You either have a life insurance policy or are now considering getting one and wondering if a 15 Year Term Life Insurance policy is going to be great for you. Well, the great news is that any life insurance is better than no life insurance. Determining the length of the policy is one of the most important steps when doing a needs analysis. A 15 Year Term Life Insurance policy may work for you based on what your needs are. So that’s what we are going to cover in this article. Below is a quick summary:
- 15 Year Term is locked in for the entire time with no increases in rates and no decreases in death benefit.
- 15 Year Term is competitively priced plan in comparison to other term plans.
- Best term life insurance companies are Prudential, Banner Life, AIG, TransAmerica, and Metlife.
- Make sure that 15 years is enough to protect your loved ones.
- A term life insurance plan should have terminal illness rider and conversion privilege, so don’t settle for anything else.
Term life insurance: Explained
Before we jump into anything else let’s address what a term life insurance is in the first place. A term life insurance policy is a pure protection life insurance that provides protection for set amount of years ranging from 1-year renewable term to 30-year term life. During this period your rates are not going to go up or down since they are fixed but after the coverage increases annually until age 95. Personally, I don’t recommend anyone keep a term life insurance policy after the fixed time frame unless they become uninsurable.
What’s the deal with 15-year term life policy?
Just like any term life insurance policy, a 15-year term life is locked in for the duration of 15 years. This plan is ideal if you need to have life insurance until your kids reach adulthood, you have a 15-year mortgage or you’re 15 years away from retirement. If you do get this policy you can rest assured that your rates or death benefit will not change, plus if you ever want to turn the policy to a permanent plan you can do so without any questions asked.
Benefits of 15-year Term life insurance
There are many benefits to purchasing a 15-year term life policy and the first benefit of this policy is the fact that it’s super cheap. Sometimes our budget is tight and we need to get the most bang for our buck and rest assured that a 15-year term life policy will give you a nice bang for your buck. The premiums like we mentioned earlier, will stay the same without an increase due to the economy or inflation. It is easy putting off buying life insurance, but it is one of those necessities that can come in handy when we least expect it.
Another benefit of a 15-year term life policy is the death benefit amount. You may not have realized how much your life is worth until you stop and take a good look. You have to think about what happens when you pass away and what kind of bills you will be leaving your family. All the debt you have will get passed down including your mortgage. A 15-year term policy will give you a great benefit that should be enough to not only pay off all of your bills but it will also leave enough money to pay for your burial or child’s education or both!
With a 15-year term policy, you are eligible for coverage without a medical exam because now more and more carriers are willing to offer a 15-year term policy without a medical exam. Because there are more no exam companies that offer a 15-year term policy without a medical exam, there will be more competition looking for your business. The best part about a no medical exam policy is that you can have coverage without an exam within 24 hours!
The top 5 best term life insurance companies
Working with over 60 different companies we know a few things about which companies have the best products and which ones are ideal for term life insurance. Below is our list of top 5 term life companies:
For more information read our best term life insurance guide!
- Prudential– Prudential has been around since 1875 and has “A+” Rating from A.M. Best. They offer a varierity of products including term life insurance. They have a great 15 year term life insurance policy and also a term to retirement that will provide coverage until you turn age 65 regardless at what age you buy it. Reason, we put them as number one is simply because the company is outstanding!
- Banner Life– Another carrier that’s been around for a long time with “A+” Rating from A.M. Best. The offer both permanetn and term life insurance. Banner is probably one of the most affordable term life insurance plans. So if you’re looking for competitive rate with a 15 Year Term then this is a company for you.
- AIG– One of the largest and oldest carriers in the marketplace. Aig has highly competitively priced plans as well but also is great for higher risk individuals. Their only downfall is they are rated “A-“.
- TransAmerica– An “A+” rated company that is also know for their underwriting niches and some unique term products. They have a plan with living benefits option so in the case you have a chronic, critical or terminal illness you can withdraw funds from the policy.
- MetLife– A true innovator in the industry with lots of term life insurance options and reliability that is unmatched.
15-Year Term Quotes
In the majority of the clients, we deal with, a 15 Year Term option is usually not recommended since the length of protection for the term is typically better with 20 years or 30-year option. However, a 15-year term is priced better than a 20 or 30-year option since the duration is shorter, so less risk for the carrier. Let’s look at some sample term life insurance quotes for 15 years
15 Year Term for 30-Year-Old with Perfect Health with $500,000 Face Amount
–$15.48/mo with American General Life Insurance Company (Male)
-$1462/mo with American General Life Insurance Company (Female)
15 Year Term for 40-Year-Old with Perfect Health with $500,000 Face Amount
-$24.13/mo with American General Life Insurance Company (Male)
-$20.61/mo with Banner Life Insurance Company (Female)
15 Year Term for 50-Year-Old with Perfect Health with $500,000 Face Amount
-$58.19/mo with Banner Life Insurance Company (Male)
-$42.00/mo with Lincoln Life Insurance Company (Female)
Here is a great breakdown of Term from Prudential:
Is 15 Year Term Enough Time?
The biggest question you may have is a 15-year term enough coverage. Well, surprising the answer is easy since it will depend on what we need to cover. The way we figure this out with our clients is by doing a needs analysis which really focuses on how much coverage you need but also a little on for how long. In this case, we need to ask a few questions to figure this out. The first question is why are you getting life insurance in the first place. If you’re objective is to protect your family from the loss of your income we need to see how old are your children, what age are you trying to retire in and how long is your mortgage. For example, if you have children under the age of 5 it may not be wise to get a 15 Year Term since we usually want to get them covered until the age of 25. Also if you’re 30 years of age and plan on retiring at age 65 this may also not be smart since you’re falling short. If you ask yourself these same questions you’ll have a pretty good answer to whether or not this length of coverage is right for you.
Now, in the event that you are getting a 15 Year Term plan because it is very affordable and you’re not sure what the future may hold. We got some great news for you, most of the companies we represent allow you to convert your policy. A conversion privilege allows you to take your term plan and turn it into a whole life or universal life plan that will provide lifetime coverage. This can be done without any further examination or underwriting so guaranteed approval.
Work an Independent Agency!
Thank you for reading our article and visiting our site, by now you should have a pretty good idea of what a 15 Year Term Life offers. Regardless of whether you need 15 or 30-year coverage, you should always shop around to get the best rates possible. You should also not get any plan that doesn’t offer a lot of additional benefits like accelerated pay out when you have a terminal illness, conversion privilege, and renewability. Don’t forget that the 3 term plan benefits are pretty standard with all the top rated insurers so you’re not demanding anything crazy. The best thing to do is work with an independent agency like ours to help you shop around with over 60 top rated insurers and guide you through the entire process. A great agency will also analyze your personal situation and get you the plan that is most suitable.
