When you’re young healthy, life insurance is probably the last thing on your mind. You’re probably more focused on eating whatever you want, traveling to various destinations, and skydiving (okay, maybe not skydiving, but participating in other endeavors that could pose a risk to your life). While you’re young, maybe you think you don’t have to pay attention to overall health. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. Sure, it’s okay to indulge yourself occasionally, but one of the keys to prolonged health and prosperity is developing healthy habits.
When you’re young, a life insurance policy is going to be more affordable. Why? Because insurance companies take into account the fact that young people are predominantly more healthy and are far less of a risk to develop chronic ailments, diseases, or severe illnesses.
While you’re young, it’s the perfect time to add what’s called a Guaranteed Insurability Option rider or GIO.
The fact of the matter is that we can’t know precisely what’s going to happen tomorrow, five years from now, ten years from now, or 30 years down the line. Life Insurance gives you the chance to be proactive rather than reactive. And remember, if you’re in a situation where you’re reactive, especially in cases of your physical health, it’s probably going to cost you more than if you took the time to plan and anticipate what could happen in the future.
A lot of young people are deterred from purchasing a life insurance policy because they have this misconception that it’s expensive. It’s actually quite affordable.
Some important questions to ask yourself are:
- Do you currently have a mortgage or any outstanding student loans?
- Are you a single parent with a child or multiple children who depend on you?
- Are you the sole earner in your household?
- Do you have a family that needs care in the event you are no longer around the provide for them?
Depending on your circumstances, particularly your financial situation, a term life insurance policy may be better suited for you if you don’t have money saved. The risk you take with a term life insurance policy, though, is that it may never pay out. A better option that provides more security and peace of mind is a whole life insurance policy. A whole life insurance policy offers:
- Guaranteed life insurance protection that will never decrease.
- Guaranteed cash value that can be borrowed to take advantage of future opportunities.
- Payments guaranteed not to change, regardless of changes to your health.
- Additional accelerate death benefit option for terminal illness included at no charge.
A Guaranteed Insurability Option rider helps you create the ability to protect yourself throughout your life. You have it for as long as the policy is in place.
It’s important to remember these few limitations: you only have the ability to add to your coverage through your GIO rider up to the age of 46 and you can’t exceed the million-dollar coverage limit.
As long as you have the GIO rider, you have the ability to add coverage to your policy for qualifying events such as: getting married, purchasing a home, and having a child. You are able to purchase additional life insurance coverage without having to take the step of going through underwriting all over again.