4 Things You’ll Need (or Need to Know) Before Getting Life Insurance Quotes in San Diego, CA

Congratulations on your forward-thinking decision to buy life insurance in America’s Finest City. You obviously want to bring long-term financial security to loved ones, but you have questions. Plenty of them.

You’ve seen words like term life insurance thrown around. And whole life – and a whole lot more. And you have no idea what they mean. Or even what questions to ask.

A good independent insurance agent can cut through the fog, but here’s what we think is a good starting point: the four basic answers you need and decisions you must make before getting life insurance quotes in San Diego, Calif.

1. Determine What Kind of Policy You Need

Here’s where we get into those terms we brought up earlier: term and whole life coverage. Those are the two basic forms of coverage, though there are distinctions even within that breakdown.

Whole life insurance covers — you got it — your “whole life.” As long as you continue to pay your premiums when due, your insurance policy will remain in force. You’re guaranteed a death benefit. This term describes the end-of-life payout your beneficiaries are guaranteed to receive eventually.

A term life policy covers you — right again — for a term of time. Let’s say you’ve got young kids and decide that you should financially protect them in their childhood years and through college. Taking out a 25-year term life insurance policy would make sense in this case. If you should die during this period, your kids will see a death benefit. If you’re still alive after the last one is out of college, your policy ends.

Whole life policies cost more than term policies since the payout is guaranteed.

Now let’s say you’re the parent with young kids and that 25-year term life policy. You’re 30 now, and when the policy runs out, you’ll only be 55. The odds against a death benefit payout are pretty high, especially if you’re a healthy non-smoker when you purchase the policy. So the risk of payout is low, and so is the policy cost.

2. Know What You Can Afford

There are two basic ways of arriving at an answer here. Figure out what you should pay, and what you can afford. The cost is related to the death benefit. The more you plan to leave behind, the more you’ll pay in premiums.

We’ve already started the cost decision by determining whether you should buy whole life or term. Now let’s introduce a so-called rule of thumb. It states that you should pay somewhere around seven to ten times your annual salary at the time of purchase. So if you’re making $50,000 a year, you’d buy a policy with a death benefit of between $350,000 and $500,000.

But how does that fit the needs of your beneficiaries? They might need less or more than that total based on their ages, location, education, and other factors. For instance, how old do you think they’ll be when you die? Will they be on their own? Are they likely to have college degrees? Are they pretty self-sufficient? Or have they even been born yet?

Does your spouse work? Is he or she educated? Do they earn a good living or have a minimum wage job? Or none at all?

If you’re a young and healthy parent, your beneficiaries might not see a payout for 50 years. What will today’s $350,000 be worth in half a century?

Now let’s look at what you can afford. San Diego has a high cost of living even for the State of California. What can you afford to pay in addition to your other expenses here?

Now back to your beneficiaries. Do they live in San Diego? Or in a part of the country where living costs are much lower, and they need less to live? That’s a factor, too. You have a lot to think about when buying life insurance.

3. A Medical Checkup (Probably)

You can’t blame a life insurance company for wanting to protect its investment. They hope you live a long and fruitful life. That way, they’ll have more time to invest your insurance premiums before the inevitable payout of a whole life policy. Or to avoid paying a penny if it’s term life coverage you own. They would prefer that you’re young, healthy, and a non-smoker who works out daily. If none of those factors are in play, you’ll pay more.

Some insurers promote life insurance plans that don’t require a medical checkup. Those tend to be more expensive since the insurer takes on more risk. Ask your agent for details.

4. A California Insurance Agent You Can Trust

This might be your most significant decision before getting a life insurance quote in San Diego. That’s because you can make all of the other decisions easier if you’ve found a partner in a knowledgeable broker you trust. One who’ll patiently answer your questions and make sure you know exactly what you’re doing before signing any contract.

If your broker is an independent insurance agent, they’ll be able to shop around from life insurance plans offered by several major carriers once they know the factors that are important to you. That way, you can get the best rates from name-brand insurers.

Find Affordable Life Insurance in San Diego Today

At Cost-U-Less Insurance, your independent agent will make it easier to get affordable life insurance quotes in San Diego. Call us at (800) 390-4071 or get a quick quote online. You can also find a Cost-U-Less San Diego location near you for a face-to-face meeting.