Debt Consolidation | Insurance | Financial Planning

There are so many life insurance options out there that one can spend a lot of time on just choosing what type of life insurance they need. But before you even start thinking about your options, decide whether you need life insurance at all. It’s the most important decision concerning this type of insurance, because if you don’t really need it then it’s better to go without it altogether. But if you feel the need to keep some of your life aspects covered then get ready for a deep investigation of the life insurance market.

How can one determine whether they need life insurance? It’s not that hard like you would imagine. This decision depends on your current responsibilities you bear. If you have dependents, a spouse, a mortgage loan or any other aspects that should be secured no matter what, you will definitely find it useful to buy life insurance coverage.

Once you have decided on buying life insurance, it’s time to determine how much coverage you actually need. It’s important, because the amount of coverage carried by your policy strongly affects the cost of your policy. There are no strict rules and methods of defining the amount of coverage as there are many factors involved (number of dependants, your income, your loans), however you can start with multiplying your annual salary by 5-10 to get an approximate number.

Deciding on the type of insurance you would like to buy is also a complex question that needs detailed analysis. Most insurance experts agree that younger people with no serious obligations and serious health risks should consider term life insurance. Term policies are a real cheap life insurance option, however they do not carry any additional cash value besides providing a death benefit. Whole life insurance policies offer cash value and additional investment options, but are much more expensive, especially in the first couple of years after signing them. So define your real insurance needs and choose the type of insurance that appeals to you the most.

When you have strictly defined what policy you want to get, don’t rush getting it from the very first insurance company you can find. Shop around and make sure to get plenty of insurance quotes from reputable companies licensed in your state. You will be surprised to learn that the very same insurance policies with the same coverage amounts can be priced quite differently between companies, and it’s a really great way to get cheap life insurance. Some insurance companies will offer discounts to customers that already have other types of insurance policies with them. So if you have homeowners or auto insurance with a company that also provides life coverage, it may be a good option for cheap life insurance in your case.

Remember that the more time you spend considering and comparing your options, the easier it will be for you to find a policy that you will really be happy with. Don’t rush with your decision and get the offer you really think will match with your needs without any compromise.

As we all know, life insurance is a very important and effective tool for minimizing risks and assuring your family with the necessary financial power in special circumstances. And of all things, life insurance plays a very important role in a family estate planning as it can affect it in two different ways.

Analyzing your life insurance needs

The most common connection between life insurance and estate planning is probably the actual need for it. Life insurance can assure your family with the necessary income replacement or other immediate costs that can affect mortgage loan payout or even some of your important assets. It also provides emotional comfort and peace of mind, giving you and your family the confidence and security no matter what. And things like that are really important these days.

Analyzing the practical application of your life insurance

The second aspect of life insurance in estate planning is often overlooked but nevertheless is as important as the first one. Life insurance can be used to provide additional asset leverage and security, which is especially useful if you have an unsettled mortgage loan on your property. For example, in cases when IRA or 401k isn’t needed to finance your retirement plan you can use them for investing into a life insurance policy. And if the policy belongs to an Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust, then the funds will be transferred to your family excluding income and estate taxes. In contrast, keeping your funds in the IRA or 401k won’t free you of the said taxes and this will take out much money from your funds when needed.

However, do not rush with purchasing cheap life insurance just to secure your estate planning. It’s a matter of combining your actual insurance needs with additional security requirements, rather than a simple tool to assure your family with a definite mortgage payout. Your life insurance needs should be met without any compromise in the first place, and then you have to think about estate planning application of your policy. Do not sacrifice really important benefits just to get an additional security with the policy as it will cost you too much money and give nothing in return.

If you want to get a policy that will carry all the necessary benefits to you and your family it’s always better to consult with an insurance advisor or expert first. It can be your insurance agent or an independent expert that will be able to outline your requirements and find a policy that will suit all of your needs. If you need cheap life insurance, there will be a certain set of options and benefits, and a whole another set of options and benefits for those who can manage to spend more money on life insurance coverage. It’s always more effective and much easier to plan and tailor a new insurance policy rather than changing a policy that you have already purchased. So if you need something special from the insurance company define your needs right away or you will have hard time adjusting the coverage to your needs afterwards.

Term insurance: simple and affordable

When it comes to comparing different types of insurance policies for covering your life term insurance policies turn out to be the most simple and inexpensive. If your insurance needs don’t require sustaining a policy for your entire life, you may find it very appealing to get a term policy especially with the price tag being times smaller than of continuous policies.

