If you’re like most people, the idea of buying life insuranceseems like a chore – something that is easily put off until tomorrow. Well, for the procrastinator in all of us we know that tomorrow never comes. It’s a funny thing that we all put off important things for “another day”, especially when they seem uncomfortable or costly. Buying life insurance can be both – a discussion about what will happen to your family should you die prematurely and having to pay an ongoing monthly premium. There’s two good reasons to procrastinate when buying life insurance.
Unfortunately, this type of procrastination can lead to some very unfortunate outcomes. Let’s examine the two big ones.
Some people put off buying life insurance for years and years. I am presently going back and phoning some of the people who contacted Life Guard Insurance over 2 years ago requesting quotes and information. For those whom I never connected with or who never bought insurance, almost 50% never bought anything and are still “thinking about it”.
Every year you age life insurance gets more expensive. This is usually about a 4 – 5% increase of premium each year. When you’re young, and life insurance is relatively cheap, this doesn’t seem to make much difference. But, as you age these annual premium increases can far exceed your income growth and make life insurance unaffordable. Many people who wait too long to buy the life insurance they need often have to settle for a smaller amount of coverage because they just can’t afford the premium for the insurance they should have.
Let’s look at a 5 year delay in buying life insurance, and how big a difference it makes on premiums. For our example we will have two people, both male, both non-smokers, aged 30 and 60. The 30 year old needs $500,000 of coverage, and procrastinates in buying it for 5 years, while the 60 year old needs only $200,000 coverage and he too procrastinates for 5 years. They are both buying 20 year term policies.
30 Year Old – Premium today is $37.68 per month. At age 35 the same policy will cost $40.24. That is a percentage increase of only 6.8% over 5 years. Very low!
60 Year Old – Premium today is $209.88 per month. At age 65 the same policy will cost $314.28. That is a percentage increase of 49.7% over 5 years. The cost of waiting is Very High!
As you can see, the cost of procrastinating when buying your life insurance increases dramatically as you get older.
The one thing most Canadians don’t realize is that life insurance can only be bought when you are health enough to qualify for coverage. If your health changes for the worse, like a diagnosis of cancer, there is not way you will qualify for life insurance coverage. It would be like trying to buy home owner’s insurance while you’re watching your house burn down. It’s just too late.
So many times I have been contacted here at Life Guard Insurance by a person who is desperately trying to find coverage after they received bad news from their doctor. And in every case like this the person has told me they always meant to buy life insurance, it’s just that they never got around to it.
1. You will receive a rated policy, meaning you are no longer healthy enough for standard rates and must pay extra for your life insurance. This extra amount could be as low as 50% more and as high as 250% above standard rates.
2. You could be postponed, meaning the diagnosis is too recent and the life insurance company wants to wait and see how treatment and/or recovery will look like in a year or two. The insurance company is not saying no, just not right now. They might still decline coverage in the future, but if things look good then they will likely offer a rated policy.
3. You are declined for coverage, meaning you are now too high a risk for life insurance and the life insurance company will not take you. Most declines are permanent in nature, so the insurance company doesn’t want to ever see an application from you again.
This is why you should not procrastinate when buying life insurance. Firstly, the cost of life insurance automatically goes up every year you get older. Secondly, you might become uninsurable or be a rated risk and have to pay a lot more for coverage. Both scenarios are less favourable to buying life insurance NOW, while you are healthy (hopefully) and as young as you’re ever going to get.
If you would like to get a free, no obligation quote for life insurance, please contact us today. We would be happy to show you the different options for life insurance in Canada and find the most competitive premiums to meet your needs.
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