Wednesday, June 6, 2007

How to Save Money on Your Life Insurance

There are many different life insurance policies and as such there are many ways that you can make savings when it comes to getting a life insurance policy. The best advice when it comes to purchasing your policy is to shop around for the best deal; there is no better way than to use the internet if you want to make savings on your life insurance.

Shopping online for life insurance will allow you to gain access to a huge amount of insurers, as there are many; all insurers are competing against the other for your custom, which goes a long way towards helping you save money. All insurers will allow you to get an online quote and compare quotes, which mean that at a glance you can see which seems to be the best deal. However always make sure you look into what the policy offers because sometimes a great deal isn’t so great after reading the exclusions and small print.

A great way to make savings on life insurance is to be as healthy as possible to start with when taking out the insurance. Here a little common sense needs to be applied, for instance if you are a smoker or drinker then you can expect to pay more for your life insurance than you would if you didn’t smoke or drink, this is the ideal opportunity to give up those nasty habits.

Being severely over weight can also add to your premium than if you were the average build for your height. Again making adjustments to your lifestyle and diet and losing weight can not only improve your health but also leave you with a little extra cash in your pocket due to lower premiums.

Any pre existing medical conditions can also raise the premiums on your life insurance although these always have to be declared at the time you take out your insurance. However by doing all you can to help your condition such as taking regular medication and attending regular check ups at the Doctors or clinics will help when you do declare your condition.

Finally don’t take out more life insurance than you need to, by taking out more insurance you will be paying a higher premium.

David Thomson is Chief Executive of BestDealInsurance a completely independent specialist broker dedicated to providing their clients with the best insurance deal. They offer great value life insurance as well as, critical illness and income protection, ensuring that their clients have the protection they need, without leaving a hole in their pocket.

How to Compare Life Insurance

The easiest and cheapest way to buy your life insurance is to buy online, not only do you get access to hundreds of online insurance companies, but you can also check them out and get quotes online to compare for the best deal. However in order to be able to compare quotes you have to know what you are looking for. Here is some help and advice on how to compare life insurance.

The two most popular levels of life insurance are fixed term life cover and mortgage life cover. Fixed term life cover will pay out a lump sum over a fixed period of time should you die within the period of time that is specified as the term of the policy, the amount of the cover remains fixed throughout the term of the policy.

Mortgage life insurance is a decreasing policy which decreases each year in line with the amount of your mortgage balance and can be referred to as mortgage protection. As long as the initial sum and the term of the mortgage are the same at the outset then should the insured person die there will be enough to cover the mortgage as long as the rate of interest hasn’t risen above 12% per annum. Whichever form of protection you choose to take; there are some factors which remain the same for both policies.

The minimum that you can be assured for if you are under the age of 40 is £30,000 and the minimum if you are over the age of 40 is £20,000.

Usually the maximum amount you can be insured for is £2 million.

The premium is always put in place at the beginning of the policy and will remain the same throughout the life of the policy.

Both of the policies can be taken out as single life or joint life and there is no surrender terms of the policy, which means that there is no payout if you don’t die.

David Thomson is Chief Executive of BestDealInsurance a completely independent specialist broker dedicated to providing their clients with the best insurance deal. They offer great value life insurance as well as, critical illness and income protection, ensuring that their clients have the protection they need, without leaving a hole in their pocket.

The Advantages of Whole Life Insurance

Whole life insurance is a type of insurance policy that, like term life insurance, pays out upon the death of the person who is insured as long as the policy is in force.

The key difference between these two types of life insurance is that with whole life insurance, coverage is provided for your entire life rather than for a fixed amount of time. As long as your premium payments are up-to-date, a lump sum will be paid to your beneficiary in the event of your death, regardless of when that actually is. This payout guarantees your loved ones will be able to pay your funeral expenses and death duties, and will be able to remain financially stable.

