Life Insurance: What Is It Really?
September 04, 2022
Life Insurance. It is something that everyone needs but no one ever wants to talk about. However, it is really important to talk about and to make sure you are protecting your loved ones. Picture this, you pass away unexpectedly, and you didn’t have life insurance or a will. You had always said you would get to that eventually or when you were older. Now your loved ones are stuck dealing with your funeral costs, settling your estate, and their grief from losing you. Wouldn’t you want them to be able to grieve without the worry and financial burdens? That is where life insurance comes into play.

What exactly is life insurance? Life Insurance is insurance that can help financially in the event of your passing. It can help to:
  • Cover funeral costs
  • Pay the bills and ongoing living expenses
  • Pay off debt
  • Continue a family business
  • Provide financial assistance for your children’s education
  • Protect a spouse’s retirement plans
Basically, it protects your loves ones from having to incur these expenses themselves by paying out a lump sum to cover these costs at the time of one’s passing.

Does everyone need life insurance? More people need life insurance than you may realize. If you fall into one or any of the categories below, you may want to consider looking into life insurance.
  • Do you have any debt or will be incurring debt such as student loans, a car loan, or a mortgage?
  • Do you have anyone that depends on you financially?
  • Do you have children whom you would like to be able to assist with education costs?
When considering if you need life insurance, consider who and what you will leave behind when you pass. Will those you leave behind struggle to maintain their current lifestyle without you supporting them? Will they need assistance to pay off any of your debts or costs associated with passing? If you answered yes, then you may want to look into life insurance as a solution for these situations.

What affects the cost of life insurance? When it comes to the cost of life insurance, this differs for pretty much everyone. This is because there are several main factors that can alter or affect the cost of a policy. The following are all things that insurers consider when pricing out your life insurance policies.
  • Age
  • Gender
  • Smoking Status
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Family Medical History
  • Driving Record
  • Occupation
How do you get life insurance? The first step to getting life insurance is to realize that you need it. From there, the next step would be to have a discussion with an agent or several. It is important to shop the market to make sure you are getting the right pieces in your policy and to make sure the company you are going with is reliable. A great way to do this is to go through a broker agency that can help to shop the market for you and has great relationships with multiple companies offering life insurance. These kinds of agents will also be experts in their field and will know all the ins and outs of getting life insurance and can help you from start to finish.

Once you have determined what plan and company you want to go with, you will need to fill out the application. From there, the company may have you do an in-person medical exam. They may also request medical records from your physician. Life insurance is a negotiation process that starts with the application. Based on the results of the application and testing, the company will either extend an offer or decline to extend an offer and the client has the choice to either accept that offer or not.

Recap: So we have covered what life insurance is, who needs life insurance, what can affect the cost of life insurance, and how you go about getting life insurance. Life Insurance is something that people do not like to discuss but that is necessary to make sure your loved ones are able to grieve without worry or financial burden. Making sure to protect those you love is an amazing last act of love you can do for them. Give your local DFA Insurance agent a call at 1-877-358-9523 today and discuss what your options are and how best to leave them protected.