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Life and Critical Illness Insurance – Good Health

Mar 12

Posted by admin in Insurance

In common with the rest of Europe, life expectancy in Britain is increasing. A man can now expect to live to 76.2 years and a woman to 80.7 years. This is wonderful news, but unfortunately we also learn that Britain is not keeping pace with most of Europe in another health aspect.

Healthy life years, as well as life expectancy have been the subject of a recent EU study and the results were based on questionnaires which were completed by some 60,000 householders. The focus of the study was on death, sickness rates and overall health.

We learn that although the average British male can expect to live to 76.2 years of age, he can only expect 61.5 of these years to be free from a disabling condition. This puts us in the unfortunate position of being the fifth unhealthiest group in the EU.

Research into these findings, still at an early stage, has not yet found the reasons for the wide variations across the EU. It seems that as far as cardiovascular disease is concerned, there is an increasing risk the further north you go and Help the Aged feel that a lack of respect for the cold in Britain constitutes a risk to health.

Italy holds the top position in the healthy living stakes, with an expectation of 70.9 healthy years and a life expectancy of 76.8 years. The healthy Italian diet, including lots of fish, vegetables and unsaturated fats, may be a key factor in their country’s excellent health record. A spokesman for Help the Aged comments that diet, smoking, the weather, smoking and health service could help to explain the differences

Interestingly, in a published table showing both healthy years and life expectancy, as far as healthy life goes, Italy tops the table, followed by Spain, Germany, Poland, Netherlands, UK, France, Hungary, Portugal and Finland. It will be interesting to see what the final conclusions turn out to be.

At the bottom of the scale – if you come from Finland, life expectancy for a woman is 81.8 years, but you can only expect 56.5 of these to be without a disabling condition.

Bearing all these facts in mind, it’s obvious that, for Mr and Mrs Average, it would be as well to give some serious thought to the provision of both critical illness cover and life insurance. It’s a serious thought that the expectation of a disabling health condition precedes retirement age by between three and half and eight and a half years. Many men now expect to be able to work until they are 70.

Critical illness insurance will pay out a specific sum if you’re unfortunate enough to be diagnosed with one of a list of specified conditions, such as cancer, stroke or heart trouble. Read the policy carefully to check which conditions are covered. The effect of critical illness on your lifestyle can be immense. You may have to adapt your car or your home and even change your employment to suit your new circumstances. Critical illness cover will give you peace of mind should illness strike.

As far as your family are concerned, it would be a good time to take out, or review, your life insurance plans. Would their lifestyle be affected should the worst happen?

Both of these insurances can be taken care of easily. The internet is the place to go for immediate attention and a range of competitive quotations. Contact an on-line broker, who’ll offer you all the help you need.

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10 Ways To Save Money On Your Car Insurance

Feb 19

Posted by admin in Insurance

Trying to get the cheapest car insurance can be a headache, but on the other hand it is usually worthwhile doing as you can save yourself quite a bit of money, especially when you take it account that this is something you have to pay for every year, the savings can add up.

Here are some things you can look at to get your car insurance costs down:

1. Keep your car in a garage or on a drive way and tell your insurance company this.

2. Fit an immobiliser or car alarm, preferably both.

3. If you have an older car, consider changing your insurance from comprehensive cover to third party, fire and theft cover.

4. Be as accurate as possible when giving your annual mileage to the insurance company.

5. If you do low mileage in your car, then consider agreeing to limited mileage insurance so you are covered for a certain number of miles.

6. Choose as high an excess as you can afford to pay in the event of a claim.

7. Get a cheaper quote from another car insurance company and tell your existing insurance company and see if they will give you an even better deal.

8. Pay your premium as an upfront lump sum so that you avoid paying interest on top of your premiums. Car insurance companies usually charge a lot of interest so even if you do not have the cash up front, you may still be better off borrowing the money more cheaply elsewhere. You could for example pay for your insurance with your credit card and then do a balance transfer to another one of your credit cards charging lower interest than your car insurance company.

9. Add a second person who has a good record to the insurance cover as sometimes this can lower your premium.

10. Buy your car insurance online as you may find you can get a discount for buying online.

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The Warren Buffet Philosophy

Feb 2

Posted by admin in Insurance

In addition to being one of the world’s wealthiest men, Warren Buffet is also known for his common sense investment advice. Instead of chasing hot stocks and market trends, the straight-shooting septuagenarian preaches simple and logical investment strategies that even the least financially inclined investors can follow. While there are as many stock-picking strategies as there are stocks to pick, Buffet’s long-run returns serve as compelling testimony to the effectiveness of his methods.

