Save on Affordable and Reliable Insurance (Auto, Business, Health, Life, Homeowners, Renters, Group)

These days insurance have been swarming the four corners of the United States. Whether we like it or not, insurance is a need. Why? There is no denying the fact that one disaster can have a devastating effect on a firm, a family and an individual. It can be damage, bankruptcy and death to name a few. What are the factors that we should consider and how can we know the insurance that we need.

CAR/AUTO INSURANCE

One has to consider the purpose of owning it whether for personal use, for public transport use like a private taxi, or use for transportation of goods and industrial materials. Age is also a major consideration. Old vehicles pay a higher premium than new ones. The type and model of the vehicle has a major role also. When buying car/auto insurance online, there are sites that provide automated tools. They?re using an auto coverage analyzer where you have to answer a few question about your financial standing, automobile condition, etc. From this information it will generate what category of coverage you need.

BUSINESS INSURANCE

There are insurance companies which have policies that combine protection for all major property and liability risks in one package. But you could also go with a separate coverage which is called a business owner?s policy (BOP). For protection against flood damage, find out if your office is in the flood zone-area. And if so, you must go for a policy that provides coverage against flood. Special Earthquake Insurance Policy or Commercial Property

Earthquake Endorsement can cover you if you live in an earthquake-prone area. However, its policies have different deductibles. Meanwhile, Business Interruption insurance, reimburses you for the lost income during a shutdown only applies to damage covered under this policy. On the other hand, Terrorism Risk Insurance Act 2002 covers loss due to any terrorism only for those businesses that have this coverage. Injuries and deaths due to acts of terrorism are exceptions in worker?s compensation.

HEALTH INSURANCE

With health insurance, you protect yourself and your family in case you need medical care that could be very expensive. If you have insurance, many of your costs are covered by a third-party payer (insurance company/employer), not by you.

KINDS OF HEALTH INSURANCE

Group Insurance

Most Americans get health insurance through their jobs or are covered because a family member has insurance at work. Group insurance is generally the least expensive kind. In many cases, the employer pays part or all of the cost.

Some employers offer only one health insurance plan. Some employers offer a choice of plans. These are:

a) Fee-for-Service
Insurance companies pay fees for the services provided to the insured people covered by the policy. This type of health insurance offers the most choices of doctors and hospitals. You can choose any doctor you wish and change doctors any time. You can go to any hospital in any part of the country. The insurer only pays for part of your doctor and hospital bills.

b) Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs)
Health maintenance organizations are prepaid health plans. As an HMO member, you pay a monthly premium. In exchange, the HMO provides comprehensive care for you and your family, including doctors’ visits, hospital stays, emergency care, surgery, lab tests, x-rays, and therapy.

c) Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs)
The preferred provider organization is a combination of traditional fee-for-service and an HMO. Like an HMO, there are a limited number of doctors and hospitals to choose from. When you use those providers (sometimes called “preferred” providers, other times called “network” providers), most of your medical bills are covered.

Individual Insurance

If your employer does not offer group insurance, or if the insurance offered is very limited, you can buy an individual policy. You can get fee-for-service, HMO, or PPO protection. But you should compare your options and shop carefully because coverage and costs vary from company to company. Individual plans may not offer benefits as broad as those in group plans.

Tips when shopping for individual insurance:

? Shop carefully. Policies differ widely in coverage and cost. Contact different insurance companies, or ask your agent to show you policies from several insurers so you can compare them.

? Make sure the policy protects you from large medical costs.

? Read and understand the policy. Make sure it provides the kind of coverage that’s right for you. You don’t want unpleasant surprises when you’re sick or in the hospital.

? Check to see that the policy states: the date that the policy will begin paying (some have a waiting period before coverage begins), and what is covered or excluded from coverage.

? Make sure there is a “free look” clause. Most companies give you at least 10 days to look over your policy after you receive it. If you decide it is not for you, you can return it and have your premium refunded.

? Beware of single disease insurance policies. There are some polices that offer protection for only one disease, such as cancer. If you already have health insurance, your regular plan probably already provides all the coverage you need. Check to see what protection you have before buying any more insurance.

