Your Guide To Life Insurance

Your Guide To Life Insurance​

Life insurance is one of the best ways to protect your family and their financial wellbeing, regardless of the type of work you do.

If you have loved ones that depend on you, life insurance is a necessity. If you pass away before the end of your career, life insurance provides financial support your loved ones.

Life insurance rates are determined by each individual company and are based on your current age, height, weight, lifestyle, medical history, and finances. The process and rates vary from company to company, so be sure to consider multiple options before purchasing a plan.

How Much Life Insurance Do You Need?

There are “rules of thumb” out there for determining how much life insurance you need, but for real peace of mind, one needs to truly evaluate your personal needs and situation. Your needs may change over time based upon your current financial status as well, so you will want to revisit your insurance strategy as your situation changes.
 

Do All Doctors Have to Sign Contracts?

Not necessarily. But as the trends in physician employment shift, more and more doctors are required to do so.

According to a 2018 study by the Physicians Advocacy Institute, the percentage of hospital-employed physicians increased by more than 70% between July 2012 and January 2018. In addition, the percentage of hospital-owned practices increased by over 128%. The trends show that more doctors are working as employees rather than working in private practice.

In 2019, an AMA press release supported that data. AMA reported that 47.4% of all physicians practice medicine as employees. Only 45.9% are physician owners with their own medical practice. All of those employed physicians can expect, at some point, to have to sign a physician employment contract.

Which Type Life Insurance Do You Need?

In addition to the amount of insurance you need, the type of life insurance you purchase is equally important. Term and Permanent are the two basic types of insurance policies and deciding which type is best suited for you will depend upon your particular situation.

Permanent Insurance offers lifetime protection as long as the premiums are paid, and typically offers cash value accumulation that can be used as needs arise during your lifetime. The combination of death benefit and cash value may provide useful flexibility within a financial plan.

Term Insurance provides a guaranteed death benefit for a specified time period without any cash value benefit while living. Term policies often expire before the insured’s death without any death benefit being received. Premiums are typically initially less than the premium for an equivalent permanent policy.

It can be difficult to evaluate the relative benefits of a term policy against those of a permanent policy; however our advisors can help you understand how each of the types can help you achieve your protection goals.

Who should be insured?

One expects the answer to be yourself and your spouse, or those who produce the income for the household. However, there are other situations that may warrant insuring a life other than the household income earners.

• Consider the cost to replace the tasks of a non-working spouse.
• Protect yourself from significant estate tax burdens should your parents die prematurely.
• Consider the impact to your business should something happen to key employees.
• You may need to prepare to buy your partners’ share of your business if anything were to happen to them.

Our team can help you craft a strategy to protect yourself financially with life insurance when life happens in that moment.