• Have a new baby, looking at life insurance (3)
• Seeking Life Insurance Broker or Agent (5)
• Incredibly nosy life insurance questions!
• What kind of insurance should we get?
• Life Insurance with diabetes?
• Term Life Insurance - Amica?
• Insurance company says my husband is uninsurable
• Life insurance for the difficult to insure
• We need a bunch of insurance
• Is Term Life Insurance Better?
• New York Life or Equitable Agent?
• Experience with www.selectquote.com?
• Reasonably priced life insurance?
• See also: Insurance Brokers

Have a new baby, looking at life insurance

Hi- We're looking at buying a house in the next year, and between that and having a baby last year, we really need better life insurance than what we have through work. I'm not quite sure where to begin looking. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.

With the recent arrival of our first baby, we've decided to get life insurance. The most recent archive recommendations are from 2002. Does anyone have any more recent recommendations for where to buy life insurance. Any other sage advice on this topic much appreciated. Thanks! Signed: how much is my life worth?

Just had a baby, and neither my husband or I have life insurance provided by work. Does anyone know of an honest/reputable insurance broker for term life insurance? Also, how much life insurance should one generally get? Anything else i should consider? (I noticed that the existing postings on life insurance are old and some of the referred agents are no longer there.) sandy

Seeking Life Insurance Broker or Agent

After reading some of the postings about life insurance, I thought I should look into it again. We have tried in the past to get life insurance, but my husband got rejected by one company because of a pre-existing condition. I was hoping to find an insurance broker or agent that is trusted and can provide some good advice for our situation. Someone near the Walnut Creek area would be preferred - or someone who is willing to meet at our house is even better. Anon

I'm interested in getting recommendations for a life insurance agent in the Oakland/Berkeley area and who is working for a single insurance company (if there is such an agent...) Preferably, someone who has worked/is working with single parents. Parent

My partner and I are looking for a Life Insurance Broker. Someone who does not work for a specific insurance company (i.e. Allstate, State Farm), but a broker who can offer us clear advice about the type of life insurance that would be best for us and then be able to ''shop'' different policies and companies to find us the best price. r

Can anyone recommend a life insurance broker? I'd like to have a number of offers from different companies compared to chose the most appropriate for me. Julia

hello, I am looking to sign up for life insurance. I checked the website but the recommendations are a couple of years old. if you have a good insurance person I would very much appreciate your recommendation. thank you! gael

* a single policy for a husband and wife couple is cheaper. One person is added as a rider.

* other riders in case you cant pay etc add unreasonable costs.

* Pay a lump sum each year and costs are further dramatically reduced

* try to get super preferred / preferred rates.

My insurance agent was Conrado Bongco. He is absolutely meticulous. Extremely timely. Very polite. Great at getting back to you on time. Just never missed a beat and did everything he could to get us the lowest possible rate:

3060 Hilltop Mall Road
Richmond, CA 94806-1920
(925) 671-2708 x 308
cell: (925) 550-2340

Incredibly nosy life insurance questions!

I think I know the answer to this but I just want to check. We are currently applying for life insurance. We've been asked more questions up the wazoo, they're checking all our medical records, and being really picky about little details. It makes me uncomfortable both for privacy reasons (someone could quit and make an awful good living selling identities!) and just because it's personal stuff. I'm sure this is the underwriting business, but I just wanted to check if others had this experience. Also, I am currently a stay at home mom but I plan to go back to work soon. We asked for $600,000 for each of us, based on our age, our earning potential, and our mortgage. They want to give me only $400k because I'm not working. Have others had this experience? Thanks. trying to be responsible

What kind of insurance should we get?

