There is a good saying we hear in the industry, that money doesn't buy Life Insurance, it only pays for it. It is a fact that only health can buy you Life Insurance, and money is what pays for it. Life Insurance is one of those things we look at, and generally put it aside until "later". But by doing this you not only put yourself at risk, but you also put your families financial future at risk, by not being able to be eligible for it when it is truly needed.

When you purchase a good Life Insurance policy, all the underwriting is done before the contract is issued to you. The Insurance company may want to talk to any doctors or specialist's you may have seen in the past to be able to properly asses the risk to both you and the insurance company, if you are not of good risk, you may get "rated" or flat out declined. By looking at Insurance sooner than later you are always going to get the better price, as the older you get year by year, the Insurance gets more and more costly, and you always risk not being able to buy coverage at all if you become ill while "waiting".

The coverage is much too important for you and your family to have this put off until a later date. The Insurance process is very simple in most cases, here is the process you can expect;

1. Make an application to the Insurance company

2. Depending on the amount of Insurance applied for, in certain circumstances a nurse will come to your home or office to ask the medical questionnaire, and take either a sample of blood or urine.

3. The Insurance company's Underwriters will review your application and test results.

4. The Underwriter will inquire with the MIB (Medical Information Bureau) to see if you have applied for Insurance before and what the outcome was.

5. The Underwriter will ask further questions of your family doctor or specialist to answer any questions they may have.

6. The company will issue a Life Insurance contract back to the Agent for client delivery.

7. The Agent will meet with the applicant and deliver the contract as applied for, or with any modifications.

8. You are now Insured.

It may seem like a long process, but it is worth it. You need to have peace of mind that the policy you are paying for, will have a rock solid guarantee behind it. Beware of Creditor Insurance, or Mortgage Insurance from the Bank, or Line of Credit Insurance where the process only involves answering a few questions and giving a few initials, where you never see any documentation or contract after that point.

Your family should have a contract in hand, and placed in a safe place, so that when the time comes for your family to receive the benefit from the coverage, it will be easily understood and easy to make the claim.

Probably the most important part of our job here in the office, is to work with your beneficiary and the Insurance company to have the benefit paid to your family in as short a period of time as possible. Generally once we receive the paperwork after a loved one dies, we can have the beneficiary paid in as little as one week. This creates a financial buffer while the family is in the grieving period.

If you are not in the best of health to begin with there is also the opportunity to buy Guaranteed Issue Life Insurance, but the amounts are very low, and there are generally two year waiting periods after the contract is issued.

If you have been sitting on the fence, knowing that you should have Life Insurance to protect your family, but will "get to it" shortly, the time is now. Dont risk being ineligible for Insurance when your family needs it the most.

Steffen deGraaf