Attention Federal Employees age 50 and older that pay for life insurance coverage up to 5 times your salary using FEGLI optional coverage.  We can save you over $30,000 on Life Insurance over the course of your career AND span the coverage into retirement.

Quick Tip:  Click any of the red Get Started buttons on the page to receive your NO COST life insurance benefit assessment within 48 hours.

We think you'll agree when we tell you,  the large amount of money taken out of your check each pay period for FEGLI optional coverage is too much but the amount of life insurance coverage (5 times your salary) is about right.

FEGLI

A federal employee certainly has great benefits and the life insurance program is great too.  But at age 50 when using the optional coverage B, it gets too expensive as you've probably noticed on your leave and earnings statement.  It's also set up to end at retirement.

We recommend a federal employee maintain FEGLI basic and select the 75% reduction and pick up a low cost 20 to 25 year term policy.   We can walk you through this process very deliberately to save THOUSANDS over the course of your active service and into retirement.

The question will come down to your health.

If you are....

  • Generally healthy
  • Take no prescribed medication
  • You don't smoke
  • Have no family history of heart conditions or cancer prior to age 60

You qualify for a level term life insurance policy with a similar death benefit as FEGLI option B but at a fraction of the cost.

US Capital

FEGLI gives all federal employees the opportunity to receive life insurance benefits, healthy or not.  That means those in great health, pay the same amount of money as those in poor health.  

For individuals that are healthy there are ways to achieve more death benefits for your family and increase your take home pay.

This decision will impact your current take home pay and your take home pay in retirement.  

That's right! It's not just about the cost now, there's the cost to consider when you retire.  When you request a retirement estimate you will make the decision whether to take the survivor benefit plan or not.

You may find it more cost effective to cover your survivor benefit with a life insurance policy rather than taking the 5 or 10 percent withdraw from your retirement pay.   We help you weigh out these options by providing you with a very detailed sheet that illustrates the coverage amounts and costs by year.

We will complete a FREE assessment to show you the exact costs of FEGLI Basic and optional coverage as you age and head into retirement. We will use the information you provide to fill out the OPM FEGLI calculator. We take that result and put it into our planning sheets to illustrate your total cost for life insurance.

 We think you'll find this is the most comprehensive information resource on the Web for the best alternatives to FEGLI optional coverage.  We don't just point you to the OPM site, we provide you with real numbers based on the FEGLI Calculator that you can use to save thousands of dollars and have a solid plan in place to take care of your family when you die.

Our assessment shows you the most cost effective way to fund your life insurance requirement.

1. We create an individual assessment to illustrate the FEGLI basic costs along with FEGLI optional coverage costs until your projected retirement age.

2. We create an individual illustration using the FEGLI Calculator to show the estimated costs using FEGLI basic cost plus a privately owned term life insurance policy using our quote engines.

If you choose to apply for a privately owned life insurance policy - here are the steps.

1.  We apply for the term life insurance policy over the phone/text or email.

2.  Once approved for the term life insurance policy, we help you file a new SF 2817 to select FEGLI basic coverage only with your human resources office.  This does not require an open season.

You will see the difference in pay on your leave and earnings statement and have the same amount or more life insurance coverage that doesn't expire when you retire.  The term life insurance programs we recommend are death benefits that never go down and payments that never go up.

  • We only recommend level term programs. 
  • No decreasing death benefit plans!
  • No "increasing payments as you age" plans like WAEPA.

The underwriting process with most fully underwritten term life insurance companies takes 30 days on average.  This means you should consider this time before your next birthday to get approved at your current age rate.  If fact most term life companies consider your age as "closest age" . That means when you're within six months from your next birthday, your premiums will be calculated at your next age.   Ask us how we can help you "save age".

Set it and forget it...

When you participate in FEGLI optional coverage your life insurance coverage and cost goes up when you get a step increase and a promotion.  We think you should buy a fixed term life insurance policy and increase the amount you contribute to your TSP as step increases and promotions occur.  Your basic coverage will continue to go up - but we think FEGLI basic coverage is a bargain no matter what.

 

FEGLI logo

Review our Virtual Policyholder case studies below and then click on any of the red "Get Started" buttons to contact us and receive your NO COST Life Insurance Benefit Assessment with 48 hours.

Meet Our Virtual Policy Holders

Virtual Policyholder Number 1

 

Nancy Brown

Nancy wants life insurance in the amount of at least 5 times her salary but wants to reduce the rising cost.  We recommend Nancy pick up a 25 year, fully underwritten term life insurance policy with a $600,000 face amount, keep FEGLI basic and drop FEGLI option B.

