Posted: April 29th, 2012 | Author: admin | Filed under: Life Insurance | Tags: Beneficiary, Calculators Online, Face Value, Funeral Arrangements, Insurance Life, Insurance Online, Life Insurance Calculators, Life Insurance Coverage, Life Insurance Policies, Life Insurance Policy, Many Different Types, Mortgage, Perfect Life, S College, Stocks Bonds, Term Insurance, Term Life Insurance, Term Life Insurance Policy, Whole Life Insurance, Whole Life Insurance Policies | No Comments »
There are so many different types of life insurance out there; it can be quite challenging to figure out which policy is right for you and your family. Every person has a unique situation and special life insurance needs. Here are a few things to consider when shopping for the perfect life insurance policy:
What are you trying to get out of your life insurance policy?
Life insurance coverage can help pay for your funeral arrangements, help support your family with the loss of your income, pay for your children’s college, be used to pay off your mortgage, and more. Deciding what you want to achieve with your life insurance policy will help narrow down which type of policy and how much coverage is best for you. There are numerous life insurance calculators online that can help you determine the amount of coverage that you need. You also need to consider who you would like to insure and how long you need life insurance for. You might want life insurance for yourself or you might want to include your spouse as well.
What type of policy would you like?
There are many different types of like insurance policies. Term life insurance provides coverage for a certain number of years. The term can vary from 1-30 years, and upon death of the insured, the policy pays out the face value to the beneficiary. On the other hand, a whole life insurance policy combines a term life insurance policy with an investment portion. The investment could be in stocks, bonds, etc, and the policy builds cash value that can be borrowed against. Different types of whole life insurance policies include variable, traditional, and universal. Both term and whole life insurance allow you to lock in the same monthly payment over the life of the policy. Whole life insurance is typically more expensive than term.
Begin your search:
Once you have decided what type of policy, how many years of coverage, and the amount of coverage you need, you are ready to start shopping for the best life insurance policy. It’s a good idea to get quotes from a few different life insurance companies. There are many factors that go in to determining which life insurance policy is right for you, so you should take your time and do your research before you make any decisions. Life insurance premiums can vary greatly depending on your age, amount of coverage, and the type of policy you choose. eLifeInsuranceSaver.com has made the process of shopping for life insurance online simple. Filling out one simple form will allow you to compare quotes from multiple life insurance companies so you can find the perfect policy for you.
Posted: April 13th, 2012 | Author: admin | Filed under: Life Insurance | Tags: Beneficiaries, Bonus, Cash Surrender Value, Death Benefit, Earnings, Insurance, Insurance Company, Insurance Description, Insurance Life, Life Coverage, Life Insurance Coverage, Life Insurance Policy, Policy Loan, Premiums, Purchasing Policy, Surrender Charge, Term Insurance, Term Life Insurance, Whole Life Insurance | Comments Off
Would your death leave your spouse or family with financial problems? You could consider purchasing life insurance coverage that will pay out a certain amount in the event of your death to help cover their needs. Here is some general information about whole life insurance.
A Whole Life Insurance Description:
This is a life insurance policy that can cover you for your entire life and not just for a specific period such as term life insurance. Your death benefit and premium will generally remain the same.
A whole life policy also builds cash value. This is a return on the portion of your premiums that the insurance company invests. Your cash value is tax-deferred until you withdraw it. You may also borrow against it.
Who Needs Whole Life Insurance?
If you are in need of life insurance the tax benefits and cash value of a whole life policy can be a bonus. A whole life policy will earn you tax-deferred interest near the market rate and will pay your beneficiaries a death benefit.
You may also consider purchasing a whole life policy if you require more tax-deferred savings than you have available. You can also get the life coverage you need if you can afford to pay the high premiums.
The Cash Value On Whole Life Insurance.
The cash value is what you could get if you cashed in your policy. If you decide to surrender your policy, your cash surrender value can be paid in paid-up insurance or cash.
