Generally, people are encouraged to review their home and auto insurance policies to compare rates on an annual basis, but often life insurance is left out of this conversation. One reason why it is ignored is that almost 40% of American’s don’t have life insurance. Another reason is that it can be a hassle to apply for insurance, with several health questions to answer and sometimes a minor physical. While it is great to protect your family by having life insurance, you should be comparing rates on a regular basis to assure that you are not paying too much and that you are buying what you need.

When You Should Compare Life Insurance Rates

As with other major polices, reviewing your coverage and options on an annual basis is a smart habit to develop. In addition, there are other times in your life when you should consider if your coverage still accurately reflects your needs and use this as an opportunity to also compare rates. These situations are:  

• Family changes such as marriage, birth of a child, your child finishing college or when they become financially independent.
• Finance changes including buying or refinancing a home, becoming responsible for someone else’s finances, or after receiving an inheritance.
• Income changes due to salary increases or decreases, starting or selling a business or you or your spouse changing jobs or careers. 
• Health changes such as weight loss, lower heart rate, recovery from a major illness or injury, etc. If your current life insurance was priced based on a medical condition that no longer exists, comparing prices should result in lower costs.
• Beneficiary changes including the death of a spouse or the birth of a child.

Letting your life insurance sit in a file cabinet is probably costing more than it should for the coverage you need, so it’s worth the time to shop around.  

How to Compare Life Insurance Rates

Life insurance can be complicated and involves more than simply comparing costs. In addition to cost and payout amounts you should compare policies on additional factors, including:

• Whether the policy is whole or term life insurance, and which best meets your needs;
• If the premiums fixed (stay the same) or variable (increase over time);
• If there a return of the premium at the end of the policy if it isn’t used;
• Whether there are exclusions in the policies, i.e. benefits that are not included;
• If there is a medical exam;
• How soon the policy comes into force after you complete the application; and
• If there is a “free look” time, which is the time you can change your mind about the policy without paying a penalty.

Conducting this comparison between several different policies can be overwhelming but the good news is that you don’t have to do this alone. Working with a reliable, independent insurance broker that represents a variety of high-quality providers makes it easy to obtain and compare multiple quotes. At Alliance, we have offered these services for over 30 years and know how to find the best options for our customers. In addition, our skilled agents are available to answer questions and help you compare policies. 

With Alliance, you don’t have to struggle with finding and comparing policies. Simply request a free quote or call one of our expert agents at (866) 771-4715.