Life Insurance: 6 Key Questions to Ask

BOSTON (TheStreet) -- Refinancing a mortgage can save you thousands of dollars. Rebalancing your portfolio at least once a year is standard advice. Keeping tabs on your retirement plan's performance and whether you are "on target" can be crucial.

But when it comes to life insurance, many take a "set it and forget it" approach, setting the policy without so much as an occasional review for decades. The danger? You may be overpaying for the coverage you get and, in a worst-case scenario, coverage could be on the verge of lapsing.

When it comes to life insurance, many take a "set it and forget it" approach. It's worth checking on your policy.

"If you don't review your insurance policy, it could run out before you do," says Kevin Kimbrough, principal in national sales for Saybrus Partners, a subsidiary of The Phoenix Companies (PNX) that consults with wealth managers and their clients on insurance matters.

"We continually encourage them to make viewing a client's life insurance part of their overall investment review," he says of wealth managers for such companies as Wells Fargo Financial (WFC) and Edward Jones. "As they do their quarterly or annual reviews of clients we urge them to make sure they are looking at the insurance piece. One of the things we consistently find is that many consumers just have not looked at their insurance since they bought it. They purchased a policy, put it in a drawer, and that's the extent of it."

Such reviews often reveal that clients have a policy that no longer meets their needs or is underperforming, Kimbrough says.

Among the questions he says everyone should ask and discuss:

• Do I need to increase (or decrease) my coverage?
• Does it make sense to add a long-term care rider to my policy?
• Is there a more affordable policy to meet my needs?
• Do I need to update or add a beneficiary to my policy?
• How has my policy performed over its term? Can it be improved?
• Have I used the cash value and accumulation capabilities of the policy to the fullest?

"Policies have changed substantially in the last 15 years, and you might be able to cut monthly costs or get additional coverage at little or no additional cost by moving to a new type of policy," Kimbrough says. "Clients sometimes assume that, because they bought a policy years ago, rates were much better then because they were younger, so it doesn't make sense to change now. A lot of times, however, because of the infusion of cash from the old policy, it could be cheaper or provide an additional death benefits or a long-term care rider that might not have been available 10 to 15 years ago."

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