Global Life has been serving 4.3 million policyholders nationwide who have bought their life insurance. They offer a variety of policies with their best services to their customers and hold $82 billion as an insurance force.
Because there is no medical exam for any policy, individuals are required to tell the insurer about their medical history, age, location, and policy preferences. Based on the information of the applicant, the insurer can accept and reject the application. That is why the applicants are recommended to provide accurate information about their medical conditions and if they have any pre-existing health conditions. Global Life insurance: a comprehensive guide to buying life insurance is the guide for all the applicants who plan to buy the policies in order to get to know the process and offers of the company.
What is life insurance?
Life insurance is a contract between the policyholder and the insurer or assurer that guarantee the assurer to pay them the sum of money at the event of death of the policyholder to the designated beneficiary in exchange for the premiums paid by the policyholder at once monthly. Depending on the contract, other critical events such as terminal illness or critical illness can also trigger reimburesement. The policy also includes other benefits such as paying for funeral expenses.
The policies determine the limitations on the insured events, such as the exclusions written on the contract limiting the insurer’s liability. Typical events in that regard are suicide, riot, fraud, war, and civil commotion. Difficulties can arrive in some events where clarity of the event is not confirmed. For instance, the policyholder knowingly incurred a risk by consenting to experimental medical procedures by a medication where he got himself injured or dead.
Life-based policies have mainly two major categories:
- Protection policies: these policies are designed to provide a benefit, typically a sum of money in the event of a specified occurrence.
- Investment policies: the main objective of these policies is to facilitate the growth of capital by single or regular premiums.
Types of life insurance
There are multiple types of life insurance according to the needs and preferences of the customers. It depends on the short and long-term needs of the customer that these policies are offered by different providers.
Term life insurance
This is for a certain period of time after that it expires. The common term for the policy are 10, 20, and 30 years and among them, the best ones are the ones that balance affordability with long-term financial strength.
- Decreasing term: this policy of life insurance is renewable with coverage decreasing over the life of the policy at the predetermined rate.
- Convertible term: this policy allows the policyholders to convert the term policy is permanent insurance.
- Renewable term: this policy provides a quote for the year the policy is purchased. Premiums usually keep on increasing, and this is the least expensive term insurance in the beginning.
Permanent life insurance
Contrary to the term life insurance, permanent life insurance lasts for the life of the policyholder unless he stops paying the premiums or back off from the policy. Generally, permanent life insurance is more expensive than term life insurance.
- Whole life: this type of permanent insurance accumulates cash value. The cash value life insurance allows the policyholders to use the accumulated cash value for many purposes, such as to pay policy premiums or use it as a source of loan.
- Universal life: this type of permanent life insurance with the cash value earns the interest and features flexible premiums. Unlike the term and whole life insurance, the universal life insurance’s premiums can be adjusted with time and can be designed with a level death benefit or an increasing death benefit.
- Indexed universal: this type of universal life insurance allows a policyholder to earn a fixed or equity-indexed rate of return on the cash value component.
- Variable universal: with variable universal life insurance, the policyholder can invest the cash value in his separate account. The policy has flexible premiums with the availability of designing it with the level death benefit or increasing death benefit.
Burial and funeral life insurance
Regardless of the name of the policy, funeral insurance is usually small whole life insurance. It is an easy-to-qualify for, low coverage, whole life policy that includes end of life expenses such as medical bills, funeral expenses, and paying a debt that you left behind when you pass.
These types of policies are good for people with poor health who don’t have other life insurance and who need their funeral expenses to be covered.
Survivorship life insurance
These policies are joint insurance policies that cover two people under one policy, usually a husband and wife. The payout to beneficiaries is not made until both of the policyholders die. These policies may be less expensive than buying two separate life insurance, especially when one of the partners has health issues.
These policies are beneficial for those people who want to have estate planning, given that their money is not needed by the beneficiary until the policyholders are alive. It also can be of use for those who want to donate their money to charity or want to provide money to heirs for estate taxes.
Credit life insurance
This is the type of life insurance that pays the outstanding loans of the borrower when the borrower dies. When you receive a loan, you might be offered credit life insurance whose payments are rolled into your loan payment. The payouts are balanced to the debt amount, paid to the lender and not to your family.
This insurance policy might look appealing and convenient to you if you are worried about certain debt that you think your family won’t be able to pay after you die. Also, since the policy does not require any medical exam, purchasing this policy might be easier for you.