My husband and I have been without life insurance for the past two years and after a scare with a friend decided we needed to get some again. We used to have it thru my husband's work but don't know where to start looking now. I did check out the website but most recommendations were over two years old. It seems most folks recommend term life insurance. I would be interested in any recommendations for types of policies, agents, or companies. Thanks!
Looking for some security

Once you're ready to buy, though, you couldn't do any better than to contact Daun Pullem (bdpullem@aol.com). She's thoughtful, intelligent, understanding, and absolutely thorough. You can call her, too (559-994-6101), but don't be put off by the area code! She drives up here regularly, so there's no problem with wherever you're actually located. Kathleen Hunt

Life Insurance with diabetes?

My husband and I each have life insurance through our jobs but we are trying to get supplemental life insurance as well. I have a pre-existing condition (Type I diabetes that is in excellent control) and have looked into term as well as the group plans that our universities offer the alumni. The problem is the term is extremely expensive because of the diabetes (and when you are in your 30s, paying that much seems crazy!) and the group plans are giving me a hard time for the coverage without even seeing my records or my condition. Does anyone know how to get coverage or what I can do with this chronic illness? It is so wrong that the insurance companies judge me without talking to me and it is really just to benefit our child. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks looking for life insurance

Term Life Insurance - Amica?

We would like to purchase term life insurance (archives are quite dated) and are considering Amica. 1. Is Amica a good choice? We have them for auto insurance. 2. Do you have other suggestions? 3. We have a 2.5 yr old and three-month-old. We're considering $500K per parent for 20 yrs. (Our employment coverage is really small, whatever the default is with UC). We don't have a house - yet! Does this sound realistic? Thanks so much. EAnnis

Also, what do you want the life insurance money to do for you? Do you just want to cover expenses if your spouse should pass away, do you want to pay for your child's college tuition, or pay off the mortgage on the house and then some? There are lots of questions to ask in regards to how much insurance to get. I met some very smarmy life insurance sales guys who want to sell you as much insurance as you can afford, and this may not be the right approach so becareful who you go with in terms of sales persons.

If you are a part of a society, you may be able to get cheaper insurance.

Just make sure that which ever insurance company you choose to go with has high ratings by standard and poor's, and the other major insurance rater (I can't remember the name).

Goodluck, Sandra

Insurance company says my husband is uninsurable

My husband and I recently did some financial planning, at the end of which, we each applied for additional life insurance. My husband had previously been denied insurance because of some unusually high readings on his blood test related to liver function. We thought not too much of it because he had not fasted the day of the tests and when he went to the doctor, they seemed unconcerned. Additionally, he doesn't smoke, drink much, and he is rather slim. He doesn't fit the profile of someone with these kind of test results and the doctors seemed rather puzzled how this could have happened. They suggested he not drink for awhile and see if they got better, which they seemed to do.

We figured the next insurance tests would be fine. Well, they were better, but the insurance company again said he was uninsurable because of his blood tests. Our insurance agent suggested that we apply for any insurance available without medical testing (guaranteed life), even though it's expensive and we won't get as much coverage as we need. The only suggestion the gastro- enterologist has is to get a biopsy and see if there is a problem.

Does anyone have any suggestions for how to approach this? The situation is becoming rather stressful because we need the insurance. The doctors say that you can have these high readings and still be healthy and a biopsy might confirm that. But this seems rather extreme and not that helpful on the insurance situation. We're not averse to non-western approaches. Some of suggested herbal and acupuncture. Any ideas on the health or insurance? Anon

Don't get me started on my intense dislike of insurance companies because of this experience (not to mention our highly inflated private health insurance, due to a plantar wart on my husband's foot). I hope this helps, and good luck. If you want the name of the insurance agent who dealt with our liver enzyme issue (who is a great guy, despite my negative attitude towards insurance companies), let the moderator know and she can send me your e-mail address. Been there

Life insurance for the difficult to insure

I've requested advice on a life insurance situation on the advice digest, but also would like a recommendation. Can anyone suggest where to get guaranteed or simplified life insurance for someone who has been told they are uninsurable? An agent or company you've worked with? I've done a google search, but it's both overwhelming and hard to tell who's reputable. Thanks. Anon

