Life insurance is a long-term financial cushion that protects your dependents from financial ruin in the event of your death. However, gender parity in financial protection is wanting, with statistics showing that only 47% of American women have a life insurance cover against 58% of men.
Some women refrain from taking life insurance policies because of the notion that their financial contributions and support are insignificant. However, life insurance transcends financial protection and doubles a financial tool for women to utilize for financial independence. Therefore, below are reasons why all women should invest in a life insurance policy.
Life Insurance Provides A Financial Safety Net For Your Dependants
As a woman, the last thing you want is for the lifestyle your family has grown accustomed to, thanks to your financial input or support, to die with you. Thankfully, you can protect them from such an eventuality by investing in a life insurance policy from the right insurance company.
Trusted insurance companies, like the Germantown Insurance Company in Wisconsin, offer life insurance policies that can function as income replacements for your dependents when you are no longer around. Moreover, the death benefits from life insurance can also cover any massive debts like mortgage and tuition fees, allowing your dependents financial security as they adapt to life’s changes.
Life Insurance Premiums Are Often Cheaper For Women
People avoid investing in life insurance packages out of fear that it is too expensive, yet they overestimate the cost. However, life insurance packages are affordable, more so for women.
Insurance companies consider gender, age, medical history, occupation, hobbies, and lifestyle adaptations as risk assessment parameters when calculating insurance premiums. Gender matters because global statistics continually show that women live longer than men in most parts of the world.
Moreover, a study on gender and mortality shows that the male gene has biological markers that put men at a higher risk of specific health conditions. Therefore, the female gene gives you a leg up on your life expectancy score. However, you may want to start investing in life insurance early because age is also a significant life expectancy factor.
Tax Exemptions
The death benefits eligible to the beneficiaries listed in your life insurance policy are non-taxable. Therefore, your heirs will get the full total face value of your life insurance policy, which is the amount your life insurance policy is worth.
Moreover, as stated above, life insurance policy investments can also double as financial products. For instance, specific life insurance policies like whole life insurance and universal life insurance have cash value components that you can access during your lifetime.
Such cash value benefits enjoy a tax-deferred status, meaning that you incur no tax deductions while the funds grow. Tax-deferred growth allows your cash value components to grow tax-free until you decide what to do with them.
Getting A Life Insurance Policy Is Straightforward and Fast With Accelerated Underwriting
Insurance companies typically use risk selection to assess whether individual potential clients qualify for insurance acceptance (are insurable) and set premiums. They use underwriters to conduct the risk selection process, and it takes the underwriters two to eight weeks on average to complete the process.
Unfortunately, some consumers shy away from purchasing life insurance policies because the underwriting process is long and invasive; it includes medical exams. However, Accelerated underwriting (AUW) is shaking things up, making the risk selection process faster and smoother.
Accelerated underwriting is an underwriting process that utilizes readily available medical records allowing life insurance applicants to forgo medical exams. The process is substantially faster, taking approximately 24-48hours.
Collateral Assignments Of Life Insurance Policies
You can benefit from your life insurance policy while still alive by using it as an asset to secure a loan. A collateral assignment of life insurance temporarily transfers your life insurance policy ownership to the insurer, who will revert the ownership once you finish paying the loan.
Therefore, a life insurance policy is a worthwhile investment, allowing you to secure loans for self-actualization, including study loans, business loans, and mortgages. The gender gap in financial independence is pretty broad, so you can use the collateral assignment loans to secure your financial freedom as a woman.
Life Insurance Policies Feature Investment Compounds
The insurance industry has multiple life insurance product types, and some products include an investment compound alongside the death benefits accruing to your beneficiaries. For instance, permanent insurance policies like universal life, variable life, and whole life insurance have a cash value component.
With such policies, a certain percentage of your premium goes towards your death benefits while the rest goes towards associated investment components, such as the cash value component. The cash value component gains tax-deferred interest, meaning it grows faster than taxable investments.
Most insurance companies allow you to withdraw the cash value component funds, although you can also use them as premium payments or transfer them to your death benefits. Therefore, you can also utilize the investment component in the policy to facilitate your financial projects.
A Life Insurance Policy Can Help You Build A Legacy
The death benefits accruing to your dependents are good enough. However, you can use life insurance policy features like collateral assignments and investment compounds to gain capital and generate medium-term to long-term wealth.
Funds from life insurance loans and investments make it easier to purchase stock, bonds, real estate, equality, and investment pools like hedge funds. Therefore, you will have a more extensive legacy to bequeath your dependents and give them a leg-up in a highly competitive world.
Pregnancy Is Not A Deterrent For Getting ALife Insurance Policy
Another reason why some women shy away from taking life insurance policies is the belief that pregnancy impedes women from getting an insurance policy. However, the contrary is true because you can get an insurance policy during any stage of your pregnancy, especially with accelerated underwriting. As a new mother, the last thing on your mind is insurance policies, so do not wait for your gestation period to lapse.
Conclusion:
A life insurance policy gives you peace of mind, knowing that your dependents, especially children, shall have a constant income source if you are unavailable to provide for them. Moreover, the policy’s investment options give you a rare opportunity to gain financial independence today while building a commendable legacy for future generations.
