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Where does someone buy life insurance? I want to get 30-year term life insurance for myself ($1MM, male, 33) and my wife ($500k, female, 32.) We're seeing quotes from our regular insurance company (fire, auto, umbrella) for around $1500/yr, and from a financial advisor friend for ~$950/yr from three different places for the $1MM policy. All of them are "A" or "A+" rated from "A.M. Best" whatever that is, and we are in the USA. Seeing such a wide variance for the "same" policy makes me wonder what the right price to pay is for a given policy? We're both non-tobacco, and likely to qualify for some kind of improved rate based on the basic in home physical which is what I'm listing above. (No heart problems, no blood chemistry things, etc.) We are neither likely to qualify for the "super premium" rates.
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Jul 18, 2016 22:01
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Jastiger posted:Id find an independent agent though. I guess this is what I was asking, "am I asking the right people." How do I find an independent agent for this? Yelp? None of my friends have life insurance, or it's "through work" which pricing it out is comically expensive in years ~22+.
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Jul 19, 2016 02:36
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Jastiger posted:Well at basic levels you can type in "Independent insurance agent" into google with your zip code. Give em a quick call, see if they are offer life insurance and how many companies they represent. Boom, you're in the door. You can also find offices of companies you know and are familiar with and call those local offices too and see what they offer too. If you're with State Farm I tend to stay away from those guys because they are only going to offer a relatively small amount of companies vs your regular insurance agent. Thanks! (And yes, State Farm. I was in setting up everything with a new agent so I asked her to quote me life insurance. No thank you.)
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Jul 19, 2016 14:53
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Bovril Delight posted:Safeco, The General, Titan, etc. are all non-standard nightmare companies. My wife's parents (and her for her first 10 years of driving) is Safeco. We've had nothing but good luck with it. I'm surprised to see it lumped in with those others. We've had 2 collisions repaired with it and never had a moment of hesitation out of them, once on her collision coverage and the other time the other parties liability. When she got rear ended the adjuster was always prompt on the phone, squared away the rental immediately and didn't try to push her into a ultra-sub-compact, etc. Her rates were good but not great compared to my State Farm policy. (And we now have a huge list of policies with them.)
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Aug 21, 2016 17:19
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revmoo posted:They sent an inspector over after writing the policy. This is really frustrating about insurance to me. "This is your price!" <week goes by> "Hey underwriting got back to us, this is REALLY your price!" Asking them to call underwriting ahead of time is apparently not something that is even possible and I am crazy to ask. This is someone with whom I already have 5 lines and 15 years of loyalty. I get that you don't want to call underwriting about every little question some rate hopper has about a given product, but you should also be able to tell me what something costs within 5%.
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Sep 14, 2016 04:21
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Jastiger posted:Thats the way risk sharing works. THey will do their diligence and have the right to adjust later following their underwriting guidelines. Its actually tilted somewhat in your favor though at times. If you're obviously frauding it up, you still have that grace period where the insurance company is on the line. On the flip side, they get a chance to pull back the curtain and find out whats really going on and adjust. Yup, totally get it. We've found a better agent who isn't both-feet-out-the-door to retirement and it's greatly improved. In fact, she's written me 4 lines already, 3 of which were entirely new (+1 car, umbrella, earthquake, and fire.) No material surprises anywhere. Speaking of underwriting, is doing a re-wire and re-pipe something they want to know about? Permits were pulled, inspectors signed off, that sort of thing. In theory the house is now less likely to burn down from water flooding from its original 1946 wires and galvanized pipes. I guess that moves some of the rebuild cost from (...logs into state farm...) OL to A? (Ordinance upgrades to the straight replacement cost.)
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Sep 14, 2016 05:06
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Jastiger posted:Id say so. Most insurers won't insure a place with galvanized pipes or old electrical. Get it all done and let the insurancr company know that its all modernized and they should hopefully give you a better rate. Cool, thanks. The pipes are in and the wiring is signed for but doesn't start for a few weeks. This is sort of par for the course for our area, she they didn't flinch at it when I told them the address. It's not knob and tube, but like rubber and cloth coated copper.
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Sep 14, 2016 16:38
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revmoo posted:Oh yeah we have that stuff, it's awful. Every time you replace a ceiling fan or install a light switch it's a game of "will the house burn down this time?" Stuff's fine as long as it stays undisturbed. Fortunately it's run inside full metal conduit so for the most part the worst that would happen is it would trip a breaker.  We have a Zinsco panel. Apparently those don't trip anymore.
