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Experts Suggest Buying Multiple Life Insurance Policies

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  • Not only can you have multiple life insurance policies, but you can purchase multiple at once.
  • Buying 20-year coverage and 30-year coverage at the same time can help as your savings grow.
  • Adding a 20-year policy whenever you have a child means it will last until they’re an adult.

While many believe each person can only have one life insurance policy (and one death benefit) in place, this common misconception couldn’t be further from the truth. Not only can you have multiple life insurance policies on yourself or your spouse or partner, but insurance agents maintain there are instances when you should have more than one policy.

This means you can keep whatever life insurance you have and still buy more coverage if you feel you need it. Heck, you can even purchase multiple life insurance policies at once. I talked to some life insurance experts to find out when it makes sense for individuals to have several life insurance policies.

See Insider’s picks for the best life insurance companies »

Buying life insurance to supplement workplace coverage

Steve Sanders, who serves as the senior vice president of life distribution at F&G, says that workplace life insurance coverage can be a great benefit to employees. However, it shouldn’t necessarily be the only coverage workers have in place.

For starters, Sanders says the total death benefit of workplace coverage tends to be limited

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February 6, 2023 by INSURANCE

Can Insurance Technology Solve the Uninsured Driver Problem?

Despite the mandate requiring motorists to carry car insurance, 13 percent of US drivers operate vehicles without any coverage—a problem that exposes uninsured drivers to catastrophic financial risks and leads to higher premiums for insured drivers.

Many uninsured drivers take these risks on the road because they can’t afford the insurance contracts offered by legacy carriers, which often require purchasing several months of coverage up front.

“Insurance technology can enable cash-strapped drivers to access shorter and more affordable durations of coverage.”

But there may be a solution: Insurance technology can enable cash-strapped drivers to access shorter and more affordable durations of coverage. My research finds that many low-income drivers jump at the opportunity to buy coverage when they’re offered the ability to “pay as you go,” allowing them to purchase just a few days of insurance at a time and only pay for coverage on the days they actually drive.

The high cost of the uninsured

While 13 percent of national drivers are uninsured, the problem is even worse in some states like California (17 percent), Michigan (26 percent), and Tennessee (24 percent), according to the Insurance Research Council.

Drivers without insurance face catastrophic financial risks in the event of an accident and risk thousands of dollars in fines and impoundment of their vehicles if they are caught driving without insurance. And they’re not the only ones who suffer—drivers with insurance also pay a price because their premiums have to incorporate the risk of getting into an accident with an uncovered driver. Uninsured drivers increase premiums for drivers with insurance by $27 billion annually and $6 billion in California alone, according to a 2016 study.

Yet for drivers without any assets or savings to protect, coverage may provide minimal benefits. Low-income drivers also may not see insurance

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February 2, 2023 by INSURANCE

Bought a New Life Insurance Policy? Make Sure Your Beneficiaries Have This Information
Two parents with their young children having lunch at a picnic table on their back deck.

Image source: Getty Images

Give your loved ones everything they’ll need in the event of your death.

Key points

  • Life insurance provides financial help for your loved ones after your death.
  • It’ll be up to your beneficiaries to contact the insurer to get their payout.
  • Ensure they have everything they need, including the policy number and how the policy will be paid out.

The beginning of a new year is a good time to sit down with your budget, banking information, and all the facets of your financial life. If you don’t already have “life insurance coverage review” on your list, it pays to add it. After all, life insurance is essential if you have anyone depending on your income or services you provide (such as childcare, if you’re a stay-at-home parent).

If your old life insurance plan isn’t cutting it anymore (say, because you’ve recently become a parent, or will be soon, or have started a new business venture and have a business partner depending on you), it’s time to check out your options and sign up for a new one. Part of signing up for life insurance is naming a beneficiary (or beneficiaries).

Your beneficiaries are the recipients of the death benefit for your policy. It’s important to note that you will not override life insurance beneficiary designs, so it’s vitally important that your insurance is set up to benefit the right people. Your insurance company may not find out that you’ve passed away, and so it’ll be up to your beneficiaries to notify the company. Read on for the essential information they’ll need before they make that phone call.