LIFE INSURANCE

There are two basic types of life insurance: term and permanent. Term insurance is purely life insurance while permanent (aka “cash value” or “whole life”) policies include a savings element.
Benefits of a Term Life Policy:
If you die during the term of your policy your beneficiaries get paid -that’s all there is to it. You aren’t paying anything extra to fund a savings account or cover investment fees. And because the market is so competitive for term insurance, companies have a huge incentive to keep prices low. With relatively little effort you can compare, shop and assure yourself of a good deal. You pay only for what you need when you need it. You typically need life insurance coverage for a specific period of time (until the kids are out of college, for instance).

Benefits of a Permanent Life Insurance Policy:

A permanent plan can give you access to some or all of the premiums that you have been paying for in a way favorable to your taxes. It’s with you until you die. This type of policy coverage is guaranteed for your life with no out of the blue payment increases. A term policy will expire at a certain date, and a renewed policy could have much higher premiums. Maybe the best reason for a permanent policy is to make sure your estate and investments don’t get eaten up by the government. A permanent policy can provide peace of mind that your family and loved ones will be taken care of for the future.
Remember, the decision to buy a permanent or a term life insurance policy will depend on your situation, your age, your financial well-being, and other factors. If you are a young family with some investments to protect but not financially stable a term life policy might be a good idea to protect those investments and your family. However, if you are financially stable with considerable investments, it may be a better decision in the long run to purchase a permanent plan.

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Term life insurance: Money-saving tips (they do exist)!

Term life insurance is the most affordable way to protect your family?s future. As inexpensive as term life insurance is, there are money-saving tips that will ensure you are paying only what you need. Get the most value for your dollar by checking out the following helpful tips that will save you money while still getting great protection.

1. Get coverage early ? the sooner you buy life insurance the less your annual premiums:
Some people are gamblers by nature and choose to take their chances by skipping out on life insurance. Although it is unlikely you’ll die during your working years, you’re not insuring for what’s likely to happen but instead, for the worst-case scenario. That’s why term life insurance costs less the younger you are. It is also why you should buy it sooner rather than later?because you’ll be providing financial security without spending a lot of money for it.

For example, if we look at the cost to purchase a %250,000 Term 10 life insurance policy you?ll see how delaying purchasing a policy by just a few years could cost you more in annual premiums.

For male non-smokers*:
A 35 year-old may get quotes for as little as %195 per year for a 10-year total cost of %1,950.
A 40 year-old may get quotes for as little as %263 per year for a 10-year total cost of %2,630.
A 45 year-old may get quotes for as little as %373 per year for a 10-year total cost of %3,730.

For female non-smokers*:
A 35 year-old may get quotes for as little as %165 per year for a 10-year total cost of %1,650.
A 40 year-old may get quotes for as little as %210 per year for a 10-year total cost of %2,100.
A 45 year-old may get quotes for as little as %270 per year for a 10-year total cost of %2,700.

* Lowest quote online from February 2006 for a Term 10 policy, one of the most popular life insurance products in Canada. Premiums shown are the rates if paid annually.

2. When your age isn?t really your age:
Your next birthday may be 6 months away but in the eyes of most life insurers you?ve already hit that next magical number. When you get a life insurance quote, the rate you are given is based on the age you are closest to which, 50 per cent of the time is your age at your next birthday. It?s a term called ?Age Nearest?, and that half-year price increase could really add up. See the difference yourself.

For male non-smokers*:

A 39 year-old may get quotes for as little as %248 per year for a 10-year total cost of %2,480
A 40 year-old may get quotes for as little as %263 per year for a 10-year total cost of %2,630.

A savings of %150

A 44 year-old may get quotes for as little as %345 per year for a 10-year total cost of %3,450.
A 45 year-old may get quotes for as little as %373 per year for a 10-year total cost of %3,730.

A savings of %280

For a female non-smoker*:

A 39 year-old may get quotes for as little as %200 per year for a 10-year total cost of %2,000
A 40 year-old may get quotes for as little as %210 per year for a 10-year total cost of %2,100.

A savings of %100

A 44 year-old may get quotes for as little as %255 per year for a 10-year total cost of %2,550.
A 45 year-old may get quotes for as little as %270 per year for a 10-year total cost of %2,700.

