Fidelity Life: Can’t Afford Life Insurance Premiums? 4 Options to Look At

If you have people who depend on you financially, it’s important to have life insurance. But what if you’re having trouble working those premium payments into your budget?

These days, living costs are rising across the board. And even if your premium is the same one you’ve always paid, you may be reaching the point where you can no longer afford it. If that’s the case, you have options.

According to Insurance Information Institute, half of Americans estimate the cost of life insurance to be three times its actual cost. While certain types of policies can be expensive, there are others that are affordable.

In some cases, shoppers can get the option of life insurance with no medical exam. Here are four affordable options to consider.

1. Switching from Whole to Term Life Insurance

The type of life insurance you have could spell the difference between higher monthly premiums and lower ones. If you currently have a whole life policy you’re struggling to afford, you may want to swap it for term life instead.

Term life insurance is a policy that insures the policyholder for a specific time period. The term length of these policies is typically around 10 to 30 years. Some life insurance companies may offer policies with term lengths as short as a year. A term life policy generally offers high coverage amounts, even as high as $1,000,000. The premiums are typically lower than most other types of life insurance, particularly for younger and healthier people.

2. Reduce Your Death Benefits – Final Expense Insurance

Final expense insurance is a whole-life policy that offers a small benefit. The death benefit is usually between $2,000 to $50,000. Beneficiaries can use this money to pay for funeral services and cover any other end-of-life costs. Unlike other whole-life policies, the premium cost for final expense insurance is often more affordable because of the lower coverage amount. A final expense policy may cost anywhere between $30 to $100 per month. Final expense insurance, in most cases, does not require a medical exam to be approved. Instead, approval is based on answers to a few health questions.

3. Employer-Provided Life Insurance

Some employers will offer a life insurance policy to their employees, known as group life insurance. The policy may come at a low cost or sometimes at no cost. The coverage is usually guaranteed: all employees must do is sign up and be automatically enrolled. However, keep in mind that if a person leaves their job, coverage usually ends. The coverage amount is also lower than other policies, often only matching the employee’s annual salary.

4. Rethink the Term of  Your Life Insurance

Decreasing term life insurance is a term life policy where the coverage amount decreases over time. The coverage amount continues to decrease, usually on an annual basis, until the end of the term. A decreasing term life policy is mostly used to cover temporary financial obligations, such as a mortgage or tuition. A policyholder can get a policy that decreases their death benefit as they pay down a specific debt. If the policyholder passes away before fully paying off a loan, the beneficiary can use the death benefit to cover the remaining cost of a loan. Decreasing term life insurance, in some cases, may cost less than a level term life policy. Life insurance shoppers should review all their options to find an affordable policy.

Don’t Dump Your Life Insurance

Sometimes life insurance can seem too expensive to keep. But there are steps you can take to lower your costs, like rethinking the length of your policy and reducing your death benefit. It’s better to have some level of life insurance coverage than none.

Fidelity Life offers no medical exam life insurance.  Life insurance shoppers can discuss their options with a licensed agent or shop for online life insurance quotes. Shoppers can answer a few questions before being matched with a policy that suits their needs.