Death certificate

First and foremost, your beneficiaries will need a death certificate so they can show the insurer that you’ve passed on. This isn’t something you’ll be

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January 15, 2023 by INSURANCE

With rising inflation, fill the gap with life insurance, analysts say [Video]

Inflation has increased budget costs for most Americans, which should be taken into consideration when evaluating life insurance coverage.

Being underinsured means that loved ones wouldn’t be able to cover expenses incurring debt or maybe loss of the family home.

“Life insurance helps provide resources to cover in the event of an untimely death…to care for and support families,” Sandi Bragar, chief client officer and partner at Aspiriant, told Yahoo Finance Live (video above). “In this rising inflation environment, those costs have gotten a lot higher and because there’s a gap, we’re filling it with life insurance.”

Senior couple paying bills inside the house

Credit: Getty Images

The rule of thumb is to have 10 times your annual income in life insurance, according to non-profit insurance Life Happensto cover expenses beyond the funeral like housing, mortgage, childcare, health care, and education, so your family won’t go into debt.

Because the costs of food, gas, and housing have increased, consumers should evaluate their life insurance coverage to make sure it is enough, which is why, while 10 times your salary is recommended, your coverage amount should increase with the cost of living.

Some financial planners recommend a combination of term life and permanent life insurance policies. Because term life insurance expires, a permanent life insurance policy offers lifetime coverage and earns cash value that can be used during the policyholder’s lifetime in the form of a loans or withdrawals.

More Americans are tapping their permanent life insurance policies to help them weather inflation and avoid drawing on retirement accounts battered by the stock market’s volatility this year.

“You want to look at all the different types of policies that are out there and find the one that best fits your needs,” Bragar said. “One thing we like to do with clients is stack life insurance policies.

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December 28, 2022 by INSURANCE

Colorado’s Psychedelics Legal Scenario: Insurance & State Aid, Advisory Board And Local Regulations

Part three of three-part series.

See previous stories:

Colorado’s New Psychedelics Regulations: Co-Author Of The Bill Replies To Concerns

Millennials Tipped The Scales In Colorado Voting, And Psychedelic Laws Are In Their Crosshairs

Expert lawyer and Prop. 122’s drafter and co-writer Joshua Kappel explained how the state will address equitable access is yet to be determined.

“One of the requirements the expert takes on the advisory board is around the health insurance policy. And there is a mandate that mental health services otherwise covered under Colorado’s health insurance programs would not be denied coverage if psilocybin were involved at some point in those services. So there is some idea that if your mental health services are covered, then the state insurance company won’t be required to repay for psilocybin,” Kappel said in an exclusive interview with Benzinga.

Besides the measure’s provisions around equitable access, there is an additional mandate for the advisory board to put together a report analyzing the insurance coverage issue, characterized by the current reality’s fact that psychedelics are illegal under federal law, and that might remain that way.

As Kappel explained, the proposal supports the “all-paths” approach. For example, companies like COMPASS Pathways (NASDAQ:CMPS) are moving forward at the federal level with different psilocybin products, “and once those get FDA approval, then we’ll most likely see insurance coverage.”

But there is yet another issue to unpack: Colorado’s state model isn’t a medicalized model but rather a therapeutic one.

“I think at the state level we’re trying to create state-based solutions to address the costs of these services. This state-based therapeutic model doesn’t have the same benefits as insurance coverage at the federal level, but it has a lot of other benefits including outside of the purely medicalized model, like using psilocybin for personal growth and

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December 15, 2022 by INSURANCE

Cigarette Smoking, Insurance Coverage Appears Linked in Those With Mental Health, Substance Use Disorders

Policy reforms that expand insurance coverage may play a supporting role in discouraging smoking among adults living with mental health and/or substance use disorders.

