Whole Life insurance for Adults – 5 Reasons Whole Life Isn’t Just for Babies!

Written by Kim Wilhelm

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Last Updated 18 Apr 2024

If you want to leave money to your loved ones but don’t have the financial means to do so, then you need life insurance

But what type of life insurance is best?

The answer depends on many factors. Your age, health, coverage needs, and goals for the money will help you determine what type of life insurance to buy.

When you’re young and healthy, term life insurance is usually the cheapest option. But it’s also temporary, which only makes it the right solution for temporary needs, like paying off your mortgage.

Though many might think whole life insurance is only for babies, we’re here to tell you whole life insurance is also a great solution for adults.

Here are 5 reasons why whole life insurance is for adults and not just babies.

1. Lifetime Coverage With Locked-In Rates

One of the best benefits of buying whole life insurance early is you get lifetime coverage with locked-in rates. No matter how low your rates are, you’ll never pay more than the price you get approved for when you buy whole life insurance.

Although term life insurance is cheaper, the coverage only lasts for a certain amount of time. If you buy a 30-year term policy, you lock in your rates for 30 years. After the 30 years is up, the policy expires and you’re left with nothing. 

Sure, some companies allow you to renew your term life insurance. However, you’ll be renewing it at the rate it costs to insure you at your current age, not the age you were when you signed up for your term life insurance policy.

If you buy a whole life insurance policy for $25 a month, that’s the most you’ll ever pay. It doesn’t matter how old you get or how bad your health gets, your whole life insurance policy rates will never increase.

The sooner you apply, the cheaper your rates will be. And another benefit to buying whole life insurance is that most are paid up to age 100. That means if you live to be 100, your policy is paid up and you no longer have to make payments – but your coverage is still in force until the day the good Lord calls you home.

2. Cash Value

A benefit that whole life insurance has that term life insurance doesn’t is cash value. The cash value acts as a savings account built into your policy. 

When you make a payment on a whole life insurance policy, the payment gets divided three ways. The payment first goes towards the cost of insurance, then to pay for the policy and servicing fees. The rest of the money goes into the cash value account.

Whole life insurance has a guaranteed interest rate that determines how fast the cash value will grow. The longer you have the policy, the more growth you’ll see as the interest accumulates and compounds.

Eventually, you’ll have enough cash value built up that you can access the account. You can use this money for anything while you’re alive, like paying for:

  • An unexpected expense or emergency

  • Education costs

  • Your regular monthly bills if you fall short

  • A much needed vacation

  • Utility bills

  • Groceries

If you withdraw or borrow against the cash value and don’t pay the money back, it will reduce the death benefit your beneficiary gets if you die. But having that safety net in place can be a Godsend to someone that could be one missed rent payment away from being homeless.

Cash value also doesn’t get reported as an asset, so you don’t have to disclose this amount for things like financial aid or other income-driven benefits. If you choose to, you can then use the cash value to pay down loans or in any other way you choose.

3. Living Benefits

You can also add living benefits as a rider on your whole life insurance policy. While some young and healthy adults may not think they need it, you never know what will happen in the future. And if you’re a senior, the chances of you needing living benefits is much higher.

At some point, most God-fearing Americans like yourself will experience at least one of these scenarios:

  • A critical illness
  • A terminal illness
  • Disability
  • Severe injury
  • A permanent health issue
  • Assistance performing activities of daily living (ADL)

When you have living benefits on your whole life insurance, you can access part of the death benefit if you’re diagnosed with a terminal or critical illness, disability, or permanent health issue.

Let’s say you have a $150,000 policy with living benefits. You’re diagnosed with a terminal illness or become disabled because of an accident at work or a car accident.

Because you have living benefits on your policy, you can access up to $100,000 of your death benefit, maybe more, depending on the policy. Though it lowers your death benefit to as low as $50,000, it gives you an instant influx of cash to do whatever you want with.

That means you can pay bills, go on a trip around the world, or host a huge family reunion to get your loved ones together one last time. And they still have enough death benefit to pay for your funeral.

4. Asset Transfers

If you want the option to transfer assets tax-free, whole life insurance is one way to do it. When you die, the death benefit passes to your beneficiary income tax-free

You can name just about anyone as a beneficiary, and you can have more than one. You can give money to a family member, a beloved friend, a charity close to your heart, or a combination.

If you’re a high-income earner, you can also use whole life insurance to pay estate taxes.

Even though you can do the same thing with term life insurance, term has an expiration date. Since none of us have a crystal ball telling us when we’ll die, you don’t want to chance your coverage expiring and not being able to qualify for or afford another policy in the future.

Better to get a whole life insurance policy now to lock in those rates and your ability to transfer assets or pay for your family’s estate taxes.

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5. Pay A Lot Now And Nothing Later

Another benefit of whole life insurance is the payment options. We’re not talking about the ability to pay monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually.

We’re talking about limited payment options. When you buy whole life insurance, you can choose to have a more manageable payment and spread the costs over your lifetime.

But if you want to get it done and over with and you have the financial means to do so, you have other options. 

With limited pay whole life insurance, you only pay for the policy for a set number of years, usually 10 or 20. Once you’ve paid into the policy for those years, the policy is now paid up and you don’t have to pay another penny towards it.

Your cash value will continue to compound and gain interest, though. And you’ll never have to worry about not having life insurance coverage when you die.

Yes, your premiums will be a lot higher with limited payments. But you can reap the benefits when you get older by not having to pay for life insurance and never having to worry about it again.

Call us today at Final Expense Direct so we can help you find the right whole life insurance policy to meet your needs and financial goals.

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