Supplemental life insurance
The supplemental life insurance is provided by your employer. It is the voluntary, employee-paid group term life insurance that you can choose to buy coverage for yourself, your legal spouse, and your dependant children.
These policies are usually free or inexpensive, and it is good supplementary coverage for your life insurance.
Who needs life insurance?
Life insurance provides financial support to the survivors or the policyholder’s beneficiaries after they die. The policy can be of benefit for many kinds of people. Here is the list of those who tend to buy life insurance to secure the life of their survivors after they pass away.
- Parent with minor children
If a parent dies, the loss of their and caregiving can be a bigger problem for the nourishment of their children. Still, life insurance can protect their crucial time of development by ensuring that the kids are given proper care and support by the payout from the policy of their deceased parent until they can support themselves.
- Parent with special-needs adult children
The children who need life-long care due to some acute disease or childhood disability and can never be self-sufficient, life insurance can ensure that their needs are fulfilled when a parent passes away. The death benefit can be handed over to the unique needs trust, which will take care of the adult child’s benefit.
- Seniors who want to leave money to their children who provide for their care.
People often spend their time and money on the supervision of their parent who needs help. This may cost them a lot of money too. So the life insurance of their parent may help them finance the costs of their care when the parent passes away.
- Adults who own property together
If two siblings own property, they have to pay loan payments, upkeep, and taxes of the property. If one person dies, it would be very difficult for the other person to pay these dues alone. Life insurance can help him out greatly to not fall short of any payment. One example can be of the couple who take out a joint mortgage to buy their first house.
- Young adults whose parents have incurred private student loan debt or cosigned a loan for them
Young adults who don’t have any dependants rarely need any life insurance, but in case their parents will be on the hook for their child’s debt loan after their death, the individual should have the backing of his life insurance that will pay him off.
- Wealthy families who expect to owe state taxes
the life insurance can pay the beneficiaries the necessary payouts that can help them to cover the taxes and keep the full value of the property intact.
- For families who can’t afford burial and funeral expenses
if the financial situation of the family is not satisfying, life insurance can be a great help for the deceased that their funeral expenses are paid off.
- Married pensioners
Choosing between a pension payout that offers a spousal benefit and the one which doesn’t might be confusing. Instead, receiving the full pension and using some of the money to buy life insurance can be helpful for the spouse. This strategy is called pension maximization, which is based on the intelligent decision.
- People with preexisting conditions
Health issues such as diabetes, cancer, or smoking can insert unpredictable fear of death for a man having life insurance, in this case, may help these people to cover their medical bills.
Global life insurance
Originally known as Torchmark, global life came into being in 1951 and today serves 4.3 million policyholders with having $82 billion of insurance in force.
The company provides term, whole, accidental death, mortgage protection, and children life insurance products and attract million of individuals because of giving no medical exam life insurance. The underwriting process for purchasing the policy is entirely based on the health questions that the insurer asks you as you buy the policy.
Available plans
Global life offers five life insurance plans, and none of them require you to go through the hassle of a medical exam. They finalize the application based on the information you provide in response to the health questions the insurer asks you. In some cases, your application can still be denied because of the health history you mention in the application.
You can get a quote online for some policies, but you have to call Global life to get your rates finalized and purchase the policy.
Below is the description of each life insurance plan they offer:
Accidental death
Global life’s accidental death insurance policy supplements other insurance policies that you already have. The plan offers you the coverage of $250,000 for covered accidental deaths or losses.
The policy includes the following features:
- Inflation benefits
The primary insured’s benefits increase by 5% until the principal benefit increase by 125% of the initial principal benefit or the principal insured turns 70.
- Seatbelt benefits
Global life pays 10% of the insured’s principal, all benefits if the insured is killed while operating or driving a car wearing a seatbelt.
- Common disaster benefit
In a joint or survivorship life insurance, both the insured people die in a common accident the insured spouse’s death benefit will increase to 100% of the primary insured’s principal benefit.
- Education benefit
If the insured person dies in a covered peril, Global life pays an additional 10% for each dependant child between the age of 15 to 22. This coverage is only available on the family plan and capped at $10,000.
- Paralysis benefit
This benefit covers paraplegia, quadriplegia, and hemiplegia.
- Dismemberment benefit
If the insured has lost his hand, leg, or eye in an accident or injury, Global life pays for them.
- Commercially scheduled airline benefit
If the insured dies in severe injuries due to an air crash as a fare-paying passenger on a commercially scheduled airline, Global life will pay an additional benefit amount equal to the insured’s principal benefit.