Whole life insurance is typically more expensive than term life insurance, but it provides some significant advantages, the most important of which is the fact that you're covered for your entire life with this one policy. As long as you keep up-to-date with premium payments, your whole life insurance policy never has to be renewed. In addition, the amount of your premium remains constant over the life of the policy, so it's much easier to include the cost of the policy in your budget.

Another important benefit of whole life insurance policies is that you can access the cash value of your policy at any time. This means you have access to what amounts to a cash loan, at a much lower interest rate than a traditional loan, without the need to qualify for the loan, and with no requirement to pay the money back. Of course, it's in the best interests of your beneficiaries to pay back any money you borrow from the policy, but it's not strictly necessary to do so.

Depending on the policy you buy, you may be eligible for some other benefits, too. Some whole life insurance policies allow you to cease paying premiums once you reach a certain age-typically at 70 years of age or older. As long as you have kept up with all payments until the cessation date, you will continue to be covered by the policy once you reach that age, without having to pay additional premiums. Because people are living longer and are more likely to live into their seventies and eighties, this is an excellent way of making sure you're covered after retirement without having to meet the extra expense of insurance premiums at a time when your income is likely to be reduced.

Many Whole life policies are investment-based, meaning that a portion of the money you pay in premiums goes towards assuring your lump sum payout, and the rest of the money is invested. Because of this, some types of whole life policy pay out additional money along with the lump sum payment. With-profit whole life policies pay out a bonus sum on top of the amount that you insure yourself for, the amount of which is determined by the earnings on investments made by the company in the year before the policy is paid out. Unit-linked policies work in a similar fashion in that they provide extra money in addition to the lump sum payment, but in this case the bonus comes from interest and earnings made on money that you pay into the insurance fund.

Save time and get as much as 40% off your Whole of Life Insurance premiums at Life-Saver.co.uk. We compare your needs with over 20 UK providers of Whole of Life cover in seconds and discount our premiums below the insurance companies standard rates saving you hundreds or even thousands over the life of your policy.

Term Life Insurance Or Whole Life Insurance - Which Is Better And Why?

Term life insurance has become of the most popular ways to provide coverage for yourself and your family. Term life is much less expensive than traditional whole life insurance. This type of life insurance coverage is good for a designated period of time or "term", such as a 10 year term or 20 year term policy. You can also purchase what is known as "guaranteed renewable term life", which, once purchased, will be renewable again and again for as long as you maintain the premium payments on the policy.

Example, let's say that you purchase a guaranteed renewable term life policy for a 10 year period and discover five years later that you are now insulin-dependent diabetic. As long as you continue to make your premium payments on time and in full, it won't affect your status with the insurance company at all. Because it is guaranteed renewable, you'll be able to to roll it over as long as you need too.

Unlike whole life insurance, term life offers no cash value. This is not necessarily a disadvantage, because you can actually use the money that you're saving to invest in other things, either now or in the future.

If you're considering purchasing life insurance for yourself, your family, or both, a highly recommend that you take a look at investing in a term life insurance policy. These policies are very affordable and the coverage will begin immediately, once your premium payment is made. No more worries, no more hassles. This may be the inexpensive insurance coverage that would be just right for your family.

Joe Stewart Is A Webmaster And Former Life And Health Insurance Agent. He's Made Understanding Life Insurance Easy For Others. You Can Get Free Life Insurance Quotes At His Website TheLifeInsuranceGuys.com or by clicking on Term Life Insurance Quotes

Zero Payment Life Insurance

NO PAYMENT ON LIFE INSURANCE?

Supposedly, there are companies offering to pay your life insurance premium. What a deal, huh.

In this arrangement, you apply for life insurance and agree to give the vast majority of the death benefit to a third party company. It is essentially an investment to them.

For example: you buy a $30,000 life policy (likely a whole life) and at your death your beneficiary receives $10,000 or so. In return you pay no premiums. The company who has been paying premiums owns the policy and the remainder death benefit.

It is unclear if any Department of Insurance will approve such an arrangement or any insurance company for that matter. Typically there has to be insurable interest, which means someone has a vested interest in your death, other than simply owning your life policy.

