Life insurance is a necessity for any young family. Have you ever wondered what would happen to your family if you weren’t there to provide an income? Their life would change completely. The current style of living they know would vanish in an instant.
Term life insurance can ensure that doesn’t happen to your family. You might be thinking term life insurance is another expense you can’t afford. However, you’ll be surprised at the cost of life insurance offered by Ethos Life Insurance (hint: it's a great deal).
In this article, we’re going to review Ethos Life Insurance. They’re what’s called an insurtech (not to be confused with fintechs). This means Ethos makes heavy use of technology to process life insurance applications and keep costs down. Their close competitor, Bestow, also plays in this space.
See how they compare to the other online term life insurance companies.
Quick Summary
- Low cost online term life insurance
- Online application process is very easy to use
- No medical checks required and instant approval in some cases
Ethos Life Insurance Details | |
|---|---|
Product Name | Ethos |
Maximum Coverage | $10,000,000 |
Minimum Coverage | $25,000 |
Minimum Age | 18 |
Maximum Age | 75 |
Medical Exam Required? | Not required in most cases |
Term Offered | 10, 15, 20, 30 year |
Products Offered | Term Life Insurance |
Promotions | Variable and Fixed |
Determining Your Insurance Need
Ethos can be found at getethos.com. The first thing you’ll see on their homepage is a section to get a quick quote. Ethos has made the process of receiving a quote extremely simple with only four fields (as of this writing).
Their quote will give you a fairly accurate number of how much insurance will cost you. But the question remains: How much insurance should you get?
In general, you want 10X your income. If you are making $50,000/yr, you’ll want $500,000. This provides for an additional ten years of income for your family. It also assumes you are the bread winner and have children.
For most applicants, they’ll likely find the monthly cost to be well below $100. The more life insurance you need and the older you are, the more costly it will be.
Ethos Offers Only Online Term Life Insurance
Ethos offers only one type of insurance - term life insurance. This means fixed monthly rates for the term of the insurance.
Because they are focused on one type of insurance, it also means no upsells to other insurance products. If you’ve ever gone through a traditional insurance company, you know what we mean here.
One of their favorite upsells is whole life insurance, which is a completely different product.
This leads to the question: Why no other products? Ethos has such a streamlined process because it focuses on a single, simple product. If it tried to sell whole life, which is a very complex, commission driven product, Ethos wouldn’t be able to provide the same level of service and pricing.
The Application Process
Etho’s outlines their application process like this:
Ethos’ application process is entirely online, unlike Haven Life who also offers an 800 number, chat, and even a clearly displayed email address to send inquiries to.
After getting your quote, you’ll start moving through the application process. There is an outline on the left side of the application page showing the section of the application you are in and how much has been completed. The application sections include:
- Basic info
- Your lifestyle
- Your health
- Payment info
- Confirmation
Get A Free Quote
Check out this tool and get a free quote from Ethos right now:
Is Ethos Reliable?
Like Haven Life, Ethos has high-quality backing by some of the largest insurance companies, including Munich Reinsurance America, Aon, Assurity, and RGA.
Policies are issued and guaranteed by Assurity and RGA, which are rated A (excellent) by A.M. Best.
Riders currently only available for policies underwritten by Assurity
In the event you need to file a claim, you can send an email to concierge@getethos.com. Once again, this is unlike Haven Life’s contact options. You’ll need to be comfortable with the lack of opportunities to speak with any one on the phone.
Additional Questions And Considerations
Q.) Will I be approved?
While the Ethos application process is simple and fast, it doesn’t necessarily mean you will be approved. In some instances, a medical exam may be required. Even if you have health issues, Ethos encourages everyone to apply.
This is the starting point for your application regardless.
Q.) When are payments due?
Ethos will let you know when payment is due each month. There is a 30 day grace period. But you don’t want to go past the 30th day because it will result in your policy being canceled.
You can also cancel your policy anytime, but you’ll need to email concierge@getethos.com to do so.
Q.) Is Ethos available in my state?
Ethos is available nationwide except in New York. Hopefully that changes soon and they are available everywhere.
However, from talking to their team, it sounds like Ethos should be available everywhere very soon!
Q.) Does Ethos offer any other types of insurance?
No, currently Ethos only offers life insurance. If you're looking for other types of insurance, you might want to look at these resources:
Q.) How much coverage can I buy with Ethos?
You can buy up to $10 million of coverage with Ethos, although if you buy more than $1.5 million of coverage, they’ll require an exam. That’s above average in the online life insurance space. For example, TruStage Life Insurance offers decent online life insurance rates, but caps their coverage at just $100,000.
Final Thoughts
Ethos isn’t a traditional insurance agency, and it shows. By focusing on a single, simple product, they’ve been able to cut cost and offer extremely competitive pricing to customers.
While there isn’t a front facing phone number or chat, you can contact them through email. You’ll just need to be comfortable with the lack of contact options. This doesn’t mean you should avoid Ethos because you think they are a fly-by-night company. That isn’t the case at all.
But if phone and chat are contact options you need, you might want to try Bestow. It only takes minutes to compare.
Do you have term life insurance yet or could your current policy be better?
Ethos Life Insurance Review
- Pricing - 95
- Ease of Use - 90
- Products and Services - 75
- Customer Service - 80
Overall
Summary
Ethos Life Insurance offers term life insurance quickly online.
Robert Farrington is America’s Millennial Money Expert® and America’s Student Loan Debt Expert™, and the founder of The College Investor, a personal finance site dedicated to helping millennials escape student loan debt to start investing and building wealth for the future. You can learn more about him on the About Page, or on his personal site RobertFarrington.com.
He regularly writes about investing, student loan debt, and general personal finance topics geared towards anyone wanting to earn more, get out of debt, and start building wealth for the future.
He has been quoted in major publications including the New York Times, Washington Post, Fox, ABC, NBC, and more. He is also a regular contributor to Forbes.