Life Insurance

Life Insurance

A life insurance policy is a wise investment for your today, tomorrow and future.

Regardless of your current stage of life or what path you see yourself heading down in the future, the Bearingstar team is confident that a well-crafted life insurance policy can smooth the way.

At Bearingstar, we have discussed life insurance solutions and their many benefits with clients just like you, so we are genuinely skilled at making what can sometimes be an awkward conversation and process as comfortable and easy as possible.

However, before we start sharing our life insurance know-how with you or make any type of policy recommendations, we will want to spend time getting to know all about you and your future goals. Are you single or married? Do you have children? Do you own a home, a business, or both? Just starting out in the work world, planning your retirement, or already enjoying the golden years of your life? With information like this in hand, we can begin to create a life insurance plan that not only works for you today but can also adapt to your changing needs as time goes by.

Factors that may affect the type and amount of life insurance coverage that you require

During our first get-to-know-you session and throughout our relationship with you, Bearingstar will be dedicated to helping you consider all the things in your life that may have an effect on the type and amount of life insurance coverage that is optimal for you and your loved ones. While there are basic factors that need to be included in your decision—such as your career, home, or family—there are also some quite complex situations to think about that may have as much impact, or even more, on the best life insurance options for your specific needs, including:

Do you already have a life insurance policy?

It is quite possible that you already have life insurance coverage, which is smart. And it is also reasonable for you to assume that since it is all set up, whether through another insurance agent or your employer, you can just forget about it. However, the Bearingstar team would like you to consider how long it’s been since this policy was reviewed by a professional insurance advisor. Consider what changes have occurred in your life since you originally purchased your life insurance. Perhaps you now have a spouse, children, a new house, or a higher-paying job. We recommend that your life insurance policy be reviewed annually, at minimum, and updated based on any significant life changes. This will ensure that you always have the proper level of coverage and that you are not putting your home or your family’s future at risk. Bearingstar is happy to provide you with a complimentary review of any current life insurance policies for you or your family members. After carefully assessing your policies, we will alert you to any issues that we uncover and make recommendations on the policy type and coverage we believe will be the best fit for you.

Do you contribute to your household in any way?

One of the primary goals of a life insurance policy is to replace the income-earning capacity of any breadwinners in the household should something happen to that family member. The intention is to ensure that a spouse or a family can continue to maintain the lifestyle to which they are accustomed if this person is no longer around. However, it would be a significant oversight to not take into consideration the value that a spouse staying at home brings to the table and how this person’s time and efforts would be replaced if something should happen to him or her. The loss of a stay-at-home spouse and/or parent can mean that much of the work this family member did, such as child care, grocery shopping, or cleaning, needs to be outsourced, which can cost a family hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. Whether you are the sole provider in your family, you and your partner both contribute to savings and expenses, or your role is running the household, we know you want to make sure that your family able to continue living comfortably and without too much disruption to their normal lives in the event you are gone. Your Bearingstar professional will gladly help you understand the value of your individual contribution to the household and what type of life insurance policy would provide the optimal coverage.

Do you have the right life insurance solution for retirement and beyond?

Most of our clients understand the tangible need for life insurance coverage—that it will replace your earning potential and pay final debts and expenses should something unexpected happen to you. At Bearingstar, while we will certainly plan your life insurance solution so that it takes care of these financial needs, we like to take a more holistic perspective of what life insurance can do for you, especially since most of us will hopefully live long, healthy lives. In fact, we strongly believe that your life insurance policy should be integrated into your overall financial plan. For example, are you aware that a Permanent (or Whole Life) Insurance policy can be a great complement to your retirement plan and provide you with additional income when you eventually determine it’s time to leave the working world? Or that you might be able to better provide for your children by integrating their college funds with your life insurance solutions? Your local Bearingstar agent will be able to share with you a wide variety of strategic options that the right life insurance policies can provide.

Did you know that you can use your life insurance to pay off your mortgage?