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Sep 14, 2016 16:46
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Jastiger posted:Id say so. Most insurers won't insure a place with galvanized pipes or old electrical. Get it all done and let the insurancr company know that its all modernized and they should hopefully give you a better rate. Apparently my house is $33/year less likely to burn down! Got a pro-rated check in the mail for $28. Thanks State Farm!  (And in researching it, seems the rates on 2 of my cars went down, netting me $15.07/month less payments.)
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Nov 3, 2016 17:24
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revmoo posted:I just had a kiln installed for my wife and when I looked into the permitting process my city told me that you need to pull a permit + get an inspection for any new circuits or drops, however anything with an existing circuit (e.g. replacing a ceiling light in an existing fixture) didn't require anything. If your local authority is OK with you installing the electrical yourself what reason is the insurance company giving for balking at you doing the work? I would be more worried about the kiln itself not being properly installed.
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Jan 16, 2017 23:28
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Dango Bango posted:Part of the reason they wanted the electrician doing the install is because they can potentially subrogate claims against them. Whereas if you do it, they've got nothing. Ah! Thank you.
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Jan 17, 2017 17:59
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potatoducks posted:I called their insurance company and the other party had already filed a claim. Their adjuster is going to contact me today regarding details of the inspection. Easy, you don't accept it. It is a huge hassle, but here is how to minimize it. Is the other parties insurance a major carrier? Make an appointment at one of their "In network" shops and sign the paper that says "allow disassembly", then ask someone to drive you to pickup your insurance arranged and paid for rental. Make sure it is the same class vehicle you drive (economy, mid-size, full size, truck, etc). If your car isn't safe to drive or undrivable, get your rental right now, ask them to pick you up. Otherwise be prepared to take a day off work to drive this sucker to three different body shops to get quotes, they will all tell you they can only quote what they can see so you better pray they aren't shady. See if *your* insurance has a network of shops, even if you can't use it. Use that as your list. If you lose income as a result of it, document it and give it to the other carrier. (Is PTO income in your state?) If you want to further minimize it in the future take out comp & collision + rental coverage. The other carrier in my accident ~9 months ago was shady as hell and simply didn't believe in answering the phone, lying about attempts to contact me, etc. I opened a claim on my collision coverage with state farm and had my car back by the end of the week. I received my deductible back earlier this week from subrogation. I still don't have my car rental & baby seat replacement reimbursed largely because I forgot to give them to state farm. H110Hawk fucked around with this message at 17:41 on Jan 20, 2017 |
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Jan 20, 2017 17:35
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22 Eargesplitten posted:Health insurance question: I just left a new job less than a month ago, started a new one, and just got on their insurance on the first. Due to a misunderstanding in which formulary the plan used, I now have 1600/mo in prescriptions that aren't covered. Do those changes within the last month still count as qualifying life events to get on a marketplace plan? I'm also going to try to get in touch with an advisor from the state's marketplace for a more thoroughly informed opinion. Do you have it in exact writing that your prescription would be covered? ("I need drug X." "You are on Formulary Y which includes Drug X at $Z/month.") If so try to get them to honor that while you deal with the other stuff. You relied on this information to make a decision.
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Feb 7, 2017 22:34
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Jastiger posted:Make sure your doctors are in network and then...nope. that sounds way better And if they aren't then consider new doctors.
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Feb 19, 2017 05:57
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Jastiger posted:Yeah none of that disagrees with what i said. They all assume you have your own coverage. https://ag.ny.gov/consumer-frauds/car-rental-tip-sheet All you're doing is spelling out who is primary. If you don't have your own they will provide the state minimum in the cost of the rental, at least in NY. This is likely woefully inadequate and if you otherwise have 0 liability protection you should probably go ahead and pick up the SLP policy from the counter, but ask them for a discount.
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Mar 25, 2017 18:40
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Jastiger posted:Ah well that is news to me, then, and in my professional opinion, dumb as hell lol. You certainly indemnify them for what little that is worth, and who knows maybe some states make you the culpable party while under a rental contract? According to Trip Advisor rental companies in CA are not required to provide anything, so if you don't have liability insurance somewhere (auto line, non-owner liability, or credit card) you have to purchase it over the counter. Looks like the state level laws on this vary wildly. Seems it's a cost of doing business, which means it's rolled into the cost of the base rental. Especially if you pay retail.
