When you are getting to grips with securing competitive Indiana Life Insurance Quotes it can sometimes seem difficult to decide which life insurance company in Indiana to choose for your cover. In this article I am going to explore Insurance in Indiana, and specifically focus on the life insurance sector to see how it ticks, and give you some insights into how you can get better Indiana Life Insurance Policies.
A Little Background on Indiana...
Indiana itself is nestled in the Mid-West of the United States, and has a population of approximately six and half million people. Its Capital and largest city is Indianapolis (known throughout the world thanks to the Indianapolis 500!) And other large cities include Fort Wayne, Evansville and South Bend.
Economically Indiana packs a punch with a gross state product of $262 billion in 2009. Much of that income is derived from manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and steel production, but Indiana is also strong in the insurance sector.
Indiana Life Insurance - The Facts...
There are some 534 life insurance companies in Indiana who are licensed to sell life insurance, and of those 28 are actually domiciled in the state. Over 16,000 are directly employed by Indiana Life Insurance Companies, and a further 19,000 are supported by them in terms of finance, real estate, mortgages and ancillary jobs according to the American Council of Life Insurers.
However, the Indiana Department of Insurance actually puts the figure much higher for the number of employees working in Indiana Insurance as a whole:
“There are 60,240 company employees and agents working in Indiana. A number of state universities maintain significant insurance programs.” (https://www.in.gov/idoi/2328.htm}
Either way, in terms of employment in Indiana, Insurance is a big deal.
These impressive figures are matched by the fact that there are over 3 million individual Indiana life insurance policies held by Hoosiers, and that each of these had an average of $84,000 of cover according to the American Council of Life Insurers.
In fact, $30 billion of Indiana Individual Life Insurance cover was bought in Indiana in 2009 alone.
With this large income comes a large amount of investment, and cumulatively the life insurance companies in Indiana have got about $70 billion worth of assets invested in Indiana.
Indiana Insurance Classifications
Indiana categorises insurance business based on three different classes as follows:
(I will explain in a moment why knowing what these classifications are is important. Even though it might seem a little unneccessary to know them as you are reading this, there are actualy three good reasons why it is useful to have this list.)
Insurance Classifications in Indiana
Class I
Life and Annuities
Accident and Health
Variable Life and Annuities (Segregated Accounts)
Class II
Accident and health - Disability
Workers Compensation
Burglary, Theft
Glass
Broiler and Machinery
Automobile
Sprinkler
Liability
Credit
Title
Fidelity & Surety with Bail bonds
Fidelity & Surety with out Bail bonds
Miscellaneous
Legal Expenses
Class III
Fire, Windstorm, Hail, Loot, Riot
Crops
Sprinkler
Marine
The First Reason That List is Useful...
When looking to check out Indiana Life Insurance Companies both to get quotes and also to check financial security, it is useful to have this list in front of you, so that you can check whether a particular insurance company in Indiana actually carries out life business.
Many of them tend to specialise in one type of insurance, for example Indiana Auto Insurance etc. And so approaching them for Indiana Life Insurance Quotes would simply be a waste of your time.
If you look at that list above and also check out the list of insurance companies who carry out business in Indiana, then you can see why it is useful to have it.
The part you would look at on that page is ‘line of business’, and for them to be selling life insurance in Indiana you would want to see ‘Class 1A’.
The Second Reason That List Is Useful...
This list is particularly nice if you are not so keen on finding Indiana Life Insurance Online, and would instead prefer to speak to someone directly on the telephone, because all of the listings come complete with both address details (useful in the event of a complaint), and also telephone numbers.
The Third Reason That List Is Useful...
The other thing it tells you is which state that particular insurance company is domiciled in.
Whilst it isn’t absolutely essential that they be domiciled in Indiana (most aren’t), you may prefer to work with an Indiana Life Insurance Company that is actually more closely bound up with Indiana, in which case you would look for ‘IN’ in that column.
