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How to Find the Best Term Life Insurance

How to Find the Best Term Life Insurance

If you don't have life insurance, the best life insurance you can get is any life insurance. Not that all insurance is good. But in the case of life insurance I feel like people sit around and do nothing because they are confused by all of the choices or because it just takes so long. The perfect really is the enemy of the good here.

According to LIMRA, "Three in ten American households (35 million) are uninsured and half say they need more life insurance." Truthfully, you do need to get the right kind of life insurance. But it isn't that hard. For most people they will need a simple term life insurance policy, which costs much less than your iPhone bill every month.

Other types of life insurance have their positives, but they come with high expense or an investing piece that confuses the product. For most people life insurance should be nothing more than a replacement of income for their dependents when they die. Today I'm going to tell you how to find the best term life insurance.

First, I'll tell you what I have. Then I'll quickly explain how I found it. Then you will be able to find the best term life insurance for you. I'm 36. I'm married with two little kids (3 and 1). My wife doesn't work but could if she needed to. In 2009 I purchased a $500,000, 20 year term life insurance policy from ING's Reliastar.

Essentially, if I die in the next 20 years (now 17 years) my wife will get $500,000 to use to support her and the kids. If I don't die during this 20 years, the policy is useless. I pay around $45 a month for this policy and the security of knowing that if I were to croak, my family would have a safety net.

Life insurance is important for my family to have because I want my kids to be raised by their Mom and not a daycare. I want my wife and kids to be able to stay in this house if they want to. I also want my wife to not have to work for every dollar that she has to support the kids. We had our children because we thought I'd always be around to help support my family. If I'm gone, I want there to be some financial support in my place.

I picked ING's Reliastar as our life insurance provider because they have a solid rating from A.M. Best, Moody's, S&P, and Fitch, who all rate the best term life insurance companies. If you are looking for the best term life insurance company I would encourage you to check the ratings with these agencies. I also chose ING's Reliastar because of the rate that they quoted me. I went direct to their site to get the quote, but you can find the best term life insurance rates by getting a quote from a multi-company site like Insureme.com.

Don't stop there though. Check with your employer, current auto or home insurance provider, trade organizations, etc. Scour the globe and get quotes to truly find the best term life insurance rates. After you've looked at quotes and ratings of companies for yourself, you may start to wonder about term and amount. Is 20 year, $500K right for you? Not necessarily.

The best life insurance term for you is primarily going to depend on your kids ages. Typically someone with a newborn (and more kids on the way) goes for a 25 to 30 year policy. As for best life insurance amount, just make sure it's enough to cover your funeral, pay off all your debts, and replace your income. If you're a stay at home parent you may want to consider getting insurance to replace the value of you being home (i.e. a full-time nanny or at least daycare).

So that's my take on finding the best term life insurance. It's really not that hard or expensive. Do it today!

Image by: anyjazz65