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After the birth of my first son, my entire perspective on money changed. I was struck by the realization that for the next 20 years, another life would be depending on my income for survival.
Honestly, that thought was a bit frightening, and I immediately began looking for the best life insurance. My story isn't that unusual. Many people don't start seriously thinking about life insurance until they have kids.
Fabric by Gerber Life, a digital life insurance company, seems to get that and has tailored its life insurance policies and other services to appeal specifically to families. Fabric life insurance is not to be confused with Gerber Life insurance (yes, the company of Gerber Baby fame) which has more coverage options.
Let's take a closer look at what the company has to offer.
Types of Plans from Fabric Life Insurance
Fabric's main life insurance product is called Fabric Premium. All Fabric life insurance policies are issued by Western-Southern Life Assurance Company, which is rated A+ for financial strength by A.M. Best.
Fabric Life Insurance Term Lengths and Coverage Amounts
While Fabric is focused on covering you while you have kids in the home, it still offers a strong variety of term lengths for its life insurance policies. Your options are 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30. Originally Fabric's longest term length was 20 years, so this is an improvement.
Currently, Fabric only offers term life insurance policies and no whole life insurance options. The difference between term and whole life insurance is that term policies end after your specified term, while whole life policies don't expire and can feature other perks like a cash value that you can use to borrow against.
As far as Fabric Life's coverage options go, you can choose from $100,000 to $5 million.
Also note that Fabric policies are available in all states except California, Montana, and New York.
How Much Does Fabric Life Insurance Cost?
The specific prices that you're quoted will depend on your health, age, and family medical background.
But in my experience, Fabric's quotes are very competitive. For example, here are a few actual quotes I received from Fabric for a 20-year policy:
- $250,000 in coverage: $16.65 monthly premium
- $750,000 in coverage: $32.96 monthly premium
- $1 million in coverage: $41.76 monthly premium
Depending on your situation, Fabric may offer you slightly higher or lower rates than what I received. But I do believe that the company strives to offer affordable policies to its customers.
Other Fabric Life Insurance Features
In addition to its life insurance product, Fabric offers a couple of extra services that families will appreciate.
Fabric Wills
You can use Fabric Wills to create your last will and testament for free. A will not only allows you to designate who should inherit your estate, but it's also where you can appoint a guardian for your child.
For this reason, creating your will is very important if you have kids. And Fabric says you can create yours in five minutes on its site.
Fabric Vault
Fabric Vault is a financial security product that is built into the Fabric app. With Fabric Vault, you can share your financial account information like your bank, 401(k), or IRA with your spouse.
You can store your will in your Fabric Vault as well. Think of it like a virtual bank safety deposit box. And Fabric Vault takes security seriously, using 256-bit encryption to protect your data.
How to Apply for Fabric Life Insurance
It takes less than one minute to get a quote from Fabric. The site asks for just five pieces of information: your age, your gender, your state of residence, your history with tobacco use (if any), and your health.
If you like what you see, you can continue with the full application, which asks a lot of questions about your health. But it's for a good reason. If everything checks out and no flags are raised, you may be able to receive full underwriting approval immediately. That means you may be able to get medically underwritten life insurance coverage without a medical exam.
If you aren't able to receive immediate approval, one of Fabric's underwriters will reach out and may ask for more information. In some cases, you may still need to undergo a medical exam (but at no cost to you).
Methodology: How We Reviewed Fabric Life Insurance
To evaluate Fabric Life, we relied on our insurance rating methodology, which scores insurers based on their coverage options and amounts, the cost of monthly premiums, industry ratings such as A.M. Best, customer reviews, and how the insurer stacks up to the competition.
How Fabric Life Insurance Compares
One of Fabric's strengths lies in its simplicity, but that's also one of its weaknesses.
If you're looking for a whole life policy or a ton of optional riders, Fabric isn't going to be the right insurer for you. But Fabric is a strong choice for anyone who's looking to buy term life insurance with a term length of 30 years or less. It offers a streamlined application process, competitive rates, and useful companion products.
Just be sure to compare your Fabric life insurance quotes with at least two other insurers. Or use an insurance marketplace, like Policygenius or Quotacy, to see quotes from multiple insurers at the same time.
Editorial Note: Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer. Read our editorial standards.
Please note: While the offers mentioned above are accurate at the time of publication, they're subject to change at any time and may have changed, or may no longer be available.
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