We are going to look into New Jersey Life Insurance Quotes and how you can secure a great deal in this article, but we are also going to look at state specific information about life insurance in New Jersey that you need to know in order to be able to get that, as well as exploring the insurance industry in New Jersey and the role it plays in the New Jersey economy.
In order to accomplish that menu of items, let’s first dig into a starter of background information about New Jersey.
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New Jersey – A Little Background…
New Jersey is a state of contrasts. It is one of the smallest in terms of physical size, ranking as the 4th smallest state in the United States, but because it is also the most densely populated state it has an above average population of 8,791,894 in 2010.
In addition to that the median household income in New Jersey is the second highest in the United States at $68,342 in 2009, just behind Maryland on $69,272, but $18,221 more than the United States average of $50,221, and a whopping $31,696 better off than Mississippi which ranks in last place with $36,646.
This economic prosperity is then carried over into the State GDP as a whole, with New Jersey having a state GDP of $497 billion in 2010, making it the 7th richest in the Union, and based on International Monetary Fund figures from 2010 more potent in economic terms than Saudi Arabia ($434 billion), Belgium ($461 billion), Norway ($413 billion) and Argentina ($351 billion).
In fact, if ‘New Jersey’ was its own country (and you excluded the other US States), it would rank as the 20th richest country in the world! (26th if you included the other US States in the comparison)
So its ‘New Jersey Housewives’ and ‘Sopranos’ media image belies a real economic powerhouse.
Considering its large population and how densely populated New Jersey is, it is surprising quite how few cities it has that have populations of over 100,000 people. In actual fact there are only four according to the 2010 Census:
1/ Newark – 277,140 (Newark is the largest city in New Jersey, and can be found just 8 miles west of Manhattan, and has the largest port on the East Coast.)
2/ Jersey City – 247,597
3/ Paterson – 146,199
4/ Elizabeth – 124,969
Edison ALMOST gets there at 99,967…
The State Capital, Trenton only had a population of 84,913 in 2010.
However, New Jersey lies within the metropolitan areas of New York and Pennsylvania, and so this accounts for its large population and high population density.
From 1970 to 2010 the population growth of the State has grown steadily over that 40 year period, as the population grew by 22.65% from 7,168,164 in 1970 to 8,791,894 in 2010.
But prior to that the population of New Jersey was literally exploding every 10 years. In 1900 there were 1,444,933 people and by 1970 that had grown by almost 500% to 7,168,164
Interestingly, according to a 2010 Nature.com article, New Jersey has more engineers and scientists per square mile than anywhere else in the world. Something which is supported by the fact that New Jersey is home to a bio-technology sector that is the 4th largest in the country, and that 17 out of the top 20 largest phramacuetical companies in the world have plants in New Jersey.
The main economic drivers in New Jersey are chemical development, pharmaceuticals, printing, publishing, food processing, electric equipment, telecommunications and tourism. But as befits an economy that is more than twice as large as Irelands’ ($497 billion as compared to $204 billion), it tends to be strong in a number of areas, including life insurance.
New Jersey Life Insurance – The Facts…
New Jersey is home to some major Fortune 500 Life insurance Companies including The Prudential Insurance Company of America which has more than $2 trillion of life insurance under management and assets of $485.8 billion in 2010.
There are four hundred and four New Jersey Life Insurance Companies who are licensed to sell life insurance in New Jersey, and six who are domiciled in the state.
The amount of people employed by the industry is significant, with 33,000 people directly employed by the life insurance industry in New Jersey, and a further 51,000 non-insurance jobs being supported by the sector through financing, mortgages, loans and the like.
The amount of death benefit cover in New Jersey comes in at $1.3 trillion, and there are 4 million individual New Jersey Life Insurance Policies with an average per policy holder of $180,000 according to the American Council of Life Insurers.
This fact alone makes New Jersey extremely significant for Life Insurance Companies in the US, because it is significantly higher than most other states (policy holders in Idaho for example have an average that is almost half that of New Jerseys at $93,000), and hence the average life insurance policy in New Jersey is worth considerably more to the Life Insurance companies then in most other states.
The amounts of money involved are truly enormous. In 2009 alone the amount of individual Life Insurance New Jersey Policies purchased was more than $70 billion, and if you then add on the rolling total of Group Life Insurance cover in the state which adds up to $530 billion (in total, not just in 2009) then you can get a better idea of the sheer scale of the life insurance industry in New Jersey.
