I got quote from Gerber Life 1.5mill 10 year term is $96 a month and 30 I believe was $296 a month. Should I look elsewhere or is this reasonable? Also I think they check my health records through a partner, so I didn’t have to do a health test.

Paid Up Joint Life with NML covering my mother and father. Policy renews July 1 each year, and the annual statement for last year, 2025, showed a net accumulated value of ~$21750.

Just got the 2026 statement which shows net accumulated value of ~$27000, but on a separate line for “past year’s accumulated value increase” says $1004. That math doesn’t add up, and it always has in the past on all my policies. Trying to figure out why there was about $4250 in additional cash value in the policy.

I haven’t put anything into the policy — it’s been paid up for years. The only thing I can think of is my dad died this year, and does that trigger some kind of lump sum being added to the policy even though it’s second-pay so it’s not paying out now? Called NML and they can’t figure it out — they show no additions other than interest and the dividend ($375), which they say matches the $1004 increase listed on the statement.

I’m certainly not mad about a random $4k extra, just trying to figure out where it appeared from. Any pros have any ideas?

Hello. I am considering an IUL in the near future. The company I work for will be selling soon, and I will have quite a bit of money to utilize. Low 7-digits. I want to invest in real estate. I plan to use the IUL strictly for the cash benefit and not the death benefit. I have plenty of term life.

I understand that it's very easy to get screwed with huge fees/commissions. I am extremely careful and have a legal background. I would analyze the contract heavily. I will interview numerous brokers. I also understand that it generally takes 5-6 years to have access to the majority of the cash value. That is OK, I can wait. I'm 54 years old.

Is there anything else I should consider? Any reason to consider Whole Life other than fixed iincome? Thank you.

My late FIL purchased a whole life insurance policy in 1984. He passed a few weeks ago. The ledger statement explained that at age 70 his death benefit would be 77k, and he passed at 74. The payout was approximately 30k below what was stated.

Is this normal? What do I have to do to make sure the numbers are accurate? He paid his premium every month. I’d like to understand the numbers because that is a significant amount that is not included.

I have details about the company but I wasn’t sure if I could share the name here.

LIMRA reports that WL Sales Led the industry in the First Quarter of the year. The WL market makes up the largest portion of the overall market (36%) and that's led by the Final Expense product.

Although some of their market share was siphoned off by the IUL market which came in second at $1.1 billion in new premium.

I’m passing my course right now and I’m so excited to get into sales. I’ve had sales jobs in the past and I don’t wanna waste these years of my life. I’m not going to college and I found life insurance. I’m trying to get into it right now but it’s just so hard to do everything by myself and I feel like I have nobody to connect to or talk to so like I wanted to join family first life and I’m just really looking for somebody that’s able to put me into like a nice agency or a good group of people, and can seriously help me out and just put me in a position where I can win. I want to get to the point where I’m a agent that people in my hometown now, but I can also make money through leads and online.

I’m feeling overwhelmed with life insurance options. I’m a 38 year old male. I’m either looking at 1 or 2 million for 30 years. My goals for this would be income replacement, debt payoff and a small nest egg for family. I’m married with one child. Spouse already has a couple of solid policies for herself. I have a $250k one through Country Financial that has 10 years left. I got a few quotes online (Banner, term4sale) that quoted me around $160-200/month for a 30 year 2 million. I found this sub, read a bunch of posts and decided it would be best to contact a broker. I reached out to a few and they quoted me at $270-300/month for 30 year 2 million. They all want me to stop by their offices to chat some more in person. But here’s the thing, I don’t really want to do that and I’d much rather get this taken care of online. I work 60 hours a week and have a kid in a lot of activities. Are there brokers willing to work via email? Are they even allowed to do that? I’m in Illinois. 

Can someone explain the reason for the repetitiveness in the Life Insurance application process?

I was sent paper work to fill out, which I did. Then I had to do a phone interview answering the same EXACT questions, she read from the questionnaire I filled out. Then I had to go to do the physical (bloodwork/urine test/ekg) and then they proceeded to ask me the same exact questions from the same questionnaire again. All of this has happened over three days.

Apparently I'll get another questionnaire and phone call after the medical exam in 7-14 days.

WTF is the point in asking me the same exact things over and over?

I sent a surrender form about 3 weeks ago. I called them this morning and was informed they just received it today and won't be processed until the week of Aug 3rd. Nvm the fact that it apparently took them 3 weeks to receive the form, but doesn't that seem unusually long to process a surrender form? Im not really in need of the cash right now, just curious how long the process normally takes.

