Tag Archives: Life
Is There Discount Term Life Insurance Out There?
Is There Discount Term Life Insurance Out There?
First of all, we’ve all heard of life insurance. Many of us even have it. But what is term life insurance? The meaning of term life insurance is in its name—it covers its policyholders for a certain amount of time—a certain term. It costs much less (except for the very elderly) than whole life insurance and can be covered in two types of premiums—level-term and annual renewable. The premiums of level-term stay the same throughout the duration of the policy and can usually be purchased in terms up to 30 years; however, annual renewable premiums increase as the policyholder gets older.
Although term life insurance is already less expensive than whole life insurance, there are ways to find discount term life insurance. We all want to save as much money as we can while getting the best coverage possible, right? As when searching for any insurance, the best way to find discount term life insurance is to research several different life insurance providers. However, you don’t want to simply find a seemingly decent term life insurance provider, search for a policy that’s cheap in price, and sign up. If you do, you could end up with a policy that doesn’t actually suit you at all (that is, if you even qualify for it) and spending much more than you would have if you had searched around for a bit longer.
When shopping for discount term life insurance, look for reputable, financially stable life insurance companies that have well-trained, objective, unbiased insurance agents. These unbiased agents will take your information—your needs and the needs of your family members—research your options, and present the best discount term life insurance to you—not them. You can find information about an insurance agency online or directly from the agency, but you’re more likely to get a reliable review from someone who has used, or is currently using, their services.
Life Insurance: Do You Have Too Much?
Life Insurance: Do You Have Too Much?
When you discuss your life insurance needs with a broker, are you sure you are asking the right questions or do you feel that you are still confused? Let’s take a look at the function of life insurance and see if yours is working for you.
The Four Reasons To Have Life Insurance
It provides security in case the main breadwinner in the family dies.
It provides money for charitable causes
It could pay future estate taxes
It could also provide a pension
If your life insurance isn’t capable of replacing your main breadwinners’ income, then you need to have more. The situation is even more important if you have children at home. There are many people who fail to protect their loved ones in this way. Also being able to pass on life insurance money to the next generation, can significantly lighten the financial load for your loved ones.
The second reason is giving to future generations. By specifying donations, you can provide relief to your favourite charitable organization.
Life Insurance Can Help With Taxes
If you’ve accumulated a lot of worldly goods, your life insurance can help to pay for the estate taxes. If you are unprepared, your heirs may face thousands of dollars in taxes after your death. Life insurance is a great way to pay those death taxes without eating into the estate itself.
Reassess Your Life Insurance After Your Working Years
Once you retire you may not need life insurance. If you have sufficient financial assets and your mortgage and children’s education are paid, then you can reassess your life insurance at that time and perhaps drop it entirely. But it is always advisable to consult a broker before making any major changes in your portfolio of life insurance.
How To Calculate How Much Life Insurance You Need
If you have a growing family, the life insurance coverage has to generate enough income to support that family.
When you die the life insurance coverage becomes the life insurance capital and that capital has to be invested conservatively to generate the needed income.
Let’s say you leave million to a spouse and three children which, invested at 5%, will generate ,000 before taxes. Is that sufficient? If so, that’s what you need.
But What Happens To This Life Insurance Capital?
Here’s one scenario. Your children grow up and leave. Your spouse their converts the ,000,000 into an annuity or just continues the income as a pension. And that is one way you can be helped by life insurance.
Life Insurance and Life Assurance are not the same!
Life Insurance and Life Assurance are not the same!
The average man in the street assumes that Life Insurance and Life Assurance are names for the same form of insurance. How wrong they are! But don’t hang your head in shame, many financial commentators get it wrong too! Life Insurance and Life Assurance perform different financial roles and are poles apart in cost – so it helps to surf for the correct product.
Life Insurance provides you with insurance cover for a specific period of time (known as the policy’s “term”). Then, if you were to die whilst the policy is in force, the insurance company pays out a tax-free sum. If you survive to the end of the term, the policy is finished and has no residual value whatsoever. It only has a value if there is a claim – in that context it’s just like your car insurance!
Life Assurance is different. It is a hybrid mix of investment and insurance. A Life Assurance policy pays out a sum equal to the higher of either a guaranteed minimum underwritten by the policy’s insurance provisions or its investment valuation. The value of the investment element is then a reliant on the Insurance Company’s investment performance and length of time you have been paying the premiums.
