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For many people, optimizing their personal finances has more to do with budgeting, income, and expenses than other aspects of the topic. However, insurance products are one area that is well worth further exploration if you’re looking to truly set up your future self for success.
The reasons for this are twofold. For starters, life insurance coverage, auto insurance, home or renters insurance, and even pet insurance can quickly add up each year. Beyond that, the policy types you’ve chosen may (or may not) be valuable to you in an emergency. For example, if your life insurance policy doesn’t include coverage for accidental death, you’ll be in trouble if you need those kinds of coverage options.
If life insurance rates are on your to-do list of insurance products to audit this year, you may be evaluating Ethos Life Insurance. One of the newer life insurance providers on the market, Ethos specializes in both term life insurance and whole life insurance. In this review, you will learn more about the pros and cons of ethos and the types of life insurance.
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What is Ethos Life Insurance?
Ethos Life Insurance was founded in 2016 as a fully online option for applying for and receiving life insurance products. Their website offers a quick and easy estimator to determine what your policy options and rates are and advertises “no medical exams” as well as “no blood tests” in order to apply online and receive coverage.
Instead of utilizing medical exams to calculate your life insurance quotes, Ethos Life Insurance looks at your family’s medical history, as well as existing prescriptions to speed up your application process. Ethos’ insurance underwriting is handled by Ameritas Life Insurance Corp, Legal & General America, and TruStage, depending on whether you take out a whole or term life insurance policy with them. Either way, each of those three providers has strong customer satisfaction and approval by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
Applying for Ethos Life Insurance is a very quick process. You start by getting a quote online, which only requires you to answer a few questions about yourself. This allows you to see various coverage amounts, coverage limits, and the overall costs you might expect to pay after completing a more formal life insurance application.
To start, click on the orange “Get My Rates” button to see Ethos’s best rates. Then, discuss your goals for life insurance, including options like protecting your loved ones, paying off your mortgage, finding peace of mind, or covering your final expenses.
You’ll also be asked to answer other questions, such as who depends on you financially and how quickly you’ll need coverage. The form also requires you to define your health, whether or not you use nicotine products, how many children your family has (if any), and whether or not you have an estate plan or will in place.
After answering those questions, Ethos Life Insurance will generate a proposed form of insurance coverage based on your needs. If you’re ever interested in talking to an insurance agent to get more information about your policy options, you can always call Ethos on the phone.
Once you’ve looked into your eligibility, available premiums, and your estimated life insurance cost, the formal online application process takes less than five minutes to complete. At this stage, you’ll be required to complete a few more questions and submit your form securely to Ethos for processing. Typically, you get near-instant approval on your application, so you can get the peace of mind you’re seeking fast.
How much does Ethos Life Insurance Insurance cost?
If you’re a policyholder with Ethos Life Insurance, how much can you expect to pay for your coverage? This, as is the case with any insurance product, is always a bit of a challenge to determine since a variety of factors impact your overall cost for life insurance. To start with, you should ask the question, “How much life insurance do I need?."
Some of the factors that life insurance companies consider that may impact your personalized rate include things like age, family medical history, the cash value and death benefits of your policy, and term length. Even gender can affect how much you pay for life insurance.
As an example of some average costs, here are the rates for a $500,000 term life policy with a term of 20 years. A 20-year-old man can expect to pay $22 a month, whereas a 20-year-old woman will save about six dollars and only pay $16 monthly. The monthly cost increases as you age, with a 40-year-old man paying around $38 a month versus a 40-year-old woman paying $29 a month.
Of course, these are just estimates. If you want a more custom-tailored approximation of what you might pay for life insurance with Ethos, it’s best to fill out their quote tool online.
Not every insurance agency’s exam policies are the same, making it difficult to compare one company or policy to another. Thankfully, you won’t encounter any roadblocks when shopping for life insurance with Ethos, as they offer no medical exam life insurance policies. Instead, you’ll just answer a few health questions and move on with your application.
This promise is all over their website, with the company going so far as to say that “Regardless of your health status, with Ethos, you are eligible for a no-medical-exam life insurance policy."
Flexible term lengths
If you’re interested in term life insurance, you’ll be happy to see that Ethos offers 10-year terms, 15-year terms, 20-year terms, and 30-year terms.