There is one way around the above arrangement, if an insurance company or Department of Insurance does not approve this type of relationship. Any insured can change their beneficiary after a life policy has been approved. It is during the underwriting process that the insurance company can have say in who may be a beneficiary.

You should consult an estate planning attorney before agreeing to such a partnership, however. You need to find out whether this life policy under this arrangement will affect you in any way when it comes to estate taxes or in any other related way.

Always, you need to feel comfortable with your agent. If not, continue shopping around.

Gary Brown is principal owner of Choice Insurance of Arizona. He has been serving Arizona residents for car insurance and home insurance for nearly 14 years. Find his website at Insurance Phoenix

The Three Types Of Life Insurance Explained

It recently occurred to me that I've been writing several articles about life insurance, individual, group, family, and so on, but I haven't taken the time to actually explain the basics of life insurance itself. I'm going to do that in this article.

Life insurance policies pay a death benefit, which is known as the "face value" to the beneficiary of the policy. The face value is nothing more than the amount of the policy. Example, a $100,000 life insurance policy would have a face value of $100,000, a $50,000 life insurance policy would have a face value of $50,000, etc. that's all there is to it.

Besides the insurance company, there are only three other people normally involved with any one life insurance policy. These three people are the owner, the insured and the beneficiary. Let's take a look at each one of these people.

The owner of the policy is the person who purchased the policy and is making the premium payments. The owner of the policy makes all of the decisions regarding the policy, including who is going to be insured and who the beneficiary is.

The insured person is exactly that, the person that the insurance was bought for. In the event that something happened to the person that is insured by the policy, a payment would be made to the beneficiary.

The beneficiary is the person that receives payment in the event that anything happens to the insured. There can be more than one beneficiary for each insurance policy. Example, let's say that one of your parents has a life insurance policy and they pass away suddenly. If you have brothers and sisters there is a good chance that your parents named all of you as beneficiaries of the policy.

Example, let's say that you have one brother and one sister and the policy was for $60,000 even. In this case, you would each receive $20,000. If you're an only child you'd receive it all.

There are only three basic types of life insurance. These are Whole Life, Endowment and Term. Although there are different variations of insurance policies, these are the three that you really need to focus on if you're considering getting a life insurance policy for yourself.

Joe Stewart Is A Webmaster And Former Life And Health Insurance Agent. He's Made Understanding Life Insurance Easy For Others. You Can Get Free Life Insurance Quotes At His Website TheLifeInsuranceGuys.com or by clicking on Types Of Life Insurance

Life Insurance - Planning For Future

The people who most sincerely pray about our well being are our life insurance agents. As they don't want you to depart before your full term on the earth. It feels really nice to know in the modern insensitive world, there is someone who is so much concerned about our well being. In a more serious vein, let us discuss the need and the consideration that we must look into while we go for an insurance cover.

To harp about the benefits of life insurance all over again wouldn't serve any purpose because everyone reading this article must be serious about getting his life insured. However, we must understand that there are certain points that you must keep in view before taking any life insurance policy. First, you must not get swayed by the fascinating life insurance schemes that promise to take care of your future and secure the future of your family by offering you these schemes in a very alluring manner. Remember, you should take these insurances only when you have gone through each and every detail about the policy, else it wouldn't helpful in a great manner.

Then you must get your insurance done through a credible source that should be trustworthy and reliable. So, you must make sure of the outlet that will give you the required benefit in a better way. Regardless of how much cash you have and how much savings have you done, if you think that you have dependents in your family who are your responsibility, then you must get your life insurance done as that wouldn't be a temptation to you , as the amount is being safely guarded by agents.

It is also recommended that if you want to get a cover for your life, then there is no need to wait and brood over the matter as your age and your health act as a major factor in determining your premium and the value of your policy. Remember, your health level is directly proportional to the figure of your premium. Also, you must decide clearly as to who should inherit your insurance amount as well.

Therefore, life insurance schemes are helpful for us and they guide us in planning about our future.

