I’m sure most of you remember what the internet used to be like. My family got our first computer in the mid-1990’s – and it was slow… and heavy… and expensive. Now I carry more than 10x the computing power in my pocket for less than 1/10th the cost.
Perhaps more importantly, my tiny, relatively inexpensive computer is connected to others like it (and the people on the other end). The internet has changed the way most of us think about communication.
Along with the popularity of the internet, came changes in the way we shop. Whether it is books, music, or fiber optic cables, we developed three expectations of how shopping online benefits us:
- Shopping online saves money.
- Shopping online saves time.
- Shopping online gives us access to more information, resulting in wiser choices.
The system is broken
But for financial products, it seems our expectations are broken. Looking for life insurance quotes online? Most inquiries online will result in a bunch of phone calls or the opinion of just one person or one company. That’s the same as it used to be. Many life insurance businesses seem to use new technology to create the same old problems faster.
So, is the internet any good for buying insurance products?
Slowly, new companies use technology to allow us to take a different approach that we couldn’t before.
- Can the internet save you money on financial products? Sometimes, but not the way you save money buying a TV online. Insurance costs the same, regardless of where or how you buy it. Because each insurance product is filed with the government at a particular rate, the same policy bought from a mom & pop will cost the same if you buy it through the internet. However, shopping online gives you access to a wider selection of insurance products. More choices to choose from mean lower average prices. This is especially true when you can compare life insurance rates easily.
- Does the internet save time shopping for insurance? While the internet still holds the promise of saving time while shopping for insurance, it doesn’t always work out that way. The reason is that as soon as you request a quote, you get phone calls and emails from all sorts of people trying to sell you something. All the confusion and interruption slows things down.On the other hand, if you get only one phone call or one email, that means you still have work to do to compare agents against each other. Fortunately, some companies online are changing the way we get insurance.
- Better research means customized research. As long as you don’t get overloaded with information, having access to financial planning and life insurance information means you can make wiser choices about protecting your family. The trick is to get all the information that applies to your circumstances and none of the other noise. And there is a lot of noise out there. Searching for “life insurance” on Google gives you 34 million results and 2.2 billion on Cuil.One way to get the customized life insurance information you need is to enlist the help of others. Tell agents what is important to you and what you are looking for. Let them act as research assistants, digging through their bag of tricks for your benefit. Because no single agent can know the best life insurance quote for you, getting many to work for you is essential.
As we begin to leverage the power of the internet for its unique abilities, new organizations appear. Finally, life insurance shoppers can begin to take advantage of the promise of the internet. Maybe it’s time to review your life insurance policy.
This is a guest post from Aaron Pinkston who created Clarifinancial.com to make buying life insurance easier and better. It is the only way to get custom life insurance quotes from multiple agents without any hassle. Seriously. Check it out now to see how easy choosing can be.
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Interesting post. I never really thought about it like that before. The only insurance I’ve really shopped for online is health insurance. And it really did help to have all of those other options to compare it to, and being able to check a few boxes to see side to side comparisons was really helpful.
.-= Miranda´s last blog ..Are You Financially Compatible with Your Partner? =-.
Thanks for the comment Miranda. It is great to have quotes laid side by side, especially when they are human and easy to understand. I guess we’re moving into a time when we can integrate customization in the mix too. So when we see these quotes, we know they actually apply to us.
I have used AccuQuote on the internet, but this site is just like an other insurance broker except that this one runs over the internet. In the end you have to trust the insurance broker that he or she helps you select the right insurance. I believe that AccuQuote did a great job telling me about the various options and their pros and cons, but as I said, any insurance broker can or should do that anyway.
@ctreit You’re right about AccuQuote acting like a single life insurance broker with a fancy website. According to their site, they represent dozens of life insurance companies. There’s nothing special about that. In fact many life insurance brokers you can find in the phone book represent more.
But it is important to get quotes from more than just one agent or broker. It keeps them honest and working for you, while allowing you to see results from more perspectives. I only know of one way to do that without them all calling and emailing you constantly.
@ctreit You’re right about AccuQuote acting like a single life insurance broker with a fancy website. According to their site, they represent “dozens” of life insurance companies. There’s nothing special about that. In fact many life insurance brokers you can find in the phone book represent more.
But it is important to get quotes from more than just one agent or broker. It keeps them honest and working for you, while allowing you to see results from more perspectives. I only know of one way to do that without them all calling and emailing you constantly.
To answer the question as a whole, I think yes it does help. I can’t remember the site I used but I recently re-did my Homeowners and Auto. I put in all the info I wanted, let the offers come in through e-mail and just compared.
Without the internet I would have had to listen to 10 or so different sales approaches and that would have taken what? 10 hours vs my 15 mins of work.
.-= Evan´s last blog ..Going Green Could Help You Reach your Financial Goals Sooner =-.
I’ve used insweb for quotes and AccuQuote for life insurance – I actually bought my Life Insurance through the AccuQuote rep. You can read about the process here: AccuQuote review,
Sorry for the Shameless plug, but it actually was a pain free process – I didn’t even get a phone call! I requested to be contacted via email, and only called the rep once I liked what I saw.
I’ve only used InsWeb for research, but it was helpful.
.-= Joe´s last blog ..First Premier Bank Exploits Credit Card loophole – for 79.9% APR! =-.
@Joe It’s good that you had a good experience. Buying from a local independent agent is easy too. What’s missing is competition from agents, so you can benefit from different perspectives and keep them working for you.
Companies like AccuQuote and SelectQuote limit your options to the companies that make them money. Recently, SelectQuote announced they were adding Transamerica to their line-up. Some agents have been quoting Transamerica on my site from the beginning. Other agents still don’t quote them. As a former insurance broker, I know that sometimes the best company is the one you don’t have access to.
If you can benefit from multiple perspectives tailored to you at once and choose your favorite without any hassle, you really can get from the best of both worlds. That’s the direction things are headed.
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