In terms of the amount of benefits that this then had passed on to New Jersey Residents, there was a mammoth $15 billion paid out in surrender values, endowments that had matured, death benefits and other payouts in 2009, and a further $3 billion worth of Annuity benefits. To get that figure of $18 billion into perspective consider that this would by itself constitute more than HALF of the GDP of two of the other States economies (North Dakota at $33.4 billion and Vermont $26.4 billion) in 2010.
And that there is currently $145 billion of investments from New Jersey Life Insurance Companies in the State (mainly in stocks and bonds, but also property, mortgages and business development projects) further reinforces this view of the importance of the life insurance sector to the New Jersey economy.
New Jersey Life Insurance – Three Important Factors To Consider
It is important when you are considering getting life cover to consider three major factors before finally deciding on which life insurance to go with.
1/ Your Circumstances AND Your Goals Affects your Need For Life Insurance
Many people when looking into purchasing New Jersey Life Insurance look at the situation ONLY from the perspective of their current circumstances such as their age, responsibilities and family commitments. Which, whilst certainly being a good part of the picture when it comes to life insurance, it is also important to realise that in addition to being a safety net, life insurance can also act as a goal achievement mechanism.
For example, you can also provide money to allow your children to go to college, or for your spouse to be able to give up the job they hate, or enough money for your family to go on a holiday.
Life Insurance doesn’t just have to be about paying bills. It can also be about achieving things, even if you aren’t around to see them.
2/ Age Matters!
The cost of life insurance is directly tied in to how old you are. There is no getting around the fact that the younger you are, the less your life insurance will cost, and so the sooner you get this sorted out the better off you will be.
The average life expectancy in the United States in 2005 was 78 years, and New Jersey was 79.2, so slightly above average.
The Life Insurance companies take mortality statistics like this very seriously when calculating premiums, and so where you live in the country can have a big impact on how much your life insurance will cost you. Mississippi for example had a combined life expectancy of only 73.9 years in 2005, which is over 5 years lower.
In practice this means that all other factors being equal, Mississippi Life Insurance will cost you more money than New Jersey Life Insurance.
Either way, the fact remains that the quicker you get some cover, the sooner you will be able to relax, knowing that your family are secure.
3/ All Life Insurance Is NOT Created Equal
There are several different types of life insurance, and which type you go for will depend on your circumstances.
New Jersey Term Life Insurance – This is for a fixed period and will almost certainly be cheaper (certainly for the first few years); but it doesn’t have a savings element, and hence you are not building up any residual value in the policy the longer you have it.
Your loved ones would however be paid out a death benefit were you to die when you had the cover. But at the expiry of the policy you would get nothing.
New Jersey Permanent Life Insurance – You will find this coming under several different names such as Whole Life, Universal Life or Variable Life Insurance. The details will vary, but where these policies differ markedly from New Jersey Term Life Insurance is that they cover you for your whole life, still have the death benefit cover, but also generally have some kind of savings element.
In the early years of these policies they will almost certainly be more expensive than New Jersey Term Life Insurance.
Which you go for will depend on how tight money currently is, and also how long you plan on keeping the policy for, as New Jersey Permanent Life Insurance should be seen as a long-term commitment, and not something you plan on stopping in a few years’ time.
If you do then it will have cost you more money, but you will be unlikely to see much benefit from the annuity element, because it is heavily-weighted to the later years of any policy. Hence, if you cash it in quickly you will recieve very little back.
So bear that in mind when you get some New Jersey Life Insurance Quotes.
New Jersey Life Insurance – The Details…
In terms of the laws and regulations that surround Life Insurance in New Jersey, these come under the legal umbrella of The State Insurance Code of New Jersey.
This is also called “Title 17B”, and the “Life and Health Insurance Code of New Jersey”.
You can find the New Jersey Insurance Code here (I have shortened the link, because the original url is too long)
Hopefully you will never need to digest these legal rules. But it is nevertheless useful to know where they are, just in case you ever have a complaint about an insurance company in New Jersey, or a New Jersey Life Insurance Policy that you have taken out. As you will then be in a position to check the rules that are being applied yourself.
New Jersey Life Insurance Resources
(NJ) New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance
The New Jersey Insurance Department offers resources for both consumers and the insurance industry.
Their mission statement is as follows:
“The mission of the Department of Banking and Insurance is to regulate the banking, insurance and real estate industries in a professional and timely manner that protects and educates consumers and promotes the growth, financial stability and efficiency of those industries.”
New Jersey Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association
Should a New Jersey Life Insurance Company experience problems and become insolvent, then it is the New Jersey Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association that would step in to help protect New Jersey Policyholders.