The result:  Over the next 9 years Nancy will save over $18,000 in life insurance costs and have a fixed cost of $212.80 monthly for a 25 year term life insurance policy with a face amount of $600,000 through age 81.

Nancy Brown, IT Specialist
Federal Aviation Administration, Washington, DC
Age  56
Current Series, Grade/Step :  GS- 2210-12/7
Plans to retire at age 65
Health concerns:  high blood pressure treated with Amlodipine 20 MG 1 time a day, first diagnosed at age 53. She doesn’t smoke.
Current FEGLI Participation: FEGLI Basic
Pays per pay period: $15.00
Coverage: $100,000
FEGLI option A: 0
FEGLI option B: 5 times salary  $98.00  $490,000
FEGLI option C: 0

virtual policyholder #1 rate chart

Virtual Policyholder Number 2

 

Grace Chi sketch

Grace wants life insurance in the amount of at least 5 times her salary but wants to reduce the rising cost.  We recommend Grace pick up a 30 year, fully underwritten term life insurance policy with an $800,000 face amount, keep FEGLI basic and drop FEGLI option B.

The result:  Over the next 17 years Grace will save over $26,000 in life insurance costs and have a fixed cost of $179.22 monthly for a 30-year term life insurance policy with a face amount of $800,000 through age 80.

 

Grace Chi, Program Analyst
Department of Veteran’s Affairs, Washington, DC
Age  50
Current Series, Grade/Step :  GS- 0343-13/8
Plans to retire at age 67
Health concerns:  None. She doesn’t smoke.
Current FEGLI Participation: FEGLI Basic
Pays per pay period: $18.30
Coverage: $122,000
FEGLI option A: 0
FEGLI option B: 5 times salary  $66.00  $600,000
FEGLI option C: 0

virtual policyholder #2

Virtual Policyholder Number 3

 

virtual policyholder #3

Manfred wants as much life insurance as possible.  With the increased risk of being a smoker is a private life insurance policy is still a better deal than FEGLI option B and it’s a good way to get coverage that spans into retirement.   We recommend Manfred picks up a 20 year, fully underwritten term life insurance policy with a $600,000 face amount, keep FEGLI basic and drop FEGLI option B.

The result:  Over the next 5 years Manfred will save just under $1,000 in life insurance costs and have a fixed cost of $615.48 monthly for a 20 year term life insurance policy with a face amount of $600,000 through age 80.

Manfred Hayes, Management Analyst
GSA, Washington, DC
Age  60
Current Series, Grade/Step :  GS- 0343-14/7
Plans to retire at age 65
Health concerns:  high cholesterol treated with Simvastatin 20 MG 1 time a day, first diagnosed at age 54. He smokes.
Current FEGLI Participation: FEGLI Basic
Pays per pay period: $21
Coverage: $140,000
FEGLI option A: 0
FEGLI option B: 5 times salary  $303.60  $690,000
FEGLI option C: 0

insurance coverage chart

Virtual Policyholder Number 4

 

virtual policyholder #4

 

Gabrielle wants life insurance in the amount of $1,000,000  to age 80.  Even though this doesn’t show a cost savings, he intends on using this policy as a substitute  for the survivor benefit plan over retirement. We recommend Gabrielle pick up a 30 year, fully underwritten term life insurance policy with a $1,000,000 face amount, keep FEGLI basic and drop FEGLI option B.

The result:  Over the next 30 years Gabrielle will a $1,000,000 life insurance policy with a fixed cost of $348.21 monthly.  He plans on using this instead of giving up 10% of his salary to fund the survivor benefit plan.

Gabrielle Ortiz, Logistics Management Analyst
Federal Aviation Administration, Fayetteville, NC
Age  51
Current Series, Grade/Step :  GS- 0343-13/6
Plans to retire at age 68
Health concerns:  None. He doesn’t smoke.
Current FEGLI Participation: FEGLI Basic
Pays per pay period: $15.60
Coverage: $104,000
FEGLI option A: 0
FEGLI option B: 5 times salary  $56.10  $510,000
FEGLI option C: 0

life insurance coverage chart

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Terry Biddle is a business owner, blogger, retired Army National Guard officer and a current federal employee. He works with seniors, federal employees, and members of the military to get the most life insurance benefits at the greatest value across the full spectrum of term and permanent products from fully underwritten to no-exam and guaranteed issue. Please feel free to contact me here.
Terry Biddle’s company, Virginia Senior Benefits and Family Care LLC is a verified service disabled veteran-owned small business. The Department of Veteran Affairs, Center for Verification and Evaluation (CVE) verifies companies according to the tenets found in Title 38 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 74 that address Veteran eligibility, ownership, and control to be designated as a Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business.
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