Consumer Life Insurance Paperwork recordkeeping question

[LostDollar]

Is there any reason I need to save old annual premium statements showing annual premiums, interest due, loan information and cash value? -- (amount of information and amount of reports varies by carrier)

thanks.

 

[scagnt83]

If you have online access to your account, and it allows access to past statements. Then no.

If not, then it would be prudent to keep the past 3 annual statements.

Billing issues aside, if you ever need an agent to review the policy, it will allow them to easily do so without you having to call the insurer.

 

[LostDollar]

Thank you.

I have online access for bill pay.

I have original application paperwork plus a significant portion of 40 years on annual paperwork. I've saved it all, I'll see if I can bring myself to part with some of it.

Allianz just sends an annual statement showing premium and maybe accrued interest, you have to look at original policy or call them to get current cash value.

Penn Mutual sends twice as much reporting, an annual invoice plus a separate report of cash value and death benefit.

As far as agent is concerned, that is not likely to happen.

The last time I did talk with an agent about the coverage, he wanted me to close out both policies and buy a new one. The only reason that didn't happen is I did not have cash value information to give him. I have seen posts here suggesting older policies are sometimes better than newer ones, I don't really understand all the technical reasons, but that leads me to believe the change the agent wanted me to do back then would not have been in my best interests so I am not going to reopen those discussions with anyone.

I think my wife or kids can easily handle death claims directly with the carriers.

 

[scagnt83]

The last time I did talk with an agent about the coverage, he wanted me to close out both policies and buy a new one. The only reason that didn't happen is I did not have cash value information to give him. I have seen posts here suggesting older policies are sometimes better than newer ones, I don't really understand all the technical reasons, but that leads me to believe the change the agent wanted me to do back then would not have been in my best interests so I am not going to reopen those discussions with anyone.
.

This is very situation specific. There is no black or white answer that fits all situations.

Many times cash values can be consolidated into a new policy, and the combined cash value is enough to completely eliminate any premiums being paid. Or the client gets a higher DB for the same amount of premium being paid.

But there are a lot of variables. Insurability, age, amount of DB needed, amount of CV available, how the original policies were designed, etc.

---

The statements you have seen about not cancelling old WL policies have to do with Cash Value accumulation. Not planning based around Death Benefit.

Many old policies have a CV that is very close to the DB, and that can be leveraged in a new policy to purchase much more DB than originally had, especially if the old policy was using old life expectancy tables.

But you seem to like what you have. So you should keep it.

 

[scagnt83]

Thank you.

I have online access for bill pay.

I have original application paperwork plus a significant portion of 40 years on annual paperwork. I've saved it all, I'll see if I can bring myself to part with some of it.

Allianz just sends an annual statement showing premium and maybe accrued interest, you have to look at original policy or call them to get current cash value.

Penn Mutual sends twice as much reporting, an annual invoice plus a separate report of cash value and death benefit.

.....

I think my wife or kids can easily handle death claims directly with the carriers.

LOL. You can throw away a few things. You sound like my parents, they still have power bills from decades ago.

Agents are only required to retain records for around 5-7 years depending on what state they live in.

Regarding your family making a death claim. Just make sure you have listed your policy info in an easy to access place for them to find. Be sure it has company name, policy number, death benefit, & 800 number for claims. They dont need a statement to complete the process, just a death certificate.