The nature of getting Kentucky Life Insurance Quotes is that it is quite important to consider the State specific aspects of life insurance in Kentucky, and what that can mean for you in terms of the amount of money that you have to pay out for your life insurance cover.
In this article I am going to lift the lid on Kentucky Life Insurance and reveal all the different nuances, tips, tricks and techniques and what you need to know to get the best cover possible. I am also going to cover information about Kentucky and the nature of the insurance companies in Kentucky, and how they fit into the general pattern of the insurance market in the United States, as well as five important considerations that you should bear in mind before buying any life insurance.
Kentucky – The Background…
The Bluegrass State has a population of 4,339,367 people according to the 2010 US Census, and is the 26th biggest State in the Union in terms of the population (it is 37th in terms of size). It is known for its beautiful sweeping landscape and massive National Parks, and is home to the longest cave system in the world.
The Capital of Kentucky is Frankfort which is surprisingly small for a Capital City, being home to an estimated 27,077 people in 2006. Whilst the largest city is Louisville, with an estimated 1,266,454 people living in the Louisville metropolitan area.
Internationally Kentucky is perhaps best known for its Whiskey, and for the Kentucky Derby which was first held in 1875, and which has grown in stature over the years. Kentucky has a great tradition of horse breeding, and is also known for producing some great horse racing champions.
Economically, Kentucky has kept pace with the modern age, and has a lot of different medical and health care companies who are located in the State, and Humana, a massive health insurance company are also located in Kentucky.
As well as this, and perhaps most importantly One-third of all the bourbon whisky in the United States comes from Kentucky!
Life Insurance in the United States – The Facts…
While the amount of individual life insurance cover in the United States has increased over the last few years from $1.39 Trillion in 1999 to $1.74 Trillion in 2009 according to the American Council of Life Insurers. The actual amount of life insurance policies being sold has dropped on average by 1.4% EVERY YEAR between that same period from 11,673,000 in 1999 to 10,139,000 in 2009 (an overall fall in the number of individual life insurance policies of 13.41%).
This is a trend that is right across the United States and so Kentucky Life Insurance Companies are equally as affected by this trend as any other States.
Whilst the amount of cover has gone up, the falling off in the number of people buying life insurance in Kentucky has meant that the life insurance companies in Kentucky are now re-doubling their efforts to secure your business, and so competition in the sector has increasingly gone up.
This movement has only increased with the rise of the internet, because new companies and new Kentucky Life Insurance Quotes are now never more than a few mouse clicks away, and so whilst it used to be the case that the idea of filling in lots of physical forms, having to go to the brokers office, or get an insurance advisor to call around used to act as limiters to competition , now it doesn't (but it did mean that more members of individual households actually got policies, because there was a personal touch, where insurance agents would inevitably try to sell Kentucky life insurance to ALL members of a family, whereas now, it tends to be more likely to be simply to be the main wage earner who is getting life insurance).
Life Insurance in Kentucky – The Facts…
The Life Insurance Companies in Kentucky are enormous businesses, and some of the figures involved are quite staggering.
There are 474 different life insurance companies in Kentucky who are licensed to sell life insurance in Kentucky, and as a whole the life insurers employ over 8,000 people in Kentucky directly, and support a further 9,000 through financing, mortgages, real estate etc.
In total, Kentuckians have $270 Billion of death benefit cover, and over 2 million individual Kentucky Life Insurance Policies which each have an average of $68,000 of cover for each policy holder.
If you then factor in that there is now $110 billion of Group Kentucky Life Insurance (with $20 billion purchased in 2009 for example), and that over $45 billion worth of life insurance companies assets are invested in the Kentucky economy, then it is clear that you have a recipe for an industry that is incredibly important for Kentucky in economic and social terms.
Life Insurance in Kentucky – 5 Important Considerations…
Before finally getting some Kentucky Life Insurance Quotes, it is a good idea to consider some of the practical considerations about getting life insurance arranged, so that you can better understand what it is you are buying.
In this section I am going to discuss five important considerations you should consider before getting life insurance arranged in Kentucky.
1/ Lifespan Matters!
There is no escaping it. When it comes to life insurance and how much it might end up costing you, lifespan is a big deal.
