Life Insurance, Syracuse, NY

Parsons is proud of the quality of products and service we offer our Life Insurance and Annuity customers.

What Happens When Your Term Life Insurance Runs Out? 3 Tips

1. If you’re in good health (or good enough), shop for new level term insurance. You’ll have to pass a medical exam - which the majority of buyers can — and pay the appropriate premium for someone of your age.

Don’t automatically buy from the same company that insures you now.

2. If you’re in poor health, convert your existing term policy to permanent insurance. You’ll be offered whatever types of conversion policies the company has on its shelf at the time. There’s no medical exam. You’ll pay much more than you were paying for term insurance but can limit the cost by buying a smaller policy.

But don’t convert any earlier than you have to. Say, for example, that you have a heart attack half way through a 20-year term policy. Your agent might urge you to switch to cash-value coverage right away. But why? If you die, your heirs will collect on your current term policy. If you live, you might be considered a better risk 10 years from now than you are today.

3. If you’re in poor health and missed the deadline for switching to permanent insurance, you’ve got trouble. You can renew your expiring level-term coverage without a health exam but only at incredibly high premiums. Worse, the cost will jump every year, by large amounts. This is worth doing only at death’s door. You probably won’t be able to sustain the cost of the policy for very long.

A warning when you’re buying term:

An agent might encourage you to buy 10-year term, even though you’ll need coverage for 20 years or more. That lowers your premiums for the first 10 years, but you have to buy a new policy (paying a new sales commission) for the second 10 years. The agent will show you a “reentry” price, but might not tell you that (1) it’s not guaranteed and (2) to get that coverage, you’ll have to pass a medical exam.

Thumbs down on agents like this. If you need 20 years of coverage, buy 20-year term. If you expect to need coverage for 30 years, buy 30 year term. And stay away from cash-value Life insurance for family coverage unless, at the end of the term, it becomes your only choice.

Contact us today for all your options!

This Agency is a certified IMMS member and consistently meets or exceeds the highest level of customer satisfaction.