A savings of %150

* Lowest quote online in January 2006 for a Term 10 policy. Premiums shown are the rates if paid annually.

3. If you?re a smoker ask about incentive programs aimed at helping you quit:
While not all life insurance companies offer incentive programs to help you quit, some do and could save you money if you are thinking about buying life insurance and quitting smoking. For example, one such company will refund you an amount equal to the difference between the premiums you already paid as a smoker and those you would have paid had you not smoked. What?s more, once you quit smoking, this same company will adjust your premiums to non-smoker rates based on the age you were when you purchased the policy, not the age you are at the time you quit!

4. Check out your payment/billing options:
Many life insurance life insurance companies offer discounts to consumers who pay their annual premiums up front. If you have the money handy, you could save up to 10 per cent of your policy?s premium each year. For example:

? A 35 year-old male with %250,000 in coverage can pay %195 up front per year for life insurance coverage. If paid in monthly installments, however, the annual premium jumps to about %215. Paying up front can save this person %20 per year!

? A 40 year-old male with %250,000 in coverage can pay %263 up front per year for life insurance coverage. If paid in monthly installments, however, the annual premium jumps to about %288. Paying up front can save this person %25 per year!

? A 45 year-old male with %250,000 in coverage can pay %373 up front per year for life insurance coverage. If paid in monthly installments, however, the annual premium jumps to about %407. Paying up front can save this person %34 per year!

Life insurance made even more affordable:
With these money-saving tips in hand, Term Life insurance is more affordable than ever. There is no better time than now to get the coverage you and your family need.

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Term Vs. Whole Life Insurance

Life insurance as a risk mitigation element provides protection against casualties in life. The history of life insurance began with providing coverage for a particular period of time, and if the insured died during the period, the beneficiary got the death benefit. The disadvantage was that the period was limited, which led to the innovation of new products that gave death protection coverage for the entire life of the individual.

In term insurance, the premium increases during the time, as the chances of death are greater. The term policies include renewable, which means the policies can be renewed after the period with a higher premium; decreasing policy in which coverage lessens each year; and convertible in which the policy can be converted to cash value policy after the period. In whole life, the premium remains constant for the entire life. Generally, the premium for the whole life is higher than that of term.

The premium for term increases to cover the cost of the insurance. Therefore, in the beginning, the premium is less and it increases thereafter. In whole life insurance, the premium is higher than the cost of the insurance in the beginning. This extra amount is kept as a cash value component, which is invested to get an annualized return of 5-6%PRCTG%. In the latter years, when cost is more than the premium, money is taken from the returns of the cash value component and the cost is recovered.

The benefit of term is that since the premium is less, the extra money can be prudently invested elsewhere to get a higher return by the individual. Whole life provides cash value, which can be used to borrow money to spend for other purposes such as education of children. There are many innovative policies that provide many features such as guaranteed returns and dividend payments.

Before deciding between term and whole life insurance, it is important to consider the financial resources and the objective of the insurance policy. It depends upon the age of the insured, his or her future needs and the number of dependents.

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A CPA Talks About Buying Life Insurance

Not everyone needs life insurance. The first thing to do is make sure you need it. Life insurance is really meant for your family members or other dependents who rely on your earnings.

Why You Buy Life Insurance

You buy life insurance so that, if you die, your dependents can live the same kind of life they live now. Strictly speaking, then, life insurance is only a means of replacing your earnings in your absence. If you don?t have dependents (say, because you?re single) or you don?t have earnings (say, because you?re retired), you don?t need life insurance. Note that children rarely need life insurance because they almost never have dependents and other people don?t rely on their earnings.

Life Insurance Comes in Two Flavors

If you do need life insurance, you should know that it comes in two basic flavors: term insurance and cash-value insurance (also called ?whole life? insurance). Ninety-nine times out of 100, what you want is term insurance.

Term Life is Simple to Buy and Understand

Term life insurance is simple, straightforward life insurance. You pay an annual premium, and if you die, a lump sum is paid to your beneficiaries. Term life insurance gets its name because you buy the insurance for a specific term, such as 5, 10, or 15 years (and sometimes longer). At the end of the term, you can renew your policy or get a different one. The big benefits of term insurance are that it?s cheap and it?s simple.

