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Term vs. Permanent: Choosing the Right Life Insurance for Doctors

The right life insurance policy can be a vital safety net for physicians, providing financial security for your loved ones in the face of unpredictable life events. Whether you’re experiencing financial hardship, managing student loans, or securing disability insurance, understanding life insurance is a key part of your financial planning strategy. Let’s explore each type of life insurance so that you can determine the type that best suits your needs as a medical professional.

An Overview of Life Insurance for Doctors

Life insurance is an agreement where you pay a premium to an insurance company, and in return, they pledge to provide a death benefit to your beneficiaries in the event of your untimely demise. The purpose is to provide financial support to your loved ones, helping them manage expenses such as mortgage repayments, tuition fees, and daily costs of living.

Different life insurance policies, like term life insurance and permanent life insurance, offer different coverages and benefits. Understanding these can help you, as a medical professional, make an informed decision about what’s best for your circumstances.

Importance of Life Insurance for Doctors

For doctors, life insurance plays a crucial role. Medical professionals often accumulate substantial debt from schooling and establishing a practice. Specific life insurance for medical students and physicians can help cover outstanding debts, like student loans, mortgages, credit cards, and more, protecting your family’s financial future in the event of your demise.

The chances of physicians becoming incapacitated due to illness or injury are higher than in many other professions due to long working hours and high stress levels. Hence, having a robust life insurance plan not only provides a financial safety net but also peace of mind.

A Deep Dive Into Term Life Insurance for Doctors

Now that we have a fundamental understanding of life insurance, let’s dive into the specifics of one of the most popular policies: term life insurance.

Understanding Term Life Insurance

Term life insurance is a type of life insurance that provides coverage for a specific ‘term’ or period. Typically, you can select term lengths from 10, 20, or even 30 years. If you were to pass away during this period, the insurance company would pay out the policy’s death benefit to your beneficiaries.

One of the main reasons doctors often choose term life insurance is because of its simplicity and affordability. It’s easy to understand and manage – you choose how long your policy lasts and determine how much coverage you need.

Pros and Cons of Term Life for Doctors

Like any financial product, term life insurance also has its pros and cons.

Pros

  • Affordability: Term life insurance for doctors typically offers the highest coverage at the lowest cost in comparison to other life insurance policies. Since doctors usually start their careers with hefty student loans, the affordability aspect can be particularly appealing.
  • Flexibility: You can choose the term that best suits your needs, be it a 10, 20, or 30-year plan. Moreover, the flexible nature of term life insurance means you can adjust coverage as your circumstances change—be it the addition of a family member, purchasing a home, or changes to your health condition.
  • Renewability: Many policies offer the ability to renew at the end of the term for an increased premium.

Cons

  • Limitation: Once your term is up, the policy ends; unless you renew it, you’re left without coverage.
  • No cash value: Unlike certain other types of life insurance, term insurance doesn’t accumulate a cash value that you can borrow or withdraw.

Evaluating Term Life Insurance: Is It Right for Your Needs as a Physician?

While term life insurance for doctors  offers significant advantages, the decision isn’t a one-size-fits-all. The need for a term life policy often depends on factors like your financial situation, existing debts, dependents, and their future needs, and health status. Therefore, it’s essential to have these discussions with a certified financial planner to understand if a term life policy would best suit your needs.

Discover if term life insuranceis right for your financial needs with tailored support from the PRS team.

Learn More

Exploring Permanent Life Insurance for Doctors

Now that we have explored term life insurance for physicians, it’s time to shift our focus to permanent life insurance.

The Basics of Permanent Life Insurance

Unlike term life insurance, permanent life insurance offers coverage for your entire life or up to a specified age—usually 100. Apart from providing a death benefit, it also builds cash value over time, which you can borrow against or use during your lifetime.

There are several types of permanent life insurance policies, including whole life, universal life, and variable life, each with its own intricacies and facets.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Permanent Life Insurance for Doctors

Permanent life insurance also has pros and cons that you need to keep in mind when evaluating your options.

Pros

  • Lifelong coverage: A permanent life insurance policy offers coverage that lasts for your entire life.
  • Cash value: Over time, your policy can accumulate cash value on a tax-deferred basis. This cash value component can serve as an additional savings tool, allowing you to borrow, withdraw from it, or even surrender the policy for the accumulated cash value. This can be particularly beneficial for physicians going through various life changes, whether it’s starting a private practice, buying a home, or planning for retirement.
  • Fixed premiums: The premiums typically remain the same throughout the life of the policy.

Cons

  • Cost: Permanent life insurance typically comes with higher premiums than term life insurance.
  • Complexity: These policies can be difficult to understand, and you may need assistance from financial professionals to decode them.

Assessing Permanent Life Insurance: Is It Suited to Your Situation as a Doctor?

Choosing permanent life insurance is a significant decision, and physicians should consider their unique circumstances, including financial standing, family commitments, retirement plans, and other long-term financial goals. It is recommended to discuss these aspects with a knowledgeable professional to ensure that the choice you make is the most beneficial for your specific situation.

