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    • Life Insurance, the facts

    June 15th, 2010 by Admin

    Insurance involves transferring a risk that you bare, onto an insurance company, so that you no longer have to worry about the event occurring. While you pay a fee, or premium for this, what you get in return is peace of mind. So what is the risk that you are transferring with life insurance? Well, quite simply, it is the financial risk of your own death. It should also be remembered that it is in certain circumstances possible to insure the life of another person, such as your husband or wife, or an important employee. The insurance company will then pay out to the named beneficiary once the event occurs, and this is usually a family member or business associate of the insured.

    The thing that insurance companies will be looking for is insurable interest. It may come as a surprise but in the early days of aviation, there were some clever entrepreneurs who would hang around at airports and buy life insurance policies on the passengers. Since plane crashes were very common, a good proportion of the insured passengers died and the insurance companies were faced with the prospect of paying out vast sums to these men.

    This is not the reason insurance was developed and the system was not designed to cope with this kind of speculation. Therefore the rule developed that you could only insure the life of someone you had a real interest in surviving. There is also the public policy issue that it would be tempting to some people to insure strangers and then make sure they died soon.

    The insurance policy will have two important details defined right at the outset. The first is who is to be paid out under the policy. While this seems obvious, it is important to think carefully about it as, unlike in most insurance contracts, the purchaser of the policy is rarely the beneficiary under a life insurance policy.

    The second is the amount to be paid out on to occurrence of the event. It must be remembered that this is also subject to the rule of insurable interest and therefore you cannot have a policy on your life for more than your life is reasonably financially worth. Since the premium is partially calculated on the amount of the payout, you will simply be paying for more insurance than you can receive. Therefore be honest with how much you earn and how much support your providing to your family so that the premium will be accurately assessed.

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    Life Insurance – Outweighing The Benefits?

    June 8th, 2010 by Admin

    Have you filled in a life assurance application recently? Theres a little box that strikes fear into the heart of the slightly overweight. It simply asks you to state your weight. Do you go straight to the scales, undress to the state of nudity and jiggle about on the said scales, trying to pinpoint the lowest mark on the gauge? No, I thought not, you probably take a vague and over optimistic guess, write it in and swiftly move on to the next question. Most of us do it. Its not really cheating. You know youre going to lose it soon, before Christmasholidaysthe wedding. If only!

    Now, one of Britains biggest names in life insurance, namely Scottish Provident, in an effort gain more accuracy in working out the risk factors, has added another innocent little question, i.e. When did you last weigh yourself? Aware of the fact that many people are self conscious about their weight and tend forget the odd few pounds gained since they were last on their diet to end all diets, they feel that this should help to give a true picture of their clients potential health risks. It should also be noted that there are some people who will lie in an effort to obtain cheaper premiums.

    Scottish Provident are quite rightly concerned that they are being told the truth. The UK government are taking obesity very seriously and it has been announced recently that almost a quarter of us are overweight, and its thought by Cancer research UK that around a quarter of these are not interested in losing weight. We are second only to Greece in obesity levels as a nation.

    The definition of obesity is based on the British Medical Associations Body Mass Index (BMI). To work this out, you need to know your height in metres and then multiply by the same figure. Take the result of this and divide by your weight, using kilograms. This gives you your BMI, which can be used to indicate if you are underweight, normal, overweight or obese. It will, however, overestimate fatness in people who are muscular or athletic. These figures are for adults.

    BMI categories are

    Underweight = less than 18.5
    Normal weight = 18.5 to 24.9
    Overweight = 25 to 29.9
    Obesity = BMI of 30 or greater

    In a recent study of 33,000 adults reported in the Lancet, the above figures for normal weight were agreed and there was a suggestion was that only adult patients with a BMI of 35 or above would present a serious lowering of life expectancy.

    Most of the life insurance industry has accepted a BMI level of 30, which seems fair and even generous. For anyone with a BMI of over 30 your premium will be loaded and you may even be asked to take a medical examination. This means if youre overweight you could find your critical illness or life assurance premium could increase by 50% and it seems likely that for some, cover could be refused.

    Its a risky business!

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    Life Insurance – Money Saving Top Tips

    June 1st, 2010 by Admin

    More and more people are buying life insurance online and the numbers seem to be doubling every two years. The reasons are clear. Prices are lower on the Internet and life insurance is fundamentally a simple insurance product.

    Despite the underlying simplicity of life insurance, most web sites channel their online clients through a telephone based help and advice service manned by experienced personnel. They represent your safety net so if a little technical knowledge is called for, help is at hand.