Three Factors In Choosing The Best Indiana Life Insurance Quotes For You!
Now that we have (thankfully!) finished discussing the wonders of 'Indiana Insurance Classifications', let's now get on to the three factors that you should be considering when reviewing how you should go about actually deciding what it is you need in the way of life insurance cover in Indiana.
1/ Start to think about where the money would actually go in the event of your death. How would your dependents need to spend it? What financial demands would there be on them?
Life insurance is an extremely practical and helpful type of insurance because it is all about forestalling disaster. It is about planning for the future and thinking through possible scenarios, so it is incumbent upon you that you actually do that thinking.
Clearly it is not pleasant to have to think about your own demise! But the plain fact is that it is going to happen at some stage, whether or not you are insured, so it is better to plan for it, rather then stick your head in the sand and pretend it will never happen.
2/ Consider whether you want to get Indiana Term Life Insurance or Indiana Permanent Life Insurance.
Indiana Term life insurance is the cheaper of the two options because it is predicated on a specific time frame, say 20 years, and the younger you are when you take it out, the less money it will cost you.
Indiana Permanent Life Insurance is designed to last your whole life, and also potentially has a value that you could cash in, hence the phrase ‘cashing in the life insurance’. It is however considerably more expensive than Term Life Insurance, so you need to weigh up your options carefully.
If in doubt then get some Indiana Life Insurance Quotes of both types (scroll up to instantly get targeted quotes) and make some considered judgements based on costs, features and terms and conditions of the different policies.
3/ Think about the factors that affect the cost of life insurance, and whether or not you can mitigate them.
Some factors can be controlled, such as buying the life cover at a younger age, stopping smoking, not participating in dangerous hobbies like mountain climbing or sky diving, and even where you live.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Indiana has one of the worst percentages for smoking rates of any of the states, with an average of 26% of the population smoking as compared to a national average of 18.4%.
Mortality rates are certainly considered by ALL life insurance companies in Indiana, and Indiana is a little below the national average, with men living an average of 73.39 years (compared to a national average of 75.7) and women living 78.47 years (compared to a national average of 80.7).
Clearly, you don’t necessarily want to change every aspect of your life just to get life insurance! But it is worth thinking about lifestyle changes like giving up smoking, because as well as lowering your insurance premiums, they are also good for you.
Once you have considered those factors then its time to get some Cheap Indiana Life Insurance Quotes (scroll above to do that), and start to compare how much life insurance in Indiana is going to cost from different companies.
Indiana Life Insurance – The Details
In Indiana it is the State Insurance Code of Indiana which is the regulatory framework around which insurance in Indiana is conducted.
This Indiana Insurance code mandates both Indiana Insurance Companies obligations to their customers, as well as formalising such things as appeals procedures, cooling off periods, and rights of cancellation.
The Indiana Department of Insurance handles regulating insurance in Indiana, and also providing information to both consumers, insurance companies and professionals employed in the insurance business.
This is a trade organisation that represents Indiana Insurance Companies. Its mission statement is as follows:
“The Insurance Institute of Indiana is a non-profit trade association representing insurance companies in the state of Indiana. Our mission is to create and maintain a business, legislative and public awareness climate in Indiana that promotes the continued success of the insurance segment in the free enterprise system.”
The Association of Indiana Life Insurance Companies
This has a dramatic sounding name, but a fairly un-dramatic and bare-bones website to accompany it. Nevertheless, you might find it interesting as an future Indiana Life Insurance News or Legislation that is forthcoming is likely to appear on one of these trade sites.
Indiana Life Insurance Company Financial Strength Ratings
Ambest offer a useful search function that gives ratings for different insurance companies. You can put in any Indiana Life Insurance Company that you want to check out, and Ambest will tell you a rating for it.
The rating scale is explained on the following page, and you can also do a search for Indiana Life Insurance Companies by name at the top of the that page.