Comparing Term and Permanent Life Insurance for Doctors

Aside from the pros and cons of term and permanent life insurance for doctors, it’s important to consider elements like cost and overall coverage. Let’s compare these two forms of life insurance for doctors more directly.

Cost

Term life insurance typically offers the cheapest life insurance rates. Its average rates are generally lower because it offers death benefits for a specified term length. The term lengths can work perfectly for physicians who need coverage until they’ve managed to pay off debts like mortgages or student loans from medical school. It’s definitely worth considering if you need substantial coverage at competitive rates.

On the other hand, permanent life insurance has higher insurance rates. While it may seem like a hefty sum initially, it provides lifelong coverage and includes a cash value component that grows over time, potentially leading to larger total estimated payment amounts. This type of insurance can be extremely beneficial for long-term estate planning or if you have special circumstances warranting ongoing coverage.

Coverage

With term life insurance, the coverage is for a finite duration. If you, as the insured physician, pass away within the policy term, your beneficiaries will receive the death benefit. However, if the term expires while you’re still alive, there is no payout and the coverage ends. You may then either opt for a new policy or convert the existing policy into a permanent one, depending on your life insurance company’s policy offerings.

Permanent life insurance, including universal life, provides a death benefit along with a cash value component that grows on a tax-deferred basis. This means you have both a life insurance plan and a long-term savings plan sorted in one go. Unlike term life, permanent coverage doesn’t expire as long as you pay the premiums, offering lifelong protection.

Balancing Costs, Coverage, and Your Personal Circumstances as a Physician

Life insurance involves more than comparing costs and coverage—it’s also about taking your personal circumstances into account. Factors like your age, the age of your children, the size of your student loans and estate, special circumstances, and long-term financial strategy also play a crucial role.

Physicians with young families or substantial student loan balances may find term life insurance an affordable way to secure their family’s future. On the other hand, for those with considerable estate planning needs or an interest in cash value growth, permanent life insurance could be the best course to take. Essentially, you need to consider what makes the most sense given your lifestyle, financial commitments, and future aspirations.

Navigate Your Life Insurance Journey With Physician’s Resource Services

Making the right life insurance choice is crucial for medical professionals, and Physician’s Resource Services is here to guide you through your journey. Partner with our team for tailored advice on navigating term and permanent life insurance options—contact us today to prepare for your future with a policy that fits your life’s goals.

Life Insurance: Several factors will affect the cost and availability of life insurance, including age, health, and the type and amount of insurance purchased. Life insurance policies have expenses, including mortality and other charges. If a policy is surrendered prematurely, the policyholder also may pay surrender charges and have income tax implications. You should consider determining whether you are insurable before implementing a strategy involving life insurance. Any guarantees associated with a policy are dependent on the ability of the issuing insurance company to continue making claim payments.

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Robin Bales – AGENT

Robin has owned a Commercial Leasing Company providing financing to doctors and other operators for their equipment beginning in 2007. After the global crash of 2008, she went to work for NYL and spent 3 years there working with other entrepreneurs securing their retirement future and safeguarding their personal asset risks. Robin opened her own agency in 2017 Legacy by Design and has run a national firm coast to coast with 50-70 agents. Today the agency is much smaller serving 5 agents who share the same vision and passion for our clients focusing on health insurance, Medicare, and annuities.

Robin is most connected to ethos of PRS mission to improve the lives of doctors and their families. Supporting those who run the leading infrastructure of our country.

Robin has been married for 22 years to her husband Steven. Together they have 3 girls and have built a family with strong values and commitment to each others successes. Robin’s family are home bodies by nature and enjoy their 3 dogs hanging in living room or kitchen.

Kevin Burris – PARAPLANNER

Kevin received his BA and MBA from Indiana University, earned the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation from the University of Georgia, and Retirement Income Certified Professional (RICP) designation from the American College. Kevin is looking forward to helping physicians live their best life. Kevin enjoys spending time on the lake with his wife, playing golf, and watching Indiana University sports.

Michael Kohles – AGENT

Michael attended Lake Michigan College and Siena Heights University, graduating magna cum lade with a Bachelor of Business Administration, with a major in Finance and minor in Marketing. Michael has been in the financial services industry since 2015 and has experience with multiple insurance verticals. Michael is excited to help physicians achieve their financial goals by providing insurance solutions. Michael is married to Erin and has 4 children. Michael also enjoys reading, golfing, playing poker, learning, and traveling.

Erin Kohles – UNDERWRITING PROCESSOR

Erin supports our advisors and clients during the insurance underwriting process in multiple ways. On a given day, she helps by processing applications, tracking and following up on open cases, and answering client questions. She appreciates the part she plays in helping clients prepare for the future, and she strives to make the process as simple and efficient as possible.

Erin has been in the insurance industry for two years and brings with her six and eight years of experience in accounting and quality control, respectively. She graduated from Ball State University and has her life & health and property & casualty insurance licenses. In her free time, she enjoys cheering on her two boys who play basketball, soccer, and baseball; traveling with her husband; and playing with their Yorkie, Mingo.