Kentucky is actually a little below the national average for lifespan with an overall average of 72.05 for men (national average 75.7) and 78.10 for women (national average 80.7), and overall comes 42nd out of the 50 US States in terms of lifespan.
So you might reasonably expect this to be reflected in the amount that life insurance might cost you in Kentucky, as say compared to Hawaii, where both men and women live, on average, 5 years longer than people who live in Kentucky.
2/ Age Matters!
There is also no escaping the fact that age matter when it comes to life insurance. And the younger you are, the less you can reasonably expect it to cost.
There are practical considerations to consider with this of course, because the younger you take out life insurance in Kentucky, the longer you will be paying out premiums for the cover, and hence the longer the life insurance companies in Kentucky have to collect the money.
But the reality is that the unexpected can and does happen, and when you are younger you are more likely to have young children who are dependent on you, and to be doing more dangerous activities, so it is imperative that you make sure that you get some quotes for life policies in Kentucky, so that you can gauge how much of a difference this really makes to the cost.
3/ You CAN have different payment terms if it suits your circumstances better…
Another matter that is often glossed over with life insurance is that you can choose to have different payment periods when you pay your premiums.
So, you can for example choose to pay annually, semi-annually or quarterly with many life insurance plans in Kentucky, and so there is no reason to not get life insurance, simply because you don’t want to make a regular monthly payment.
As long as you can make a regular payment over some time scale, then you can still find a Kentucky life insurance plan that will suit.
This is particularly important to bear in mind if you are engaged in employment which is less regular, such as a musician. Or where you receive payments regularly, but not monthly. Such as an author who gets royalties for their books twice a year.
In both these cases you can then opt for a payment plan that makes more sense to your income patterns.
Life Insurance in Kentucky is NOT one size fits all. It is quite adaptable.
4/ There are more than just ‘Disaster Scenarios’ that might need you to have Life Insurance…
One of the things that many people dread about life insurance are all the difficult connotations that it has for their death!
In fact, it is interesting how the number of life policies has dropped in the last ten years (despite the amount of life cover going up), because it seems indicative of the life insurance companies getting better at persuading people to get more cover once they have decided to check out getting some life insurance, but that as the reliance on insurance brokers has declined because of the internet, that second members of families (who perhaps aren’t the main bread winner) are becoming less likely to get life insurance (in Kentucky or in any other state), because there is now no-longer a salesman to cajole them into it.
Regardless, the fact is that life insurance should not be all about focusing on your death! It should be a focus about what good you can do. So consider whether extra money could help to build your church project, or be donated to charity, or pay your Grand child’s college fees.
It isn’t just funeral expenses and bills that can be paid with the life insurance money!
5/ Make sure to compare several different Kentucky Life Insurance Providers and get a variety of Kentucky Life Insurance Quotes…
It is also important that you consider a whole range of different options when it comes to securing your life insurance cover.
The internet has widened out the market and means that you no longer have to deal with insurance agents who are only licensed to sell one companies life insurance. Instead, a quick search around and you can find a whole variety of companies you can check into.
Get a variety of different Kentucky Life Insurance Quotes and you are setting yourself up to get the best deals at the lowest prices. These now only take a couple of minutes to get, and so you would be well advised to check out a variety of different options before finalising your purchase.
Kentucky Life Insurance – The Details…
When considering the legal side of how life insurance in Kentucky is regulated, and rules administered, then you need to look at The State Insurance Code of Kentucky.
You can find the one that specifically deals with Kentucky Life Insurance here:
If you are particularly interested about the legal framework for all types of insurance in Kentucky, then if you visit this page and scroll down to “Chapter 304 Insurance Code” then you will see them all.
It is the Kentucky Department of Insurance that oversees the regulation of all the different types of insurance (including Life Insurance Kentucky wide). It is engaged on all levels from consumers in Kentucky to Kentucky Insurance Companies.
Their mission statement is:
“We promote sound, competitive insurance markets; protect the public through effective enforcement and regulation; and empower the public through outreach and education.”
Life Insurance, Annuity and Settlements Information
The Kentucky Department of Insurance website is actually a pretty good source of information (despite being a bit confusing to navigate around), and there are some nice specific guides on their site to life insurance in Kentucky that you may find of interest.
Here you can find details about different financial rating services that you can use to get ratings of Kentucky Life Insurance Companies whose life insurance you are considering taking out.