Solid range of coverage
Ethos offers a broad range of life insurance coverage that is likely helpful for policyholders regardless of what sort of walk of life they come from. The range of coverage begins at $100,000 worth of coverage and extends up to $2 million dollars worth of coverage.
Free estate planning resources
Another perk of using Ethos for your life insurance policy is that they offer free will and estate plan resources if you have a policy. This can equal hundreds of dollars of savings on valuable documents that protect your assets and loved ones should you pass away.
Who is Ethos Life Insurance best for?
Ethos Life Insurance is a great option if you like doing things digitally and value your time. They process applications incredibly fast, and the applications themselves are straightforward to complete. Beyond that, Ethos Life Insurance doesn’t use medical exams as part of its evaluation methodology, so if you’re facing a terminal illness, you won’t need to worry about that negatively impacting your eligibility.
Who shouldn’t use Ethos Life Insurance?
Do you need to customize your insurance coverage with specific riders? If so, you shouldn’t use Ethos Life Insurance, as they don’t offer that type of customization.
No medical exams necessary. If you don’t want to jump through a lot of hoops just to be denied coverage, you’ll rest easy knowing that Ethos Life Insurance doesn’t require any medical exams for its coverage.
Easy and online. The quote and application process with Ethos is super simple and done completely digitally. If you need expert assistance, you can also call them; however, if you prefer doing things on your own online, you won’t run into any problems using Ethos.
Free resources for wills. Life insurance is just one component of preparing your finances and family for the day you may no longer be living. While it’s grim to think about, having free resources for wills and estate plans makes handling everything on your to-do list much easier, since everything can be managed with Ethos.
Cons
No riders. Some people need (or want) to customize their life insurance policy with certain riders. This is something that is not supported by Ethos.
No web chat. While you can contact Ethos via email and telephone, there’s no live web chat capability for their services.
Not available in every state. If you’re living in New York and need life insurance from Ethos, you won’t be eligible for whole life or term insurance as it’s not supported by TruStage, Ethos’ third-party carrier in New York.
FAQs
Does Ethos Life Insurance cover COVID-19?
Yes. Ethos’ policies also cover death due to the coronavirus.
Who is eligible to apply for a policy with Ethos Life Insurance?
As long as you are a permanent resident and a United States citizen living in any state except for New York, you’re eligible to apply for a policy with Ethos. You must be between the ages of 20 and 85 in order to do so.
Do you need life insurance?
In most cases, yes. If you have a spouse or children that depend on you for money, or if you own a home or business, it is in you and your loved ones’ best interests to have a life insurance policy.
So, is Ethos Life Insurance a good fit for you and your needs? In most cases, yes. They offer both term and whole life insurance and are available in all 50 states with the exception of New York state. In addition to offering a couple of insurance product options, you are also eligible for free will and estate planning resources when you use Ethos as your insurer, which can help you get all of your ducks in a row.
One of the only drawbacks of Ethos life insurance (if you’re not a New Yorker, that is) is that they don’t allow policyholders to add specific riders to their policies. While a lack of live chat is a bummer, it isn’t as materially impactful as having a lack of insurance riders.
Overall, Ethos has a strong reputation with the Better Business Bureau and TrustPilot and an A+ rating from AM Best’s financial strength rating. Ethos is well worth considering if you need between $100,000 and $2 million in coverage for your life insurance policy.
Joy Wallet is an independent publisher and comparison service, not an investment advisor, financial advisor, loan broker, insurance producer, or insurance broker. Its articles, interactive tools and other content are provided to you for free, as self-help tools and for informational purposes only. They are not intended to provide investment advice. Joy Wallet does not and cannot guarantee the accuracy or applicability of any information in regard to your individual circumstances. We encourage you to seek personalized advice from qualified professionals regarding specific investment issues. Featured estimates are based on past market performance, and past performance is not a guarantee of future performance.
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Brent Ervin-Eickhoff is a Chicago-based writer, stage director, and filmmaker with a background in digital marketing and content creation. In addition to Joy Wallet, Brent has written for Complex, Volkswagen, HowlRound, Picture this Post, and Third Coast Review, among others. He currently serves as the Associate Director of Marketing for Content Creation at Court Theatre at the University of Chicago. Brent graduated from Ball State University with Academic Honors in Writing.
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