Posted: October 31st, 2011 | Author: admin | Filed under: Life Insurance | Tags: Amount Of Money, Beneficiary, Death Benefit, Face Value, Females, Life Insurance Company, Life Insurance Policies, Life Insurance Policy, Life Span, Lifetime Protection, Lump Sum, Maturity, Permanent Life Insurance, Premiums, Sum Of Money, Term Insurance, Term Life Insurance, What Is Whole Life Insurance, Whole Life Insurance, Whole Life Insurance Policies | Comments Off
It is not difficult to understand what is whole life insurance, as the name implies, it is a life insurance policy that provides the insured a lifetime protection; it is a type of permanent life insurance. For example, if you bought a whole life insurance, you will have to pay a fixed amount of premium for life instead of the increasable premiums of term life insurance.
How long do we need to pay for a whole life insurance?
There are whole life insurance policies designed to mature at the age of 100, this is the age when premiums end and the cash value equals to the face value of the policy, and this cash value will be paid to the insured. Normally a whole life insurance policy doesn’t specified how long is the maturity, the premiums are calculated by the insured’s age, usually starts at the age when he buys until 85 years old, the male and female could be different because the females have a longer life span than the men. The premium is then calculated, and a fixed amount of premium needs to be paid, whether monthly, quarter yearly, half yearly or yearly.
As long as the buyer pays the premiums, he will benefit the guaranteed death benefit. Should he die at old age or young, or should he die of accident or illness the life insurance company will pay a lump sum of money to the beneficiary, this amount of money is depended on how much the buyer wants to be insured, if he wants to have a coverage of $100 thousand, the beneficiary will receive a one lump sum of $100 thousand upon his death.
Whole life insurance provides the buyer with cash value, and the buyer can borrows money from the cash value, or if the buyer wished to stop paying the premium for some time, the cash value will pay the premiums automatically, so that the policy will not lapse. But if the cash value has used up, the buyer needs to start paying the premiums again or else the policy will lapse.
Another benefit for whole life insurance is, the coverage is adjustable, and it can be increased. If the initial coverage is $50 thousand, the coverage after some years could be more than $50 thousand. That is to say the insured now has a coverage of more than the initial $50 thousand without paying more on the previously stated premiums.
Cash value accumulation
Another benefit of whole life insurance is the cash value accumulation. This cash value was built after the buyer paid his premium, this cash value increases each year, and the insurance company will increase the cash value as interest to benefit the policy holder. If the policy holder wants to surrender the policy and get the cash he is entitled to do so, but he will no longer under cover, but normally he is advised not to do so. The buyer has another option that is he can borrow the cash as loan and maintain his policy, so that he is still insured. The cash value taken out is tax-free, and in some countries the premium paid per annum is declarable for tax paying, that is the buyer can reduce his tax payment.
This tax reduction is another benefit for a life insurance buyer.
Disability benefit
The buyer can add an additional premium rider to his policy, should he become disabled, after six months of that disability the life insurance company will pay the premiums for him, for the rest of his life.
Accidental benefit
Another benefit of whole life insurance is accidental benefit. The buyer can purchases an additional accidental policy, should he become partially or totally disabled, the insurance company will compensate the insured a percentage of payment as specified in the policy. The compensation varies according to individual policies; the buyers are advice to read through thoroughly.
For further definition on what is whole life insurance, life insurance companies and the agents are pleased and obliged to assist their customers, for this policy has been in the market for many years. There are some experienced life insurance agents very well versed on this particular policy, perhaps you can ask them to provide you more information on what is whole life insurance.
You can seek more information on other types of policies, or view our whole life insurance explanation, find out the reasons why this policy can survive almost hundred of years, or read more on this topic by clicking whole life insurance advice. Please feel free to visit us at http://www.indianapolislifeinsurance.net today.
Posted: September 10th, 2011 | Author: admin | Filed under: Life Insurance | Tags: Actuary, Beneficiary, Buy Insurance, Death Benefit, Default Option, Expiration Date, Insurance Bills, Insurance Companies, Insurance Company, Life Insurance Policies, Life Insurance Policy, Permanent Insurance, Permanent Life Insurance, Policy Expiration, Six Months, State Farm, Term Insurance, Term Life Insurance, Term Life Insurance Policy, Time Of Death | Comments Off
A relative has just died. He had a life insurance policy with you listed as the beneficiary. There’s just one problem: the life insurance policy is missing. You have no idea which insurance company wrote it.
If you find the missing life insurance policy in the future, are you still eligible to receive the death benefit?
Hope they paid their insurance bills
If you’re a beneficiary and you find the lost life insurance policy shortly after the insured dies (within six months to a year, for example), claiming the death benefit should be trouble-free.
First, determine if the insured had term or permanent life insurance. If the insured held a term policy, you’ll receive the death benefit if he died before the end of the policy term. If he died after the policy expiration date, you would get nothing.
