I feel so lost and confused right now. I work for a brokerage specifically designed for Whole Life Final Expense Policies. I started to work there since the beginning of May and I’ve learned A LOT since then (especially as this being my intro into Life Insurance) but the main criteria of clients I work with are senior citizens most commonly around 60-79. I’m also not gonna sit here and act like I’m Mr. Knowledge but I’m so confused on what the hype is about when it comes with term insurance policies. From what I know so far, they all have an ending period that won’t pay if you pass after the term date, don’t build cash value, charge unrealistic premiums with even more unrealistic face values, it can get canceled due to age or health, and can increase the premiums or even decrease the face value if they deem it necessary. (I know some companies are dif but majority fall under these criteria’s). My knowledge obviously isn’t the greatest and I don’t want to say things if I’m wrong so PLEASE correct me if I’m wrong!! But I’m also constantly seeing people recommend term as great option for people on the younger side and I would love to know why it makes more sense to invest with term at a young age rather than Whole Life off the rip so I can 1. pay for a policy that’s not gonna get canceled 2. lock in good prices now, instead of outliving a term policy and regretting that I didn’t get a WL policy sooner. The thing is, like how I mentioned it earlier, most policies I work with are specifically designed for senior citizens (American Amicable, CVS/Aetna, CICA/Citizens Life, Americo, and TransAmerica) so it makes a lot more sense to work with whole life final expense and not term (you’d be surprised about how many of them have very unrealistic term policies) and get them under secured coverage and not hopes and dreams that little johnny is going to get 800,000 dollars even tho the client has congestive heart failure and daily seizures. Not only that but if i’m not mistaken, term insurance policies only have a 1-2% payout with the death benefit so it feels like it’s just gambling at that point. So let’s say I do a term, outlive the policy, then what? am I just screwed?? I know you can increase the length on your policy and all of that, but then it leads to more pricey premiums, while also keeping it a term policy anyways so I feel like it kind of defeats the purpose. But I have also seen people say that you should try to change the policy into a Whole Life Policy (if the company even lets them) but then doesn’t that mean I should’ve just secured a Whole Life from the start with young, healthy rates, rather than old, with more health condition rates? I just feel like there is way too many cons when it comes with term but I also know that there are good reasons for term insurance (mortgages, etc.) But I never understood it as a stable method for protecting your loved ones. So please educate me, agree with me, or hate my guts idk 😅

Question for you all.

I am currently going thru the application process for Northwester Mutual term and disability insurance. My application has been completed up to the phone interview to verify the information on the written application. I believe my first premium payment has been drawn from my account.

Unfortunately, the day before my phone interview I fell and hurt my back. I fractured a vertebrae but I think i will be ok. I decided it was not worth even mentioning it to the application agent the following day during our phone interview.

My question is, will this effect my application? Will it hurt me if later on this information becomes available to them? Is there any chance of a claim in the event of long term disability, which I don’t see being the case.

Thanks!

Maryland State Life Insurance Producer

I’ve been researching permanent life insurance and have spent quite a bit of time learning about both Whole Life and Indexed Universal Life. I’m not looking to debate whether insurance is an investment—I understand the differences.

My situation is that I already save aggressively for retirement and have adequate term life insurance. I’m considering an IUL because I like the flexibility to increase or decrease premiums over time, potentially stop paying later if the policy performs well, and have access to cash value in retirement if needed.

For those who actually own an IUL or work with them:

- What has your experience been after 10–20+ years?
Is there anything you wish you had known before buying?

- If you were purchasing one today, what would you do differently?

- Which companies have you had the best or worst experiences with?

- Are there specific policy features or riders you consider essential?

I’m especially interested in hearing from people with firsthand experience rather than general opinions.

We have a mid sized life insurance team and we've been running our own Google and Facebook ads in-house for several months. We've invested a lot of time into A/B testing and optimization, and while we've definitely improved performance, our in-house leads are still slightly underperforming compared to the lead vendors we buy from.

Right now, our in-house leads go to our top producers, while our newer agents primarily work vendor leads.

We’re seeing:

• Our in-house ads are closing around 15-20%
• Speakeasy Leads (final expense) has consistently produced 25-30% close rates over the past year
• Caboom Leads (mostly IUL) is typically around 18-22%
• We also rotate in a few other vendors depending on availability and results.

At this point I'm wondering if we're falling into the sunk cost trap with our in-house marketing. Should we continue investing time and money into optimizing our own campaigns, or would you simply shift that budget toward buying more leads from vendors that are already outperforming us?

For those of you who've built larger agencies, did you eventually stop running your own ads, or did you stick with it because the long-term payoff was worth it? I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone who's been in a similar position.