Accidental death policies are guaranteed issue policy that means that the company won’t deny you the policy because of your health if your age is between 18 and 69. However, before buying the policy, you should read the criteria for the covered accidents in order to understand the terms of the payout when Global life pays out as the death benefit.
Children’s life insurance
The children’s life policy can be purchased for your children or grandchildren between the age of 0 to 25. You get the coverage of $5,000 to $30,000 and the policy can build cash value for their future. This policy has no waiting period and the coverage starts the very next day.
It is the whole life policy and it has the following features:
- Fixed premiums for life
- Coverage will never decrease
- Guaranteed lifetime coverage
- Coverage is available between $5,000 to $30,000 (varies state by state)
- Builds cash value that you may borrow from
- Boys and girls pay the same rate
- Available from age 0-24
You will pay a $1 premium for the first month and after the first month, the actual monthly price kicks in and stay the same for the life.
Here are the premium rates for the children life policy according to their age and coverage:
Term life insurance
It is a reasonable life insurance policy that provides coverage for a limited amount of time called a term. The policy is regarded as the most affordable, cost-effective, and offers pure protection. Because many people want insurance to replace the income upon the death of the breadwinner so that, they have enough money to pay the debts, submit future college tuition for the children, and provide extra cash to support the raising of children.
The term life insurance offers the coverage of $5,000 to $100,000 and the term is typically 10 to 20 years in length. The accounts do not get the cash value and the coverage varies from state to state.
Term life insurance policy is typically less expensive than whole life insurance. It works in the way that if the insured dies during the period of the policy, the beneficiary will get the death benefits equal to the face value of the policy but if he does not die, the coverage simply ends and the beneficiary does not get anything.
Whole life insurance
Compared to term life insurance, whole life insurance offers coverage for the lifetime. The whole life insurance guarantees the payment of death benefits to the beneficiaries in exchange for level, regularly due premium payments. The policy has the feature of saving cash value that keeps on accumulating on interest based on a tax-deferred basis. Increasing cash value is the essential component of the whole life insurance.
In order to build cash value, the payments can be canceled after the scheduled premium, known as paid-up additions. The cash value can be accumulated by reinvesting the policy dividends to earn the interest. This way the policyholder can get a living benefit from the accumulated cash value that can be provided as a positive return to investors, growing larger than the total amount of the premiums paid into the policy
To access the reserved cash value, the policyholder makes a request for withdrawal of funds or a loan that can be given after charging the interest over the amount. The policyholder may get tax-free funds up to the value of total premiums paid. And if you fail to pay your loan, it will decrease the death benefits from the policy.
Mortgage protection policy
The mortgage protection policy is the accidental death and dismemberment life insurance that protect and help your beneficiaries to pay the mortgage after the policyholder passes away in sudden death.
Along with the guaranteed options, the policy also provides the following benefits without any cost:
- Inflation benefit
- Education benefit
- Seatbelt benefit
- Dismemberment benefit
- Commercially scheduled airline benefit
Available riders
A rider in a policy is also known as insurance endorsement which is a provision you can add to your policy by adding coverage, including family members, or even accessing benefits early under certain circumstances. This way, you can adjust, enhance and customize your policy.
Global life allows a limited number of riders, which are:
Children’s term to 25
If you have a term or whole life insurance, you can add a “children’s term to 25” into your policy to get the coverage for your dependent child of age between 30 days to 25. With this rider, you can get coverage up to $100,000. If you have a term policy, you can convert it into whole life insurance before the 25th birthday of your child. Once the rider is converted, the face value of the new whole life policy also increases. The primary policyholder has to initiate the conversion of the policy before the child runs out. There can be additional rules regarding the policy so make sure from your provider about the specific details.
The primary benefit of the child rider is that you can gain extra coverage for your child without going through the process of getting a separate policy for your child. Also, your other children following your first child would automatically be added into your policy as riders without your going to get additional riders for additional children. The cost of the additional children is lower than getting an additional separate policy especially if you have more than one child.
Terminal illness
With some policies in selected states, you can add terminal illness accelerated benefit rider into your policy and get 50% of the benefits early in the case you develop a terminal illness and need coverage for the treatment.
With these riders included, the policyholder would receive a sum of money if a critical illness is diagnosed to the primary policyholders. The critical illness is determined by the terms of the insurer but in many cases, these riders cover illnesses such as cancer, heart attack, and stroke. These riders are provided to help support the sudden critical illness rather than grant reimbursement for medical bills.