Adam is a marketing expert who brings the information through articles, press release, news etc.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

How to Get a Cheap Life Insurance Quote

Cheap life insurance quotes are easy to find on the Internet. All you need to do is visit an insurance comparison website.

Getting started

Before you get started looking for a cheap life insurance quote, you need to make some decisions:

1. Do you want term life insurance or whole life insurance? Term life insurance is cheaper because all you are buying is insurance. Whole life insurance costs more because it includes an investment feature: part of your premium each month is invested.

2. How much insurance do you want? Depending on how many children and how much debt you have, you may need anywhere from two to ten times your annual salary in life insurance. Even parents who don’t have paying jobs need life insurance: If your primary job is to take care of your children, your spouse will likely have to pay someone else to take care of them if you die.

Get Quotes to Compare

Once you've answered these questions for yourself, you're ready to start gathering life insurance quotes. The best and fastest way to get life insurance quotes is to visit an insurance comparison website. On these sites you fill out a form with information about your health, job, hobbies, and the coverage you want. You'll then get fast quotes from multiple A+ rated life insurance companies.

On the best comparison websites, you can even get quick answers to your life insurance questions from insurance professionals through an online chat service or a toll-free-telephone service (See link below.)

Investigate Insurance Companies

Once you have your life insurance quotes, you'll want to check the ratings of each insurance company before you purchase your policy. After all, while you want a cheap quote, you also want a life insurance company that's stable and will be able to pay your claim. To check the ratings of a life insurance company, your best source is a credit agency like Standard & Poor’s (standardandpoors.com), or a consumer rating service like J.D. Power and Associates (jdpower.com).

The Four Types of Term Life Insurance

At first blush, term life insurance seems as though it would refer to just one type of insurance policy. In fact, term life insurance really breaks down into four unique policies.

Term life insurance is the simplest form of life insurance you can buy. It lasts for a certain term of years and you pay a certain amount to have coverage. If the party that is insured passes away, the relevant death benefit is paid out. If they do not, it is not. No cash builds up in the policy in any way.

This is more or less the general way term life insurance works, but most policies fall into one of four variations that differ remarkably. The differences between the variations have to do with either how your fund them or the reason for the coverage. This means the premium payments and death benefit change in various ways.

The simplest variation is the yearly renewable term policy. As the name suggests, this policy is renewed each year. The unique aspect of this policy is it changes each year. The premiums go up, but so does the death benefit.

The level premium term policy offers exactly what the name suggests. The premium is the same every year so long as the policy is in effect. At the end of the term of the policy, you can often get a second term at fairly favorable rates if you still meet the health guidelines of the insurance company. This is known as re-entering the policy.

Decreasing term life insurance is our third variation. With this policy, the premium starts and stays low throughout the term. The death benefit, however, decreases over time. So, why would anyone want such a policy? This policy is given the nickname of mortgage life insurance. The intended use is to pay off the mortgage of the insured should they pass away. As time passes, the mortgage should decrease, which requires less and less death benefit.

The return of premium term life insurance policy is both a mouthful and a misunderstood variation of life insurance. You pay a higher premium than for most regular term life, but you get it back at the end of the policy should you survive the 10, 20 or how every many years. Why would an insurance company offer this? Statistically, enough people abandon the policy to make it profitable. Also, the insurance company reinvests the higher premiums and makes money in the interim. It is like giving the insurance company a free loan.

So, what is the best variation for you? There is no correct answer for everyone. Your best option is to sit down with a financial advisor and discuss your situation to ascertain the best choice.

Friday, May 18, 2007

What You Need in Life Insurance

You probably already know you need life insurance as part of practically any financial plan. That being said, how do you determine how much you need?

Life insurance is much like taxes for many people. You know you should, and indeed, have to deal with it, but you really don’t want to. The stereotypical life insurance agent is enough to make anyone cringe. That being said, understanding why you need life insurance and what you need is going to make life a lot simpler when it comes to purchasing it.

