How to Buy Life Insurance

Life insurance is a great way to help financially protect your loved ones’ futures. Get the confidence and know-how you need by checking out our roadmap of the life insurance buying process — you’ll see how simple it can be to protect the ones who matter most.

How to Prepare to Buy Life Insurance

Don’t jump in and buy a policy just yet — preparing yourself for a meeting with your American Family Insurance agent can help you efficiently work through tough questions and set you up to safeguard your family’s financial future. Check out these tips for preparing to buy life insurance:

Know how much to get. Estimate your life insurance needs based on your financial assets and projected expenses that would need to be covered if you were to pass. Closely following a budget can be very helpful for keeping your finances on track — plus, it makes it much easier to plan for the future if you know exactly how much money you’re spending and where it’s going. Calculate how much life insurance you may need or try using our Life Insurance Calculator (Opens in a new tab).

Explore insurance types. Learn about temporary insurance, which covers a specific length of time, like DreamSecure Simplified Term Life Insurance and DreamSecure Term Life Insurance Or consider a permanent insurance policy, like DreamSecure Whole Life Insurance, which covers you for your whole life and gains cash value. Or if flexibility is what you're looking for, explore DreamSecure Flexible Life Insurance, which offers long-term, flexible coverage that can change as your life evolves. Our life insurance comparison chart may help you decide which coverage is right for you.

Need more information on how temporary, permanent life insurance policies work? Here's an explanation of the difference between the types.

Talk to a licensed agent. Your American Family agent can answer any questions you have about life insurance policies. They’re dedicated to finding the right policy for you and your family’s future.

Submit an application. Once you choose a policy, you’ll need to complete an application covering your medical, health-related and financial information. Keep in mind that it may take a few days to weeks before you get your policy after applying. Make sure to be honest, thorough and detailed in order to keep the process moving smoothly.

Take a medical exam (if needed). You may have to complete a telephone interview and an in-person health check, depending on things like the type of policy, coverage amount and health history.

The phone interview focuses on your health history, so be prepared with information like previous surgeries, current medications, physician names and phone numbers. If you need to take an in-person medical exam, you can choose a place that’s convenient for you, like your home, work or a stand-alone lab facility, where they’ll conduct a short (usually only thirty minutes) health test. Learn more about life insurance medical exams to find out how quick and easy the process actually is.

Provide more info (if needed). An underwriter (someone who gathers and analyzes application information, performs a risk assessment, and assigns the appropriate premium to be charged) will review your information and may request additional information.

Receive your policy. Upon approval, you’ll be notified and your policy will be delivered. Feel free to contact your American Family agent to go over your policy piece by piece and clear up any questions you might have. Make sure all of your concerns and goals have been addressed, then enjoy the peace of mind knowing you’ve taken steps to protect your family’s financial future.

When you buy life insurance, you’re taking an important step on the road to providing financial protection for the special people in your life. Check out our life insurance coverages to see which options are right for you.

Neither American Family Life Insurance Company nor its agents are authorized to give legal or estate planning advice, and this article should not be construed as such advice. Customers should consult an attorney or estate planner for answers to legal and estate planning questions.

Dividends are not guaranteed.

This is a brief description of coverage and is subject to policy and/or rider terms and conditions, which may vary by state. Fixed and guaranteed premiums are statements about the policy as determined at issue, and any changes made to a policy may affect the premium and are subject to our underwriting rules. The words lifetime, lifelong and permanent are subject to policy terms and conditions.

Any loans taken from your life insurance policy will accrue interest. Any outstanding loan balance (loan plus interest) will be deducted from the death benefit at the time of claim or from the cash value at the time of surrender. If the loan balance grows too large for the cash value to support it, the policy could terminate.

The Guaranteed Purchase Option may be exercised only at specified dates and life events and is subject to benefit amount limitations.

Subject to policy terms and conditions.

Policy Forms: ICC18-33 (10), ICC18-33 (15), ICC18-34 (20), ICC18-35 (30), L-33 (10)(ND), L-33 (15)(ND), L-34 (20)(ND), L-35 (30)(ND), L-33 (10)(SD), L-33 (15)(SD), L-34 (20)(SD), L-35 (30)(SD), ICC18-36 (10), ICC18-36 (15), ICC18-36 (20), ICC18-36 (30), L-36 (10)(ND), L-36 (15)(ND), L-36 (20)(ND), L-36 (30)(ND), L-36 (10)(SD), L-36 (15)(SD), L-36 (20)(SD), L-36 (30)(SD), ICC21 L141 MS 01 22, L141 ND 02 22, L141 SD 02 22, ICC17-225 WL, L-225 (ND) WL, L-225 WL, ICC17-227 WL, L-227 (ND) WL, L-227 WL