Why term policies are the cheapest option for life coverage?

Term insurance policies will cover you only for a specific period of time. They also usually have pre-set premiums and fixed amounts of benefits to receive. Term policies can last from one to 30 years, but the most popular options are 10 and 20 year term policies. The vast majority of these policies cannot be renewed and the chances for the insurance company to pay out death benefits on term coverage policy are minimal. In fact, only about 1% of all term insurance policies actually give out a death benefit to their clients. That’s why the insurance company can place a significantly lower price tag on such a product.

Why taking term insurance coverage?

Term insurance policies are aimed at covering certain types of debts in case the policyholder is disabled or dies. Some debts that term insurance coverage may pay for include:

• Consumer credits
• Mortgage loans
• College education for children
• Funeral expenses

That’s why people who get 30-year mortgage deals are looking for 30-ear term life insurance policies. The most widespread options in terms of policy duration are those of 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 years. Short-term policies are also available but they are rarely purchased.

Types of term insurance policies

Decreasing term insurance policies, also referred to as mortgage insurance policies, have a fixed premium over the entire term, however the death benefit is constantly decreasing with the time passing, being often connected to your mortgage debt. And as you pay out your mortgage, your insurance amount is decreased respectively. Insurance experts are not very enthusiastic about this type of policies although it’s a cheap life insurance option. But keeping in mind the low percentage of death benefit payout there’s not much sense in having such a policy.

Other types of term life coverage include:

• Burial insurance: such small insurance are aimed only for covering funeral costs.
• Group term insurance coverage: suitable for enterprises as it is designed to cover more people than standard policies.
• Specified age term insurance: such policies provide coverage only until the policyholder reaches a specified age.
• Return of premium: such policies will reimburse a part or all the premiums you have paid during the term if a claim is not filed. However, the premiums with such policies are usually higher.

Although, term life coverage is a relatively inexpensive compared to other types of insurance, your policy can still cost you much in premiums if you don’t take some time and shop around for a good policy. There are numerous insurance companies providing term insurance policies, and the rates can differ significantly for the same type and amount of coverage. That’s why it really pays off shopping around and getting as much life insurance quotes as you can, in order to find the perfect term insurance policy to purchase. Be smart, and don’t get the first policy you are offered with as there may be numerous offers way better than that.

Having your life insured, you are most likely to realize that your insurance coverage will be modified with the passing of time as you get older. When you are younger, most types of life coverage will be cheaper and won’t take much of your thoughts as the real need in such coverage comes later on in life. Still, no matter what age you are when you get your policy, at the first stage you might find that you are paying more than you have expected. Why is that so? Simply because it’s much smarter to pay more for the insurance at the initial stage and leave much less to be paid out as you move on.

And as you get older and your needs change, so will the policy covering your life. Insurance policies mature just like people, being paid off entirely and ready to be used when the moment comes. During this period some people may wish to sell their policies, as they are already paid for, and get the benefits without meeting insurance conditions. This is what insurance experts call “cashing in the policy”. Such a possibility is a great investment option as it allows you to finance things like your kid’s college education or your individual retirement fund when the need for such things becomes evident.

Fact is that a large part of life insurance policies available on the market today come with such adjustment possibilities. Insurance companies have become more flexible in terms of what you can do with your policy when you have paid it out in full. You can easily convert it to stocks, bonds or other financial tools you may find useful. Of course, when you choose to buy cheap life insurance solution the odds are that you won’t have many of such possibilities carried with it. You get what you pay for, and sometimes it really pays off to spend a bit more money.

The only thing that isn’t likely to change over the years is the amount of benefits your family will receive in case something happens to you. And the amount to be received will be the same with most policies, no matter for how long you have the current policy: several months or twenty years. This fact gives you a piece of mind in terms of coverage and return on investment, because you will be able to receive your benefits regardless of when you need them.

There are also certain types of policies that allow you to use the money from your policy in certain circumstances before you have paid out the policy in full or your insurance terms has passed. Such circumstances include serious illnesses, diseases or injuries that require long-term care or nursery, and leave you without a source of income for a prolonged period of time. These types of policies will certainly appeal to those who actually have increased risk of having such diseases or injuries due to their everyday activities.

But no matter what type of policy you choose to have for insuring your life, you have to remember that shopping around is really important in this market. There are many places you can get life insurance quotes and you should definitely do so, because sometimes the same policy with the same options and coverage amounts can cost quite differently between two companies. And why would you want to pay more?

