It’s been 13 years since I got my $1,000,000, 20-year term life insurance policy and I almost forgot about the cumbersome process. After filling out all the application material, the medical examiner came to my house to test my blood pressure, weigh me, ask a series of questions and draw blood. Ugh, I hated the blood draw. The worst is when they miss a vein and have to poke you again.

I had to wait at least a month to see if I got approved, since the insurance company had to wait for my blood results to make sure I didn’t have some random deficiency unknown to them or me. The process was a pain, but I kept thinking about the importance of being a responsible man. I had just taken out a million dollar mortgage and didn’t want to saddle my girlfriend with debt in case of my demise.

I firmly believe the medical checkup is one of the main reasons why people don’t bother getting life insurance or can’t get life insurance because something happens during the process. If only there was a better way.

When SoFi reached out to me recently with their value proposition on their new term life insurance offering featuring no medical checkups, I had to learn more. As a good business man, I got them to sponsor this post to pay for my time. All thoughts are my own. 

About SoFi

In the emerging fintech lending world, SoFi is the giant that has raised over $1.5 billion in funding and has lent out over $14 billion in loans since its founding in 2011 by four Stanford business school students. They hypothesized their fellow alumni would be willing to lend future alumni money at lower interest rates to refinance their loans. Their hypothesis has since been proven correct with an accumulation of over 200,000 members.

Fintech is a boon to most consumers because it lowers our borrowing costs. Advancements in underwriting allow lenders to analyze risk much more efficiently. In the past, big banks never considered where you went to school, or whether people with graduate degrees had lower default rates. Now the race is on to lend as efficiently as possible.

Quick Facts About Life Insurance

For those of you with loved ones who depend on your income to maintain their lifestyles, getting life insurance is a worthwhile gift. The benefit is usually paid out tax free and it feels good knowing if the worst happens, you can still provide.

Here are some quick facts you should know about life insurance:

• Only 4 in 10 people surveyed for Life Happens’ 2015 Insurance Barometer Study feel they have sufficient life insurance coverage largely due to cost. Yet, most people overestimate the true cost for term life insurance by several times.
• About 60% of Americans have access to individual or group life insurance through their employer.
• Term life policies offered by employers are typically 1-2 X salary, but 7-10 X salary is the often-recommended policy size.
• According to MetLife’s Employee Benefits Trends study, only 44% of employers offer “portable benefits” to workers who leave.
• With workers aged 25-34 job hopping every ~2.8 years on average, a lot of people lose coverage when they switch employers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• About one in three households would have immediate difficulty paying living expenses due to the loss of a primary wage earner, according to Life Happens.

How Is Technology Making Life Insurance Better?

SoFi teamed up with Protective Life Insurance Company in 2016 to offer term life insurance policies. SoFi’s technology and Protective’s long track record as an insurance provider bring some unique, modern-day benefits to the insurance industry. Here are some highlights of their offer:

• Easily access a personalized free quote online in about two minutes.
• If you like what you see, complete the application process in about 20 minutes.
• Policies are offered in 10, 15 and 20 year terms ranging from $100,000 – $5,000,000.
• Bypass medical exams for policies up to $1 million policies for ages 18 – 40 and $500,000 for ages between 41-60 if you meet eligibility requirements.
• Low-cost rates and reliable service.
• Receive and sign your policy as quickly as one business day.

Tip #1 Before you start the application process, you’ll want to have quick access to your annual income, net worth, driver’s license or ID card, contact info of your primary care physician (PCP), current and past medical info for yourself and your family, and any pending or replacement life insurance information.

Tip #2 When determining how much coverage to get, consider these top 5 coverage needs: 1. replacing income, 2. college tuition costs for your children, 3. mortgage payments, 4. elder care for your parents, 5. paying off debt. You can utilize their online calculator to help select a policy size.

Tip #3 Being healthy is not only good for you and your family, it helps you get lower premiums coupled with the potential perk of bypassing medical exams that are typically required with traditional life insurance applications. In addition to the age and policy size restrictions above, criteria that may disqualify applicants from bypassing a medical exam include having previous or pre-existing medical conditions, being a smoker, having a higher weight to height ratio, and having close relatives with medical conditions.

Tip #4 Don’t expect to qualify if you fudge about your health and family medical history just because you don’t have to get physically examined. The underwriting team will review your medical records and may contact your physician to confirm the information in your application.

The main point is that through this process, you get to spend less time to see if you qualify. If you don’t, no sweat because you didn’t have to go through a medical checkup.

Who is Protective Life Insurance Company?

from Financial Samurai


via Finance Xpress