Group Life Insurance
Take care of your people, and they’ll take care of your business.
Take care of your people, and they’ll take care of your business.
Offering group benefits for employees can be a great way to improve job satisfaction and increase retention.
While many employers consider offering health and dental coverage for employees, life insurance is a benefit that some overlook. Available in several varieties with each tailored to a different set of needs and goals, group life insurance can be an excellent avenue for adding value for your employees.
If you’re exploring group life insurance and have questions, Higginbotham is here to answer them.
Group life insurance functions much in the same way as an individual life policy, providing a death benefit to the beneficiary of a policy if the employee passes away.
To fund this death benefit, the employee and employer pay a monthly premium that is invested over time. In most cases, an employer offering life insurance as a group benefit shoulders most of the monthly premium cost.
What happens when you work with an insurance partner who starts with questions and ends with custom solutions? What do you get when you team with a company that values your business? You get value.
Securing group life insurance doesn’t have to be a solo effort. When you have a national leader on your side, it isn’t.
For most employers interested in offering group life insurance as an employee benefit, there are typically four options:
Term life insurance is widely regarded as the simplest and most cost effective form of group life insurance available. A term life policy works by first establishing a “term,” which is usually as little as one year and as long as 30 years.
After selecting a term length, the employee chooses between a “level term” or a “decreasing term.” Decreasing terms slowly decrease the payment amount each year. Level terms pay the same death benefit throughout duration of the policy.
While decreasing term life policies tend to have lower premium costs than other forms of life insurance, the death benefit they provide may not fully cover the needs of a spouse or dependents.
Unlike term life options, whole life insurance can cover employees throughout their lifetime. While cost per $1,000 of death benefit on a whole life policy typically increases as the employee ages, the premium payment and total death benefit often stays the same year-over-year.
This is achieved through higher premium payments during the employee’s early years and investing the difference in hopes of gaining returns. These returns are then leveraged to offset increases in coverage costs as the employee ages.
If the employee wants to terminate the policy before death, the insurance carrier is usually required to make the cash value of these overpayments available for withdrawal.
Also commonly known as “adjustable life,” universal life coverage is a special type of whole life policy designed to create more cash value flexibility for the employee.
Universal life policies accomplish this by way of a cash value account that earns money at the market rate of interest. Once enough value has accrued in the account, the employee can apply the financial gains to offset premium payments, effectively lowering the monthly cost.
Because the employee can draw from the policy’s cash value, a universal life plan can also serve as a mechanism for post-retirement income replacement.
Variable life is another specialized form of whole life insurance. Like universal life options, variable policies also establish a savings account intended to grow cash value through investment in stocks, bonds and money market mutual funds. While they employ the same basic strategy as universal life, variable life coverage tends to involve considerably more risk.
This is because market fluctuation can negatively affect cash and death benefit values. Though some variable life options cap potential losses by setting a minimum policy value as a trigger for divesting.
Get in touch with one of our group life insurance specialists today to find out what Higginbotham can do for you.
Our authentic and transparent approach to employee benefits is designed to put people at the center of everything we do.
Our health and welfare insurance specialists take the time to get to know your unique needs so we present options that make sense for your group.
And we don’t stop there.
Once we help implement your plan, we deliver year-round value with our Day Two Services® that empower you with resources to educate your employees, administer your plans and maintain compliance. We’re more than your employee benefits broker, we’re an extension of our HR team.
By taking care of your employees, you can rest easy knowing they’re doing the same for your organization.
Because when you lead with values, value leads.
To learn more about how our values-based approach creates value for your organization, click here.
Employees should consider several crucial factors before purchasing a life insurance policy, such as estimated final expenses, financial needs of dependents, outstanding debt and current savings. Some may also need to consider the needs of a business partner, charity or another individual outside their immediate family.
While deciding on life insurance can be overwhelming, the insurance specialists at Higginbotham are here to help. We can educate your employees on their group plan so they get the same level of care and attention that you get as our client.
Higginbotham is committed to getting you the group life coverage you want at a price that makes sense for your budget. So, we start by getting to know more about your employees’ needs and demographics. With that knowledge, we offer coverage options and advise you on the best fit for your business and workforce needs.
Employee owned and customer inspired, we make caring for your business our business.
We’re your ally in finding the most efficient insurance plans, maintaining compliance, covering your employees and protecting your bottom line.
A great business can’t exist without great employees and the relationships they have with your customers. That’s why we help you take care of your team.
You’re responsible to your people. We’re on your side, every day, to help you honor that responsibility.
Because when you lead with values, value leads.