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Mar 26, 2017 01:30
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EAT FASTER!!!!!! posted:Virtually every other part of our financial lives is on lockdown Get an umbrella policy. Way easier than micro managing liability limits on individual policies. Suddenly your coverage is all measured in million(s) of dollars instead of 100k's.
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Mar 30, 2017 16:42
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revmoo posted:At what point does one make sense? We have a house and four vehicles with full coverage, but our net worth is basically 0. What are your limits? I was at I think 250/500/250 or 500/500/500 on 3 vehicles + homeowners (fire) policy. Added $1MM, dropped my libability limits to the minimum specified by the umbrella (250/500/100? - provider specific), and the umbrella netted out to something like $20/year between reduced cost of coverage and multiline discounts. Our vehicles are all low miles/year ($185/month for all three @ 250/500/100, $500/250 deductibles, uninsured, $5k? $10k? medical) and we both have spotless driving records. If you kill someone in a covered accident this can prevent bankruptcy or losing your house and four vehicles. It's cheap because you're not likely to need it, but if you do it allows you to rest easy. Ask your agent or whomever what an umbrella would cost you including lowering all your limits to trigger the umbrella.
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Mar 30, 2017 19:45
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Harveygod posted:I just got off the phone with Amica. Quote (from the agent, still need bloodwork): Pay yearly if at all possible as well, there is likely a fee being charged to be monthly. As a reference point, I just got a 34-y/o male super preferred non-tobacco 25 years $1MM from AIG (lol) for $684 paid annually ($57/month), but it was closer to $65 paid monthly. I went through a broker, I can send you their contact info if you want. Don't ask me how I got super preferred with asthma.
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May 2, 2017 21:58
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Busy Bee posted:I'm going to be moving out of the country soon but leaving my car at my house. I plan to visit every month or so so I would like to keep the car to drive around maybe 6 to 12 times a year. Keep comprehensive on it and put a battery tender on it. It's like insurance for your battery, and if your battery tender decides to burn your car (house) down it should be covered under comp. Try cranking your deductibles up if you haven't already, it's your share in a claim but it should lower your up front costs. Let them know your miles are dropping as well, they might be willing to give you a substantial discount. State Farm offers reasonable discounts on low mileage vehicles.
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Jul 7, 2017 14:07
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Busy Bee posted:Around $4,000 - $5,000 You might be the ideal case for those sketchy pay-by-the-mile insurance companies that are advertising heavily on social media right now.
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Jul 7, 2017 14:29
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paragon1 posted:Talked to the agent himself and it turns out it was an error on their part, and my policy is reinstated/still in effect. Get it in writing. You want some proof dated after the cancelation letter that your insurance is in effect just in case paperwork, your agent, underwriting/central office, and "the computer" disagree.
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Sep 13, 2017 22:51
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The Slack Lagoon posted:I'm starting a new job and they offer life insurance. The rate for my age and non-smoker is $0.04/$1000 per month. Get a real quote on term life, look at the portability, and how much it increases with age. Unless you are a smoker it's almost certainly a bad deal in 15-20 years. I ran a spreadsheet and it tipped over even sooner for me, and I got top rating. Somehow.
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Feb 9, 2018 16:06
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The Slack Lagoon posted:I got a quote for a 20 year 250k policy and it came out at $38/mo, vs paying 10/mo for 250k through my employer. If you look more closely at those plans they often escalate in price with age, and you lose it if you quit, or have to "port" it to a standalone plan if that is an option. Given you are extremely likely to change employers in the next 20 years you could wind up needing a policy when you are older (and more $ to insure.) I'm not in the industry, this is just research from when I did this same math. It was super cheap when I was 35, and >double the price when I was 55. A standalone term life policy has no concerns over your future employers whims barring your inability to make the premium every year. (Pay annually if you do a standalone plan, it's often much cheaper than quarterly/monthly.)
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Feb 9, 2018 21:44
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Discussion Quorum posted:I have a question that seems like it should be simple, but benefits people give me different answers. I am in Texas, if it matters. If you are the primary insured then you likely have to have coverage for anyone else to have coverage. That's why you likely can't opt to just cover your spouse while hired. Looks like you're only going to get 2k in savings.