Despite an overall decline in smoking in the US over the past 50 years, people with mental health and substance abuse disorders (MH/SUD) have shown less reduction in smoking than people without MH/SUD.

A recent study analyzed smoking and insurance coverage trends among US adults with and without MH/SUD, finding evidence that improvements in smoking and abstinence outcomes for adults with MH/SUD appear to be associated with increases in health insurance coverage. Since 2014, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has led to major changes in the US health insurance market that may impact tobacco use among those with MH/SUD.

“We hypothesized that insurance expansion would have a larger effect on insurance coverage among those with MH/SUD compared to those without MH/SUD; and that increased insurance coverage would be associated with improved smoking outcomes among those with MH/SUD,” wrote the authors of this study.

The data for this study were obtained from 2008 to 2019 records from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an annual cross-sectional survey. There was a total of 448,762 respondents to the survey, aged 18 to 64 years.

Outcome variables were measured by recent cigarette use and past-year health insurance coverage.

Comparing pooled data from 2008-2009 and 2018-2019, current smoking rates of adults with MH/SUD decreased from 37.9% to 27.9%, while current smoking rates of adults without MH/SUD decreased from 21.4% to 16.3%.

Across the 2008-2019 study period, adults with MH/SUD were more likely to report current smoking (34.2% vs 19.0%) and daily smoking (24.2% vs 13.5%). Adults with MH/SUD were less likely to report abstinence from smoking (8.9% vs 10.1%).

Additionally, adults with MH/SUD were more likely to be younger,

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November 19, 2022 by INSURANCE

Dutchie Launches New Insurance Program For Marijuana Businesses

Cannabis technology platform Dutchie announced on Wednesday that the company would begin offering a comprehensive insurance program for businesses in the legal marijuana industry, saying that the new offering “provides a crucial service and better protection for any stakeholder in the cannabis supply chain, in every legal market across the United States.”

“Cannabis businesses need appropriate insurance coverage that gives them peace of mind and confidence that their businesses will be protected no matter what,” Mauricio Comi, head of insurance at Dutchie, said in a statement from the company. “Dutchie Insurance builds on our mission to help create safe and easy access to cannabis by ensuring the industry is supported and in a position to reach its full potential.”

Dutchie is a cannabis technology platform that provides services that enable commerce, streamline dispensary operations and provide consumers access to businesses in the legal marijuana industry. The company offers a POS system for cannabis dispensaries, and in July, it launched Dutchie Pay, a new digital payment system for marijuana dispensaries that gives retailers and their customers an option to conduct transactions without cash. Dutchie’s services are used by more than 5,500 cannabis dispensaries in the United States and Canada, helping them ring up more than $14 billion in annual sales, according to data provided by the company.

Cannabis Business Insurance A Challenge

Earlier this year, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) noted that companies in the cannabis industry face the challenges of obtaining adequate insurance coverage for their legal marijuana businesses. The group, comprised of insurance regulators from across the country, said that the division between state and federal law over cannabis makes it difficult for

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October 22, 2022 by INSURANCE

It’s open enrollment season. Here’s how to find the right health insurance : NPR
An illustration of three candy jars. The first jar on the left is locked shut and reads "HMO," the jar in the middle has the lid cracked and reads "PPO," and the last jar is a candy machine that requires a coin to be inserted to release a piece of candy.
An illustration of three candy jars. The first jar on the left is locked shut and reads "HMO," the jar in the middle has the lid cracked and reads "PPO," and the last jar is a candy machine that requires a coin to be inserted to release a piece of candy.

HMOs, PPOs, FSAs – OMG!

Open enrollment season is upon us, and it’s time to sign up for a health insurance plan for the next calendar year. But between the alphabet soup of acronyms and all those daunting data tables, it can be hard to figure out which plan to choose.

While we know this task isn’t as exciting as spooky szn or pumpkin-spiced everything, it’s important for your health (and will serve you a lot longer than that polyester Halloween costume).

The good news: Life Kit has expert advice to help take the scary out of this process. Here’s a cheat sheet of what to keep in mind as you make a decision.