Each year the insurance company adds an annual bonus to the guaranteed value of your life assurance policy and there is normally an extra “terminal bonus” at the end. Therefore, as the years go by your life assurance policy increases in value as the investment bonuses accumulate. The value of these bonuses are then determined by the insurance company’s investment performance. Once investment value has been assigned to the policy, you can cash it in with the insurance company. However, most people get a far better price for their life assurance policy by selling it to a specialist investment broker rather than cashing it in with the insurance company.
If you were to die during a Life Assurance policy’s term, the policy pays out the higher of either the guaranteed minimum sum or the accumulated value of the annual investment bonuses. However, if you are still living when the policy terminates, you usually get a bigger payout. This is because with most insurance companies, an additional terminal bonus is awarded.
There is a also a specialised form of life assurance called “Whole of Life”. These policies remain in force for as long as you live and as such, have no preset term.
There is also a practical difference for the internet user. Whereas you can buy life insurance online, the Financial Services Authority view life assurance as fundamentally an investment product. As such they believe it is best suited to being sold by a Financial Adviser with advice based on the Advisors full understanding of your personal details. Therefore, you will be unable to buy life assurance online. However, you can use the internet to find a suitable financial adviser with whom you can meet and discuss your requirements.
What are Life Insurance polices and Life Assurance policies used for?
Life Insurance is usually a focal point of the family’s financial protection. It is ideally suited to ensure that known debts such as a mortgage, are repaid in full in the event of the policyholders death.
When it comes to providing a lump sum for general use in the event that the policyholder were to die whilst the policy was in force, either life insurance or life assurance can be used. The differences are that with life insurance the size of payout would be preset whereas with life assurance it would depend on the guaranteed minimum and the insurance company’s investment performance. But remember, at the end of the policy’s term life insurance is worthless, whereas life assurance should payout a sizeable investment sum. In this context Life Assurance seems far more worthwhile but in practice more people elect for life insurance. Why? It’s a matter of cost. Life Insurance is considerably cheaper than Life Assurance. Furthermore, in recent years, investment returns on Life Assurance policies have fallen significantly and many insurance companies have placed penalties for cashing in policies early. This has adversely affected the resale value of Life Assurance policies.
Finally, if you want a product to provide a lump sum on your death whenever that is with a minimum payout guaranteed, you’ll probably elect for Whole of Life insurance. It’s really a form of lifetime investment with the benefit of a guaranteed minimum. They’re particularly useful for Inheritance Tax Planning.
Term Life Insurance Company – How To Compare Them And Choose The Best For You
Term Life Insurance Company – How To Compare Them And Choose The Best For You
There are some companies that only sell term life insurance but they are the exception and not the rule. Term only life insurance companies are usually companies that are proponents of buy term and invest the difference. Most life insurance companies sell both term and permanent life insurance. There are some life insurance companies that have affiliates that sell supplemental policies to support their wide range of life insurance products. Shopping for term insurance is relatively easy but the number of life insurance companies that sell term insurance is staggering. There are a number of things to consider when you choose a life insurance company. How do you want to be serviced? That is an important question to answer because that will help determine what kind of life insurance company will best service your needs.
If you would like to have ongoing professional advice then you need to look at insurance companies that distribute their products through agents. There is an increasing number of people that prefer to do everything themselves either over the internet or by telephone with customer service representatives. There are insurance companies that do business this way as well. Once you have determined your preference then you can narrow down the insurance companies that fit your needs. This kind of evaluation will save you a lot of time when entering a rather large insurance marketplace.
The next step is to ask yourself why you are purchasing life insurance. This will give you a better idea about what kind of policy to look for when obtaining quotes. Debt coverage is usually best protected with term insurance. You may want to look at companies with extensive term portfolios. There are a lot of reputable insurance companies and they are highly regulated by their individual state’s insurance commissioner. There is a rating bureau called AM Best that gives a rating to each insurance company according to their financial strength. You can find this book in most libraries.
Try These Great Ideas For Purchasing Life Insurance
Try These Great Ideas For Purchasing Life Insurance
Saving money on life insurance can be simple. It can be as easy as checking quotes from different agents in order to find the best one. You can save huge amounts of money, making your life insurance more affordable by researching rates and prices. Read our tips to get the most for your money.
