Your Objective

Use a life insurance calculator to determine how much life insurance a family should purchase, obtain quotes on a policy with that approximate face value, decide from which company to purchase the policy, and make decisions on several policy features and options.

      Decision Preparation

     The Decision Situation

You are shopping for life insurance. With a spouse and two children, ages 3 and 5, and only $100,000 in coverage, you feel that you are underinsured.  You are age 30 and your spouse is 28.  As a first step, you have decided to use the BYG Publishing, Inc. Life Insurance Calculator to compute how much coverage you should have.  Even though you will not need to use the Monthly Cash Flow Calculator and Net Worth Calculator that are a part of the Life Insurance Calculator, you might want to take a look at them. Below is the data you have gathered for the entry of input into the calculator:  As you use the Life Insurance Calculator, do not enter commas in figures.  Figures should not be entered in the blanks provided for "Taxes" and "Other Expenses."

Print the data you entered into the calculator, and your result.
 
Once you have determined how much insurance you need, you would like to obtain a quote for that approximate amount of term insurance using the QuickQuote Web site.  At the site, click on "Term Life Insurance Quotes" under the Insurance Products menu.  Below is the information that you will need to obtain the quote.

State of Residence:  AR

Gender:  Enter your gender.

Date of Birth:  Enter your month and day of birth, but figure the year of birth based on your assumed age given in the first paragraph of the Decision Situation. 

Height:  Enter your height.

Weight:  Enter your weight.

Tobacco or Nicotine Use:  Answer this question based on your own personal situation.

Rating Class:  Click on the question mark to determine the class for which you would personally qualify.  On the back of your BYG Publishing, Inc. Life Insurance Calculator printout, indicate the rating class for which you qualify, and explain why you qualify.

Coverage Amount:  Enter the approximate amount of additional life insurance needed according the the BYG Publishing, Inc. Life Insurance Calculator.

Length of Coverage:  Click on the question mark for information to help you determine the appropriate length of coverage.  Also consider all the information given in the first paragraph of the Decision Situation, as well as the information provided for the inputs into the BYG Publishing, Inc. Life Insurance Calculator.  On the back of your BYG Publishing, Inc. Life Insurance Calculator printout, indicate the length of coverage you chose, and explain the logic for your choice.

Payment Mode:  Click on the question mark for information on selecting a payment mode.  On the back of your BYG Publishing, Inc. Life Insurance Calculator printout, indicate the payment mode that you selected, and the reason for your choice.

Study the details (Click on Details) of the first three term plans that result from your quote request.  On the back of the BYG Publishing, Inc. Life Insurance Calculator printout, indicate the company from which you would buy a policy and justify your choice by citing information that was displayed when you viewed the details of the policy.

Some of the three companies may offer the following options:  children insurance, waiver of premium, and convertibility feature.  Whether the company you selected offers these options or not, indicate on the back of your BYG Publishing, Inc. printout whether each is considered desirable, and then write a one sentence explanation of why it is or is not desirable.

    Related Web Sites for Further Exploration

For advice concerning life and other kinds of insurance, as well as informative information on many other consumer topics, go to the Met Life website.
 
To find your projected longevity based on your lifestyle and other factors, visit the Northwestern Mutual Life website.
 
For an explanation of the rating systems of A. M. Best, Duff & Phelps, Moody's, S&P, and Weiss Research, Inc., go to the Weiss Ratings website.

To find various types of insurance companies (life, property, etc.) in your state with a particular rating by S&P (AAA, the highest, for example), visit the Insure.com website.
 
For information on term insurance and to obtain term quotes, visit the Quicken InsureWeb and InstantQuote websites. 

     Net Worth Payoff

Your net worth will increase by $50,000 for successfully completing this financial choice.  The $50,000 will be earned as follows:

• $10,000 for completing the BYG Publishing, Inc. Life Insurance Calculator form and obtaining the correct amount of life insurance needed.
• $20,000 for inputting correctly the data needed to obtain the quote at the QuickQuote website, and providing good justifications for your choices for rating class, term of coverage, and payment mode.
• $5,000 for selecting the company from which you would buy a term policy and providing a justification including relevant information provided in the details of the policy.
• $15,000 for a correct decision and a valid justification for the desirability of the purchase of each of the following options:  children insurance, waiver of premium, and the convertibility feature.

Maximization of Net Worth Checklist:    

Now that you have completed this financial choice, check to make sure that you have done the following:

          Reviewed the top ten things to know about life insurance at the Money website.

         Completed the BYG Publishing, Inc. Life Insurance Calculator form and printed a copy of  your inputs and result.

          Inputted the data to get a term life insurance quote at the QuickQuote website, and wrote on the back of your BYG Publishing, Inc. Life Insurance Calculator form printout your choices for rating class, term of coverage, and payment mode, as well as a justification for each of your choices.

         Studied the details of the first three policies resulting from your quote request, selected the company from which you would buy a policy, and justified your choice by including information provided when you viewed the details of the policy.  The company you selected and your justification should be written on the back of your BYG Publishing, Inc. Life Insurance Calculator form printout.

          Indicated on the back of your BYG Publishing Life Insurance Calculator form printout whether children insurance, waiver of premium, and convertibility options are desirable, and wrote a one sentence justification for each of your choices.

         Visited any of the Related Web Sites for Further Exploration you found of interest.