The role of women in society has changed dramatically over the last fifty years. We have moved from an expectation that girls will marry young, stay home and bring up children to a new world in which women are financially independent and less dependent on the decision-making powers of their fathers and “husbands”. This has, in some ways, made life more difficult for women. They must now find a balance between developing a career and the biological drive to have children. Women have also retained their role as carers and are often expected to look after ageing parents. As a result, many neglect their own financial affairs. To protect their interests, the challenge for the modern woman is to make the claim of independence real. This means having a formal life plan. Because life expectancy is longer for women. they should establish goals and set out strategies for achieving them. Just drifting through life is a recipe for disaster.

In all this, proper life insurance is a must. The latest national statistics show that about a quarter of households across the US do not carry any insurance. Why should this change? If you leave debts behind you, the family may be forced to sell off assets to pay off what is owing. If you die young, will your children have enough money to go through college? Will your parents manage on their retirement savings? Having some insurance gives you peace of mind. You know there is an adequate sum of money for those you leave behind. What are the specifics?

If you are a single mom, you are the sole breadwinner. The family looks to you to provide for all their needs. With insurance, there will be enough to pay all the funeral and other expenses, pay off the mortgage on your home and leave some cash to meet future expenditure. Nothing can replace you as a person, but you can leave a lump sum representing your earning capacity behind.

If you and your partner are just starting to get a base together, life insurance cover on both of you gives the survivor a safety net. Otherwise, with young children and a new mortgage, it’s not going to be easy to cope.

As an older woman, having a long-running policy in hand gives you financial room to plan. If there’s a surrender value or an investment element, you can borrow or sell the policy for a lump sum. This gives you access to cash during retirement when all your other savings may be tied up or run down.

This puts the pressure on you to get the right coverage in place from an early age. Shop around and get as many life insurance quotes from different companies as possible. You need to get a feel for what the marketplace can offer. You should also take advice. The life insurance quotes are only useful to a point. An independent professional can tell you which policies make the best long-term investments. Remember, it’s cheaper when you start paying premiums early in your life. If you delay, the premiums will be significantly higher – a shorter working life if you have children to care for and a longer retirement period. Plan now for a long and successful life.

When you are buying either term or whole life, there’s a chance you will be asked to go through a medical exam. It will not be necessary for most young people who are only asking for small amounts of coverage. So, for example, a 30 year old only asking for $50,000 will usually be allowed to self-certify good health. As age and the amount to be covered increases, you will move through a simple paramedical exam to a full examination by a physician. A paramedical is licensed professional employed or hired by the insurance company. The physicians and paramedicals are independent and their only role is to make a basic assessment of your medical history and current condition. Some operate a mobile service and will come to your home or office with all the necessary equipment. Others will ask you to attend at a laboratory or clinic. The cost of all medical exams is met by the insurance company. For the record, almost all insurers insist on independent exams and refuse to accept information provided directly by your own physician.

The process of underwriting is all about assessing risk. Hopefully, you are in perfect health and there is no likelihood you will follow in the footsteps of your parents or other close family in contracting a disorder or disease. But all insurance companies have strict guidelines about who to accept and on what terms. The companies therefore give the examiners sets of questions to ask you about your medical history. These questions will usually be answered face-to-face but, in some instances, the questions are posted online for you to answer. This saves time. The extent of the tests is then determined by your age and the amount of insurance cover you have requested. The older you are and the larger the amount to be insured, the more careful the exam, moving from paramedical to physician as the person responsible for assessing you.

The paramedical or physician starts by collecting basic physical information about you, measuring your weight, height, pulse and blood pressure. There are questions about your lifestyle, particularly if you are carrying excess weight, smoke or drink. There are follow-ups if you have any of the more interesting hobbies or play contact sports. You will be expected to provide samples of blood, urine and and oral fluid. Most people over the age of 50 will be expected to go through an EKG, a test to record the electrical impulses generated by your heart. With sums over $5 million, older proposers will be asked for a treadmill test which assesses the whole cardiovascular system, lung capacity, stamina, etc. The point is to identify any underlying health problem that could shorten your life. The blood and urine samples are used to eliminate a range of problems with your liver and kidney, identify immune disorders and check on your sugar levels for diabetes, and so on. There are even tests for the presence of standard medications and street drugs like cocaine.

All this is taken with the information you gave when asking for the life insurance quotes. Always get as many offers of a policy from different companies as possible. Sitting with the life insurance quotes alone is not enough because every company has different guidelines on who to accept and at what premium rates.

