Just getting started trying to figure out what type of life insurance you need.  It can be really confusing and many people in the insurance industry make it very complicated to understand.  Should you buy a term policy?  What is a term policy?  How many years should it be level?  What is Whole life and universal life and should I create a blend of permanent and term insurance?  How much coverage should I have?  How do I calculate this?  What does the rating of the company mean and how do you analyze this?  Does this term carrier have a good conversion option for me down the road?

These are all good questions and we try to really simplify it for our clients and bring it down to earth.   The most important thing we emphasize is getting the right amount of protection.     First and foremost as a beginner to life insurance, get a death benefit that suits your situation (we can walk you through a simple analysis).  If all you can afford at this moment is term, than get that on the books, so you have the protection.    You can always convert some or all of it to a permanent plan down the road.    Term is like renting and permanent is like buying and building equity.  You want to select a term that will provide protection for the period that you will need it.  For example, you have a child that is 2 and want to have at least 1 million dollars of coverage until they graduate college.  The child will finish up at about 22, so a twenty year level term would probably be the most appropriate.  A permanent plan (whole life or universal life) can be very beneficial, but starts at a much higher premium than term.  The permanent plan premium will remain level as the term premium will go up after the initial level period.   Obviously, being a permanent plan it sets up to last for your entire life.  Blending term and permanent can be a good idea to give you the best of both worlds and a price tag that you can afford at that point.

We work only with companies that have an A rating or better.  As you select a company, make sure that the company has at least an A rating and is not facing a major downgrade.  We provide our clients with up to date ratings as that can change quarter to quarter.  Talk to a Paramount Consultant and we can walk you through the companies and also discuss which ones have a good option to convert to permanent plans.