The best way to think about life insurance is through the concept of risk management. What are the biggest risks to you and your family from a financial perspective? For most people, it is a sudden lack of cash or the loss of the primary wage earner. Common pitfalls could be death, disability or a large property loss. With the first two of these, the real problem is a sudden loss of cash on hand to handle debts. If you suddenly lost your job, how long would you be able to meet your mortgage and other bills? For most people, the answer is not very long.

With risk management, the idea is to eliminate the catastrophe of a financial situation. Life insurance is the answer. The idea is that you pay a relatively small amount annually to avoid being put in financial straits if something bad happens. Your family is going to go through an extremely tough time if you die in a car crash, but it will be ten times worse if they are worrying about losing the home and so on. To manage this risk, you can pay a bit now to avoid such problems down the road. I deny it. You deny it. At some point, however, we are all going to pass away.

When evaluating what you need in insurance, it helps to consider immediate and intermediate needs first. They are going to need money to pay things such as funeral costs, medical bills, monthly bills and incidentals. On a more intermediate basis, there is the issue of the mortgage on the home, any other outstanding debts, taxes, education costs and so on. The specifics are dependent entirely on your situations, which is why talking to a financial planner is usually a smart move.

Next, you need to determine the long term income requirements of your family. The best way to do this is to total up your gross monthly bills. Don’t skimp on them. You want a specific list of expenses so you have a good, hard number to work with. Include everything from the obvious of mortgage or rent payments to the sublime of entertainment costs and utilities.

Let’s say it totals $5,000 a month. If the primary wage earner passes away, where is this money going to come from and for how long? How long do you want there to be money on hand? If you have kids that are under age 10, do you want them to go to college? How is the surviving spouse going to pay for the college? As you can see, the numbers add up pretty quickly. At $60,000 a year, your spouse would need $1.2 million dollars in life insurance to cover the basic costs of living for 20 years. This number is actually low if you consider inflation. Throw in the cost of sending the kids to college and you are looking at a figure closer to $2 million.

The key to buying life insurance is to figure out realistically how much you need on a monthly basis and how long you want to provide for your family. Once you do that, it is time to go talk to the insurance agent.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

10 Important Things to Remember When Buying Life Insurance

It is always better to find out vital information about life insurance prior to buying cover. This ensures that you obtain the best cover your money can buy.

10 facts about life insurance are:

1. Research the market: It is nearly always preferable to investigate all the cover available and to be clear about the monthly fees before deciding. A great place to source this info is online.

2. The sooner the better: Do not procrastinate in buying a life insurance policy. The best time to purchase a policy is when you are young and in employment. This will give you a choice of great policies.

3. Do not get too much: Try to have just the correct amount of insurance that is within your budget. Getting too much cover will attract increased costs which is unnecessary.

4. Always tell the truth: Never try to misguide when completing the insurance application. If you are discovered hiding facts, such as smoking, the insurance provider may terminate your plan.

5. Stay healthy for lower costs: Health conscious individuals pay the least expensive fees. But, habits like cigarette smoking, too much alcohol, intake of drugs and obesity can make your premium sky high.

6. Never pay unnecessary fees: The fees of some insurance coverage are high due to the fact they also incorporate the commissions of the broker. To prevent this, go with an insurance company that offers policies sold direct.

7. Monthly fees can cost more: One way to keep costs down is to avoid monthly costs. You should therefore go for bi-annual or annual premiums, which are discounted.

8. Check your cover from time to time: You should check your cover when there is a major change in your circumstances, like the birth of a child or your children starting university. Occasional reviews help you to ensure that you are paying the right fees, and that you have the right level of cover.

9. Do not rely upon your employers insurance cover: Most employees are provided with company insurance by their employers. But this may be insufficient for your requirements. Additionally, the group insurance policies get cancelled when you depart the company and because of this can not be relied upon.

10. Higher cover could be cheaper: With life insurance, monthly fees get less expensive as you go for increased cover. As such there is nothing wrong in increasing the cover, if your budget will allow it.