Learn as much as possible about life insurance before you start comparing prices and policies. This will help you determine what you actually need, and even if you are going to buy life insurance with the help of a professional, you should always understand what they are doing to make sure they are helping you make the right decision.
If you want to ensure you have cheap life insurance premiums, you should purchase a term insurance plan rather than a whole life plan. A term insurance policy is purchased for a specific amount of time; therefore, because of the smaller risks, the premiums will be cheaper than a riskier whole life plan that lasts for the entire life of the policy holder.
Take your time in selecting a policy. Some insurance agents will offer you a policy without doing a full consultation. Do not accept these offers, as you can most likely find a better deal elsewhere after a full consultation has been done to determine your need for life insurance policies.
The question of when to buy life insurance is frequently asked. Since the purpose of life insurance is to replace your income in the situation that you die, you should purchase insurance when you have dependents. The type and kind of life insurance will depend on your specific situation and how much money you will need to ensure that your dependents are taken care of.
Use an online calculate to determine how much life insurance you need. Everyone is different, and how much coverage a person needs can vary greatly. If you purchase too much, you are wasting money on premiums. If you purchase too little, you might be leaving your loved ones in a bad situation. Determine the right amount and you will be well protected, without spending too much.
When you are purchasing a life insurance policy, you need to make sure you give accurate and thorough information as soon as possible. If you do not give correct information, your insurance policy will be void. As a result, if you were to die, your policy would be useless to your family.
Do some figuring and calculating to determine how much insurance coverage you actually need on your policy. Higher coverage means higher premiums, so only take out as much insurance as you or your family will need upon a death. More is not always better when it comes to life insurance.
As you can see, finding affordable life insurance can be a pretty simple task. With our tips, you will be a well-informed insurance consumer and pay less of your hard earned money for your life insurance policy. Doing your homework can pay off, by way of spending less on insurance.
Affordable Life Insurance!
Affordable Life Insurance!
So, you’ve decided to purchase life insurance. Well then, you have made a good decision! If you have dependents, you know that you must provide for them long after you are gone. Buying life insurance shouldn’t be a budget buster either. Take a look at the following options which can help you save big time!
Shop Online: There are several companies that will give you free life insurance quotes right online. By entering your personal information, the amount of insurance coverage desired, and policy terms, you will receive within moments sufficient quote information. Naturally, you will want to talk to an agent at some point, but at least you will get a very good ballpark figure to consider. Some good sites for you to visit include: Insure.com; SelectQuote.com; ReliaQuote.com, IntelliQuote.com; and InsWeb.com. There are many others, so do some comparison shopping.
Types of Life Insurance: There are four types of life insurance plans from which you can choose: Term Life, Whole Life, Universal Life, and Variable Universal Life.
Term Life is the most affordable as it lets you lock in a fixed rate for the length of the policy [typically 10 or 20 years], but it does not have any cash accumulation. So, the only way it pays is if you die!
Whole Life offers policy holders lifetime coverage, guaranteed level premiums, tax-deferred accumulation of cash values. In other words you can borrow off the policy if you need the cash.
Universal Life offers policy holders Lifetime coverage, flexible premiums and death benefits, tax-deferred accumulation of cash values. Rates are adjustable.
Variable Universal Life offers lifetime coverage, flexible premiums and death benefits, tax-deferred accumulation of cash values, a selection of investment options. Rates are adjustable.
Contact an Agent: Once you have determined which type of insurance is best for you and your family, contact an agent for further guidance. If you received an acceptable life insurance quote online, follow through with it to allow an agent to contact you personally. This person will go over your policy and discuss with you the various types of companies offering coverage. If you are satisfied and want to proceed further, the agent will order a comprehensive medical exam that can be done in the convenience of your home or office at no charge to you! About four to six weeks later the results will be in and if all goes well, coverage will begin almost immediately thereafter. At no point are you obligated to accept coverage until you sign a contract.
More Savings: Do you want to save even more money? Pay the premium all at once. Monthly or quarterly payments usually carry a surcharge. By paying the entire premium in advance you can save around 5%.
Providing for family members after your death is one of the most important reasons to include life insurance as part of your financial planning. You can receive your free life insurance quote by shopping online today; don’t delay!
(c)2005; Matthew C Keegan, LLC