Term Life Insurance Rates The More You Know The More You Save

Posted by How To Choose Insurance | How to choose insurance | Thursday 11 March 2010 12:57 am

If you?re in the market for a term life insurance policy, here are a few money saving tips to help you keep the premiums down.

1.Buy when you are young healthy: Life insurance rates, although they contain fees, and a myriad of expenses, are primarily based upon the statistical chances of a person dying in a given year. Insurance companies use their own experience plus the statistical information collected by the government. The statistics are used to calculate the yearly ?cost of death? for each $1,000 of life insurance benefit. As people grow older, the chances of dying increase. At first the increase is slow up until middle age, and then the chance of death increases more rapidly. As the chance of death rise, so do the premiums.

2.Quit smoking: Smokers? premiums are nearly three times as expensive as non-smokers. Staying away from cigarettes a week or two before your company physical won?t do. Urine tests will detect traces of nicotine (yep, this means chewing tobacco too). Most companies require you to be smoke free for a minimum of one year. Some companies require two years.

3.Lose weight: Companies don?t charge by the pound, but you may be charged more if your weight exceeds a certain level.

4.Buy direct: The internet has made it easy to shop around for life insurance policies directly. By eliminating the middle person, you save on salespersons commissions which are built into the policy premium.

5.Healthy people don?t need ?guaranteed issue? policies: People with medical conditions may want to purchase guaranteed issue policies. These policies do not require a medical exam and tend to have higher premiums. The company is taking more of a risk because they don?t know your true medical condition. However, if you are healthy, take the exam. It will prove that you are a good risk and your rates will be lower.

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Watchdog Wary Over Critical Illness Insurance

Posted by How To Choose Insurance | How to choose insurance | Saturday 6 March 2010 8:56 am

You have taken out a critical illness insurance policy so that if you ever are in the unfortunate situation of developing a life threatening condition, you will be compensated.

But what if you wind up with a critical illness that is not guarded against on the insurance policy? What many people do not realise, and what can be of real concern, is that you may find that after you have purchased critical illness insurance you are only covered for up to 35 listed medical conditions. And this is the deal with most insurance policies. So if you develop a life threatening illness not named in your policy you could be faced with the disastrous situation where you get no pay out from your insurance company at all.

On the other hand, it could be that you have an easily treatable sickness and because it is ranked with what the insurance industry calls a ?lower grading?, you end up getting a full payout.

The Financial Services Authority and the Association of British Insurers are wary about whether insurance companies actually make these differences clear. Jonathan French, a spokesman at the Association of British Insurers, says it is important that customers have an insurance policy fully explained to them before it gets purchased. ?The situation we would not want to see occurring is for them to be buying a product thinking that it does something it doesn?t do.?

And for this reason, the ABI recently updated its codes of best practice for critical illness insurance. French says until recently, 35 conditions was the maximum number any company covered for critical illness insurance.

?What we set out are essentially the minimum standards companies have to apply to their policy. The guidance we have published improves the way the critical illnesses are defined. It makes it clear to consumers what levels of illness are covered and what aren?t.?

The cost of critical insurance varies. For someone in their late 30s for a 35-year term with a payout of ?500,000, premiums cost anything up to ?600. Scottish Equitable charges premiums of ?290 and Scottish Provident charges ?409 premiums for policies based on these conditions. Both these policies are reviewable. A guaranteed policy with Scottish Provident is ?560.

So these figures give you an idea that the amount of money you pay out for this type of insurance can be expensive. You can imagine how infuriating it could be to find that you have paid out on the policy only to learn that when you do become critically ill your insurer will not pay you out.

There is now, however, a new critical illness product on the market. Prudential is marketing a new ?Flexible Protection Plan?, which covers up to 140 medical conditions.

In the ?Flexible Protection Plan? there are partial payouts depending on the severity of the condition. If the condition worsens, there is more paid out to the maximum sum which has been insured. Most other policies do not offer partial payouts.

Take loss of eye-sight for an example. It would normally be the case with a critical illness policy that you would only receive a pay out if you became completely blind. But the Prudential policy will pay out 25% if you loose sight in just one eye.

But here is the catch. The cost of the policy is almost twice that of conventional illness cover and spectators worry that there will be some confusion about how the severity of an illness would be defined.

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Use Life Insurance To Make A Charitable Donation With Lasting Benefits

Posted by How To Choose Insurance | How to choose insurance | Friday 5 March 2010 12:56 pm

I have always been a fan of using life insurance as a way to make a charitable donation. It provides benefits to the organization you are supporting in both the near and short term. Once it is set up, administration is easy for you and the organization.

