While there’s plenty to be said for the rewards of exercise being a healthier body and the benefits of a savings account being an easier time in an emergency, it would be nice to have a little bit more than that cheering us on. After all, these are some tough lifelong habits to maintain, right?
Another one of those seemingly thankless things is life insurance. It’s one of those things you don’t want to need, and yet to go without it can put your loved ones in a terrible spot should the unthinkable happen. But what if you could turn those little everyday habits — like putting money into savings or going on a run — into free life insurance coverage?
That’s exactly what Avibra is trying to do.
Avibra is a brand new app dedicated to helping you achieve daily well-being by dangling one of the most valuable carrots ever, protection for your family.
The app uses complex data analytics and machine learning to look into your daily habits and figure out what you’re doing well. Think about how apps like Mint can look at your purchases and tell you whether you’re hitting your budget goals, or how your Fitbit can let you know when you’ve gotten in your 10,000 steps.
All you have to do is link up your apps, wearables and accounts and let Avibra do the rest. You’ll log in once a week to get your perks (like an increase in your free life insurance coverage).
What Is Avibra?
The Avibra app is the brainchild of Yogesh Shetty, former Managing Director at New York Life. While working in a standard office, he saw the heavy burdens that were often put on families of the 70+ million millennials without life insurance.
After working hard to create an entirely new model of life insurance, he launched the Avibra app at the beginning of 2019. It offers everyday well-being advice while rewarding good habits with free life insurance coverage.
The insurance plans themselves are provided by big insurance giants — those with an A “Excellent” rating by A.M. Best, an external independent oversight entity.
Avibra has the novel approach of combining your everyday lifestyle choices with your life insurance, giving benefits in the short and long term. Think of all the people in your life who would have a tough time when you’re not around. That could be your partner, your kids, your parents or even your friends. We’ve all seen those crowdfunding posts requesting help after a loved one has passed.
While the app isn’t meant to offer million dollar health insurance coverage, it’s infinitely better than the zero dollars in protection so many people have right now. It comes with $10,000 – $25,000 as a starting baseline coverage, which you can add to with simple daily habits. Think of the rent or mortgage you currently help your partner pay, or the student loans your parents may have helped you pull out for school.
The best part is that your life insurance coverage through Avibra is guaranteed and non-conditional. They’re not going to turn you down based on your health or current financial situation. All you need to do to get started is download the app — in a matter of a few short minutes, you’ll have in your hands one of the best kinds of protection you can offer your loved ones.
How Avibra Works
After downloading the app, you’ll meet the AI that they’ve named Arya (think Siri or Alexa). Arya will help you through the steps of setting up your account, asking you a few questions along the way to get your life insurance policy set up and connecting other apps and accounts to make sure you’re getting rewarded for all your good habits.
Once that’s all done, you’ll find two main ways you can earn life insurance coverage while improving your well-being.
The first is in-app activities. These are quizzes, interesting educational videos and even guided meditation. They’re meant to help you learn more about how to create the best life for yourself — with the added bonus of giving you some extra life insurance.
The second way is where Arya comes in. Once you’ve connected your accounts, social media and wearables to the app, you’ll get bumps in coverage for each of your good habits. The more Arya learns about your habits, the better the advice she can offer.
Sign-Up Process
The app is available to all age groups but life insurance perk is available to age group 18-38 and plan to expand age group in coming months.
There’s the Free Plan, with includes a basic level of life insurance coverage that increases weekly with your positive behaviors — this plan has a somewhat limited cap on the maximum policy coverage amount.
The paid version, the Avibra Basic Plan, is only $3.99 each month and offers a range of additional benefits. Have you ever wanted to have access to a health or financial coach, but you haven’t been able to find room in the budget? This is just the thing for you. It’s meant for regular people who just want to live life to the fullest.
You might have noticed we keep saying weekly, too. Avibra is probably one of the only apps out there that wants you to be using it less. To make that happen, they’ve come up with “Avibra Well-Being Day” every Wednesday, where users can log in to retrieve their life insurance rewards.
Keep in mind, there’s no purchase required to download the app or get started with the Free Plan. You can have free life insurance coverage that starts at $10,000 – $25,000 in a matter of minutes, and you can watch that grow week after week.
Pros & Cons of the App
Pros
- Learn what your good habits are
- Free life insurance coverage
- Fun quizzes, videos, meditation & more
- Immediate coverage that only increases with your habits
- No blood work or medical underwriting
- Avibra Basic membership comes with financial & health coaches
Cons
- Life insurance perk currently limited to 18-38 years old
- No option to buy separate life insurance policy
- Only available in the US
Final Thoughts
Avibra is one of the most interesting apps to hit the scene in years. It’s a great way to combine learning about your day to day habits with the responsibilities of life. Insurance might not be the first thing on your mind when you’re young, but you can bet it’ll be on your loved ones’ minds should the worst happen.
Instead of focusing only on the negatives, Avibra’s goal is to flip the script and make the focus on a life well-lived.
