Life Insurance Protects
Life insurance provides a unique blend of features that help meet a variety of financial needs. It can enable you to create financial protection for your family, funds to supplement future income needs and leave a legacy to the ones you love.
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Why is life insurance important?
Life insurance creates financial protection for your family. If you were to die prematurely, you would want to make sure your family is taken care of financially. That’s the primary purpose of life insurance.
Some types of life insurance can also grow cash value to help with future income needs. For instance, think about enjoying a long and healthy life and living well into retirement. Permanent life insurance may be able to provide money to help cover your expenses.
Life insurance can help create wealth and may help pass it on to your loved ones more efficiently. As an inheritance, it can dramatically improve the lives of those who carry on after youʼre gone.
How much life insurance do I need?
When you make sure you have enough life insurance, you protect your family and their future. Experts recommend 10 times your annual income as a guideline for life insurance coverage. Another guideline is to multiply your family’s annual expenses by the number of years you’ll need to cover those expenses. You may want to add $100,000 per child for future college costs.
It may seem like a lot, but remember, life insurance can help:
- Cover burial and other final expenses.
- Replace lost wages or income.
- Pay off the mortgage or other debts.
Types of life insurance
Term
Term life insurance protects your loved ones for the number of years you choose. It’s the most affordable type of life insurance and makes sense when your need for coverage disappears at some point.
Whole Life
Whole life insurance is a type of permanent life insurance, which means it protects for a lifetime. It’s known for its guarantees.1 You know how much you’re going to pay and how much your beneficiaries will receive. It will also build cash value.2
Universal Life
Universal life insurance is also a form of permanent life insurance. It offers more flexibility. You can raise or lower your premium or coverage amount throughout your lifetime.
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Life insurance creates financial protection for your family. If you were to die prematurely, you want to make sure your family is taken care of.
Add flexibility with living benefits
Life insurance protects you while you’re still living as well. There are many unexpected events besides death that can cripple a family’s finances in a hurry. That’s why Ameritas offers Accelerated Death Benefit riders. If you are diagnosed with a chronic, critical or terminal illness, these riders provide a part of your policy’s death benefit while you’re still living, giving you more options to deal with the financial strain of your condition.3
How do I get life insurance?
One of the best ways to buy life insurance is to work with a financial professional who can walk you through the entire process. The steps you take generally include:
1
Completing a life insurance application, which typically includes questions about your health and lifestyle.
2
Undergoing a physical exam if needed. This involves a medical professional recording information such as height, weight and blood pressure. They may also take blood and urine samples.
3
Giving the life insurance company permission to obtain medical records if necessary.
An underwriter at the insurance company will review your information and will either approve or deny your application. That process can take days or weeks, depending on how long it takes to obtain all the information requested.
Once you’re approved, you’ll receive your policy and begin paying premiums.
1 Guarantees are based on the claims paying ability of the issuing company.
2 Loans and withdrawals will reduce the policy’s death benefit and available cash value. Excessive loans or withdrawals may cause the policy to lapse. Unpaid loans are treated as a distribution for tax purposes and may result in taxable income.
3 Living Benefits riders are not available on all life insurance products and may vary in some states. They are not a long-term care product.
Life insurance and Accelerated Death Benefit riders are issued by Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. The rider is not available on variable universal life insurance products.
In New York, life insurance and Accelerated Death Benefit riders are issued by Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. of New York.
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