    But its always a good idea to have a few Top Tips in your back pocket when youre shopping online for life insurance. Theyll help you ask the right questions and find the best policy.

    1.Always have your Life Insurance policy Written in Trust.

    This means that in the event of a claim, the money goes directly and immediately to the person(s) you nominate when you first take the policy out. It also avoids all possibility of your estate having to pay Inheritance Tax on the proceeds of your policy and that could represent a 40% tax saving !

    All you have to do is tell the online brokerage organising your policy that you want your policy Written in Trust and the names of the people who the life insurance company pay in the event of a claim. They will then sort it all out for you. The extra good news is that this service is invariably free of charge. So its a win win situation and there arent many of those around these days !

    2.In the early years a Reviewable Life Insurance Policy will be cheaper but a Guaranteed Policy will work out a better buy in the longer term.

    With a Guaranteed Policy the insurance company guarantees never to increase your policys premium.

    With a Reviewable Policy you agree that your insurance company can review the cost of your policy at regular intervals. But dont be kidded in our experience a review is just another word for a price increase. After all, whos ever heard of an insurance company passing up a chance to charge you more! The review intervals are usually between 2 to 5 years but this does vary between insurance companies. You will find the details of the review intervals on the documents sent to you before you accept the insurance these are called The Key Features Documents.

    So, comparing otherwise like for like policies, in the early years the premiums for a Reviewable Policy will undoubtedly be lower than the premiums for a Guaranteed Policy. Thereafter, the premiums for a Reviewable Policy increase eventually catching up with and overtaking, the premium for a Guaranteed Policy.

    In our experience, you can expect the monthly premiums for a Reviewable Policy to exceed those of a Guaranteed policy in about 7 to 10 years and then within the following 10 years, more than double again. If your budget is currently tight then by all means choose a Reviewable Policy – after all your salary may increase in coming years and ease the strain. On the other hand, if the premiums for a Guaranteed Policy are affordable, we think they represent your best buy.

    A footnote. Many insurance companies have stopped offering Guaranteed rates for standalone critical illness insurance policies. This because they have experienced much higher claim rates than they initially expected. However, you may still find a Guaranteed life insurance policy that also provides critical illness cover. As we have explained, Guaranteed rates are especially good value and if you can get a quote for a Guaranteed life policy that includes critical illness cover, you may have a real bargain.

    3.Thinking about a Joint Life Insurance Policy?

    A Joint Life Insurance policy is usually written on a first death basis. This means that the policy will pay out on the death of the first policyholder, subject to the policy being in force at the time. This leaves the second person uninsured and older. Older people can struggle to get life insurance at an affordable premium, so rather than a Joint Policy consider taking out separate policies now. Overall it will work out a little dearer – but you get twice the cover and double the peace of mind.

    4.Taking out a Life Insurance Policy? Now would be an ideal time to include Critical Illness cover.

    Are you likely to need Critical Illness Insurance in the future? Yes? Then consider adding it now to the life insurance policy youre arranging. Why? There are three reasons.

    Firstly, a Life Insurance policy combined with Critical Illness cover will work out significantly cheaper than buying two separate policies. Secondly, as we have already explained in the footnote to Tip 2, you may be able to buy a combined Life and Critical Illness policy with a guaranteed premium. That could be a real bargain. Finally, premiums for critical illness cover increase rapidly as you get older so the sooner you take it out, the cheaper it will be.

    5.it isnt confuse Terminal Illness cover with Critical Illness cover.

    Theres world of difference between Terminal Illness and Critical Illness cover so its important to understand the difference.

    Terminal Illness cover pays out the insured lump sum if a Medical Doctor diagnoses you with an illness from which the Doctor expects you to die within 12 months. Most good life policies automatically include Terminal Illness cover at no extra cost. Its basically an early, and welcome policy payout.

    A Critical Illness policy pays out the insured lump sum if you are diagnosed with one of a wide range chronic illness and there is no life expectancy criteria. Indeed, with many of the insured illnesses you could expect to survive for many years. For example: certain cancers, heart disease, stroke, multiple sclerosis, loss of speech, sight or hearing, onset of Parkinsons or Alzheimers disease, third degree burns etc. Say you were an engineer aged 40 and you lost your sight. A Critical Illness policy would pay out immediately and that money could well be vital in helping you and your family through many difficult financial years ahead. If you just had Terminal Illness cover thered be no chance of a payout.

    So as you can see, Critical Illness cover is far more comprehensive than simple Terminal Illness cover and for that reason critical illness cover always costs you extra.

