Virginia Life Insurance

Life insurance health ratings are determined on current and past health history. These ratings take into account why you are seeing a doctor, the types of medications you take, and pre-existing conditions. Next is the "paramedical exam", when a nurse comes to your house and gives you a complete physical. Blood and urine tests are performed, and many medical questions are asked and answered. Final determination will come from a combination of these items that are reviewed by an underwriting department.

Life insurance is one of the most important decisions you can make to give you and your loved ones financial security and peace of mind. If you were to die prematurely, how would your mortgage or debts be paid off? What would replace your much-needed income? How would your children be able to attend college? Buying life insurance answers these lingering questions and can put an end to uncertainty. Even if you live a healthy lifestyle, life insurance is an essential component of planning your retirement.

Life insurance policies come in two basic variants -- whole life and term insurance. Whole life insurance, which tends to have higher premiums, offers death benefits plus cash value on account. Term insurance is affordable because it only concentrates on death benefits. When you are young and have outstanding auto loans, expenses, home mortgages, and children's education and upbringing to look after, you must consider the more affordable term life insurance.

Term life insurance has been around a long time. It is the least expensive of all the life insurance policies available. Term life insurance provides protection for the named insured over a stated period of time, which differentiates it from other forms of life insurance. Term insurance has no equity or cash value accumulation, and so it is primarily purchased for the security provided by the death benefit.

Term life insurance pays out a cash lump sum upon death of the insurance policyholder, or at the point the policyholder is diagnosed as terminally ill. Despite it being a low-cost term life product (insurance coverage can be acquired for as little as $5 to $10 per month) surprisingly few of us have term life insurance in place.

Whole Life Insurance, also known as straight life, ordinary life, and traditional permanent insurance, is designed to provide coverage for your entire lifetime -- unlike term insurance which provides protection for a specified time period. To keep the premium level, the premiums during the younger ages exceed the actual cost of protection. This extra premium builds a reserve (cash value) which helps pay for the policy in later years as the cost of protection rises above the premium. Whole life policies stretch the cost of insurance over a longer period of time in order to level out the otherwise increasing cost of insurance. Under some policies, premiums are required to be paid for a set number of years. Under other policies, premiums are paid throughout the policyholder's lifetime.

Whole life insurance offers guaranteed death benefits and cash values, and fixed and known annual premiums. With whole life, mortality and expense charges will not reduce the cash value shown in the policy. Whole life insurance is the most powerful because it is active during the policyholder's entire lifetime, and it also includes a death benefit and a cash value. This is the most popular and traditional type of life insurance. Call or email the professionals at The Insurance Smith to discuss what policies are best for you.