Occupation plays a very important role in a person’s life. What we do for living pretty much determines our entire lifestyle and delivers certain risks to deal with everyday. If you’re working with toxic substances on a daily basis, you have a type of risk that haul drivers for example are very uncommon with. The same goes for any other high-risk job that has special circumstances posing danger to your health and life. And of course, if your occupation has a higher degree of risk in average, you are likely to pay more for insuring your life. Risk and insurance rates are connected directly, which means the safer your job the lower premiums you’ll have to pay.

Whom does it concern?

If you have an average job at the office with the most hazardous task being dealing with the paper shredder it’s evident that your insurance rates will be quite average as well. But if you work in the circus with wild animals, or jump off planes with a parachute for a living it is very likely that your insurance premiums will be much higher than with your “safe work” peers. Some insurance companies can even deny you with insurance at all because they aren’t willing to assume such a high risk that is insuring you.

To determine how risky and costly your job is for insuring your life you don’t have to be a scientist. Just think about the possibilities of being injured or killed while performing your day to day tasks at work, but be realistic about it. Being killed by an elevator or sucked into the shredder sure sounds mean for a horror movie or novel, but it’s not what happens at the office every now and then. Evaluate the risks you’re taking with your job and if they’re quite high your life insurance will be quite expensive.

What can you do about it?

First of all, the rules of saving money on insurance apply regardless of your job. Keep your credit record clean, pay all the bills on time and your rates will be lower. In fact, sometimes having a high risk job and a good credit rating will give you the same life insurance quotes as having a low risk job with a messed up credit record. So be careful about your accounts and bills because they will influence your premiums for sure.

Another way of getting your life insured is working with a company that specializes in high-risk insurance policies. That is especially useful in case you’ve been denied in insurance by typical insurance providers. Of course this won’t be cheap life insurance as your rates will likely be higher than with usual policies. But in turn you will gain all the benefits of insurance coverage regardless of how risky or hazardous your occupation is. And that is really helpful if you have a family or children to take care of in case something serious happens. It is especially useful if your occupation makes you face serious health and life risks on a daily basis. So don’t leave everything to your luck and make sure your loved ones are protected no matter what. Get your life insured today!

We all want to make sure our family and loved ones are protected and safe no matter what. This is why there are so many companies out there offering you to insure your life. Life coverage is a good way to protect your spouse, children, family members and loved ones from financial hardships in case of your death or disability. But besides insurance features, there are more and more policies providing with additional benefits that have money distribution and investment features to the underwriter. And the question is whether it’s reasonable to use insurance as a form of investment or there are better options for this.

Insuring your life as a form of investment

At first sight, having your life insured is a very good thing to do as you accumulate a good amount of money for your family that can be used for different purposes in case something happens to you. But there’s more to it than just that. In contrast with term policies that have no investment options, cash value (also known as whole life) policies have additional benefits, which make them a good investment instrument. These benefits allow withdrawing money from your account after a certain period if time has passed. You can obtain these funds in different ways:

• Withdrawing cash from the final coverage amount of the insurance policy. For example you have a $200,000 policy and want to withdraw $10,000. This means that the insurance company will pay out $190,000 in death benefit in case of your death.
• Paying insurance premiums from the accumulated cash value of your policy. This is a good way to have a relatively cheap life insurance in terms of whole life insurance. And there are no penalties for doing so.
• Using the cash value of your policy as a loan. This usually provides you with lower interest rates compared to loan products offered by lending institutions. You can even be free of any payments, however the money will be taken from your final death benefit, including a certain interest.

How much does it cost?

Of course, these possibilities give much food for thought as you may use the money withdrawn for multiple purposes, making your personal and your family’s life better. However, all these options come with a certain price tag, lowering your death benefit, which is obviously the initial purpose of insuring your life in general.

Withdrawing money from your insurance account can be proportional to the amount of money your death benefit will be lowered by, However, in some cases it can cost you much more than that. Sometimes there are additional fees and interests included, making your death benefit even smaller than you would expect. From this perspective there’s not much rationality in getting whole life policies, making them a simple waste of money.

And it’s not only this. Experts state that such policies have lower return on investment if compared to other investment tools, and suggest that it’s cheaper to get term insurance policies and an additional savings account or a loan rather than using costly cash value policies for that purpose.

However, it’s always better to shop around. Use life insurance quotes to find a less pricey whole life insurance policy so that you could use all the benefits for a lower cost.

