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We’ve all heard of Gerber baby food and most people can even conjure that iconic image of the Gerber baby’s face on all of those mini glass jars in the grocery store. But not many people know about the Gerber Life Insurance Company, which was formed in 1967 as a subsidiary of the Gerber Products Company, made famous by its widely popular Gerber baby food.

Also known as Gerber Life, the insurance subsidiary offers a wide range of life insurance plans that are crafted to help babies (and their families) enjoy the most secure financial future possible. Just as the infamous Gerber baby food company earned parents’ trust for almost a century, Gerber Life is trusted by parents to help them provide secure futures for their families.

The Gerber Life Insurance Company is one of America’s top “direct-response” marketing insurance companies, which serves as a testament to Gerber’s beloved brand image. Gerber Life is also, not surprisingly, the industry leader in juvenile life insurance, although they have policies for all ages and situations. Gerber has more than 2.9 million policies issued throughout the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada.

What Does Gerber Life Insurance Offer?

While Gerber Life might specialize in juvenile life insurance products, it also sells a whole suite of insurance solutions to people of all ages and financial situations. Gerber Life Insurance Plans Include:

• The GROW-UP Plan – a whole life policy for healthy children between the ages of 14 days and 14 years. Whole life policies build cash value over time. Gerber’s GROW-UP plan has three key advantages. It allows you to lock in low monthly premiums, the coverage benefit doubles at age 18, and it reaches a cash-value that is equal-to or greater-than 100% of premiums paid within 25 years.
• Start Smart College Plan – this insurance plan is basically a college savings plan with a life insurance component that ensures your young ones will still receive their college tuition benefit even if you are not around when the time comes.
• Term Life Insurance – term life policies are available through Gerber for adults between the ages of 18 and 60 in amounts up to $150,000 and for terms up to 30 years.
• Whole Life Insurance – Gerber offers whole life policies up to $150,000 with affordable premiums.

Term vs. Whole Life Insurance

A Term Life policy only pays out a benefit to the policy holder’s beneficiaries if the insured person dies during a specific period of time. Hence the word “Term” in the name, because the policy only functions during a specific term period. The term during which the policy is in effect coincides with the period of time that the insured person must pay monthly premiums for the policy to remain in effect.

Term life policies are best suited to protect families with young children and couples with large debt obligations such as home mortgages. In the former scenario, young children who rely on their parents for financial support would be protected with a large financial sum in the unfortunate event that one or both parents died. In the latter scenario, a widow or widower would be able to cover mortgage payments if their spouse passes away during the term of the policy. There are many other scenarios where term life policies make sound financial sense. You should consult a licensed insurance agent if you have more questions.

A Whole Life policy carries more value than just a death benefit for a specific time period. Consequently, whole life policies are more expensive. The first main difference is that whole life policies offer a death benefit over the entire life of the policy holder, or as long as the policy holder pays the monthly premiums to keep the policy in effect. Another key difference is that whole life policies accumulate cash-value that can be borrowed against by the insured person. For this reason, whole life policies are considered financial investment instruments because they can add substantial value to one’s financial investment portfolio.

These are just the very basics about the two most common life insurance policies, term life and whole life. There are several others including variable life and universal life policies. For more details about the various life insurance products available, you should contact a licensed insurance agent. You can begin your search online, by searching for “life insurance quotes” on your preferred search engine.