Cash Value is Trickier

The other flavor of life insurance is cash-value insurance. Many people are attracted to cash-value insurance because it supposedly lets them keep some of the premiums they pay over the years. After all, the reasoning goes, you pay for life insurance for 20, 30, or 40 years, so you might as well get some of the money back. With cash-value insurance, some of the premium money is kept in an account that is yours to keep or borrow against.

This sounds great. The only problem is that cash-value insurance usually isn?t a very good investment, even if you hold the policy for years and years. And it?s a terrible investment if you keep the policy for only a year or two. What?s more, to really analyze a cash-value insurance policy, you need to perform a very sophisticated financial analysis. And this is, in fact, the major problem with cash-value life insurance.

While perhaps a handful of good cash-value insurance policies are available, many? perhaps most?are terrible investments. And to tell the good from the bad, you need a computer and the financial skills to perform something called discounted cash-flow analysis. If you do think you need cash-value insurance, it probably makes sense to have a financial planner perform this analysis for you. Obviously, this financial planner should be a different person from the insurance agent selling you the policy.

What?s the bottom line? Cash-value insurance is much too complex a financial product for most people to deal with. Note, too, that any investment option that?s tax-deductible?such as a 401(k), a 401(b), a deductible IRA, a SEP/IRA, or a Keogh plan?is always a better investment than the investment portion of a cash-value policy. For these two reasons, I strongly encourage you to simplify your financial affairs and increase your net worth by sticking with tax-deductible investments.

If you do decide to follow my advice and choose a term life insurance policy, be sure that your policy is non-cancelable and renewable. You want a policy that cannot be canceled under any circumstances, including poor health. (You have no way of knowing what your health will be like ten years from now.) And you want to be able to renew the policy even if your health deteriorates. (You don?t want to go through a medical review each time a term is up and you need to renew.)

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Term Life Insurance

Term life insurance is a life insurance product that pays out a cash lump sum upon death of the insurance policyholder or at the point that the insurance policyholder is diagnosed as terminally ill. But, despite it being a low cost term life product – insurance cover can be acquired from as little as ?5-?10 per month – surprisingly few of us have term life insurance in place.

For people with a mortgage and family to support, not having a term life insurance policy exposes them to a large financial risk. This risk becomes apparent when you consider how the mortgage and household bills would be paid if the main income producer were to die or to become terminally ill. The end result could be that loved ones who are left behind find their home is repossessed because they cannot keep up the mortgage repayments.

Some people prepare for such an eventuality by taking out a mortgage life insurance policy. This is all well and good for covering off the remainder of the mortgage loan, but where will the money come from to pay the gas & electricity bill and the council tax bill every month, let alone the money needed to cover the policyholder’s funeral expenses? It is at this point that a term life insurance policy becomes very useful indeed.

If you don’t have a term life insurance policy in place, here are some sobering reasons why you should consider taking out a term life policy now?

? CANCER – One in three people will develop cancer at some point in their lives. Research into cancer is of course ongoing, and one day some cancers may be curable. In the meantime a term life policy offers income protection for loved ones left behind in the event of terminal cancer diagnosis and death from cancer.

? HEART DISEASE – Heart and circulatory disease accounts for more than 35%PRCTG% of all deaths in the UK each year. The number of people dying from heart and circulatory disease is on a falling trend, but the number of people becoming morbidly obese is increasing, and so may reverse this trend in the near future. Term life policies can be configured to pay out if cause of death is heart-related.

? MRSA (SUPERBUG) – The death rate from the MRSA superbug has doubled in the last 4 years. MRSA is a bacterial infection that is resistant to antibiotics. It commonly causes death in people with weak immune systems, and so easily spreads amongst the sick & old in hospital wards. Many life insurance policies pay out if the cause of death is MRSA related.

? AVIAN FLU (BIRD FLU) – Recent comments by the Society of General Microbiology in the UK sparked controversy when they estimated that 2 million people in the UK could die from a highly infectious strain of mutated Avian Flu. If you are worried about Avian Flu check with the life insurance agent to see if their term life policy covers such an eventuality.

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