Many people have heard of mortgage protection through insurance policies but it may sound quite complicated to some. To answer the question right away: mortgage protection through insuring ones life is a form of personal insurance that pays off mortgage loans for people who were unable to pay it off in full due to death, terminal illness or disability.

The initial forms of mortgage protection insurance were directly linked to the current balance of your mortgage account and if your balance decreased so did the insurance coverage amount. However, these days the most popular form of such insurance is getting the insurance coverage amount equal to the initial amount of the mortgage loan without it decreasing over time, which makes it a quite inexpensive form of term insurance.

One of the most recent trends in this market is purchasing return of premium policies as mortgage protection insurance. This trend is caused by the fact that usual mortgage protection insurance rates have become far less competitive than those of term insurance policies. And having the premiums returned with the policy intact reimburses all your payments after the term has expired.

The most popular and less expensive form of mortgage protection life insurance is level benefit term life policy. This form of insurance coverage is typically available for certain periods of time, usually from 20 to 30 years. It has a constant coverage amount and the premiums are kept the same over the entire policy term.

Typical mortgage protection is still available at some banks and certain agents will try to sell it to you, but nowadays it is more beneficial to get one of these:

1. An insurance policy that delivers set rates that are lower than traditional mortgage protection insurance policies
2. An insurance policy that guarantees paying off your mortgage in case of your death
3. A police that doesn’t decrease its coverage amounts

It’s better to check out life insurance quotes from different companies with analyzing the mortgage protection option specifically in order to find which option is best in your case.

Covering your mortgage with return of premium insurance

Another option that has become quite widespread recently is return of premium form of term insurance policies. This form delivers a unique benefit in the form of returned tax-free premiums that you have paid over the entire insurance term in case you keep the policy over it.

This method is quite beneficial because not only it pays off your mortgage loan in any situation, but also gives you back all the money you’ve paid for the insurance in case you are still alive after the policy term has expired. This feature makes it quite appealing to many people, since it is quite likely that you will live on after 20 or 30 years of the policy’s duration. And why not having your money back tax-free in the end? Besides, it makes a really good enhancement to your retirement plan or any other funds when you get older.

Cheap life insurance is possible and it can be quite useful and beneficial for you in the end, as you can see. So if you have a mortgage to secure, now you have good option for making the most out of your loans.

Some insurance companies are often criticized because it’s not always clear how your premiums are used nor how the value of your policy is calculated. At a state level, insurance departments and commissioners do their best to protect your interests, but the majority of consumers are not well protected. This is less important with term insurance, but whole life and universal life policies have an investment element that slowly builds up and gives you a cash value in addition to the minimum guaranteed death benefits. It is important to get the most out of these more expensive policies.

Note that, unlike “ordinary” policies, cash-value policies do not lapse if you stop paying the premiums. Once you reach a minimum threshold, the policies remain valid and the investment element continues to accumulate value – this assumes the wider economy is doing well and the stock and bond markets provide a worthwhile return. So the best way of looking at these policies is as a saving fund. If you had run a savings account in your bank, this would give you a nest egg to draw down when you retired. You can treat cash-value policies in the same way.

Almost everyone with a whole or universal life policy pays long enough to reach protected status. Most take out a policy during their twenties and are still paying twenty or thirty years later. What seems a high premium when you started becomes more affordable as inflation works in your favor. Now the big decision is whether to continue paying. The longer you pay, the better the benefits. But if there’s a family emergency, you can stop paying, withdraw some of the cash or take a loan, and keep the policy valid for when you die. If you hold a life policy, you should receive an annual statement telling you the minimum cash value and the guaranteed death benefit. But, with both a whole and universal policy, you can contact your insurer at any time, and get an up-to-date statement.

If you simply make a withdrawal or take a loan, check the effect on the death benefits. Always get the most information from the life insurance company before taking the decision. One key issue with a loan is the amount of interest payable. Borrowing always has a cost attached to it and, unless you want the interest to come out of the remaining cash value, you should make regular payments back to the company whenever you can afford it. One option to consider is using a cash withdrawal to buy a long-term care insurance policy. As everyone now lives longer, making provision for future health needs makes good sense. Alternatively, think about buying an income annuity. The only limit on your use of the cash is how much tax-free death benefit ultimately passes to your heirs. You can be selfish and use the money for your own comfort and protection or plan for your family’s future. One word of warning. Do not be tempted to surrender your life insurance policy. You will owe back taxes on all the investment gains made since the policy came into force. Paying this as a lump sum is a big hit. It’s always better to leave the policy in force and draw down cash or take a loan.