Finding the best life insurance policy is not something that should be taken lightly.  Ensuring you take care of your loved ones in the event of a tragedy is as crucial as any personal finance decision.  PolicyGenius offers an online search engine designed specifically to help you find an affordable term life insurance policy.

I’m going to show you just how easy it is to use in this review. The first thing you can do on PolicyGenius is figure out just how much life insurance you need.  They have a very handy calculator that estimates your families future needs based on the answers of a few simple questions.

1. What are your plans for your children’s education?
2. How much is your current income?
3. How much debt do you currently have?
4. How long will it take you to pay off your current debt?

After a few minutes of answering questions about your finances, PolicyGenius spits out the amount of life insurance you’re likely to need.  It will look something like this: What you see above is an estimation of my financial situation.  I have two children under the age of four and a mortgage with credit card debt.  With limited savings and liquid assets, PolicyGenius proposed a term life insurance policy for $1.93MM.  From here, PolicyGenius allows me to take the next step, and complete an application.  The application includes the term and the amount. It also provided me a list of available underwriters.

PolicyGenius Application Process

Policy Genius asks fairly general questions during the application process.  Do you have a family history of heart disease or mental illness?  Have you ever been diagnosed with high cholesterol?  What is your height, weight, and age?  The application from start to finish takes all of three minutes. If you’re quick with your answers, you can complete it in under two minutes.  Using the estimation above, PolicyGenius will provide you a plethora of available insurers, each showcasing the monthly cost.  The cheapest plan will be highlighted at the top of your search along with the second cheapest plan. When looking at the different policies available to you, you may want to adjust your coverage amounts.  You can do this by looking at the left sidebar of the page.  You’ll be able to toggle the coverage amount, the length of term and whether or not you want to pay monthly or annually.  Paying once a year will save you money on your overall premium.  For example, the numbers you see above are for $2MM in coverage and a term of 30 years.  If I only wanted a 10-year term for the same coverage amount, my monthly cost would only be $41.

PolicyGenius Resources and Help

If you’re having trouble deciding on the right insurer, PolicyGenius has amassed a bevy of information on each and every policy.  When you select “More about this Insurer” underneath the insurer’s name, you’re taken to a page with a LOT of information.  This page includes reviews, unique features, and a full video review on the company you’ve selected, created by PolicyGenius.  For example, they created this video to discuss AIG:

Completing the Application

After selecting the policy you want, on the terms you want, you have one final step to submit your application.  The last step includes basic contact information such as mailing address, phone number and email address.  30 seconds later, you’re ready to complete your application.  Within 48 hours, you can expect to hear from the insurance provider you have selected.  PolicyGenius will approve your application and ask for paymetn or ask for additional information.  That generally means one of two scenarios:

1. Your application requires a physical to be approved.  This is what happened to me when I submitted an application.  The physical is scheduled by the insurance underwriter, and takes about 10 minutes.  You can have someone come to your home, or go to a local office.  Physicals include blood samples, urine samples and a check of your blood pressure.
2. Your application needs fixing.  For some reason, the information you entered was flagged and step by step and agent will ask you to fill out a new application over the phone.  Sometimes this takes care of the problem, other times you may need to select a new provider.

You can create an account with PolicyGenius after completing an application.  This account will allow you to track your application status, communicate securely with your agent and provide you an insurance to-do list should more information be required. If you ever get lost along the way, PolicyGenius does a nice job of offering assistance.  They have a live chat feature that follows you around the site, as well as a phone number plastered on the top right of the screen.  That number is 1.855.695.2255.

Call them anytime to ask for help, and they’ll give it. PolicyGenius also has other types of insurance available, including Health Insurance, Renters Insurance and Disability Insurance.  Their quote engine isn’t quite as refined for these products as it is for life insurance but the quality of results is just as good.

Be Responsible About Your Family’s Future

Sitting down and planning out your death is not fun.  Quite frankly, it’s eerily unsettling to know that you’re plugging hard earned money away on something you’ll pray you never take advantage of.  But ensuring the security of your family should the worst happen is 100% necessary.  Take the responsible action and consider what happens to your family if you’re not around.  That might mean a hard look at the quality life insurance policies that PolicyGenius has to offer.

Topics: Life Insurance

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