While numerous books have been written about Buffet’s investment advice, the primary focus of his philosophy is to look for companies with strong intrinsic value. Rather than relying solely on balance sheets or assumptions of value, he encourages investors to reflect on the nature of the company and its future. Who are their competitors? Is it a business with a high degree of customer loyalty? What are the barriers to entry? Are there any major logistical flaws in the company’s business plan? By following Buffet’s advice, an individual would have fared well through the technology bubble of the 1990s. The acceptable downside to this investment strategy is that the investor would also have missed out on many profitable opportunities that existed before tech stocks began to plummet.

In keeping with his common sense investment advice, Buffet emphasizes that an investor should invest in companies that he or she understands. He reasons that investing in the latest technology-oriented hot stock may lead an investor away from the use of common sense valuation techniques, causing the investor to make decisions based on hype rather than logic. Along those lines, he has been quoted advising individuals to invest in the companies where they spend their own money. Since doing business with a company is one of the best ways to see how it operates, it stands to reason that it would offer insight about the company’s value as an investment. Instead of selecting companies that ?everyone? is talking about, he argues that you should buy shares of the companies that everyone you know is doing business with, especially if price and market interest levels don’t seem to reflect the quality you know is there.

While Buffet offers excellent non-technical investment advice, he also offers tips for those who know their way around a balance sheet. Instead of looking for companies that pay large dividends on a regular basis, he advises investors to seek out companies with a pattern of stable growth and reinvestment. His own company, Berkshire Hathaway, has only paid a dividend to shareholders on one occasion. At that time, he announced that he simply could not find a better use of the funds. Buffet also stresses that it is important to seek out companies with low debt-to-equity ratios and maintenance costs. A company with minimal debt obligations puts itself in a better position to weather temporary economic downturns.

Although most of Buffet’s investment advice focuses on the actual company in question, timing is also an important component of his strategy. Rather than dumping a company when everyone else is dumping it, he prefers to pillage through the scraps to determine if the downturn provides a good investment opportunity. In fact, this very strategy helped him earn millions on American Express after he invested during a fraud scandal. Because market trends are often based on incomplete information, there is a tendency of investors to overreact. That overreaction is a big part of what Buffet’s investment strategy counts on.

Despite the fierce proponents of hot stocks and market trends, very few investment strategies are able to stand the test of time. Warren Buffet’s common sense investment advice has done exactly that, allowing him and many others to enjoy above average returns in occasionally dreary financial markets.

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What Are the Components of a Renters Insurance Policy?

Jan 31

Posted by admin in Insurance

A renters insurance policy protects the contents of a rented property against losses incurred due to theft, fire or damage due to a hurricane and other natural disasters. Renters insurance also offers protection for liability. It pays for liability for accidents, such as a visitor slipping on your floor and breaking an arm. This type of insurance is primarily designed to protect consumers from unexpected financial hardships.

Renters policies specifically state what it insures against. There is a standard set of named perils covered by a renters insurance policy. Some of them are fire, lightning, windstorm, smoke, vandalism or malicious mischief, theft and accidental discharge of water due to a burst pipe. It can also include payment for the medical expenses of non-residents. Floods and earthquakes are oftentimes purchased separately from the renters policy in coastal areas and places prone to either. In most cases, windstorm coverage is also purchased as a rider to the main renters policy.

Renters policies use two methods of valuation of the home contents, these are the actual cash value and the replacement cost. The actual cash value pays only for what the belongings were worth at the time of the loss. A household appliance worth about $500 three years before will cost significantly lower at the time of loss. On the other hand, the replacement cost will reimburse policy-holders for the actual cost of the property at the time of the loss.

Highly expensive items such as jewelry and antique should be declared at the time of purchase as separate policies or rider policies might need to be issued for these items. If highly expensive items are not declared, the policy-holder will not be able to recover the possible losses pertaining to these items.

It is wise to inventory all the belongings to ensure adequate compensation for loss. The inventory should include the value and serial number of every item. Policy-holders should also keep the receipts of expensive items in another place, preferably outside of the house to ensure proper documentation and safekeeping.

If the dwelling becomes uninhabitable due to a burst pipe or a fire, the insurance policy will pay for additional living expenses. Certain types of rented property have additional benefits. Condominium units usually come with a waterbed liability provision so that in the event that a waterbed bursts, the policy will cover the water damage caused to the unit under the policy-holder’s package. In terms of pets, there are insurance providers that do not underwrite renters policies for customers owning certain dog breeds.