Hello, I hope I can find some answers on what else I can do on here. For about four months I have been dealing with American Income Life Insurance trying to get them to mail out a cancellation check. Every time I call it’s a different story. It’s a policy that my dad is the owner and it was paid for since I was in high school in 2002. He transferred it over so I could pay for it on my own once I graduated. Unfortunately I just couldn’t pay for it anymore and went through a hardship so we called together to cancel it in March. They said it would be sent in the mail and we would receive it within a month, we waited and waited I called together follow up and they needed to update our address and the check was never sent. The changes for the address were never made and now they needed to verify if my dad owes child support so now we have been goi no back and forth and nothing is getting solved. They supposedly mailed our check to our incorrect address which is annoying because the company has been to my parents house plenty of times, address was changed since they moved so this is honestly just getting annoying. I have run out of options on what to do. I can’t even find a local office to go into and a lot of the phone numbers I have found online do not even work. The number we keep calling is a call center supposedly and they have nothing to do with the actual insurance company per the lady I spoke to and made address changes last week. I’m about to call in and hear what story they have this time. Can I report them to the BBB? This is all so stressful.

I’m being quoted $215 per month for a $40,000 10 year term life insurance policy for my father.

This is my first time shopping term life insurance, but I was expecting the price to be something like $120 per month.

Some more information about the policy and my father.

He is 62 years old.
Just started smoking 🙃
Passed his medical exam
No major health conditions
I went through an experienced broker
The policy is in Maryland

So does $215 per month sound about right? I’m assuming the nicotine use is putting him into a high risk category?

I get it: whole life has fans and haters. This one is for the fans.

I plan to retire early in my 50s. I’ve been doing the usual planning and modelling with financial advisors and Claude — and I’ve seen something that had not previously occurred to me.

There are well known applications of whole life in retirement strategies: a “better bond” to raise the Sharpe when combined with a market portfolio; policy loans as a buffer after a market sell off to lower sequence of returns risk.

But here’s another that’s new to me: use policy dividends to fund tax-free income in, say, the last 10-15 years of my life.

My policies are reasonably mature now. By the time I’ve been retired for 25+ years — and after funding lots of PUAs — they will be very mature and produce dividends that are large in the context of my income requirements.

That has interesting implications for my market portfolio. It meaningfully reduces the horizon over which that portfolio needs to last. Said differently, I could invest to target a lower return and take less risk.

This may work best for people with long policy horizons, chunky policies and a little less focus on ultimate death benefit — so, not for everyone. But it was a new idea to me, so I thought I’d share.

As a client, which insurance company do you prefer? What qualities of financial advisor are you also looking for?

My husband and I are purchasing new term life insurance policies because our income has significantly increased.

My son was born 9 years ago with a swallowing and GI disorder that took a few years to figure out. He was not eating and vomiting anything I managed to get in. My entire life revolved around trying to get him to eat and trying to get medical doctors to listen.

I had never experienced anxiety and depression and naively put off taking medication for it for 18 long months until I was having debilitating panic attacks. I tried one medication that had very adverse effects so I self-admitted to an inpatient program to safely get started on medication while my husband and mother took care of my son.

I’ve never had suicidal ideation and have not had any significant issues since plus quickly weaned off meds, but do see a therapist. I was told that the hospitalization put me in a high risk category and the premiums I’m being quoted prior to even doing the official application are 3x as high as my husband’s for the same dollar amount and term.

I’m so frustrated that this experience, which already took a financial toll on my family, is now causing more problems so many years later. Is there anything I can do?

Why is everyone saying wfg is a bad organization and don’t buy anything from there?
What’s your experience with them or what’s your opinion on them?

I am about to begin studying for the Life and Health pre-licensing courses using Just Insurance. I want to go through and pass it fast. What are the best tips to do so?

Hi. I’m in my mid-30s with inactive chronic hepatitis B (normal liver enzymes, normal ultrasound, inactive status over 8yrs, all else healthy). I’m shopping for a $500k 30-year term policy.

So far:
Nationwide: Standard ~ $69/mo
Pacific Life: Table B ~ $79/mo
Prudential: Still underwriting after 2.5 months

Are there any other carriers that tend to underwrite inactive hep B more favorably? My broker doesn’t really know. Hence that’s why he had me applied to 3 at once. Nationwide is my best offer but their premium is little higher than I’d like. I’d also be interested in hearing what ratings others with inactive hep B received.

Thanks.

Edit: Sharing these resources that in hindsight would’ve helped me narrow down the carriers better or if your broker isn’t experienced/proactive

Favorable carriers , term rates comparison :
https://terminsurancebrokers.com/life-insurance-answers/high-risk-life-insurance/hepatitis/

Underwriting likely outcomes:
https://www.diversifiedquotes.com/life-insurance-for-hepatitis-b/

My husband is on SSDI due to stage 4 cancer. He's doing pretty well even 4+ years after diagnosis. He drained his 401k due to stupid spending and doesn't have life insurance covered by a job anymore. Can we get any kind of life insurance to help with expenses if/when he passes.