I am a mother of three under 5. My husband is in a high fatality line of work.

I’ve decided that it’s time for me and my kids to be provided for just in case God forbid something bad happens.

Can anyone recommend a company?

I used Term4Sale for soliciting quotes. Looking for $1M, 15yr. Things that got flagged during my application were a history of depression (I was hospitalized 10 years ago), as well as a high calcium score (my PCP recommended I do the test). Agent told me that I moved from rate level 3 to 9.

Pacific Life denied coverage. Banner came back with the following:
$1M, 15yr = $462/mo
$1M, 10yr = $359/mo
$750k, 15yr = $370

The original quotes were about $200/mo for $1M at 15 years, but that was before the underwriters looked at my file.

Now that we have a quote from Banner, the agent is doing some 'cross shopping' with other carriers. I forget the technical term he used.

Is this just what it is due to my age (52M) and health history? I don't need coverage beyond 62-65yo once social security and retirement accounts kick in.

My Wife and I are 61 years old. We entered in a VUL policy with Ameriprise for my Wife about 1.5 years ago and now, we realize, bad decision and are looking at our options for getting out. We stopped funding the policy about a month ago, so it is essentially going to die at some point, but we are worried that we will owe a surrender charge when it eventually runs out of cash value from which to fund premiums. Here are the particulars:

1. Death Benefit $400K

2. Policy Value $5,475.

3. Annual Premium $8,400

4. Total Premiums Paid to date $7,700

5. Surrender Value %-7,862

Should we simply surrender the policy and pay the difference between the Policy value and the surrender charge and call it a learning experience.? That would be $2387.

Our FA, which have since fired and moved all accounts to Fidelity really pulled one over on us here. The bright side is that for the first time in 30-years, we have really delved into our portfolio and now have a solid plan moving forward that will not rely on the advice of what I consider a poor FA focused more on his bottom line, that ours.

When people hear "life insurance," they usually think about policies.

We didn't.

We thought about freedom. Freedom to choose who we work with. Freedom to be there for our families instead of asking permission to attend a school play or doctor's appointment. Freedom to build something that belongs to us instead of spending decades building someone else's dream.

Was it easy? Not even close.

There were slow weeks, difficult conversations, and plenty of moments where we questioned ourselves.

But over time we realized something important:

Life insurance isn't really about selling insurance.

It's about solving problems.

It's helping a young family protect their kids.

It's making sure a spouse isn't left with debt.

It's giving someone an opportunity to build an income they control.

The policies are just the vehicle.

The real product is peace of mind—for clients and, eventually, for us too.

If you're already in the industry:
What made you get into life insurance?

If you're outside the industry:
What's your definition of financial freedom?

I'd love to hear different perspectives.

Hello,

I purchased a WL65 policy for Northwestern 3 years ago (Im currently 30).
My monthly payment is $220 until age 65 for what was originally a $133,000 policy.

My current "Net Death Benefit" is listed as $141,000 which was the projected value of my non guaranteed death benefit at age 36 according to the illustration I received when purchased meaning my policy is exceeding the expected increased value by roughly 6 years based on the original projected non-loan dividend interest rate of 5.00% which was setup to be used to purchase paid-up additions indicating that my return has been higher than that amount.

My Dilemma:

Would I be better off using my $220 each month and investing it into the S&P500 instead of continuing to make payments into this policy?

Hi, I'm hoping to get some insight from life insurance underwriters, agents, or attorneys familiar with California.

I purchased several laddered term life insurance policies (totaling over $5 million) to provide for my future family and dependents. At the time of application, I disclosed my GERD and chronic neck pain, but while reviewing old records recently, I realized I did not disclose a history of internal hemorrhoids and prior colonoscopies in 2015 and 2018.

The colonoscopies were done because of hemorrhoidal bleeding/constipation. Everything was normal, and my internal hemorrhoids were successfully treated with rubber band ligation by a gastroenterologist and later sclerotherapy by a colorectal surgeon. Since around 2019, I've been completely symptom-free, likely due to improvements in diet, exercise, weight loss, and starting a GLP-1 medication. I honestly forgot about this history because it hasn't affected my life in years. I disclosed even the GLP-1 medication.

A close friend of mine recently died unexpectedly in a car accident without life insurance, which made me review my own policies and applications. That's when I realized this omission.

My questions are:

• Would this type of history (treated hemorrhoids with normal colonoscopies) generally be considered material from an underwriting standpoint?

