After your Check: what next?
What your kind costs, which papers exist, and how buying works.
Already have your result? Your kind is named on it. Find that kind below.
What each kind costs each month
Survey averages, not quotes. Your price moves with your age, your health, and the amount. Women price at the low end of each range. Men price at the high end.
Level term life insurance
For $500,000 over 20 years: age 30 pays about $15 to $18 a month. Age 40 pays about $23 to $27. Age 50 pays about $53 to $68.
Convertible term life insurance
It starts at the level term prices above. No survey prints a separate price for the switch itself. After you switch, the life-long prices below take over. Ask for both prices before you sign.
Your own policy alongside work coverage
The policy you own prices like its kind. Use the term or life-long prices on this page. Work coverage has no survey price. Your job sets that cost, and it often costs you nothing.
A term and permanent blend
A blend has no single survey price. It is two smaller policies. Price the term part with the term row. Price the life-long part with the rows below. Then add the two bills.
Permanent coverage built to last for life
Whole life, $500,000: age 30 pays about $161 to $184 a month. Age 40 pays about $237 to $265. Age 50 pays about $360 to $415. Guaranteed universal life, $100,000: age 40 pays about $54 to $63. Age 50 pays about $81 to $93. Age 60 pays about $137 to $150.
Start with a review of the policy you already have
Reading the policy you own costs nothing. Ask your insurer for its current values in writing. A review can show that the fix sits inside the policy already.
The papers that exist
Five documents show up in almost every purchase. Know them before anyone asks you to sign.
The application
Your answers, signed by you. The insurer judges and prices from them. Read every answer before you sign. A wrong answer on something that matters can let the insurer deny a claim. That is a material misstatement. In the first two years, the insurer can also cancel the policy over one.
The illustration
A year-by-year table for life-long kinds. One column is promised in the contract. The other columns assume a future no one can promise. Compare promised columns only.
The exam and the records
Many policies include a short medical exam, often at your home. The insurer may also ask your doctors for records. Some policies skip this step. They usually cost more.
The Buyer's Guide and Policy Summary
The Buyer's Guide explains the kinds in plain words. The Policy Summary prices your exact policy. Both are free. Ask for both before the first premium.
The policy itself
The contract. It names the owner, the person covered, and who gets paid. It states the price, any end date, and your right to return it. Keep it where family can find it.
The steps to buy, anywhere
The order is the same with an agent, a broker, or a website. No step needs this site.
Bring your kind and your size
Your result names both. The agent card on your result holds them. It works with any agent or insurer.
Price the same kind two or three ways
Same amount. Same years. Same kind. Only matching quotes can be compared.
Compare what is promised
For life-long kinds, compare the promised column of each illustration. Ignore the assumed columns.
Answer the application fully
Sign only answers that are true and complete. Guessing here is the costliest mistake in the process.
Finish the exam step, if there is one
Then the insurer decides and sends an offer. The wait is part of the process.
Read the offer before you pay
The offer states your health class and your real price. It can differ from the first quote. Nothing is final until you accept.
Pay, get the policy, use the free look
Coverage starts under the policy's own terms. In Washington, you get 10 days after an individual policy reaches you to return it for a full refund. A policy that replaces an old one gets 20 days. Many states give a similar window.
Keep the policy you own
Keep it until the new one is in force. Canceling first can leave a gap no one can undo.
Run it again when life changes
Coverage is not set once. Families re-check when a job changes, a home changes, a child arrives, or work coverage changes. Two minutes brings the numbers current.
Have not run the Check yet?
Five plain questions. About 2 minutes. Answers stay in your browser.