Katherine Warnock You might want to consider children’s life insurance for your child if they have special needs, student loans, or if you want to help provide savings for college or a down payment on a house.
Life insurance for children is a matter of preference and not necessarily needed if you have a child. However, it’s always a good idea to look into when planning your family.
There are several reasons why parents may choose to purchase life insurance for their children, among things such as death benefits to cover funeral costs or an accident that may result in your child developing a serious medical issue.
These types of unplanned circumstances make having life insurance a must.
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What are the best life insurance companies for children?
No matter what your preference is when it comes to kid’s life insurance, it’s important to remember a few factors:
- Coverage amount
- Affordability
- Accessibility
There are no rules that determine what exactly you may need when buying children’s life insurance, but having a policy that is able to cover as many situations as possible, as well as being affordable, is important.
Since more than 54% of people currently have life insurance, it’s important to find a policy that fits you and your child’s needs.
State Farm
With an A.M. Best rating of A++, State Farm is seen as one of the best term life insurance for children.
With their self-titled Family Life Insurance plan, this whole life insurance for kids starts at only $50/year, covering both parents and children.
This policy is great for families who need death benefit coverage for their children and other optional choices like funding college, marriage, or housing purchases through other savings vehicles.
The policy is effective until the child reaches the age of 25 and can be converted to either an ongoing term or standard whole life policy without the need to prove insurability.
Thrivent
Starting at a low cost of only $12/month, Thrivent offers coverage for up to $25,000 at a fixed rate through to the age of 70. With its A.M. Best rating at a stellar A++, this non-profit insurer is a great choice for your child’s life insurance policy.
Thrivent offers a few other standard life insurance benefits add-ons, such as cash value accumulation and the guaranteed ability to add extra coverage later on down the road.
Thrivent will also allow you to add a paid waiver for a premium rider, which ensures premium payments will continue to be made if they become disabled as an adult.
There is no medical exam required to apply for any of these policies.
Mutual of Omaha
With an A.M. Best rating of A+, Mutual of Omaha’s children’s life insurance is considered very user-oriented to the needs of the insured.
Coverage can be added at any time for additional future life events, such as marriage, the purchase of a home, and college.
Mutual of Omaha also provides an available waiver of premium rider for the death of the policy owner. This helps to prevent the policy from lapsing and allows a new family member extra time to take it over.
Mutual of Omaha children’s life insurance policies start at low rates and have the eligibility to maintain throughout the insured’s lifetime.
The application process can be completed online and will only ask three questions before a quote is provided to you. Coverage starts at $5,000 and goes up to $50,000.
Gerber Life Insurance
Gerber Life’s products offer many competitive features that make it stand out from its competition.
When you initiate the policy coverage at $50,000, it will automatically be doubled to $100,000 of coverage when the child turns 18, at no extra cost.
Gerber offers two types of policies:
- The “Grow-Up” policy for children under 18 years old
- The “Gerber Life Young Adult” policy is for children aged 15 to 17
The “Grow-Up” Plan has the ability to build cash value that can then be borrowed against to help out with unexpected expenses that may arise in the future.
Coverage continues for life, and once the insured individual turns 21 years of age, they can either take the policy’s cash value or continue payments and coverage.
Globe Life
Globe Life Insurance is a unique company with benefits that allow new policies to be written for young adults ages 18 to 24 without requiring their consent.
Globe Life focuses on the 18- to 24-year-old age group, writing policies that mimic children’s life insurance for those who either didn’t have the opportunity to get one when they were younger or weren’t able to due to eligibility requirements.
Pricing is very competitive with rates starting at $2.17 per month for $5,000 for coverage of a young child and $3.49 per month for $5,000 in coverage for adults.
Should I buy children’s life insurance?
Life insurance is generally intended to cover those income expenses and debts that your dependents would be left with at the time of your death. And since children don’t have income, debts, or dependants, it’s not a necessity to get life insurance for them.
However, getting a life insurance policy for a child to protect their insurability in the future may be beneficial for a few reasons.
Buying affordable life insurance for your child when they’re young means that they’ll be able to get an affordable policy later on down the line. Especially if they are diagnosed with any health conditions when they get older.
How much does life insurance for kids cost?
Generally, children’s life insurance is inexpensive since there aren’t any underlying conditions that insurance companies need to worry about. Especially if your child is newly born.
Here is a run-down of the typical costs that you’ll see with both term and whole life insurance:
| Type | Coverage Offered | Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Term | $10,000-$20,000 | Averages around $50/year | |
| Whole Life | $5,000-$50,000 | Ranges from $30-$200/year | |
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Normally these policies don’t require a lot of information or a medical exam. Typically you will only need the child’s name, date of birth, gender, and state of residence.
Best Life Insurance for Children: The Bottom Line
While many aspects of life insurance for children may seem confusing and a bit daunting to tackle, there are plenty of companies that make the process not only seamless and easy but affordable as well.
Typically life insurance for children won’t cost you a ton of money. Since children don’t have debt or assets to their name, they are seen as less of a risk to companies than the traditional adult would be.
The best life insurance policies for children will offer a mixture of things such as company financial strength, customer satisfaction, ease of access and qualifications, and affordability.
You might want to consider a life insurance policy for your child if they are special needs, might take on student loans in the future, or if you want to protect their insurability as they get older to keep their premiums low once they age past 18.