Life insurance would probably be used more often for this purpose if it was easier to understand. There are variations, but probably the most straightforward is to purchase a life insurance policy from an agent. A type of life insurance called whole life insurance must be used for this purpose. Term life insurance is ideal for other situations, but doesn?t work for this application. Your agent can explain why this is the case. Life insurance rates vary, so it is a good idea to get a life insurance quote from a few different agents, or check life insurance rates online. Age, health and lifestyle all have an effect life insurance rates.

At time of purchase of the life insurance policy, you should designate the organization you are supporting as the beneficiary of the insurance proceeds. This means that when you die, the life insurance benefit goes to the charity. Once you purchase the life insurance policy and it is issued, you must then assign ownership of the life insurance policy to the organization. You continue to make the premium payments to the life insurance company, who will issue you an annual tax receipt that can be deducted as a charitable donation.

In summary, you receive the same tax benefits as if you made a donation, the organization accrues equity in the life insurance policy that it can use at any time, and when you die, the organization receives the life insurance proceeds. These final proceeds may be far more than the sum of payments you have made. As mentioned earlier, there are a few variations to this concept and regulations regarding tax deductions and other tax considerations vary from country to country, so check with a life insurance agent or do some more research about life insurance online before you proceed.

Ron Strand is a college instructor and consultant. He has written some of his 30 years of fundraising experiences in a new website, Ron’s Fundraising Ideas.

Long Term Life Insurance ? Why Get It?

Posted by How To Choose Insurance | How to choose insurance | Monday 1 March 2010 12:59 am

Long Term Life Insurance is term life insurance that is taken out for an extended period of time. Most term life insurance tends to be for a period of between one and seven years, but some people prefer a longer term cover. Insurance companies have responded to this demand by offering a new range of products that fall somewhere between whole life insurance and traditional term insurance.

Normally when people want long term cover, they purchase whole life insurance, which covers them for the duration of their life, and also builds a cash value. However, if you do not wish to pay the extra premiums that are associated with the investment, then perhaps long term insurance rather than whole insurance may be the way for you to go.

These policies may be referred to as ?Permanent Life? policies, and can be set up so that they are payable on demise, or at a certain age. Long term life insurance really blurs the line between whole life and term life insurance, with policies often borrowing from both structures to offer the customer even more flexibility. If you do not wish to have an accruing cash value, then you don’t have to. You can also stipulate whether you want the beneficiary to receive a lump sum payment, or monthly payments to boost income.

Unlike shorter term policies, long term life insurance does tend to be initially more expensive, though over the length of the term it may prove more cost effective than short term life insurance policies. Talking to your preferred insurance provider will give you a good idea of the options that are available out there. Then you can shop around and compare policies online, which will give you an even better idea of your options. The market is booming, so if you are looking for more flexibility in your life insurance, now is the time to look.

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Term Vs. Whole Life Insurance Which Is Best For You?

Posted by How To Choose Insurance | How to choose insurance | Friday 26 February 2010 4:58 pm

If you are looking into purchasing life insurance, you have probably heard about both term life insurance and whole life insurance. Before you decide on one or the other based on what you have heard or what your insurance agent tells you, you need to understand the meanings of ?term? and ?whole,? and familiarize yourself pros and cons of each one (and how these pros and cons will affect you).

First, we have term life insurance. It covers its policyholders for a certain amount of time, and that time can be up to 30 years. It costs much less than whole life insurance and policyholders can be covered by level-term premiums and annual renewable premiums. With level-term premiums, the premiums stay the same throughout the duration of the policy, whereas with annual renewable premiums, the premiums increase as the policyholder ages.

Next, we have whole life insurance, which combines term life insurance with an investment component. There are two elements involved with whole life insurance?the mortality charge, which pays for the insurance coverage, and the investment component, which earns interest and claims to act as a savings mechanism. However, as the policyholder ages, the mortality charge increases and the investment component decreases. Plus, the cash surrender value (the amount you would get back if you cashed in your policy) is not always what it appears to be. It fluctuates with markets, making its relation to reality a difficult one.

In the end, if you are on a budget and in search of a good, affordable life insurance policy, term life insurance is probably the best option for you. It is affordable and does not include more coverage that what you actually need. However, if you are wealthy enough to purchase whole life insurance, it can act as an estate-planning vehicle, applying the proceeds to your estate taxes rather than leaving your family to fight in out with the government.