Again, it’s pretty well known that having the proper life insurance policies in place is a smart way to protect your loved ones and your assets, such as your home, in case something were to happen to you. What is less widely understood is that there is a way, through life insurance, that you can both ensure financial assistance to your family in the event of your untimely passing and also achieve some of your broader financial goals. If you are a homeowner, you may want to discuss a Mortgage Acceleration plan with your Bearingstar advisor. With Mortgage Acceleration, your insurance policy premium will include both an insurance and an investment component. The investment portion builds an accumulated cash value that you, the insured, can borrow against or withdraw tax-free once the money invested increases the amount of the death benefit. This means that your policy can actually serve as a vehicle for savings, sheltering your money and paying off your mortgage. Bearingstar’s knowledgeable and skilled insurance agents can provide you with more information about this type of insurance plan.

Are you a business owner who wants to protect your business today and for future generations?

There are many innovative ways to use life insurance to protect your business. The key is to work with an insurance agent, like Bearingstar, who is well informed and experienced at designing optimal life insurance solutions for business owners, which can vary significantly based on the set-up and size of your business. For example, if you are 50/50 partners with someone in your business, then your Bearingstar agent will probably suggest you seek a contract between you and your co-owner called a “buy-sell” agreement. This contract will include an agreed-upon value for your business, and, in the case of the premature death of one of the partners, will obligate any heirs to sell back their interest in the business at an agreed-upon price. Our team will help you assess the many options with a buy-sell agreement, including what types of life insurance will fund it and whether these policies should be structured as deferred compensation for the owners or as a business asset. In addition, you may want to talk to your Bearingstar advisor about having a “key man” insurance policy. Whether you are a large corporation or a small business, this type of policy is beneficial to have on your high-level executives and your specialists, such as salespeople or mechanics, to ensure that if something happens to them the insurance policy will compensate for any resulting lost business and income. When you work with the team at Bearingstar, we will focus on building the right life insurance plan to fit your unique business needs.

Do you understand the difference between a Term Life and a Permanent/Whole Life insurance policy?

At Bearingstar, we will never ask a client to purchase any type of insurance product that he or she does not understand. That’s why we take a collaborative approach when helping you with your life insurance, and we spend the time necessary to completely identify and assess your individual needs. After that process, we can make specific recommendations and explain these options to you so you can make an informed decision, which may include choosing between Term Life or Permanent/Whole Life insurance coverage. One of the questions we are asked most often is what the difference is between these two types of policies. While sitting down with your local Bearingstar agent one on one is the best way for you to learn everything you need to know about the benefits of both types of life insurance policies, you can first check out this introduction to Term Life versus Permanent/Whole Life on our Bearingstar YouTube channel. You’ll find out why our life insurance experts compare a Term Life policy to renting an apartment and a Permanent/Whole Life policy to owning a home, along with many more life insurance insights.

As you can see, whether you are 25, 75, or any age in between, there are several important factors that you will need to consider when deciding on which type of life insurance coverage is right for you and how much you will need to protect yourself, any family members and current valuables, and the assets you are likely to accumulate over your life span.

Thus, the sooner you can set up time to talk to your Bearingstar Insurance advisor about life insurance, the better. We will show you how this coverage can play a critical role in securing your financial future and safeguarding both your investments and, most importantly, your loved ones.

If you are ready to work with insurance professionals who have a wide range of experience in designing life insurance solutions for people of all ages and in a variety of life stages, please contact a Bearingstar agent in any one of our Massachusetts or Connecticut offices. Our life insurance consultants have the ability to service clients nationwide. You will receive a complimentary and thorough review of any current life insurance policies as well as thoughtful and caring advice on finding a quality life insurance policy that fits your specific needs.

A Do-It-Yourself Life Insurance Calculator

At Bearingstar, we understand if you are still hesitating about whether you are ready to start working on finding the proper life insurance for your stage of life. And you are certainly not the only one putting off this important discussion.

In a 2017 Insurance Barometer Study by Lifehappens.org and LIMRA, 84% of U.S. adults surveyed said they believed that most people need life insurance. Yet only 59% of these same adults surveyed said that they carried life insurance themselves. Even though we aren’t accountants, that’s math that just doesn’t add up.

We want you to feel confident at your meeting with your Bearingstar agent that you are doing the right thing, so we recommend that you check out the life insurance calculator provided by the nonprofit organization, lifehappens.org. By using this calculator, you will get an initial analysis of your life insurance needs in just about five minutes. Whether you end up working with Bearingstar or another insurance company, using the lifehappens.org calculator will provide you with critical information that can facilitate your discussions about the life insurance coverage that will be right for you.

Trust Bearingstar to keep you and your family protected