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.
You might be thinking that life insurance is another expense you can’t afford. However, you’ll be surprised at the cost of life insurance offered by Ethos Life (hint: it's a great deal).
In this article, we’re going to review Ethos Life. 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 life insurance companies.
Quick Summary
- Low-cost online life insurance
- Online application process is very easy to use
- No medical checks required. Just answer a few health questions.
Ethos Life Details | |
|---|---|
Product Name | Ethos Life |
Maximum Coverage | $2 million |
Minimum Coverage | Whole Life: $1,000 |
Minimum Age | Term: 20 Whole life: 66 |
Maximum Age | Term: 65 Whole Life: 85 |
Medical Exam Required? | Not required. Just answer a few health questions. |
Terms Offered | 10, 15, 20, 30 year |
Products Offered | Term or Whole Life |
Promotions | None |
Determining Your Insurance Need
The first thing you’ll see on the Ethos homepage is a section to get a quick quote. Ethos has made the process of receiving a quote extremely simple with only five fields (as of this writing).
Their quote will give you a fair estimate 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 options easy to understand. The more life insurance you need and the older you are, the more costly it will be.
What Types Of Life Insurance Does Ethos Offer?
Any U.S. citizen (or permanent resident) between the ages of 20 and 65 can apply for a term life policy with Ethos. This means fixed monthly rates for the term of the insurance.
Term policies offered by Ethos start at $20,000 and go as high as $2 million. There are four terms to choose from: 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, and 30 years.
If you're older than age 65, you won't be able to apply for term insurance with Ethos. But if you're ages 66-85, you can still get a guaranteed issue whole life policy.
Regardless of medical history, applicants in that age range are guaranteed to be approved in a matter of minutes. The payouts for these policies are much lower than term policies offered by Ethos, though, ranging from $1,000 to $30,000.
Whether you apply for term or whole life insurance with Ethos, you can get a policy without having to take a medical exam. However, you may need to answer a few health questions.
The Application Process
Ethos’ application process is entirely online and they offer phone support, chat, and a clearly displayed email address to send inquiries to.
After getting your quote, you’ll start moving through the application process. There is a status at the top of the application page showing how much has been completed. The application sections include:
- Basic info
- Your lifestyle
- Your health
- Payment info
- Confirmation
Is Ethos Life Reliable?
Like Haven Life, Ethos has high-quality backing by some of the largest insurance companies. In the event you need to file a claim, Ethos will provide you with the phone number for the carrier's claims department.
Ethos and Tomorrow
Ethos acquired an estate planning company called Tommorrow.me which allows then to help you not only look at your life insurance needs, but they can help you with your estate planning too.
Now called Ethos Online Wills And Planning, you can get both free and paid estate planning tools. You can get this free version with a life insurance policy.
You can also pay $149 to get a will, and $449 to get a complete suite of estate planning tools.
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. A medical exam is not 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 31-day grace period. But you don’t want to go past the 31st day because it will result in your policy lapsing.
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 $2 million of coverage with Ethos with no medical exam (just answer a few health questions). That’s very competitive in the online life insurance space.
How Does Ethos Compare?
While Ethos was one of the first online insurance agencies to make online life insurance easy, it's definitely facing a lot of competition from similar companies. As with any insurance, you should get multiple quotes and compare your options.
With that in mind, here's a quick comparison:
Header | |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
Rating | |||
Min Coverage | Whole Life: $1,000 | $50,000 | $100,000 |
Max Coverage | $2 million | $1,500,000 | $3,000,000 |
Terms | 10, 15, 20, 30 Year | 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 Year | 10, 15, 20, 30 Year |
Types | Term or Whole Life | Only Term | Only Term |
Exam? | Not Required | Not Required | Maybe |
Cell |
Is It Worth It?
Ethos isn’t a traditional insurance agency, and it shows. By focusing on simple products, they’ve been able to cut cost and offer 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 life insurance yet or could your current policy be better?
Ethos Life Features
Min Policy Amount | Whole Life: $1,000 Term Life: $20,000 |
Max Policy Amount | $2 million |
Policy Terms | 10, 15, 20, 30 Years |
Policy Types | Term or Whole Life |
Riders/Customization | Riders are available with some product offerings. |
Medical Exam | Not required. Just answer a few health questions. |
Online Account Management | Yes |
Policy Underwriters | Legal & General America Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. TruStage® |
AM Best Rating | All rated A+ (Superior) |
Availability | 49 states, excluding New York |
Customer Service Phone Number | (415) 322-2037 |
Customer Service Hours | Mon-Fri, 8 AM - 6 PM (CT) |
Mailing Address | 75 Hawthorne St Suite 2000 San Francisco, CA 94105 |
Promotions | None |
Ethos Life Review
-
Pricing
-
Ease of Use
-
Products and Services
-
Customer Service
Overall
Summary
Ethos Life offers term and whole life insurance quickly online.
Pros
- Quick online life insurance quotes
- Applicants won’t need a medical exam
- Backed by underwriters that have strong financial strength ratings and long track records
Cons
- Limited information about riders
- Not available to New York residents
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 toward 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, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, ABC, NBC, Today, and more. He is also a regular contributor to Forbes.
Editor: Clint Proctor Reviewed by: Claire Tak