The earnings on the cash value of a whole life insurance policy can be borrowed against in the form of a policy loan. The death benefit is reduced by the amount of the loan if the loan is not repaid.
Cashing Out A Whole Life Insurance Policy.
Cashing out a whole life insurance policy may be difficult owing to the surrender charge. The surrender charge is a charge which insurers remove out of the cash savings amount you have developed. This charge can be as high as 10% of the payoff value of the life insurance policy. It may stay in force for up to 20 years after you purchased the policy.
Borrowing Against Whole Life Insurance.
You may borrow against the guaranteed cash value of a whole life insurance policy in the form of a policy loan as long as the policy is valid. Just remember that borrowed amounts diminish the death benefit and cash surrender value of your policy.
The Best Whole Life Insurance Benefit.
There may be many different opinions regarding the best whole life insurance benefit. This can also be influenced by personal needs and circumstances.
Here follows 3 possible whole life insurance benefits:
Premiums are normally level and payable for life.
A quantity of the money you pay into your whole life policy collect as a guaranteed cash value.
A part of your life insurance premium may be returned to you as a dividend if real life insurance costs turn out to be less than was believed in setting the premiums.
That was some general information about whole life insurance.
Posted: March 29th, 2012 | Author: admin | Filed under: Life Insurance | Tags: Brouhaha, Daily Basis, Dependents, Exclamation Marks, Family Member, Financial Difficulties, Financial Security, Funerals, Life Camps, Life Insurance Policy, Lifers, Loss Of A Loved One, Online Communities, Policyholder, Pros And Cons, Strong Opinions, Term Life Coverage, Term Life Insurance, Waste Of Money, Whole Life Insurance | No Comments »
“Do I need life insurance?” “Is whole life insurance a good investment?” “Is term life insurance risky?” Questions like these are posted in online communities on a daily basis. The answers vary widely, with the term life and whole life camps polarized. The tone of the debate is surprisingly strident. After all, the topic is insurance—not a something expected to inspire strong opinions, let alone strong language. But words like “rip-off,” “scam,” and “waste of money” fly back and forth, sometimes accompanied by rows of exclamation marks or worse. What is behind the brouhaha? And which camp—if either—is right?
The two sides do not even agree about whether a person needs life insurance. Whole lifers say, yes. You do not want the death of a family member to disrupt your family’s finances or jeopardize its future. It is hard enough to adjust to the loss of a loved one. Adding financial difficulties exacerbates the problem. With the skyrocketing costs of funerals, even children and seniors should have at least a small life insurance policy.
Not so fast, say the term lifers. The only reason to have life insurance is to replace the lost income of a family member who dies, and then only when the spouse or family is dependent on that income. If you are single with no dependents and no debts that might be transferred to your family in the event you die, then you do not need life insurance. If you are married and your spouse works, you probably do not need life insurance, either, assuming your spouse makes enough to support himself or herself.
The time for life insurance, term lifers say, is when the policyholder’s income is vital to the financial security of the family. If, for example, you have purchased a home together and your spouse could not pay the mortgage and other bills by himself or herself, then life insurance is in order. If you have children, you will want to have enough life insurance to allow your family to maintain its lifestyle after you are gone. This includes not only meeting day-to-day expenses, but also being able to follow through with plans for higher education. Insurance professionals recommend buying a policy with a face value 5-10 times the breadwinner’s annual salary to help family meet expenses for a period of years.
Whole lifers see problems with the term-life scenario. The view it as overly optimistic, even naïve. Many things can happen during the 20- to 30-year period covered by term life insurance that could extend the need for coverage beyond the policy’s end date. For example, children may be born mentally retarded, with severe autism, or with another serious condition that could prevent them from becoming independent when they reach adulthood. Children also can develop a disease or suffer an accident that disables them. A spouse, too, can become disabled. In these situations, the family will remain dependent on the breadwinner’s income long after the term life policy expires.