Read your plan’s summary of benefits

The first step is to know what’s in your health insurance plan, says Tasha Carter, the insurance consumer advocate for the state of Florida. “Many consumers fail to take advantage of the benefits that are offered by their health insurance policy simply because they don’t know they exist – or even worse, they end up paying out of pocket for expenses that may have been covered.”

So, even though you’ve had the same plan for years, take a few moments to look over your plan’s latest summary of benefits. Health insurance companies are required to provide a summary of benefits and coverage written in simple language. If you don’t get it in the mail at the beginning of the year, log on to your health insurance website or call the number on the back of your insurance card and ask for it.

“Oftentimes, insurance companies make changes to benefits, so you want to make sure you understand what those changes are and how they may impact you” and your health, Carter says. Listen to our episode on how to

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October 8, 2022 by INSURANCE

Don’t just get group life insurance, get individual as well

You can’t take it with you — that is, your group life insurance coverage.

There’s a common misunderstanding among employees that they can take company-sponsored insurance coverage with them when they leave a job. Unfortunately, in most cases, the group life insurance policy is not portable, leaving the employee lacking quality life insurance protection.

Meanwhile, procuring an individual life insurance policy after leaving a job or upon retirement is often a difficult task if an individual’s health condition has changed at any point during their previous employment.

InvestmentNews caught up with Bob Gaydos, CEO of technology-based insurance provider Pendella, to find out why individual life insurance — in addition to group life — should be a focus for employees, especially with open enrollment season just around the corner.

InvestmentNews: Why is individual life insurance necessary on top of group coverage from an employer?

Bob Gaydos: An individual life insurance policy is owned by the employee and can be purchased from a variety of carriers. Meanwhile, group life insurance is a single carrier policy owned by the employer, and the employee is only covered under a certificate. Typically, employers will purchase a small amount of group life insurance for the employee, for example $50,000, and allow the employee to purchase additional group life insurance. This coverage is significantly inadequate.

There may also be coverage limitations on the additional group life insurance purchased, such as a $300,000 limit, or spousal coverage limits, like a spouse can only purchase 50% of the employee’s coverage. This is also inadequate since a family of four with two school-age children may in fact have a need for $1 million on each parent.

Furthermore, the group life coverage is generally subject to actively ‘at work’ provisions. And group life insurance is not portable and in fact

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September 17, 2022 by INSURANCE

Stacked vs. Unstacked Auto Insurance: What’s Best For You?

Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage helps to pay for your expenses if you are ever involved in a car accident with someone who has little to no insurance. If you have stacked auto insurance, it enables you to combine the coverage limits on multiple policies or multiple vehicles to get more coverage in the event you’re injured in an accident with a driver who has inadequate coverage.

Stacked insurance is primarily available with uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage. Some states prohibit or limit stacking insurance coverage, and even if it is allowed in your state, your insurer may not offer it.

Learn more about stacked vs. unstacked auto insurance so you can make the most of your coverage options.

Stacked vs. unstacked auto insurance

Uninsured and underinsured car insurance coverage is either stacked or unstacked. Stacked coverage combines the coverage limits of multiple policies or vehicles. With unstacked insurance, you would only be covered up to the amount declared on your insurance policy.

How does stacked auto insurance work?

Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage (UM or UIM, respectively) provides bodily injury coverage for medical bills and property damage coverage for repairs or replacement of your vehicle. To use UIM or UM coverage, the underinsured or uninsured driver must be at fault. This coverage also applies if you’re the victim of a hit-and-run accident.

Uninsured motorist coverage helps to cover accidents where the other, at-fault driver has no insurance. Underinsured motorist applies if the other driver doesn’t have enough insurance to cover your medical costs. For example, the other drivers might only have state minimum liability coverage with relatively low limits.

However, stacked insurance only applies to the bodily injury coverage on your uninsured and underinsured motorist insurance policy, not the property damage. So you may be able

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August 16, 2022 by INSURANCE
December 2023
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