Universal Life Insurance Through Employer - A Great Deal for Me!
I recently received a mailing from Prudential for a Universal Life Insurance Offer made available through my employer. I almost threw it away.
However, thankfully I didn't. it was a one time offer to purchase universal life insurance through payroll deduction at work - with get this -- no health questionnaire required for coverage up to 2x my salary. This is great for folks like me (diabetes) with a chronic health condition.
I immediately signed up for the maximum amount I could get without a health questionnaire. It only cost me $2.91/mo for coverage that otherwise would cost me $22-$28/mo based on the quotes I got at efinancial.com.
With this additional life insurance, I now have coverage for 4x my salary. 2x paid for by my employer, and 2x purchased via this offering. I actually probably don't need any since I don't have a family, but I am getting married this year, so I need to start laying the ground work. Since getting affordable life insurance with a chronic health condition isn't easy -- this may be all the insurance I get even after I start a family. The rest may have to be funded via self-insurance -- ie. save everything and anything ;-).
Comments (10)
Will you wife work? If not, 4x salary may not be enough.
Posted by aa | May 7, 2007 12:34 PM
Thanks for the mention. Quotes on efinancial.com are for term life insurance, not universal. All rates are provided by the carrier, and rates are for info purposes only. You can be sure that whether you purchase life insurance through efinancial, another brokerage, a local agent or direct from the carrier, you are getting the same price regardless. Company sponsored life insurance is always the best way to go, but may not provide enough coverage.
Posted by Marty | May 7, 2007 1:19 PM
This is pretty typical of a group life insurance plan. Health questionnaire's aren't usually required because the insurer has such a large pool size of employees that the risk of insuring someone with a chronic health condition (like you) is balanced by the number of people that won't have any conditions. At any rate, this looks like it'll be a great deal for you.
Posted by Max | May 7, 2007 3:28 PM
Hey dude. After reading this I also enrolled in this plan because I'm an IBMer also. From the automated system, it looks like this is a *per paycheck* deduction, not a monthly deduction. So this coverage actually costs twice what you think.
Posted by Chris J | May 7, 2007 6:28 PM
That wouldn't suprise me, but it clearly stated on the signup pages that it was a monthly deduction of $2.91, not per paycheck. $2.91/mo seems too cheap to me.
Posted by 2million | May 7, 2007 6:44 PM
Things to check..Does this build a cash value? Is it portable if you were to leave the co.?
Posted by Wayne | May 8, 2007 11:32 AM
What you are describing is exactly the reason that employer sponsored life insurance plans are not a cost effective option for low risk individuals. Because they can't screen against potential risks, insurance companies charge a higher premium for coverage than they would otherwise charge.
Because of this problem, known as "adverse selection", most healthy individuals would pay substantially lower insurnace rates if they shopped for insurance on their own.
Regardless, this sounds like an excellent deal for you.
Posted by Shadox | May 8, 2007 2:20 PM
Great find! My employer offers a similar option. However, I don't pay anything for my $30,000 plan. I don't have a anyone that depends on my salary or any debts. I think my life insurance plan would be enough to bury me and take care of anything I hadn't paid off that month. I told my parents and they kinda flipped out that I put them as the beneficiaries. Oh well...
Posted by SavingDiva | May 9, 2007 4:34 PM
This all sounds like a really great deal for you.
Posted by finance guy | May 23, 2007 4:28 PM
Wow, what a find! I get life insurance coverage through my employer but I decided to supplement my coverage with globe term insurance. Never can have too much!
Posted by Jenny | July 5, 2007 7:29 PM