Term life insurance advocates point out that in such cases, the breadwinner can renew the term life policy, or take out a new one. Now it’s the whole lifers’ turn to say, “Not so fast.” By the time the second term life policy is needed, the breadwinner will likely be in his or her fifties or even sixties. Due to the age of the insured, the cost of a second term life policy will be much higher than the cost of the first was. With the added years come added risks of certain diseases. If the breadwinner is obese, has developed high blood pressure, a heart condition, diabetes, or another disease, the cost of the term life policy will skyrocket. If the individual has developed cancer or AIDS, he or she may not be insurable at all. In such situations, the cost savings realized on the first term life policy could be wiped out by the high cost of a second term life policy.
By contrast, the premiums of a whole life policy are set for life and do not go up with age or medical condition. A whole life policy cannot be canceled due to medical conditions, either. The policy remains in force until death, as long as the premiums are paid.
“Until death” is another advantage of whole life, its advocates maintain. Whole life gets its name from the fact that it insures the policyholder life until death. As a result, whole life insurance is guaranteed to pay a death benefit—the amount the policy pays upon the death of the insured. The death benefit can be increased—at certain points at no additional cost—as the policyholder ages. A small policy designed to cover the funeral costs of a child can be increased to provide adequate coverage during an adult’s peak earning years. Whatever the death benefit or “face value” of the whole life policy, the insurance company guarantees to pay it. As a result, the policyholder or his or her beneficiaries always receive some, all, or more than the premiums paid into the policy.
This is not the case with a term life policy, whole lifers point out. The term life insurance policyholder can pay premiums for 30 years, but if he or she outlives the policy—even by a day—then all of the premium money is gone. The only thing the policyholder will have received is 30 years worth of peace of mind.
Whole life insurance, by contrast, accumulates a value that the policyholder can access during his or her lifetime. This value is known as the cash value or the surrender value. The whole life policy holder can use the cash value as collateral for a loan, or even borrow some of it during his or her lifetime. The policyholder must pay this amount back. If he or she dies before it is paid back, then the unpaid amount is deducted from the death benefit. If the policyholder decides to cancel the policy, the insurance company will pay him or her the cash value, which is then known as the surrender value. Whole life, its proponents maintain, is not only insurance against death. It is an investment for life.
This is where the debate turns nasty. Term lifers often ridicule the investment features of whole life. Because whole life always pays a death benefit, it costs 5-10 times more than term life does. Term lifers argue that a person is much better off getting a term policy for the same face value that they would get a whole life policy, then saving and investing the difference in premiums. Almost any investment will return more than a whole life policy will, term lifer proponents maintain. Over 20 or 30 years, the difference can be vast. Buy insurance to insure, the term lifers say, and use the savings to invest.
Whole lifers respond that the return on a whole life policy is guaranteed at the outset, something than cannot be said for other investments. To earn greater rewards, the term life policyholder must take greater risks in the open market. Many investments will outperform whole life insurance, but not all will. Some investments lose money, as shareholders in World Com, Enron, Peregrine Systems, and many other companies can attest.
Even if the investment will pay out, it is not certain that the term life policyholder will actually make it. To do so, he or she must calculate the amount saved over whole life insurance; save that money every month, quarter, or year; research possible investments; and contribute to that investment regularly for 20 or 30 years. This makes sense for disciplined and savvy investors, but many others will find the endeavor daunting and time consuming. They may not start it, and if they do, they may not continue it. Whole life takes care of insurance, savings, and investment in one easy payment. Even if the returns on whole life are not great, saving something is better than saving nothing, and nothing is exactly how much many term life policyholders will end up saving.
Both whole life and term life have pros and cons. People who are financially savvy and disciplined will gain from the term life scenario. Those who need a convenient and simple mechanism for insurance and savings will benefit from whole life insu
rance. Deciding which is best for you requires an honest appraisal of your goals, your lifestyle, and your investing skills.