Another problem is that whole life is extremely expensive, and if you’re on a limited budget, you may not be able to afford all the insurance coverage you actually need.

Wealthy people sometimes use whole life policies as an estate-planning vehicle. They can set up an insurance trust, which applies the proceeds of the policy to their estate taxes when they die. That can save their heirs the considerable expense of settling the estate with Uncle Sam.

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No Load Term Life Insurance

Posted by How To Choose Insurance | How to choose insurance | Tuesday 23 February 2010 8:57 am

Have you ever heard the term load and no load in the financial service industry? The loading of an insurance product usually always involves the agent?s commission and the company?s expenses. Some policies have what they call front end loads and back end loads. These loads are normally associated with permanent insurance policies. The cost of doing business is all wrapped up in the loading of a policy.

No load term life insurance is probably the least expensive form of life insurance in the market. You often wonder what makes one company so much cheaper than the other and it usually has to do with the type of goods and services provided. Those goods and services are what make up the loading aspect of the life insurance policy. The no load term life insurance policy usually indicates that you are primarily purchasing direct from the insurance company and with little or no professional advice or opinion.

The life insurance professional is still very important to a great number of people. Buying life insurance direct from a company without an agent may be less expensive but it also may leave you wanting when it comes to professional counseling and service. Term life insurance is very simple and so the purchase of term life insurance may be something that you can handle on your own without a professional. These are individual choices and preferences that each of us must decide upon before we buy life insurance.

Term life insurance is inexpensive to begin with and so researching the market place for a no load product may or may not have a major affect on the premium. Ask about loading when you shop for term life insurance. You may be surprised at what you learn about the insurance companies and how they come up with their rates. It will also help you when you inevitably begin to shop for permanent life insurance.

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Critical Illness Insurance Of Critical Importance

Posted by How To Choose Insurance | How to choose insurance | Sunday 21 February 2010 12:57 pm

Twenty per cent of critical illness claims are turned down. That means for every five people making this important claim, one will have it rejected at this crucially important time.

The whole reason behind taking out critical illness cover is that, in the event of you becoming critically ill (that is being diagnosed with one of the listed illnesses described in your policy documents) a payment will be made. The reasoning behind your decision to take out what some consider being an important part of your financial planning is sound. Critical illness can affect the whole family. You may have to pay out for child care, change your home or job or even train for a completely new career. Having taken out cover, should the unexpected happen, all eventualities are covered and you have gone as far as you can to minimise financial problems and get down to the important personal matters.

Unfortunately, in a number of cases, this is not so. Failure to disclose what may seem to you to be minor, unimportant illnesses in the past may give the insurers a reason to reject your claim. Fair or not, it?s completely legal! As far as the law stands, if you have failed to disclose information which the insurer was seeking, then the insurer is perfectly within their rights to terminate the cover.

If this happens to you, not only do you have to cope with the implications of the illness, but you have to either accept that your critical illness insurance plans have totally failed you. At this stage depending on the severity of the illness, you may feel overwhelmed by the situation and unable to face challenging the decision. If you do appeal against the decision and the Financial Ombudsman Service gets involved, they will make every attempt to establish whether you deliberately misled the insurers in order to gain cover or whether the questions on the original proposal form were vaguely or poorly written.

As soon as you make a claim on your critical illness policy, your insurer will instigate an extremely thorough check on your medical records. It appears that they can go back without a time limit and if they find anything, related to your illness or not, which you?ve failed to disclose to them, they may choose to refuse your claim. There is no such search or investigation carried out when you take out the policy and some people feel that this should be addressed.

It is virtually impossible to remember every minor illness. Can you really be expected to remember and record every visit to the doctor regarding things like headaches, eye pain, stiff neck, ear infections and depression? There were recent cases where claims were rejected for these reasons ? a man had his claim for prostate cancer refused because of failure to disclose an earlier ear infection and a woman whose claim failed because she?d not disclosed an earlier problem with depression.

However, for four out of five people, the insurance works. It is important to disclose your full health history and not to attempt to cover anything up. Read the terms of the insurance thoroughly and miss nothing out. Used as intended, critical care cover is a valuable financial tool.

Plenty of help is available when choosing your critical illness cover. Log on to the internet and you?ll find on-line brokers who?ll be able to offer advice, a choice of quotes and the best possible terms.

Life Insurance Policies provides free and amazing articles about life insurance policies.