Gabriela Chavez – ANALYST

At Physicians Resource Service Gabby plays a pivotal role in Paul’s advisory team, staying in close contact with clients, driving business development, and lending a hand in daily operational tasks. Additionally, she collaborates with CPA Erin Anderson to prepare tax returns, conduct withholding reviews and undertake various tasks across the division.

Gabby is currently double-majoring in accounting and finance at the University of the Incarnate World in San Antonio, and she plans to sit for her Certified Financial Planning exam in the fall of 2022. Before transferring to UIW, she attended the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in Edinburg, Texas. Gabby was born in Germany and is Mexican American. She loves to travel and has visited 11 different countries. She has a five-year-old pug named Penny.

Erin Anderson – CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANT

As a certified public accountant, Erin is a valuable part of our tax division at PRS. She enjoys working with our advisors to develop tax-efficient strategies, and she strives to provide clarity for every client she serves. Erin started her career as an accountant after graduating from Oklahoma State University in 2012 with a master’s degree. She earned her CPA license in 2018. Erin and her husband have two little boys, and they love spending time outdoors as a family and watching OSU football.

Alex Simmons – BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Alex oversees Business Development at Physician’s Resource Services. She works with each department to assist in continually improving PRS so we remain a leading competitor in the industry. Alex graduated from Texas Tech University with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Energy Commerce. She is a Texas native who loves to spend her free time traveling and taking her pup, Teddi, to the dog park.

Karli Allen – HEAD OF WEALTH MANAGEMENT

Karli is a graduate of The Master’s University in Santa Clarita, CA, and has a business degree with emphases in accounting, finance, and management. Karli has been in the financial services industry since 2014 and joined the PRS team in 2018.

Karli oversees investment and financial planning operations and assists with the onboarding and service of the firm’s advisory clients.  Karli was a key part of our firm’s custodial transition to Fidelity in 2019 as part of our decision to become an independent investment advisory firm.  Before joining PRS, Karli worked in personal financial planning in Orange County, California.  She also holds a FINRA Series 65 license. Karli is grateful to be a part of such an amazing team.

Outside of work, Karli enjoys traveling, playing golf, and spending time with her husband and their goldendoodle.

Jennifer Khan- UNDERWRITING SPECIALIST

Jennifer is an Underwriting Specialist at Physician’s Resource Services, with an extensive background in customer service and administration. Jennifer grew up in Texas, graduated from Southeast Missouri State University with a BFA in Theatre, and spent six years in Chicago performing sketch and improv. She is a graduate of the Conservatory Program at The Second City and iO Chicago. Jennifer and her husband, Qamar, moved to Texas with their dachshund mix, Dobby, to be closer to family, sunshine, and good BBQ.

Cheryl Breeden – OFFICE MANAGER

Cheryl is the Business Manager for the firm and a licensed service assistant. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration. She has years of experience in the areas of process management, customer service, benefits, and insurance. Cheryl has three girls — Ashley, Hannah, & Olivia. She brings this experience to our firm where she manages the underwriting and service process. She also manages the business operations for the firm.

John C. Jackson IV – ASSOCIATE FINANCIAL CONSULTANT

John is an agent from Austin, TX, a graduate of Westlake High School and The University of Texas at Austin, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and a Minor in Business Administration. While at UT, John was a 2-Time Captain and 4-Time All-Conference performer for the men’s lacrosse team. While away from the office, John coaches with the Westlake Youth Lacrosse program and volunteers with Austin’s Young Men’s Business League, and Austin Sunshine Camps.

Chris Fullbright – FINANCIAL ADVISOR

Chris brings experience in financial services and the perspective of a successful entrepreneur who has launched several businesses. With over a decade in the industry, he has served as both an advisor and in a management role coaching new advisors. Chris attended the University of Georgia and Texas State University and graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences.

He currently holds many financial services licenses and designations including FINRA Group One, Series 6, Series 63, Series 65, Series 7, ARPC, and Certification in Long Term Care (CLTC). In his free time he enjoys being involved in the local community through organizations such as Comfort Crew for Military Kids. Chris is also an active member of Austin Christian Fellowship Church, and enjoys spending time there as well as reading, fishing, and going to sporting events. He is happily married to Monique with two wonderful sons. In addition to serving physicians, Chris specializes in working with special needs families.

Paul Smith, CFP® ChFC® MSFS – FINANCIAL ADVISOR

Paul has helped his clients in financial, business, and estate planning for over 10 years. Paul is a graduate of Texas State University, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology. He has also completed the extensive studies necessary to earn the Certified Financial Planners (CFP®) and Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC®) designations. Paul is actively involved in the community through his volunteer work and service on Community Action Board for the Helping Hand Home for Children. Paul is married to Heather and they have two children, Nyla and Hazel.

Richard Cunningham – MANAGING DIRECTOR

For 30 years, Richard has been helping clients reach their financial goals with sincerity and integrity. He works with GME program administrators, individual physicians and their families to help doctors achieve financial security. Richard is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics. He studied in Paris at the Sorbonne. Richard supports numerous charitable organizations, is actively involved in Austin Recovery, and he participates in the Leukemia Lymphoma Society as a survivor of CML. Richard is married to Adrienne with two children, Raven and Coates.