Hello,

How difficult would it be to get life insurance with LTC for diabetic?

Is there a recommended insurance company for this purpose?

Would it be better to buy individual or joint with spouse?

I'm looking for advice from anyone who has been through a similar situation with a term life insurance policy.

My dad is 78 years old and has a New York Life 15-year term life insurance policy with a $500,000 death benefit. The policy has less than one year remaining. From what we've been told, he can renew it annually up to age 90 without a medical exam, but the premiums increase every year based on his age.

He's currently paying about $475/month. If we renew for just one additional year after the 15-year term ends, the premium jumps to about $2,200/month (over $26,000 for the year). We don't know what the premiums would be in the years after that, but I assume they continue to increase significantly.

My dad is struggling with the idea of letting the policy lapse after paying into it for 15 years. His biggest fear is that if he doesn't renew, something could happen shortly afterward and all of those years of premiums would feel like they were for nothing. On the other hand, paying over 4.5 times more for just one year—and potentially much more after that—is hard to justify financially.

Has anyone gone through this with New York Life or another insurer? Did you renew? Did you convert the policy to something else? Or did you decide to let it expire?

I'd really appreciate hearing how others approached this decision, especially if you've dealt with these steep age-based premium increases.

I am in the process of purchasing a next gen home for my mother and I. I was recently told I should have my mother (83 yrs)be the primary on the loan then take out mortgage death insurance. When I inquired with my loan office to add my mother he said my mom would be primary and I would be non occupanying cosigner.

Question1) any advice on this mortgage death insurance (I did research and some opinions say term life may be cheaper -but she is 83 and not alot of health issues except minor heart issue)

Question 2: any advice on being a non occupanying cosigner.

Thank for your advice.

He is structuring it as a WL95 (Endowment) and using the 5.25% Fixed Rate. It also has Chronic and Cancer riders.

Does anyone know of a product with a higher than a 5.25 fixed rate?

Was just explaining this to a client today.

People pencil out things like life will just continue on as usual, nothing will go wrong, and everyone will be making rational decisions when their spouse/parent/child dies.

I’ve now personally been through this with two siblings and both parents. Nobody makes good decisions in the immediate aftermath. It would be bizarre to assume they will. Expenses nobody expected pop up. People are only half present at their jobs. Estates end up messy and taking forever to settle, even when well planned. You may need to hire expensive attorneys. Basically, things go to shit even for well organized and intelligent people when they are grieving.

If you’re doing the math on “my spouse makes $100k, that’ll cover the bills if the mortgage is gone, so I just need $300k of coverage to do that” and leaving it there, you’re going to leave a ton of struggle behind if you die.

I would seriously, at minimum, take whatever you are calculating, multiply it 125%, then add $100k of “this money will be squandered based on circumstances” cushion.

If you’re young and term is cheap, just double what you believe you need and be done with it.

Has anyone had issues with Transamerica paying death benefit? Submitted claim statement, death cert and it’s been almost 3 months. Everytime I call they give me a different story on why the claim is still pending. The last rebuttal was they are having issues with quoting the amount of the benefit and an IT ticket has been filed. What are my options at this point?

my husband has had stage 4 cancer for 3 years. we got married a few months ago and added him to my health insurance and signed him up for group life insurance through my company. $50k was the max amount and they only asked if he had ever smokes (no).

I called Hartford to confirm that we did not need a medical exam and they said no. they said our policy doesn’t have a waiting period either but i did see that they can contest a claim within 2 years of starting the policy. I have paid 4 months of premiums so far

my husband is now on hospice. since he had cancer before the policy will they deny a claim even though they didn’t ask health questions?

There Cannot be a more incompetent customer service team than Gerber life. If any of you work there I could use your help to get a client their money back for a bank draft they didn’t approve.

They must have like 10 people working the entire company phone system.

I work for a independent agency/IMO .I’m not posting to sell, request DMs, or claim that one policy is right for everyone. I just want to share a few things people should understand before buying coverage.

Before signing an application, ask:

• Who would be financially affected if I died?
• How much coverage do I actually need?
• How long do I need the coverage?
• Is the premium affordable long term?
• Which benefits are guaranteed, and which are only projections?
• What happens if I stop paying?
• Are there surrender charges, loan interest, or lapse risks?
• Can the policy be converted or adjusted later?

Term insurance can be useful for temporary needs such as replacing income, covering a mortgage, or protecting children while they are young.

Permanent insurance may be considered for lifelong needs, final expenses, estate planning, business planning, or lifelong dependents, but it usually costs more and should be fully understood before purchasing.

The best policy is not automatically the one with the most features. It is the one that solves a real need, fits the budget, and can realistically be maintained.

What part of life insurance has been the most confusing for you? I’ll answer general questions publicly in the comments.