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    Life Insurance: Is it Right for You?

    May 25th, 2010 by Admin

    Though Life Insurance is neither an investment plan nor a savings scheme, it still plays a significant role in the financial portfolio of most individuals. The main purpose of Life Insurance is to protect the dependents of a person from financial loss in the event of his death.

    Financial obligations arise out of many situations in life like when getting married or divorced, having a baby, buying a house, sending your child to college, starting a business, taking care of a parent who is aged or sick or on retirement. If a person is shouldering these responsibilities he must ensure that these obligations continue to be fulfilled even after his death. If he has a family who depends upon his earning capacity, he is a perfect candidate for life insurance. A person should consider the long term as well as the short-term financial obligations to decide whether he needs life insurance. The questions to ask are:

    1.Do you have people including family and business partners who are financially dependent upon you over a long period of time?

    2.In the event of your death, do your dependents have enough assets and resources including liquid cash to take care of all their needs and to pay off your financial debts?

    The second question requires a further assessment of the short-term financial needs of the family of the deceased. These include working out the following factors:

    Inheritance procedures can be time consuming and the family will need funds till they get access to the property of the deceased.
    The availability of other liquid assets like bank accounts or stocks can reduce dependency on life insurance.

    The existence of a large amount of non-liquid assets as against liquid assets makes it necessary to have insurance.
    The amount of debts and taxes the person stands to owe after his death.

    Businessmen must ensure there is enough cash flow in the business for his inheritors to maintain his business.

    Considering the above questions, one would find most people do need life insurance, though one can do without it if one has no dependents or young kids to support. Still, other obligations like a home mortgage or a sole proprietary business or planning for a comfortable retirement for yourself or your spouse are some of the reasons why a life insurance is still a good financial program to pick up.

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    Life Insurance – Apprehensive About Insurance Coverage

    May 18th, 2010 by Admin

    Life insurance is a very important issue that you should address sooner than later. As we all know all good thing s come to end and in some sad unfortunate cases it is where we may have lost a loved one (suddenly) therefore leaving you unprepared for all the expense involved to give your dearly beloved a decent burialfuneral – so therefore Life insurance is the best plan B any one could have at times like this to help with funeral costs and any debts left behind by the deceased.

    Just how important is Life insurance and what will you gain from coverage – well for one it offers peace of mind for those at troubled times where there may have been a bereavement or an accident and it also provides instant cash payouts if a death has occurred.. Insurance proceeds you will find are a reliable source that you can depend upon when times are hard and the going gets tough.

    Claim peace of mind by going along to an insurance broker to talk on Life insurance. Insurance companies have well trained staff at hand that can give you good advice and support on what best suits you and your family`s needs and better still your budget. By doing this you will have secured your own and anyone close to you a little sense of security.

    Insurance means assurance where you can rest assured that you have done the right thing. After talking to experts in the field of Life insurance you will find that they also can help with all types of insurance policies, like home content and accidental breakage. Payouts can help with hospital treatment and expenses that may incur from dental surgery even pet coverage options.

    If you have a young family dependant of you then this is more reason to finalize some financial backing in your time of need should you be unfortunate to lose a partner or family member through a tragic accident or a sudden premature death.

    Information on insurance policies can be found online. If you still feel a little apprehensive, don`t be, speak to others who have insurance and is familiar with the whole procedure – this may help you a great deal in understanding the importance of it all. Remember the decision is yours but if you decide to go forward with taking out some security like Life Insurance then you will find that you have made the best decision you are ever to make.

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    Life Insurance & Why Its Important For Your Family

    May 11th, 2010 by Admin

    Its sad to think about, but life insurance is something that everyone needs to consider. In the event of an unfortunate loss, an individual often wants to have the peace of mind in knowing that hisher family will be financially secure.

    Life insurance can be obtained in a number of ways, including from a national insurance provider, various credit cards andor certain employers. Depending on the amount of coverage, which is usually available in varying amounts, monthly payments will range from being affordable to very expensive. The amount of coverage that is selected will determine how much a family will receive if their loved one should pass away.

    It is important for many individuals to purchase life insurance so that their loved ones will not have to worry about money in addition to being upset over their loss. When bills begin to come in and utilities are due, this can be a very difficult time for anyone who is also dealing with the loss of a family member. This is especially true if the loss was that of the familys provider, which often means that little or no income will be coming into the household. A life insurance policy will help to ease some of that stress by providing financial help to the family that is left behind. In order to make sure the proper beneficiary is noted on any life insurance policy, the holder must make sure to provide all of the requested information to the insurance provider.

