There are plenty of no hassle life insurance quoting or instant life insurance quoting tools currently available to consumers via the internet. As a little bit of advice, here is how to navigate what you do and don’t need to provide to get an instant quote for your life insurance.
In most cases, the only information a person really needs to supply is the following:
Age (or date of birth)
Gender
State of residence (or zip code)
Smoker or non-smoker
Amount of insurance
Number of years for the insurance
Self-assessment of health
Other than that, you really need not provide anything else to get a feel for what life insurance may cost you. Why in the world does a quoting site need your name or email address? Well, that is either to contact you and/or pass your information to a third party.
At Insuring Income, we only require the bare minimum information for an instant life insurance quote to be generated, and it appears on your screen. Total time out of your life: 20-30 seconds at the most. The only information that is requested from you is that which is absolutely necessary to ensure you are receiving results that are accurate. Here’s why:
Age?
Life insurance gets more expensive as we get older. Example, a 44 year old male spends less than a 45 year old male – all else being equal.
Gender?
Life insurance rates are not unisex. If you compare a male and a female, with the exact same profile (health, age, smoking status, same size policy, etc.), you will see that males pay more for life insurance than females. This is because women have a statistical tendency to live longer.
State of residence?
Insurance applications and contracts are state-specific, meaning that each state’s insurance commissioner has approved that application, contract, pricing structure, as well as the required disclosures.
Smoker or non-smoker?
All else being equal, smokers pay higher rates than non-smokers. There are plenty of options for smokers, but those options will still be priced higher than they would for a non-smoker. And no, “quitting smoking today” will not qualify you as a non-smoker – but it is a heck of an idea.
Amount of insurance?
If you want more life insurance (death benefit), it is going to cost more. Insurance companies all price their insurance a little bit differently, and there can be a significant difference in who is the lowest cost carrier by simply moving the amount of insurance up or down $100,000. If you are unsure about the amount of insurance you need, we have calculators on our site or you can contact us to discuss this topic.
Number of years for the insurance?
You may notice as you look at different scenarios that when you compare 20 year term to 30 year term, a different carrier becomes your low-cost option. This is due to a variety of reasons, but the most common reasons behind this are either that the insurance company does not offer one of those durations (some companies do not offer 30 year term), or, the companies pricing model for 30 year term is slightly different (higher premium per dollar of insurance) than their competitors.
Self-assessment of health?
This is the driving force behind how much your insurance will cost. Insurance companies, during the underwriting process, assign a rating based your personal health, family health, and a number of other items. This health rating will determine the cost per dollar of insurance. In our instant life insurance quoting we ask you to self-assess and we use the most common “health class” phrases:
Preferred Plus
…which means effectively, “I’m really healthy!”
Preferred
…which is roughly, “You know what, I am pretty healthy… maybe a few dings and dents that are minor”
Regular Plus / Standard Plus
…saying, “I could probably lose some weight, or get my cholesterol down so I don’t have to take this medication, but I really am generally healthy… no major issues”
Regular / Standard
…”Bottom line is, I have a few things going on – couple prescriptions, I have seen a few specialists for various health issues, some are unresolved/ongoing…”
To feel comfortable that you are getting an accurate instant life insurance quote, be accurate in your health assessment (don’t be too hard on yourself either… just be objective). Most importantly; always work with an insurance agent that will fight to get you the best health rating you deserve.