We need a bunch of insurance

We need a bunch of insurance. Our building is insured for hazards, but we need homeowner's insurance for the contents. (We've recently inherited a bunch of stuff worth insuring.) Since we just had a child, we need two term life insurance policies (we're healthy and in our mid-30's, is it better to get 10 year policies and renew them? or a 20 or 30 year policy?). And since I'm now working freelance, I need some disability insurance. I've heard that if you group your policies through a carrier, the rates can be lower, so I'd like to do that as much as possible (as well as for administrative ease). I have car insurance, but would be willing to move the policy if the pricing worked out. Sadly, we don't qualify for USAA. Should I try Reliaquote or Selectquote? They don't seem to handle all of our needs, would it be worth it to do each policy separately through them? No one seems to offer disability...? I've checked the website, but didn't see anything about grouping policies and how to arrange it all through one place. Any advice and/or recommendations would be appreciated! Thanks!! Jenna

We have used RWM (Bob Moody) for life and liked him quite a bit. That said, our friends have had a rether negative experience with him, so it is hard to know what to say about that. He's in Orinda. I found him over the web.

We like Christ, Elliott, and Machette for property insurance. Bill Linville is our agent. He's great. Good luck to you! Elisabeth

Select Quote came back with a list of 3-4 term life insurance quotes that were significantly lower than what we were quoted from our insurance agent at State Farm (we were trying to keep things simple too). They say to take out enough term insurance to take care of your debt at the time of your death, unless you want to leave extra to your family. (So if your house will be paid off in 15 years, do you really need a policy past 15 years?) Rates are supposedly the lowest they have been in years, so take advantage of this if you think that you will continue to need life insurance in 20-30 years.

Self-employed people can apply for and purchase elective coverage disability insurance through the state of CA and the EED. For more info see, http://www.edd.ca.gov/difaq9.htm Kathleen

Is Term Life Insurance Better?

I've done a quick look into term life insurance. As a university employee, the employee-paid life insurance is cheaper than what I can get outside, but only until I reach 40 (only 3 years away for me). After age 40, the rates for UC employee-paid life insurance increase substantially, and continue to do so after each 5 years. Seems like I'm better off dropping my university coverage (employee-paid), and going for a 20-year term policy (20 years since I have a newborn), where the rates won't increase. Plus, with rates possibly going up this year (Regulation "Triple-X"), seems like I should do this now, rather than wait until I'm 40. Has anybody else looked into this? Is there a flaw in my logic?

New York Life or Equitable Agent?

Can anyone recommend a life insurance agent for New York Life or Equitable in the east bay? I can't seem to find anyone in the archives that represent these companies. Thanks. eric

Experience with www.selectquote.com?

Has anyone had any recent experiences (good or bad) in shopping and/or purchasing term life insurance through www.selectquote.com? I checked the parents.berkeley.edu website, but the recommendation for them was made in 1999...I'm interested in hearing more recent info about them. Also, is it typical for insurance brokers or companies to provide the medical staff (arranged through them) to conduct the pre-application medical exam, rather than having one use his or her own doctor? Any info would be appreciated. clarisse

Reasonably priced life insurance?

Can anyone recommend an insurance company/broker who offers reasonably priced life insurance? Thanks.

They are a broker of TERM Life policies and will happily provide you with quotes from hundreds of companies. Typically, you call them, give them your zip code, age, whether you smoke or not, and other brief medical details, as well as the kind of policy you wish: amount of coverage, years, etc., and they then mail you quotes from say the top ten policies that fit your situation.

Both my wife and I have policies through them, and when I have compared the rates with other brokerages, or with organizations I belong to, their rates have always been the lowest.

As you might already know, what is often perceived as more difficult than finding a low rate and a reputable company is determining what insurance you need: term life, whole life, convertible, etc. Most personal finance books (Dummies Guide, etc., ) recommend pure and plainly: fixed term life for say 10-30 years. The amount you would pay for whole or for convertible is best used separately investing and not being given to an insurance agency to invest for you.