Getting the right type of life insurance for you and your family can be one of the most important decisions you will ever make. The major problem with this decision however is, if you get it wrong you will probably not know until you have died and it is too late. So this article has been written with the hope that it’s a clear breakdown of the cover available to you will help you to make the right choice now and see you right in the future.

Essentially there are really two types of life insurance available on the market there are more but owing to their particular niche uses they are probably not relevant to be discussed here. The main types that you will come across, and probably need in one way or another, are Term Insurance and Whole of Life Assurance.

Whole of life insurance is probably the most simplest in so much as it insures you for the whole of your life, you could say it does what is says on the tin. You take out whole life insurance for a set sum assured and you just keep paying it till that fateful day comes. You can add features such as indexation to the benefit, this means that the sum assured (and the premium) will rise with inflation. This is a valuable feature as what is a large amount of money today will not be a lot of money in the distant future, so one well worth considering. Let’s face it you don’t want to take out life insurance now for a lot of money only to find out it would barely take you out for dinner 40 years later.

The main reason that you would decide to choose whole of life insurance is for the protection of your family. You want to make sure that in the event of your death there is a sufficient amount of money saved for your family to be able to reinvest and provide an ongoing source of income for the future when you are no longer there to provide for them. The downside of this form of insurance is that because it runs for the whole of your life, it is not the cheapest option available. It is, however, the only one that guarantees a cash payout at the end of your life.

The other type of life insurance comes in many guises but is simply known as Term insurance for the basic reason that it runs for a specified term, anything from one year to 50 or 60 years. You set the sum insured you require and you decide what term you like and that is it, it will run for that period at that level. If you die during that period it will pay out the benefit, if you don’t it will just cease and that is it. Term insurance can also include indexation, as explained earlier, it doers the same thing just increases the premium and sum insured at the rate of inflation.

As I have said, term insurance comes in several forms. We have level term insurance, decreasing term or mortgage protection as it is sometimes known, family income benefit also called family income plans, convertible term and last but not least renewable term insurance. I will try to shed some light on these in the following paragraphs.

First is decreasing term or mortgage protection. This plan is the same as all term plans in so much as it runs for a specified period of time. However the difference is that the sum insured reduces year in year out. The reason for this is linked to the use it is put to. You would normally use this type of plan to cover a repayment mortgage and with repayment mortgages the amount of debt falls year in year out so the plan just mimics that reduction. The benefit of this is the premiums for 100,000 cover for mortgage protection which decreases each year are a lot cheaper than for 100,000 on level term. So if it is a repayment mortgage you need to cover then this plan is possibly the one for you.

Next on the list of options is Family Income Benefit. This is a relatively new sort of life insurance policy, aimed at providing bereaved families with a payout in the form of an annual income rather than a one off lump sum. The problem with one off payouts for families is that it is then up to them to reinvest the money in other areas in order to create an income for them. This can be traumatic and difficult for grieving loved ones. Family income plans take away this hassle. By insuring for a set income for a set amount of time, if you die before the end of the term, the policy automatically pays out that income to your family until the end of the term.

Convertible term insurance and renewable term insurance are very similar in so much as they allow the plan to be changed in some way in the future as long as that change takes place before the end of the term. Renewable term insurance allows the policy holder to renew the plan for a further term without any underwriting (that means no health checks) this means you could have a 10 year renewable term plan and essentially renew it for a further 10 years regardless of your health as long as you do it before the first ten year term has finished.

The convertible plan takes it to another level. This sort of plan lets you convert the original policy from term insurance plan to whole of life, as long as it is done within the time of the original term. The reason you may want this option is if you couldn’t afford a whole of life policy at the start but find yourself in a position to take one out later. Convertible policies allow you to change to whole of life when you can without having to undergo any health checks.

You should know, however, that convertible and renewable policies are more expensive than regular term policies. Also, when you do come to renew or convert your policy you will be asked to pay the premiums in accordance with a person of your age at that time, which will inevitably be higher than you have been previously paying, so don’t be under the impression that you are getting a free lunch. The main thing is to ensure that you have the right cover needed regardless of your health.

Hopefully this article has gone some way to clear up any misunderstandings you may have had about the life cover options open to you. That said if you are still unsure you are strongly advised to seek independent financial advice because as I said earlier a wrong decision now may not be discovered till it is too late.

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One of the world’s wealthiest and most successful investors, Warren Buffett, has now waded into, unexpectedly, the municipal insurance business. The municipal bond market represents one of the largest areas of savings investments for most households throughout the US…

You have probably heard of the saying “Buy term, invest the difference” when getting insurance and putting your money in investments. But do we really comprehend what it actually means? What could be the reason why majority of financial planners strongly recommend that you should “buy term and invest the difference” ? On the other hand why is your insurance agent forcing you to buy his or her recommended product?

