30-70% overpriced compared to most companies. Another concern to me is that the majority of their agents are only part time insurance agents because they are selling other products like financial advice. Finally, their term policies are usually not guaranteed for as long as you think. For example, a 20-year term policy is only guaranteed for the first ten years, while the last ten, my premium would increase every year!
2. Colonial Penn: I got a quote from Colonial Penn to illustrate how overpriced they are. First, they wouldn’t even allow me to get a term life insurance quote over $25,000. For the purpose of protection, that is not enough coverage! For a 20 year term, Colonial Penn quoted me $42/month! An independent broker quoted me at only $11/month with Transamerica.
3. Globe life: Globe Life Insurance is one of the best companies at being dishonest with their marketing. They use the slogan “$1 buys you $50,000 in life insurance.” What they forget to tell you is that it is only a $1 for the first month, and then each subsequent month is based on age. Also, Globe Life Insurance doesn’t offer guaranteed level premiums, so every 5 years, the price you pay increases by at least $10/month.
4. Stonebridge: Stonebridge is very overpriced and definitely not affordable life insurance. I got a quote from Stonebridge Life Insurance (I’m preferred best). Stonebridge quoted me at $28/month, where Transamerica and Assurity Life Insurance quoted me as low as $9/month for a 20-year term $100K life insurance policy. This demonstrates why an independent broker is so useful, as they can get you quotes from many different reputable companies, while Stonebridge only gives you one overpriced quote.
Accidental coverage is not life insurance and only pays a claim if death is caused by an accident, it will not pay a claim of a natural death. Some examples of death caused by accident would be, auto accident, plane crash, homicide, falling off a cliff etc… The bad part about accidental insurance is that most consumers’ die of natural causes. Accidental coverage is very cheap and that is primarily why so many buy it. Life Insurance pays a death benefit to a designated beneficiary regardless of how the person dies. The main purpose of life insurance is providing your family financial support after your demise. The only restriction with life insurance is it becomes void if death was caused by suicide in the first two years. If you are uncertain which one to choose, life insurance while more expensive will cover any cause of death including but not limited to accidents.
Purchasing life insurance is not a fun task, but at the end of the day, we all want to protect our family and or business relationships. If a consumer shopping for life insurance can take a little time to learn about the good companies, as well as learn what and who to avoid, the task can be made palatable. A good independent broker like Goldsmith Insurance Agency is a great resource for comparing rates and carrier quality before this next important decision.