A renters insurance policy is an effective way of protecting the property and its occupants from unforeseen expenses. Paying for the rent might take its toll on a person’s purse and making sure that no additional and unexpected expense comes one’s way to add more financial burden would be a wise move.

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Leaving a Financial Legacy to Your Great Grandchildren

Jan 30

Posted by admin in Insurance

Children are Special… Especially when it comes to Life Insurance. Children are expected to be on the planet for a long time (0-100+ years, according to the new Mortality Tables.), so their life insurance rates are less expensive than an adult or even a teen! Once a child passes the age of 14, they fall into a different pricing category. It’s logical. When is the last time you had one of your teenagers plop on your lap and tell you they love you?

Life becomes more dangerous for teens after the milestone year. They are no longer considered cute and cuddly by the insurance industry, and subsequently cost a few pennies more to insure than your toddler. (But teens still get a better rate than you or I.)

But to make a short story long, I give you a sample illustration of the power of youth: “The Merry Child Story”

This is Merry Child. She is only 2 years old. Her parents want her to have a great life when they are no longer around to take care of her. (The Childs plan to move to Venezuela when they retire.) They have opted to insure their precious little bundle of joy for $500,000.50 (the 50? is to prevent having more insurance on Merry than on themselves, but sorry, my illustration software rounded the 50? up to $1.00 anyway, so Merry has the same amount as her folks).

Since I am their agent, and did not get this same financial opportunity from my parents when I was a toddling agent, I suggested that the Childs sink their hard-earned Benjamins into a Flexible Premium Universal Life Insurance Plan, like their own. (Try saying that one ten (10) times!) They will pay a $437.50 quarterly premium, which is slightly less than the cost of 20 pounds of Starbuck’s? Black Apron Exclusive? Costa Rica Whole Bean Roast, La Candelilla Estate Coffee?. (Try saying that once!)

At age 18, Merry is guaranteed to have a college fund of $20,710.00, (possibly $27,614.00, based on current interest rate), and a death benefit of $500,001.00. After four (4) or five (5) years of higher learning, Merry will get a super job in Business, and begin to repay the loan she borrowed from her Flexible Premium Universal Life Insurance Plan, with a little help from good old Mom and Dad.

With ten years of rigorous ladder climbing under her belt, (and at the tender age of 33), Merry gives in to her fianc?’s proposition of marriage and embarks on her next wonderful adventure, with her new husband Joselph Manger, (pronounced: Yoself). Her cash value is now a guaranteed $49,826.00, (possibly $90,572.00, based on current interest rate), and a death benefit of $500,001.00.

Merry and Joselph buy a home and start working on a family of their own. They decide to follow in the footsteps of Merry’s parents, the Childs, and have only one little bundle of… you know. By the time there new son, Michael, is a toddler, Merry is 36 years old. Her Flexible Premium Universal Life Insurance Plan cash value is worth $56,647.00 to $110,159.00, (depending on guaranteed or current interest rate), and she has a long-standing death benefit of $500,001.00. She decides to purchase a similar plan for Michael. (Don’t worry, we won’t get into that.)

Seeing that their daughter Merry is in the safe and loving hands of Joselph, the Child’s, who are now retired, have opted for Life Settlement. They cash in their own $500,001.00 Flexible Premium Universal Life Insurance Plan for a measly $250,000.00, and move to Venezuela . Their $250,000.00 becomes $ 536,150,000.00 when converted to the Venezuelan Bolivar (VEB). Though their Espa?ol is really not that good, they live happily ever after, in the lap of Venezuelan luxury.

Another 29 years whisk by. Michael has finally moved out of the house,(yesterday), and the Mangers, (Merry and Joselph, come on, keep up), decide to retire on the beautiful shores of La Jolla, (pronounced: La Hoya), California . Merry’s Flexible Premium Universal Life Insurance Plan cash value, (depending on who you ask), is now worth $73,862.00 to $575,836.00, and her death benefit is $702,520.00. Life is good, so she decides to “let it ride” another 30 years or so. (Seeing how Michael has decided to become a Missionary, and single-handedly save the world. You go, Michael!)

At age 95, Merry, who is now a widow and grandmother of 12 fledgling missionaries, logs in to the Virtual Reality Online Portal, (formerly known as the internet), to check the status of her Flexible Premium Universal Life Insurance Plan. Her cash value is estimated to be worth $2,744,076.00, and her death benefit is $2,771,517!

Five years later, at age 100, Merry commends her spirit to her Heavenly Father. She becomes a guardian angel to her great grandchildren, when she leaves a legacy of $3,595,193.00, tax-free, to her heirs. (Not to mention her La Jolla Estate, a Venezuelan Villa and a warehouse full of luxury automobiles!)

