The right life insurance for the life you have built.

The most common framework is income replacement. Multiply your annual income by 10 to 15 for a starting estimate. Then adjust for the size of your mortgage, the number of years until your youngest child finishes college, any private school tuition commitments, and any debt you would not want your family to carry. For a Houston family with two earners, two kids in elementary school, a 350,000 dollar mortgage, and one parent staying home, the income-earning parent typically needs between 750,000 and 1.5 million dollars in coverage. The advisory conversation is about getting to the right number for your family, not a one-size answer.

Term life makes sense for most younger and middle-aged Houston families. It is dramatically cheaper per dollar of coverage because it has no cash value and the policy ends after the term. The job of term life is to replace lost income during the years your family depends on that income. Whole life makes sense when the goal is permanent coverage for estate equalization, final expense, business succession, or supplemental retirement strategies. Whole life is usually a poor substitute for term during family-formation years because the premium for the same coverage is roughly 10 times higher. We walk through both with you and explain why the answer is usually term for the income-earning years and whole or universal for the lifetime needs.

Yes, in most cases. Carriers underwrite life insurance based on age, health history, family medical history, height and weight, tobacco use, prescription drug history, and lifestyle factors. A managed chronic condition like controlled high blood pressure, well-managed Type 2 diabetes, or treated and resolved cancers from years past typically qualifies for standard rates, table-rated rates, or guaranteed-issue products depending on carrier appetite. We know which carriers underwrite which conditions favorably, which makes a real difference in monthly premium. Avoid the mistake of applying to one carrier, getting declined, and assuming you cannot get coverage.

A standard paramedical exam takes 20 to 30 minutes and happens at your home or office at no cost to you. The examiner takes height and weight, blood pressure, a blood draw, and a urine sample. Some carriers run a brief EKG for older applicants. The lab tests for liver and kidney function, cholesterol, blood sugar, HIV, hepatitis, nicotine markers, and prescription drug markers. Many carriers now offer accelerated underwriting that skips the medical exam for healthy applicants under 60 with coverage amounts below 1 million dollars. We help you choose the right carrier and product based on which path fits your situation.

Most Texas partnerships and closely held businesses should carry key-person life insurance on each owner. The two main purposes are funding a buy-sell agreement and replacing the financial damage caused by losing a critical contributor. If you and a partner own a Houston construction company together and your partner dies, the life insurance payout funds your purchase of the partner's share from the family, keeps the company functioning, and prevents an estate dispute from threatening the business. Without the policy, the surviving partner may face a forced sale, a partnership with the deceased partner's spouse or children, or a liquidity crisis. Key-person insurance is one of the cheapest, highest-impact tools in a business owner's risk plan.

Texas has no state estate tax. Federal estate tax exemption is high enough that most Houston households do not have federal estate tax exposure either. So estate-tax minimization is rarely the reason a Texas family carries life insurance. The more common reasons are estate equalization (giving one child the family business while the other gets a life insurance payout of equal value), liquidity (paying off a mortgage or final expenses without forcing the sale of inherited assets), and final expense (covering funeral and burial without straining the surviving spouse). For high-net-worth Texas families with federal estate tax exposure, an Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust holding a permanent life policy can remove the death benefit from the taxable estate. We coordinate with your estate attorney when that strategy applies.

Term life solves the problem younger families actually have. The problem is, what happens to the family if one income earner dies during the years when the family depends on that income. Term life pays a large death benefit during that window for a relatively low monthly premium because the policy ends when the window closes. A healthy 35-year-old Houston parent can typically buy a 1 million dollar 20-year term policy for under 50 dollars a month. Whole life with the same death benefit can run 600 dollars or more a month. Most younger families need the coverage, not the cash value. After the term expires, the income-earning years are typically behind you and the kids are independent. The need for life insurance often disappears or shifts to a much smaller final expense policy.

Standard fully-underwritten life insurance takes four to eight weeks from application to policy in force. The medical exam, the lab work, prescription history review, motor vehicle records review, and Medical Information Bureau check all happen during that window. Accelerated underwriting for healthy applicants under 60 with coverage under 1 million dollars can finish in under two weeks with no medical exam in many cases. Guaranteed-issue and simplified-issue products for final expense or older applicants typically issue within a few days. We can frame your expectations on day one based on your age, health, coverage amount, and carrier selection.