Senior Term Life Insurance

Posted by How To Choose Insurance | How to choose insurance | Wednesday 17 February 2010 4:56 pm

We all know that purchasing life insurance at an older age is more expensive than purchasing it while very young. In an attempt to provide affordable insurance to meet the life insurance needs of older insureds, some companies are now offering Guaranteed Acceptance Life Insurance.

Guaranteed Acceptance Life Insurance policy rates are less expensive than the traditional term insurance policies. As the name implies, you are guaranteed to be accepted for this life insurance. There are no health questionnaires to complete and no physical exams to take. As long as you pay the premiums, the policies cannot be cancelled. Additionally, you may lock your premium rate for the policy amount you want. Your rates will not change for as long as you keep your insurance.

Where’s the catch you may be asking. Well, the policies are written for a limited period of time. For example, Colonial Penn’s policies are for a two-year limited benefit period. They are available for people between the ages of 50 and 85 (This age range varies depending on insurance company and state regulation).

Generally, if death occurs during the first few years, a reduced benefit is paid or the company may return the premiums paid plus interest. For instance, with a Gerber Life policy, if death occurs by natural causes within the first two years (during the limited benefits time), the beneficiary will receive all of the premiums paid plus 10%. However, if death was a result of an accident, or if death due to natural causes occurs after the two years, your beneficiary will receive the full benefit amount. In the event of suicide (with certain state exclusions), the beneficiary will receive the amount of premiums paid only.

Most life insurance companies offer a Guaranteed Acceptance Life policy for seniors. There may be variations from state to state, but the basic premise is the same. They all offer an affordable insurance option for seniors.

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Child Term Life Insurance ? It IS Important!

Posted by How To Choose Insurance | How to choose insurance | Tuesday 11 August 2009 1:59 am

Life insurance, similar to all types of insurance, covers the insured or the family members of the insured in the event of an emergency. With life insurance, that emergency is usually the death of the insured. The grieving period is no time to spend worrying about money and life insurance is the way to alleviate those worries.

There are two basic kinds of life insurance. The first, and most common, is term life insurance. Simply put, term life insurance insures a person for a certain period of time and builds no cash value. It is the most popular choice because it is usually the least expensive insurance for the particular coverage a person needs. The second, and generally most expensive, is whole life insurance. Whole life insurance insures a person for life and does build cash value. Whole life insurance is a reasonable choice for people with permanent debilitating health conditions, the elderly, or those who can afford it. Although children do not usually fall into any of those categories, they do sometimes qualify for term life insurance.

Child term life insurance will insure a child who is stricken with a health condition. Children can suffer from diseases such as HIV, AIDS, and various types of cancer just as adults can; therefore, purchasing term life insurance is a practical choice for parents or legal guardians of children with these or similar conditions.

Any type of life insurance is purchased so that the surviving family can be spared most or all of the financial burdens during their time of grief. No one wants to spend time trying to figure out how to pay for medical bills or a funeral if they have just lost a loved one. Like all deaths, the death of a child brings emotional sorrows and pain; it does not have to bring extreme financial burden, as well. Look into child term life insurance for peace of mind.

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Life Insurance Term Verses Whole ? Is Term Life Insurance Better Than Whole Life?

Posted by How To Choose Insurance | How to choose insurance | Monday 10 August 2009 9:59 pm

There has been an on-going battle in the life insurance industry involving term life insurance and whole life insurance. The industry has survived the battle but the consumer is still asking the same question. Which one is better? The question is flawed because these two policies serve two different purposes. The real battle comes over the concept of buying term and investing the difference or the purchase of permanent life insurance. The proponents of buy term and invest the difference surmise that the policyholder would do better investing the difference in premium costs that you save by purchasing a term policy rather than a whole policy. Permanent life insurance was never created to be an investment. It was created to take care of permanent life insurance needs. The cash value accumulation within permanent life insurance is an added benefit and not an investment feature. The best life insurance portfolio is a combination of both permanent and term life insurance.

Permanent Life Insurance ? Permanent life insurance should be purchased for permanent needs. Final expenses and life insurance for retirement are two basic permanent life insurance needs. Life insurance at retirement is critical because it gives you more options to use your retirement benefits for income rather than life insurance.

Term Life Insurance ? Term life insurance is for temporary needs. Term life insurance will compliment your permanent base of life insurance. Decreasing term and level term riders can be added to your permanent policy to take care of temporary needs like mortgage protection and short term debt.

It is important to understand why you are purchasing life insurance. You will be much more content when you establish in your own mind the reasoning behind the purchase. Do a little mini-need analysis. Think about what is important to you and who is important to you. Life insurance is a gift of love.

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