The moral of our little story? GET A LIFE!! (A life insurance plan, that is, for your little merry child.)

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Universal Life Insurance Policy Longevity

Jan 27

Posted by admin in Insurance

What is Universal Life Insurance and how do I get the best Universal Life Insurance Quote?

Universal Life Insurance or “UL” as it is commonly referred to in the insurance industry is a relatively new concept. It is a permanent version of life insurance that is intended to be in force for as long as the client wants it to be in force. The determining factor in how long the policy lasts is the cash value, the amount of premium being paid, and the wording of the contract.

The cash value in a universal life insurance policy will build up on a guaranteed and a non-guaranteed basis. On the guaranteed side of the equasion, at inception the insurance company projects exactly what will happen to the cash value based upon known variables and minimally acceptable interest rates. If a policy has a guaranteed interest rate of, say, 4%, then the proposal for insurance will show what would happen to the cash value based upon 4%.

On the “non-guaranteed” side of the proposal for insurance (which becomes part of the policy), the cash value is shown in regards to the “current” interest rate that is being applied. This current interest rate fluctuates and is dictated by the insurance company through which you have the policy. The overall interest rate applied to new money coming into the policy as premium and the current cash values will never go any lower than the guaranteed interest rate but may go up to the current, assumed, non-guaranteed interest rate.

The amount of life insurance premium being paid into the universal life insurance policy is another factor in determining the longevity of the policy. UL is flexible in that you can put as much money into the policy as the MEC limit will allow (government regulates the amount of money you can put into a policy) and as little money as you want as long as you meet the company’s minimum premium requirements. If you only put the minimum premium into the policy, the contract will offer a death benefit for a shorter amount of time. If you pay the prescribed, sometimes referred to as “target premium” or “designated” premium, the policy should last until age 100. Putting more cash into a universal life policy than the target premium can come close to the “MEC” or Modified Endowment Contract premium. The effect on the UL policy that this will have is a potential increase in the cash values.

Secondary guarantees in modern universal life insurance policies add another layer of security to the universal life insurance policy. These secondary guarantees that are implemented by the insurance companies and included in the wording of the contract basically state that as long as the prescribed premium (usually target premium) is paid in a timely manner and there are no loans or withdrawls on the cash value of the policy, the policy will last as long as the insured is alive.

Carefully worded insurance policies, current and guaranteed cash value projections, and premiums being paid all have an impact on the longevity of a modern Universal Life Policy. Universal Life Insurance is a flexible contract that will allow as little as a minimum premium and as much as the governmental rules will allow. UL can be a good fit for anyone looking for a policy that would ensure long lasting, flexible coverage, with the potential for cash value and transferrability.

By: Ashley Brooks, CLTC

Ashley is the marketing Vice President for a quality Insurance Brokerage General Agency in South Carolina. Mr. Brooks has done an internship at Genworth, formerly known as GE Financial Assurance First Colony Life Insurance Company in Lynchburg Virginia. He is a member of his local chapter of SCAIFA (Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors), NAILBA, and Sub-Centers. His current projects include website marketing and insurance advertising via the internet.

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Cheap Auto Insurance Online

Jan 26

Posted by admin in Insurance

When it comes to cheap auto insurance, one of the best places to get some, or at least to get the information you need, is through online resources. It seems as if, these days, every insurer claims to give you the best deal. For this reason, one has to be prudent and cautious when selecting an auto insurance company. Cheap auto insurance, as with the case of other insurance policies, is rarely ?one size fits all.? As people’s cars vary and their driving records differ, it is impossible for companies to offer everyone the same rates and policies. Finding the right company and policy for you can be quite a daunting task indeed.

You can go through scores of Web resources, which can give you comprehensive information on these policies. You can find out what rules apply to your particular state or province through online resources dedicated to your state. You can also learn more about cheap auto insurance rates and cheap auto insurance quotes online.

You can learn more about cheap auto insurance policies offered by different insurers online. You can go through their policies and read the fine print before making a decision. This will equip you with necessary knowledge to make an educated decision about your insurance. You will know, for example, what the premium to be paid is, and if you put in that little more effort, you will also be able to calculate a ballpark figure as to what the premium will be on your own. Check out whether your insurer offers any periodical discounts, as many insurers do to attract new customers.

Getting a quote for cheap auto insurance online is easy indeed. Just key in the required information, and any online insurance quote system will lead you to a comprehensive guide to their coverage for you, including their most affordable plans. These sites are well-designed for the most part, and can provide you with a basic quote in a matter of minutes.

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