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Mar 12, 2018 21:47
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). My understanding of COBRA is that it has to be offered on an individual basis, and I found some IRS rulings that seem to back me up (although they also appear to defer to states, so who knows if that even matters). Who's right?
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Nevvy Z posted:To add a spouse to insurance with my employer requires "secondary evidence: proof of joint ownership or joint payment for residence or other real estate, automobile, or other asset; e.g. bank statement, financial account, or utility bill listing both employee and spouse at the same address." Open a joint bank account. Don't bring up that you don't live together. Just pick an address and use it. Ask if your marriage license will suffice.
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Mar 28, 2018 03:30
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Javid posted:Anybody ever deal with State Farm's "drive safe and save" app discount program? My agent doesn't seem to know poo poo about it and it sounds like a pain in the rear end for an amount of savings nobody seems to want to put a number to. I use the manual reports because I don't drive much. I save hundreds of dollars / 6 months/line. It really is only a big benefit if you are below the various tiers of national average. There is a small handout for the verification but it's like $15.
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Apr 11, 2018 06:35
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Here is my anecdote with State Farm in California. I've been with them since I was 16 on my parents account, and when I split off onto my own account at 18 they counted my 2 years with my parents towards the loyalty discount. I think they may have also been counting the homeowners policy since I lived in my parents basement then. That alone made them a clear winner cost wise. Currently the loyalty benefits decimate any quotes I've received to date to jump ship with the 7 lines I carry. Either the other carrier is non-responsive to questions, doesn't do all the lines, or is not even close price wise. So far the only one which has made me pause is Liberty Mutual, where the price is about the same but includes some minor policy upgrades to my homeowners insurance. You should have a talk with the agent about how their loyalty discounts work, it's possible that you're doing a lot of extra work jumping around to save a few dollars here and there but in the long run it will be much cheaper to stay the course. So far they've never screwed around with me on claims, including one hit and run (I was parked) $7,000? bumper/headlight repair on my Z4 which was done at the BMW brand body shop. (I hope to never need to replace my steering-aimed HID lights, that was like $2,500 plus bulbs.) My policy renewal went down that year. Drive Safe and Save discounts per policy period (6 months): Z4, 1600 miles, $255; Civic, 9000 miles, $122; PriusV, 6300 miles, $205. I do manual reporting which means 2 or 4 times a year I have to key in my odometer reading to their website. They correlate this with public and private records to make sure you aren't lying. The Civic is due to drop dramatically in miles because I switch jobs and no longer commute 60 miles/day 2.5 times a week. Is the minor inconvenience of snapping a picture of the odometer with my phone and keying it into their website quarterly worth $1,064 in post tax money? Yes. Would I use their app or a OBD-II spydongle? Never. I'll pay the $1,064. I might install the app to start a claim if I wasn't going to be near a computer in the next day or so to unload the pictures from my phone or needed help asap.
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Apr 11, 2018 17:44
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Jaxyon posted:My partner feels that having life insurance is a good idea, as we are in our late thirties and own a house. I agree. Term is the way to go, size it for when you intend to not need it (retire, pay off your mortgage, etc.) For most people it's when your dependents run off to college. For example, to me that was a million bux for 25 years, bought when we had a 6 month old, likely to have a second, and want to pay off the mortgage, college, and some living expenses for a working spouse.) Yes they require physicals, but you can just ask them what their BMI and blood pressure requirements are for the various rating levels. I got super premium at 225 (clothed, no shoes, dress lightly) 6'4" tall with normal blood pressure. (And no other life threatening risks, but I do have asthma.)
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Jul 26, 2018 23:37
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Jaxyon posted:What about Whole Life? If you insist on doing it wrong get the return of premium rider on your term policy. It roughly doubles the cost of it but you get all of your money back (no interest, so less than you put in once inflation is taken into account.) it's still a better deal than whole life.
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Jul 30, 2018 20:48
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Xenomrph posted:My dad got drafted and served in the 60s, does that count? If he's alive he can sign up.
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Aug 15, 2018 16:50
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Xenomrph posted:Would it cost him anything? Like, would he have to pay for any of their services? Or could he just sign up and open the door for me to sign up? Nope. Did it with my FIL. It's just an online form for him, then an online form for you using his ID number. Then you get emails every week or two reminding you about the great deals you're missing.