The majority of whole life insurance products available today is tantamount to “rip offs.” In fact, these kinds of products has already been phased out in the United States. When we talk about “term insurance”, this refers to insurance with life coverage only. On the other hand whole life insurance is a term policy coupled with investments. Your insurance agent will always present whole life insurance as something that will “force” you to save for your retirement. This is actually good, but the problem with this setup is that most insurance companies do not usually give a good rate of return for the “investment” component. Sad to say, whole life insurance products are still actively sold in the Philippines. People still buy these products because of lack of financial know-how.

To fully understand this, let me give you an example. The other week, my mom asked me if she should continue paying a certain type of insurance product that she bought for my sister. It was worth about P 400,000.00 (Philippine Peso) the balance left is P 200,000.00 as she has already paid half of it.

I asked her what the benefits of the insurance product were. She said that after 20 years, my sister who is still 18 years old will receive P 40,000.00 per year until she reaches the age of 65. At the age of 65 she can choose to receive P400,000.00 lump sum. If she chooses not to receive the P 400,000.00 lump sum, she can choose to continue receiving P 40,000.00 for the rest of her life. Plus she is also insured for two million pesos for the rest of her life.

To determine whether she should pay the remaining balance of P200,000.00, the benefits of the insurance product must be pittied against the benefits of the “Buy term, invest the difference” strategy.

If you add the total money that my sister will be receiving, she will get a total of P1,520,000.00 at age 65, that is if she opts to get the lump sum at age 65, plus she is insured for two million pesos.

Under the “buy term invest the difference scheme” since she has already paid partially for the insurance product she will convert what she has already paid into “term insurance” (That is if the insurance company allows it) This is usually good for only 20 years. The P 200,000.00 will then be invested at a vehicle of investment that gives about 10 %+ return per annum. The profits derived from the ivnestment will also be re-invested in order to take full advantage of compounded interest. If she faithfully does this until she reaches the age of 65, she will get an estiamted P17,639,497.05.

Now do you see the difference? What is P 1,500,000.00 vs. P 17,000,000.00+. Even if you add the insurance coverage that is only a mere P 3,500,000.00, it still cannot compare to the P 17,000,000.00.

But what if her investments will incur losses ? That is no problem at all. She can just buy term insurance and renew it every time it expires anyway, term insurance is very cheap and affordable.

The next thing you could probably ask, what investment vehicle would give me 10 % return per annum? Well there is and there are lots of them. You can put it in mutual funds. It does not guarantee a rate of return but historically most mutual fund companies give you more than 10 % return per annum especially if they are invested in equities. Now that the stock market is very bullish returns ranges from 40 % to more than 70 % per annum. You can even directly invest in the stock market. Even the most conservative investors in the stock market earn more than 10 % per annum.

Buy term invest the difference? It certainly does make sense!!!

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A long-term care insurance quote is based upon many factors. You will want know these factors and this article will give you six key points to explain some of those factors. When you receive an ltci quote, it is going to be contingent upon what you want out of the policy regarding benefits levels and where you are in your life age-wise. Using the information in this article will allow you to be a smart consumer.

A long term care insurance quote is contingent upon many factors and following are some of the points to consider. Your age and what type of benefits will cause your quote to vary.

When you are thinking about long-term care, you need to think about what types of benefits you will want. You can receive in-home service, nursing home care, or community based services to give you an idea.

Your age is going to determine the cost of the policy. If you are younger and buying a policy, you will almost certainly receive a lower premium.

The types of companies you approach for an ltci quote can help determine a different cost in your quote. You may be able to receive this quote through your employer.

You can choose different policies with different benefits. Some policies pay a maximum for either a daily, weekly, or monthly amount or others pay up to a certain dollar amount.

You have the option to choose when you are able to start using benefits and this will cause a change in your insurance quote.

Daily benefits level is something to think over. If you want higher daily benefits limits, this will cause you to pay more for your ltci.

Hopefully this has given you good information regarding long term care insurance quotes. More information is always better so that you have an idea what to expect and you can have thought through what you want out of your policy.

Nearly 80 million baby boomers are expected to apply for Social Security benefits over the next two decades and chances are most of them will either be the target of identity theft or actually fall prey to an identity theft scheme. Because boomers are more likely to draw two incomes, i.e. retirement and social security benefits, thieves are more likely to target their financial resources than that of others. In addition to the extra income, boomers are being targeted by identity thieves because of their tendencies to avoid the internet, to rely on paper checks and paper mail, and to easily fall victim to pre-texting scams. Because of this, it is more important than ever for baby boomers, who, in the prime of their lives, are prime targets for identity theft, to use LifeLock’s Identity Theft Protection Services.

