Everyone wants the best life insurance rate. That goes without saying. As a licensed term life insurance agent, I'm going to go the extra distance. I actually need some more life insurance and of course, term makes the most sense on many levels so I will walk though my actual decision process in order to get the best life insurance rates. This is not a drill. Here we go.

First, why am I so confident that term life will work better than whole or variable. Well...because I'm in the business. I have two sons (age 6 and 8) and my wife. We have a house about 7 years into a mortgage (out of 30 years). We also have two obnoxious dogs but that irrelevant. I really don't want life insurance for when I hopefully turn 85 (I'm 39 now in 2009). I also don't want to pay so much each month that I a) regret the coverage or worst yet b) decide to cancel later on when the government decides to offer universal term life insurance and I no longer have a profession :). Whole life is going to be very expensive and we explain in detail why in our term versus whole life article. I know better. I want to cover probably 20-30 years depending on the rate difference spread. This should get my children to the point of college after which, they better be able to be self-sufficient...if I did my job correctly. That should also cover most of the mortgage which is probably 25% of our monthly income. That's really the big unchanging expense that can't be reduced in the event of a catastrophic financial situation (like my passing). Okay...so it's term life and I'm completely serious about this...this would be the choice for my family.

Secondly, I feel confident that with a wide breadth of carriers and plans offered by our term life insurance quoting engine, I have a comprehensive view of the market that's available. Most of the biggest names and strongest life carriers are right there next to each other. That's a good start. I can run the quote knowing that I'm not missing some key offering on the market. That's a big deal...the "what if" that usually occurs when we're looking at purchasing any item. "What if I can find this cheaper or better?" I know there may be some strange little plan somewhere out there that's a few dollars cheaper but term life is such a commodity these days that the spread of rates is pretty narrow. I feel confident in getting the best term life insurance rate. Let's run the quote.

I first put in my vital information...age, gender, State, etc. I come down to how much term? This is a big question (in fact, one of two "big" questions). I can click on the Term Life Planner to get some guidance but I know this business so I have a sense of how much is needed. I go with $1M to start. I can always adjust it. $1M at 20 years. In a few seconds, 6 plans pop up with a range of monthly life insurance rates from $47 to $55; average around $50. That's not bad. I feel confident about the amount but maybe a longer term might be good. I'll adjust it up top to 25 years. It jumps from $80 to $112 with an average around $95. So to add 5 years of coverage, it will almost double the monthly premium. Hmmm. 20 years will take my youngest son to 25 so I think that's more important to me than the extra 5 years. $50/monthly also feels like it meets the "gut feel" meter that says I can pay that monthly and not feel too bad about it. I wish I would have bought more at 35 when it would have been cheaper but that's life (insurance).

Back to the 20 years (just hit the backspace button browser takes me right back). I know Banner life has been easy to deal with...especially on the application side and their rating is AA- (4th best rating) with S&P. I feel comfortable with that. I could save a few bucks with Ohio National but I've dealt with Banner and haven't had any problems. That's probably worth a few bucks. I decide to proceed. I click on the button to request the application kit. In all, it took about 2-3 minutes (and longer to write about it). I found a solid carrier with an affordable term life rate. Success!