Every major provider of life insurance has their own version of a life insurance calculator. Some major news and financial sites such as Forbes also offer them. They are all available online and are free and simple to use. Simply search for the phrase ‘life insurance calculator’ and a dozen different versions will come up.


While each calculator is different, they all follow the same basic format. First, they need to know about your final expenses. How expensive do you think your funeral would be? The average funeral now costs upwards of $10,000. Second, the program will need your yearly income. It will also need to know how long you want to provide this income for your family. The answer will vary depending on your personal situation. Do you have young children? Are your children grown and out of the house? Do you want or expect your spouse to keep working after you are gone, and for how many years? These are personal questions you will have to answer.

Next, the calculator will ask some questions about your debts. It will want to know what your existing mortgage and debt obligations are. If you don’t want your insurance proceeds to pay off the mortgage and other debts, enter ‘0’, otherwise enter the current amount. The calculator might also ask you how many children you need to provide college funding for, and how old they currently are. It will also ask you what your current savings and life insurance benefits are worth.

When all is said and done the life insurance calculator will tell you how much life insurance you need to have to protect your family. For example, if you have no outstanding debts, make $50,000 a year, and wish to support your family until your child is eighteen, you will need to have $665,000 of life insurance. This assumes your spouse doesn’t work and it doesn’t include money for college.

If that is a scary number, take heart. Remember that life insurance is cheap, and the cost is worth it to protect your family.

Life insurance qualifications based on age are one of the primary factors in determining insurance rates for individuals of all ages. Such life insurance qualifications are different from each respective insurance company in different geographical areas.

Premiums and Age Qualifications

Most insurers will charge higher life insurance rates based on a number of factors. These include the person’s age when he originally obtains the policy, one’s gender, and an individual’s previous and current medical conditions. The older a person is when he takes out a life policy, the higher his rates will be because he is statistically in a much higher risk group than a younger person in terms of how fast he can be expected to die. So insurance carriers have to charge more since they’ll be paying out the death benefits much sooner in claims from the beneficiaries of these older, insured individuals.

If a person has had or does have a number of acute or chronic medical conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, emphysema, or heart disease, the rates will also be higher regardless of the insured person’s age. This is also because the death benefit payout will have to be paid out much sooner according to insurance industry statistical studies and charts. Younger people will have the lowest premiums of all in terms of life insurance qualifications , especially if they’re in excellent physical health and they’re also nonsmokers as well.

Other Factors Along With Age Qualifications

An individual’s gender is also seriously considered when a life insurance policy is taken out. Since the statistical fact is that women outlive men by a few years, women across the board will generally have significantly lower rates for their life insurance. Moreover, what also matters is the type of life insurance people of different ages take out. Term life insurance is the cheapest regardless of age, while such policies as whole life, variable life, and universal life are much higher in terms of costs depending on a person;s age, even if all of their respective medical histories are the same, so these life insurance qualifications obviously can vary enormously.

Some insurance companies just have a policy of charging more for life insurance qualifications to cover the death benefits of people from different age groups. One company may charge as much as $400 more per year for the same policy coverage for the age group between 35-50 for men, while another will be substantially less expensive for the exact same total benefit amount of coverage.

Coverage Requirements
Before you start getting quotes from the best life insurance companies know what you want in terms of coverage benefits. You will need to sort out what is best for your dependents in terms of what they will adequately need to cover expenses in the instance of your death. Also have a good estimate of what you are willing to pay. By first knowing your costs and your potential benefits you can move forward to other considerations.

Research Your Options
Don’t simply go for the first company you find with the lowest rate. Check the fine print that is available to from policies beforehand so you are sure of the benefits and a company’s terms and conditions. Visit the websites of several insurance companies and read about the best life insurance plans they offer. Understand the difference between term life insurance and whole life coverage and make a decision on the type you want. This way you’ll be able to compare similar plans among the best life insurance companies much easier in terms of benefits and cost.

Read Customer Reviews
An excellent way to determine what is the best life insurance company in terms of benefits and affordability is to find reviews from satisfied customers. These can be found on the internet at various social media sites and forums that discuss this subject. Make sure you obtain a healthy selection of reviews from a variety of sources so you get an accurate estimate customer opinion. You may also want to ask friends and relatives about their recommendation for the best life insurance companies .

Get Multiple Rate Quotes
Obtain a reasonable amount of quotes from the best life insurance companies you can find. Then after evaluating your choices based on quality, stability and company track record narrow your selection down to a select few that you can compare side by side. Then select the best life insurance company for your family based on the lowest price and the greatest benefits you have found.

Buying life insurance, whether it is a whole life or term life policy, enables the policy holder to ensure some sort of financial stability for his estate, his dependents, his spouse or his family at the time of his death.


Quite a few individuals who scoffed at the question, why do I need life insurance, and ended up dying unexpectedly, left families and dependents without the means to pay the mortgage, handle debts or even pay for a proper burial. Having a life insurance policy in effect when the policy holder dies allows the beneficiary of the policy to replace lost income as well as cover expenses which would otherwise drive a family deeper into debt or possibly bankruptcy.

Another smart reason for investing in life insurance is that the money provided can help pay for funeral costs and other final expenses such as medical bills that may have piled up during the policy holder’s final illness. The father of three who asks why do I need life insurance should know that in the event of his early death and no income for his family, his children won’t be able to afford a college education. Having a solid life insurance policy in place with enough coverage to meet the individual’s specific needs can go a long way toward easing a family’s financial pressures following the death of a loved one who has been the main source of income for spouse, elderly parents and dependent children.

The earlier in life any individual asks himself the question, why do I need life insurance, the better. That’s because insurance rates are the lowest and it is easier to get approved the younger a life insurance policy candidate is at the time the policy is activated. Any smart consumer with financial responsbilities such as a mortgage, children and other expenses knows he needs life insurance as a part of overall financial and estate planning that will help give him added peace of mind as the years go by.