Perhaps one of the top reasons baby boomers are being targeted by identity thieves is because older boomers (ages 51-60) have not completely moved into the electronic age and still use pen and paper to pay bills and send correspondences. This type of practice leaves baby boomers, and their mailboxes, prime targets for identity thieves. LifeLock’s identity theft protection services seek to prevent boomers from becoming prime targets by removing members’ names from pre-approved credit card mailing lists as well as junk mail lists.

LifeLock also protects those boomers who haven’t completely moved into the electronic age by pulling annual credit reports from all three credit bureaus and mailing them to their members. Because some boomers have never “surfed” the net, much less know that they can access their credit reports online; they do not keep a close watch on their credit activity. In addition to pulling credit reports, LifeLock also places fraud alerts on member’s credit files so that lenders must call the member for verification prior to issuing credit or loans.

A third way LifeLock protects boomers from identity theft is through their eRecon and TrueAddress services. LifeLock’s eRecon service monitors criminal websites for the selling or trading of social security numbers, credit card numbers, driver’s license numbers, etc. LifeLock’s TrueAddress service detects any changes to a member’s address that may show-up in various national databases. If there is a discrepancy between a member’s name and known address, the member is contacted for verification of the change.

Another way LifeLock works to protect the identity of baby boomers is through their WalletLock service. Because boomers are more at risk of having their wallets lost or stolen, WalletLock is an invaluable service for boomers. Since boomers prefer to keep their personal documents close at hand, they are more likely to have multiple sources of personal identification in their wallet. LifeLock’s WalletLock service assigns a WalletLock specialist to their members if their wallet is lost or stolen. This specialist helps in contacting each credit card company, banking institution, and any state and federal agencies who issue driver’s licenses, etc. to cancel the accounts and begin the process of reinstating missing documents.

Lastly, a fifth way that LifeLock safeguards boomers from becoming victims of identity theft and having to spend excessive amounts of time and money in restoring their good name and credit is through their $1,000,000 full service guarantee. Although most boomers are at the point where they are receiving additional income, in today’s economy, their income is barely enough to cover their cost of living expenses. Through LifeLock’s $1,000,000 guarantee, if a thief discovers a weakness in LifeLock’s system and uses it to steal a members identity, LifeLock will secure attorneys, investigators, accountants, case managers, etc. to restore an individual’s good name and credit, in addition to the amount of money lost due to the theft.

In the prime of their lives, baby boomers are prime targets for identity theft due to additional income, the tendency to use paper vs. the internet and because they can easily fall prey to pre-texters. Through LifeLock’s Identity Theft Prevention services, boomers no longer need to worry about the security of their identity leaving time for more important things, like retirement.

As you grow old, some things like dinners out and movies become cheaper due to senior discounts. However, conversely other things become more expensive, and usually those things are insurance. As a result, when you are getting a long-term care policy, your age is going to have a big effect on the price of a long-term care policy.

Look at it from the insurance company’s perspective. They have a 30-year-old computer programmer who works from home and rarely travels. As a result, he is considered low-risk and his insurance premium costs are going to be as low as $20 per month. However, for an individual who is 67 and has a heart condition, the costs become much greater because there is an increased risk that the individual will have to collect on the policy soon.

A 30-year-old can pay $20 per month for years and offset the cost of the long-term care expenses for the company very early on. This is not the case for the 67-year-old. The insurance company will need to collect as much money as they can before the individual needs long-term health care so they can offset the costs of his care.

As a result, age has a huge affect on the price of a long-term health care plan. The younger you are, the less you will pay, while the older you are the more you will pay. Hence the reason you should try and get the care you need at an early age so you can benefit from those low costs.

As you get older, you are in a greater risk area of suffering several debilitating health problems. The insurance companies look at this and they determine your eligibility for long-term care insurance programs as a result.

Do not be surprised if you end up paying over $100 more than someone 20 or 30 years younger than you. If you want to save money on your premiums, and not put more financial strain on yourself to make the payments each month, you are going to need to try and get yourself into a long-term care insurance plan early so that you have a low price for long-term care.

Conclusion It is an unfortunate reality of life that the closer you get to needing long-term care, the more you will pay on the price for long-term care insurance. Insurance companies will look at you in terms of risk, and if there is a greater risk they will be paying out sooner than later, they are going to attach higher monthly premium payments as a result. You have less time to pay towards your long-term care insurance policy, and as a result, they need to offset the potential costs of that plan by getting as much money before you need long-term care as they can.

As with anything to do with money and saving, starting earlier is always better than starting later. Long-term insurance plans are no different and early planning on your part, will mean an easier premium payment from the insurance company.

You should just ask for help from an insurance representative who specializes in long term care insurance to answer any questions.