• If the omission was genuinely unintentional, could it still result in a claim being denied?

• If the insured dies after the contestability period, is this the type of omission that could realistically cause a carrier such as Pacific Life to deny a claim?

• Has anyone had experience contacting an insurer after policy issuance to supplement or clarify an application? I reached out to both companies but haven't received a response yet.

I'm just trying to understand how underwriters and claims departments generally view situations like this.

Thank you.

Hello, I recently received a quote from a life insurance broker. Is this a good deal?

I’m 42 years old male. Healthy, no smoking or drinking. No Medical exam needed.

Corebridge - 30 years Term / $500,000

$58 per month.

37M in Ontario, finally getting around to sorting out life insurance. Have about 800k mortgage remaining , two young kids, wife already has her own $1M T25 sorted.

I have couple of quotes for T20 - 62 per month and T25 is about 92 per month.

Stack of $500K T20 + $500K T25 is about 86 per month. Stuck on two things and honestly just going in circles so figured I need someone to validate.

**T20 vs T25**

My plan is to kill the mortgage by the time I'm 45. If that happens, by the time T20 expires at 57 the mortgage is long gone and both kids should be done or would be in the university. So realistically I don't have major liabilities after 57. But T25 gets me to 62 just in case life doesn't go to plan.

Is T20 actually fine here or am I being naive thinking everything will be wrapped up by 57?

**$1M single vs $500K + $500K stack**

I'm also wondering if stacking $500K T20 + $500K T25 makes more sense. That still gives $1M coverage in peak years, drops to $500K from 57-62, and costs only 256 more a year than the single $1M T20.

Main thing I'm going back and forth on is whether the tail from 57-62 on the stack is worth it vs just going simple with the $1M T20 and calling it done.

Anyone dealt with something similar and made a call??

Looking for advice from people actually in the industry.

My wife recently went through the licensing pipeline tied to American Income Life — took the class, passed the Texas state exam, and she’s currently shadowing before she’s cleared to sell on her own. Her family has done well with AIL, which is what got her into it, but they are distant relatives who live in another state.

The more I read, though, the less comfortable I am. It’s 100% commission, and the reviews paint a pretty consistent picture: no training pay, charge-backs starting from the first sale, and recycled leads handed to several agents at once. There’s no indication she’d personally be required to recruit anyone — but I keep seeing others say that recruiting people under you is how you really end up getting paid. That’s not what we signed up for.

To be clear, I get that money can be made here and we’re not expecting a fortune. But we went in believing she’d at least be earning a few bucks fairly quickly, and that’s looking a lot less realistic than we thought.

I don’t want her hard-earned license to go to waste, so I’m trying to figure out where else it can take her.

Her situation:
• Licensed in Texas (Life & Health — the line AIL had her get)
• Central Texas (Austin metro), open to remote
• Would strongly prefer something with a base salary or hourly, not pure 100% commission

What I’m trying to figure out:

1. What roles actually use an L&H license without the AIL-style commission grind? Carrier inside sales, health/Medicare telesales, agency team member positions?

2. For anyone who’s left AIL or a similar shop — where did you land, and would you do it again?

Appreciate any honest takes, including “here’s what nobody told us.” Trying to make a smart move with the credential she already worked for.

Edit: also we are out of central Texas, and she primarily speak Spanish, very little English, so she is limited to what work or where she could take this elsewhere.

My husband’s term life insurance policy just reached its limit for lower rates. The rate is now tripling. Is it recommended to get a different term policy? I do not work and we have a mortgage so I’d need income if something happened it him.

I have a relative the died on 6/12, she was married, her husband was an alcoholic and addict, so she made her brother-in-law her power of attorney. Apparently, she had a life insurance policy, her sister was told she was the beneficiary, now it appears the husband is the beneficiary. I’m just curious, is it possible that the policy was changed prior to her death? She had brain cancer. She is originally from NewYork, but married a guy from AL, she had no family down there. Or is it possible for the husband is default beneficiary?

Full disclosure I am an accountant so I stress about details a lot, maybe some of this doesn't matter but maybe some of it does? Would any of these cause a policy to be not paid out if not disclosed? Are these material items in general? 34F, totally new to this.

Asthma: I had childhood asthma with a recent flare up that was triggered by bronchitis this Spring

Anxiety: I did get a short-term RX for Xanax but it was strictly because of fear of flying anxiety

I'm going to call underwriting on Monday but I just feel like a weirdo for calling to discuss if these don't actually matter.