Have you ever wished for more than closed circles, little check marks or ‘good job!’ messages whenever you stick to a good habit? Now, that morning jog and green juice you picked up from the shop around the corner is benefiting you in more ways than one.
Life insurance is often thought of as a necessary evils. You’re not going to personally get the benefits from your policy, but without it your loved ones go unprotected. But in the US, well over half of people don’t have it. So, not only do they never see the benefits, their family won’t either.
Avibra is a brand new app that encourages daily wellness, rewarding you for your good habits in the form of life insurance coverage.
The app combines data science with machine learning to track your everyday habits. You just link your information – like social media, health trackers and transaction history – with Avibra to keep track of your day to day activities. When you check in once a week, you’ll receive perks and a chance to convert those great habits into life insurance coverage.
We’ll be giving you a bit of a background on the startup app and the person behind this innovative way to look at life insurance.
What Is Avibra?
Avibra was dreamed up by Yogesh Shetty in his former role as a New York Life executive. His goal has been to expand the accessibility of life insurance and give them a better idea of how to go about living a good life.
Launched in Jan 2019, the Avibra app offers a final product that fully integrates both everyday well-being and life insurance protection.
The life insurance plans they offer at no cost to their users are backed by big insurance giants with an A “Excellent” rating by A.M. Best, an external independent oversight entity.
Avibra is unique in its ability to combine your lifestyle with your life insurance, offering benefits that both include and go far beyond your day to day habits. Whether you have children or not, life insurance can offer the people in your life peace of mind. From credit card debt to mortgages and car payments to student loans and rent, most people have someone in their life who would be better off as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy – children, parents or grandparents, spouses or partners, even pets.
While the app isn’t going to be getting you million dollar coverage, it’s a great start at the right price – free. It comes with a starting coverage amount and then you top it up with your good habits on a weekly basis. It’s definitely a decent coverage amount, with nearly every millennial carrying an average debt between $22 – 42k – including credit cards, car and personal loans, private student loans, etc. And surprisingly, two thirds of their debt is co-signed by parents.
Plus, your coverage with Avibra is guaranteed and non-conditional, meaning they won’t deny you coverage based on medical conditions or anything like that. Just download the app and in a matter of minutes you can have $15,000 – 25,000 (or more!) in coverage – topping it off weekly with your good habits.
On average, people spend 2 hours everyday using social media apps with little to no benefit in your daily life. With Avibra, you spend just 10 minutes every Wednesday to not only learn more about how to improve your life but get rewarded for it with you real money that goes toward your own life insurance.
How Avibra Works
When you first download the Avibra app you’ll meet Arya. She’s Avibra’s artificial intelligence similar to Siri and Alexa. Arya helps you set up your account and connect other apps and accounts so she can track and reward your good habits.
The fun and integrative app provides two ways to improve your well-being and earn life insurance.
In-app activities – like quizzes, short educational videos & guided meditation series – are meant to help you learn about how to improve your well-being. With each one you complete, you’re rewarded with another bump in insurance coverage.
Data crunching happens when you connect your accounts to Avibra – similar to how Mint works. Arya automatically analyzes your daily purchases, activity levels and social interactions to find positive behaviors. Arya uses machine learning algorithms to figure out your positive habits for you, taking the work out of the process while increasing your coverage automatically.
Arya learns more about your habits the more you use the app. Her daily tips, videos and quizzes will be better tuned in to your lifestyle and habits, encouraging you to improve your well-being.
Sign-Up Process
Currently, the Avibra app itself is free to use for everyone, but the life insurance perk is only available to people between the ages of 18 and 38 (though they’re in the process of expanding that in coming months).
The Free Plan includes a basic level insurance policy with coverage that increases weekly. Keep in mind that the cap on the policy is limited.
Oh, and we keep saying the word weekly because Avibra is one of the first apps that wants you to spend less time on it. They’ve designated every Wednesday as “Avibra Well-Being Day” so that you only have to check in once a week.
There’s no purchase required to get either the app or the life insurance perks with the free version of the plan. All you have to do is follow a healthy and positive lifestyle and you’ll see your coverage grow. That’s all you need to do to keep your coverage active.
Netflix of Well-Being
The Avibra Free plan is a great way to learn more about living a good life – but they really take it to the next level with the paid plan, living true to their mission of helping people live a good life. The Avibra Basic plan is the first of several versions to come, adding benefits that your average American have always wanted but rarely had the money for.
For just $3.99/month, they can plan their financial and physical well-being, getting access to financial, insurance and health coaches to help them live life to the fullest. It’s meant for everyday people (instead of someone who already has all their ducks in a row) who just need some simple guidance.
The core foundation of a person’s well-being is their finance + health. The goal of
The Avibra Basic membership is to simply show people the right direction and possible paths to get there, letting the individual take the wheel. And when you’re lost and need some direction, you can get help from those financial, insurance & health coaches to help you get back on track.
It’s currently in the early rollout phase, so feel free to explore it.
Pros & Cons of the App
Pros
- Learn more about your own good habits
- No-cost life insurance coverage
- Interactive platform with quizzes, videos, interesting facts & more
- Instant coverage that you add to with your good habits
- No blood work or medical underwriting, you are covered instantly
- Avibra Basic membership comes with financial, insurance & health coaches — looks like a great bang for your buck
Cons
- Currently life insurance perk is limited to 18-38 years old but plan to expand age group in coming months
- No option to buy separate life insurance policy
- Not available internationally
Final Thoughts
The Avibra app is a novel way to look at life insurance coverage today. For people who like to learn more about their daily habits, it offers a smart way to do it all in one place. Since you can try it for free, there’s no risk in downloading the app just to see what types of quizzes and activities there are, much less complicated than filling out the paperwork for an old-fashioned life insurance policy. For any person with a loved one, it’s an amazing tool to make life a bit less stressful.
The holistic look at a person’s life also feels so much less like a transaction, too. Instead of signing on the dotted line and handing over a certain amount each year until you die, you’re living a life that matters. Avibra’s goal is to encourage good habits and start building up protection for loved ones.
