Archive for August, 2009
Learn About Whole Life Insurance
Learn About Whole Life Insurance
Whole Life Insurance, Trends, and Staying Power Whole life insurance provides customers with a life insurance policy that will help their loved ones in the future, and with an investment component that will help customers and their families right away. This mixture of delayed and instant gratification has been attractive to life insurance shoppers for decades, but today?s trend in life insurance is moving away from whole life insurance packages. Once, whole life insurance policies were the standard, but today they are the exception. As the economy changes and the American public become increasingly savvy about money management, the full service that a whole life insurance policy provides just isn?t as necessary as it used to be. People who want a more hands on approach to investing are likely to find a whole life insurance policy too limiting. And, the amount of money that one of these policies requires each month can make it difficult to pursue other investment options, especially for middle and lower class families who are living on a budget. A lot of financial experts today feel the investment portions of whole life insurance policies do not offer customers the best return rate on their money. This provides an incentive for people to purchase term life insurance policies which do not include any investment components, and then invest their money elsewhere. However, there are still some advantages to purchasing a whole life insurance policy. Although the investments that an insurance company will make on your behalf may not be the most lucrative, they will almost certainly be among the most stable. Many people prefer a lower rate of return with a lower chance of loss rather than a riskier gamble. There is plenty to be said in favor of this perspective, especially when it comes to planning for the future. In addition, people who do not have the discipline or inclination to save money on their own often find the structured saving a whole life insurance policy requires to be a boon. If the idea of budgeting your own savings plans and spending time researching hot stock tips appeals to you, a whole life insurance policy probably won?t be to your personal taste. Of course, even if you don?t opt for this tried and true kind of policy, you can be certain that someone else will. Although today?s trends seem to foretell the end of the whole life insurance policy, there are still enough customers interested in this kind of traditional and conservative policy that insurance companies will be likely to offer this kind of coverage for many years to come. Gray Rollins is a featured writer for USAInsuranceCenter.com. To learn more about <a href="http://www.usainsurancecenter.com/wl/">whole life insurance</a> and for more <a href="http://www.usainsurancecenter.com/wl/wholelifeinsurancetip/">whole life insurance tips</a>, visit us.
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Insurance. Duplicated Insurance Wastes Money.
Have you ever worked out how much you spend on insurance? Try totting up your premiums ? we suspect you’ll be surprised! You’ll be even more surprised to discover that there’s a probability that you’ve also duplicated some of the cover you’re paying for. Cut the duplication out and you’re certain to save money. Lots of people have insurance cover for legal expenses, loss of income, theft, even death, without even realising it. This can arise because many of us don’t fully understand what’s covered by the policies we have, especially if the policies had been arranged for us by financial advisers and brokers. In a recent survey, The Financial Services Authority (FSA) discovered that optional extras such as breakdown recovery and legal expense cover, were frequently added to car insurance without checking whether the policyholder was already covered. It’s also not uncommon to find that people with Permanent Medical Insurance have duplicated their cover via payment protection policies taken out specifically to cover their monthly payments on mortgages, loans and credit cards. The point is that if they claim on their Permanent Medical Insurance, their payout will be reduced because part of their claim is also insured through their payment protection policies ? so their payment protection insurance is really a waste of money. The Financial Ombudsman has confirmed this saying, ?People often contact us when they find themselves over-insured. They often do not realise until they make a claim that they have been paying for a policy that provides very little, if any, benefit?. There’s also ample of evidence that some of us simply don’t understand what we’re actually insured for! For example, take the case of Amanda Lariviere from West Yorkshire. Amanda, aged 42 and mother of two, is recovering from ovarian cancer and had an allergic reaction to chemotherapy which kept her off work. Out of the blue she received an unwelcome tax bill so she decided to visit her building society to find out if she could raise some cash by re-mortgaging. The adviser at the Society wisely asked her to bring with her, her life insurance policies so that they could be used to support her re-mortgage application. So imagine Amanda’s surprise and delight when the adviser explained that her policies with Norwich Union and Scottish Provident, which had been costing her ?80 per month, were not life insurance policies at all ? they were actually critical illness policies with a combined insured value of ?100,000. She was able to claim on these policies and the ?100,000 she received was sufficient to pay off most of her mortgage and her tax bill! Here’s some typical insurance policies to check out. Critical Illness Insurance Critical Illness insurance is often sold as an optional extra within a life insurance policy. In fact that’s usually the cheapest way to buy it. However, some enlightened employers already provide critical illness insurance as part of their employment package. Ask your employer if you are one of the lucky ones! Life Insurance Some employers also provide life insurance cover within their pension schemes. It’s called death-in-service benefit and typically pays out a tax-free lump sum worth 3 to 4 times the annual salary if the employee were to die whilst employed by the company. Permanent Medical Insurance and Payment Protection Insurance Permanent Medical Insurance (PMI) is also known by some people as Income Protection Insurance. PMI pays out the insured monthly sum if the policyholder is off work due to illness due to one of a wide range of specified illnesses - and some policies will even pay out during redundancy. PMI policies pay out indefinitely or at least until the policy comes to the end of its insured term. Few appreciate is that PMI actually eliminates the need for Payment Protection insurance ? the sort of insurance frequently sold alongside loans, credit cards and mortgages to maintain monthly payments if you are off sick, have an accident or are made redundant. Indeed, you can’t make a claim against more than one policy for the same event ? only one policy will agree to pay out! (All the others will reduce their payouts to the value of the money you are receiving from your other policies) Mobile Phone Insurance Normally mobile phone policies have a hefty excess ? rarely less than ?50. You could be better saving the insurance and changing to a pay-as-you-go plan. Legal Expense Insurance Insurance for legal expenses relating to disputes concerning your home will usually be included free of charge within your home and contents insurance policy. Most car insurance policies provide legal expense cover as an optional extra ? others even include it as standard. Some trade unions and professional associations sometimes include access to legal advice as part of their service to their members. Check these out before you pay for more cover! Insurance for ID Theft According to ?Which?, the consumer magazine, you are only legally responsible for the first ?50 if your identity is stolen. Is it worth insuring for a ?50 risk? Incidentally, my bank has just given me this insurance for free! Automatic cover for credit card purchases Many credit cards automatically insure your purchases for a set period of time after you’ve shopped. Barclaycard is a good example. If you used Barclaycard to buy something valued between ?50 and ?2,000, you’re insured against theft and accidental damage for the next 60 days. Michael is the expert financial editor for Scrouge Online who specialise in <a href="http://www.scrouge-online.co.uk">Life Insurance</a> and <a href="http://www.scrouge-online.co.uk/home-insurance.htm">Home Insurance </a>
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