    If life insurance is obtained when the policy holder is young, it will be very affordable. The more time that passes and the older an individual grows, the more expensive the policy will be. In addition, anyone with known health problems will likely pay a much higher life insurance premium if they are fortunate enough to find a carrier to provide them with a policy. As unfortunate as it is, many life insurance companies will not provide coverage to anyone known to be in poor health. The wellness, or lack thereof, relating to a patient will likely be determined by a mandatory physical. While not all carriers require this procedure, some will before confirming coverage. This is their way of making sure that the policy holder is in good health before issuing any type of coverage.

    On a final thought to life insurance coverage, it is not a pleasant thing to discuss or even consider. It is, however, a necessary part of every familys life.

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    Life Insurance What is it?

    May 4th, 2010 by Admin

    If something were to happen to you, you would want to know that your family is taken care of. With todays economy as it is, more and more people have been trying to cut corners to help save on their budgets. A penny saved is a penny earned as they say. This goes towards saving money and trying to find low cost life insurance coverage that will take care of your familys needs.
    Life insurance is pretty simple these days. If you are protected and you were to pass away, your beneficiaries will be left with a cash benefit. These benefits can be used towards anything that they need to use them for. They maybe used to replace lost income, medical expenses as well as funeral expenses. There is no certain set terms that these benefits must be used for.
    Life insurance cash benefits are paid out by your terms in your written Life Insurance Policy and can protect a lot of things. If your spouse is dependant on your income for retirement, it can also help to keep those plans in tact. If you have a mortgage, it can help to pay off that debit so that your family will not loose their home. Perhaps you would like for your children to go to college, or you would like to leave money behind for them. With any decisions you make, you can do exactly what you have planned ahead for.
    One great thing about Life Insurance benefits is that it is usually paid out tax-free. So when you look at the amount of coverage that you want to buy, what you actually see is what you will actually get. Its nice to know before hand that there is no guess work about how much will be taken out of your spouses or loved ones death benefits.
    As you can now see, Life Insurance is very flexible. It makes a lot of sense for people now days, even if they have different goals in mind.
    There are two types of Life Insurances. One is Term Life Insurance and the other is called Permanent Life Insurance. Lets first explore Term Life Insurance.
    Term Life Insurance is a Life Insurance that last during a certain term. These terms can be from 10, 15, 20, 25 or even 30 years. During this time, your premiums are guaranteed not to increase. If you were to pass away during this time period, then your beneficiaries get the cash death settlement benefits. If you were to live longer than the given term period, you then have the option to continue your coverage for an annual, renewable premium, which is generally much higher. You can usually convert a term Life Insurance policy to a permanent one with out getting a medical exam.
    There are two big ways that Permanent Life Insurance differs. First off, the policy is meant to last the rest of your life and as long as you continue to make the required premium payments. Secondly, part of the money that you pay in with is set-aside in an account where it can grow to cash maturity. These funds can be tapped into later on during your life. There are also several different types of Permanent Life Insurances, each with different advantages as well.
    Be sure to find a Life Insurance Company and Agent that best suit your familys needs. Take the time to get at least three different estimates before selecting your company. These estimates are free and most agents are more than happy to even come to your home.

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    Life Insurance: 6 Good Things To Know

    April 27th, 2010 by Admin

    We know the importance of life insurance as we want to make sure that our loved ones are taken care of when we die. But do some research so you’ll be sure to get the best possible coverage at the right price. Here are some helpful tips:

    1.Shop for your life insurance coverage
    2.Never buy more coverage than you need
    3.Buy sooner rather than later
    4.Realize the importance of reviewing your coverage
    5.You will be paying more by paying monthly
    6.Don’t rely solely on the life insurance offered by your employer

    SHOP FOR YOUR LIFE INSURANCE

    When it comes to life insurance, it pays to shop around because premiums can vary widely. And thanks to the Internet, it’s now easier than ever.Make sure the website considers the factors in your medical history that can affect the premiums.

    BUY LIFE INSURANCE THAT YOU NEED

    The key to purchasing the right amount of life insurance is to have enough to meet your needs. It’s important not to have too little coverage as it would be difficult to purchase if you get sick.

    The healthier you are, the better the life insurance rates
    Healthy people get better rates on life insurance. You will be asked to pay a higher rate if you smoke, take medications regularly, are overweight or have a bad driving record.

    GET YOUR LIFE INSURANCE WHILE YOU ARE WELL

    If you’ve been putting off purchasing life insurance because you don’t want to pay the premiums, you may be doing yourself a disservice in the long run. If you are in good health, buy it now.