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Aug 15, 2018 17:50
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What are things which impact Umbrella policy rates? I'm going to give me agent a call tomorrow but my renewal just came in and it went from $248 to $322 for $1MM from State Farm in CA. We're covering 3 cars and a home owners policy. Those all went up but by MUCH smaller amounts this past year. Is it possible to shop just the umbrella policy?
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Sep 7, 2018 00:43
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Warmachine posted:Alright. I feel better now. My thought was predicated on a very simple model of "larger pool, lower risk," and wasn't really considering what "sufficiently large" meant in this case. A company that can afford to administer the benefits itself will do so (my friend's employer), but a smaller organization that would be more sensitive to the costs would likely buy insurance (my employer). Does this sound like a better understanding of the policy? And remember, you can do things like hire Cigna to handle everything but your company pays for the stuff you consume. Basically you wind up with Cigna going: "Ok it's $X/month/person to administer these benefits, and people used $12,000 in services this month, please give us a check for ($12,000 + $X*People). The $X covers all of the network contract management, prescription drug pricing, etc. So even if it looks like your employer is paying for insurance, they might be just cutting a check on the backend for all of the "risk" component.
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Dec 21, 2018 23:15
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13Pandora13 posted:What exactly are they self insuring? Health insurance for their employees, Property, Casualty (Liability), etc.? 3. Dad ran the business with as close to 0 in assets as possible and closed up shop immediately upon being sued. It's basically a blend of 1 and 2. (And as I understand it, it's the health insurance. They pay the columns in the EOB that Cigna would normally pay.)
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Dec 25, 2018 23:40
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Initio posted:She has Aetna. Regardless they should only be on the hook for the negotiated amount if you went to in-network providers. Make sure all of your co-pays are paid and call them to ask for some time, they may even be required to give it by their contract. Call Aetna and ask them as well. I have a feeling this will sort itself out in a month or so.
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Jan 14, 2019 18:04
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air- posted:So I'm shopping around for Invisalign and I plan to start my treatment in July since that's when I'll get access to FSA money for 2019. This also means I can change my dental plan during open enrollment in May. For in-network they are the same. For example: a: In-network, Billed $6000, Contractual Fee is $5000, they cut a check for $2500, you get a bill for $2500. b: In-network, Billed $6000, "maximum allowable amount" is $5000, they cut a check for $2500, you get a bill for $2500. c: Out of network, Billed $6000, "Maximum allowable amount" is $4000 (gently caress you), they cut a check for $2000, you get a bill for $4000. d: Out of network, Billed $6000, "Maximum allowable amount" is $5000, they cut a check for $2500, you get a bill for $3500. For out of network it depends on how close to the in-network fee your orthodontist is willing to accept. If you have someone you are talking to already I would call and ask to speak to their insurance billing person and ask them which one pays them the most for what you want because you have a choice coming up in May. You should be getting pre-authorization and an exact statement of how much everything will cost before incurring costs. Note orthodontia is always a "lifetime maximum" on every plan I've seen, so it's basically 1-and-done. If you need more in the future you will need to use a different insurance company. (So if you never see Aetna and always see Delta Dental, maybe pick Aetna all things being similar.)
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Jan 30, 2019 22:07
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air- posted:Thanks for all the tips. I've scheduled appointments with several orthodontists in my area doing comparison shopping and I wasn't sure how to approach this question. Correct. But they should have an idea of how these plans work. Bring the printout of your open enrollment descriptions with you. Overall you should go with the best person for the job and expect to pay a bit more for the privilege. (potentially thousands more, I don't know what this stuff costs.) I don't work in insurance but have played this song and dance before. Take notes anytime you talk to someone promising you things and 100% of the time you call your insurance. Name, date, reference number (insurance), and a few words about what you spoke about and any specific promises made. Remember that "covered" could mean example 'c' above.
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Jan 31, 2019 16:41
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dexter6 posted:Thanks to everyone who chimed in. My instinct was just to tell my insurance company what happened because I’m just that kind of person, so thanks for the re-assurance. If you have paint damage on your bumper you could likely settle out your claims for a $500 check on his insurance with 0 claim on yours.
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Feb 10, 2019 22:47
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lord1234 posted:Vacant assumes all furniture is out. That's not the case. This place will be furnished and I/other's will be there regularly You need to talk to a broker about this as these little details are going to matter. Vacant can mean not occupied for x days.
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Apr 20, 2019 20:07
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