    YOUR LIFE INSURANCE COVERAGE SHOULD BE REGULARLY REVIEWED

    You’ll want to make sure that a major life event such as the birth of a child, marriage, divorce or perhaps that the children are grown won’t leave you underinsured or overinsured.

    MONTHLY PREMIUM PAYMENTS FOR LIFE INSURANCE COSTS MORE

    You will be paying more for your life insurance if you pay your premium in monthly installments.

    GROUP LIFE INSURANCE

    Don’t rely solely on the life insurance offered by your employer
    Many employers offer their employees some sort of group life insurance. But this amount of coverage is usually not enough and group life insurance policies are not portable, meaning that if you leave your job, you can’t take your life insurance coverage with you.

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    Life and health insurance in personal financial planning.

    April 20th, 2010 by Admin

    Life and health insurance have long been recognized as necessary and essential elements in an individual’s or a family financial program. In a modern society, a sense of family responsibility meant that life and health insurance would grow in importance.

    And still today life and health insurance continue to occupy an important role in the financial planning process.
    This article has the purpose to provide an introduction to this process and highlights the means by which life and health insurance can assist in accomplishing one’s financial plans.

    A personal financial planning can be considered the process where an individual or a family decided to develop and implement an integrated plan to accomplish their objectives. The essential elements of this financial planning concept are the identification of financial goals and the development of an integrated plan to accomplish the objectives.

    As all of us know humans are exposed to many serious perils, such as property losses from fire and windstorm, and personal losses from disability and death. Although individuals can not predict or prevent completely the occurrence of these dangerous events, they can provide against thier financial effects. The function of insurance is to safeguard against such misfortunes by having the losses of the unfortunate few paid by the contributions of the many who are exposed to the same peril.

    The essence of of insurance is the sharing of losses and, in the process, the substitution of a certain small loss ( that is to say the premium payment ) for an uncertain, large loss.

    In the peril under consideration is that of the death, the financial loss suffered can be reduced through life insurance. If the peril is instead disability, the financial loss can be compensated by the health insurance.

    Insurance may be defined from two perspectives: that of the society and that of the individual. From the society’s point of view, life or health insurance may be defined as a social device where individuals transfer the financial risks associated with loss of life or health to the group of individuals, and which involves the accumulation of funds: and this concept means that the insurance exists when there is a transfer of the risk from the individual to the group.

    From the individual’s point of view, life or health insurance may be defined as an agreement where one party pays a stipulated consideration ( the premium ) to the other party ( the insurer ), in return for which the insurer agrees to pay a defined amount of money if the person whose life is insured dies or suffers an illness to a stated time.

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    Learn About Whole Life Insurance

    April 13th, 2010 by Admin

    Whole Life Insurance, Trends, and Staying Power

    Whole life insurance provides customers with a life insurance policy that will help their loved ones in the future, and with an investment component that will help customers and their families right away. This mixture of delayed and instant gratification has been attractive to life insurance shoppers for decades, but todays trend in life insurance is moving away from whole life insurance packages. Once, whole life insurance policies were the standard, but today they are the exception.

    As the economy changes and the American public become increasingly savvy about money management, the full service that a whole life insurance policy provides just isnt as necessary as it used to be. People who want a more hands on approach to investing are likely to find a whole life insurance policy too limiting. And, the amount of money that one of these policies requires each month can make it difficult to pursue other investment options, especially for middle and lower class families who are living on a budget. A lot of financial experts today feel the investment portions of whole life insurance policies do not offer customers the best return rate on their money. This provides an incentive for people to purchase term life insurance policies which do not include any investment components, and then invest their money elsewhere.

    However, there are still some advantages to purchasing a whole life insurance policy. Although the investments that an insurance company will make on your behalf may not be the most lucrative, they will almost certainly be among the most stable. Many people prefer a lower rate of return with a lower chance of loss rather than a riskier gamble. There is plenty to be said in favor of this perspective, especially when it comes to planning for the future. In addition, people who do not have the discipline or inclination to save money on their own often find the structured saving a whole life insurance policy requires to be a boon.

    If the idea of budgeting your own savings plans and spending time researching hot stock tips appeals to you, a whole life insurance policy probably wont be to your personal taste. Of course, even if you dont opt for this tried and true kind of policy, you can be certain that someone else will. Although todays trends seem to foretell the end of the whole life insurance policy, there are still enough customers interested in this kind of traditional and conservative policy that insurance companies will be likely to offer this kind of coverage for many years to come.

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