If the insured had a permanent life policy, you’ll receive the money if the death occurred while the policy was “in force,” meaning all premium payments were made up until the time of death. If the death was a while ago, you’ll receive the benefit with interest from the date of death.
If the life insurance policy lapsed — meaning the insured stopped making premium payments before he died — there’s a chance you might get nothing. When a permanent life insurance policy lapses, most insurance companies switch its status from permanent insurance to one of two options:
“Extended term” — The insurance company uses the cash value of the policy to buy a term life insurance policy for the same death benefit using the cash value of the policy. The death benefit will continue for the longest period the cash value will purchase.
“Reduced paid up” — The insurance company will keep the policy in force permanently, but will reduce the death benefit.
Gerry Brogla, an actuary for State Farm, says in the majority of the cases at his company, the permanent policy continues as extended term if it lapses. At State Farm, extended term is the default option for most permanent policies.
If the policy lapses, and the extended-term period expires before the insured dies, the policy is worthless and the life insurance beneficiary will get nothing. If the insured dies before the extended-term period is up, the beneficiary will receive the death benefit. If the policy lapsed because the insured died (thus ending premium payments and causing the insurance to be placed in extended-term status), the beneficiary will still collect the full death benefit, regardless of when the extended term was up. The beneficiary always needs to supply the insurance company with a death certificate to verify the date of death.
There is no time limit during which a life insurance beneficiary must step forward to collect the money, according to Jack Dolan, spokesman for the American Council of Life Insurers. “If a person shows up 30 years after [the insured's] death, the company still makes good on it,” Dolan assures.
What happens if no one ever reports the death?
If the insured dies and the insurance company does not learn of the death, the policy lapses. Insurance companies will take steps to find out why a policyholder stopped making payments.
When an insurance company stops getting payments, it sends letters to the insured informing him the policy may lapse as a result of unpaid premiums. If the letters go unanswered, the company might initiate a search to find the insured. If that comes up empty, the company will then lapse the policy.
If a beneficiary to a policy never steps forward, it unfortunately means the insured paid money to a policy throughout his life and his beneficiaries never see a penny. This is why its a good idea to make sure beneficiaries are aware of any life insurance policies you have.
If you’re lucky, the state may have your money
In some cases when a beneficiary fails to claim a death benefit for several years, the money is transferred to the state where the insurance policy was purchased under the escheat laws.
If a company knows an insured died and it cannot find the beneficiary, it must turn the full death benefit over to the state comptroller’s department within three to five years of the insured’s death. The money is transferred to the state where the insured bought the policy. The money is considered “unclaimed property” and gets lumped in with dormant bank accounts and uncollected rent deposits. The comptroller’s department maintains a database that lists the names and addresses of lost life insurance beneficiaries.
Many states will try to contact life insurance beneficiaries in an effort to pay the death benefits. In Texas, for example, the names and addresses of the beneficiaries are published annually in each county in the state. In New York, the Web site of the New York State Comptroller’s Office of Unclaimed Funds has an online search to find any unclaimed death benefits owed to you. You can find out the procedures in your state by contacting the office of your state comptroller or treasurer.
Keep in mind your chances of finding the policy with the state are slim. The insurance company has no obligation to hand the money over to the state if it’s unaware the insured died. In most cases, it’s the beneficiary who contacts the insurance company.
Also, the insurer only transfers the money to the state three to five years after it cannot find the beneficiary but knows the insured died. If the state doesn’t have the death benefit, it’s likely the insurer is still looking for the beneficiary or doesn’t know the policyholder has died.
Unclaimed death benefits are rarely transferred to the state. Dave Potter, a spokesman for Hartford Life, says less than 1 percent of his company’s death benefits go unclaimed.
Del Chance, a life insurance claims manager at State Farm, says, “Turning over life policy benefits to an individual state after the death of an insured is extremely rare. State Farm utilizes their own search techniques as well as outside vendors to locate lost beneficiaries in the event of the death of one of our insureds. By and large these procedures have always located the beneficiary.
Tips for making sure your life insurance beneficiaries get your death benefit:
1. Give your beneficiaries your policy information. It can be a difficult and awkward conversation, but an important one.
2. Keep all your financial records (especially your life insurance policies) in one place. Don’t force your beneficiaries to search your house from top to bottom after you die.
Tips for looking for lost life insurance policies:
1. Go through canceled checks or contact your relative’s bank for copies of old checks. Look for checks made out to insurance companies.
2. Ask those who may have known about your relative’s finances. Speak with the relative’s lawyer, banker or accountant. Also contact the relative’s insurance agent.
3. Contact your relative’s past employers. They might know of possible group life insurance. The insured might have also purchased supplemental life insurance through work.
4. Check the mail for a year. Premium bills and policy-status notices are usually sent annually.
5. Look at income tax returns for the past two years. Check for interest income from policies or expenses paid to life insurance companies.
6. Contact the Medical Information Bureau. If your relative bought life insurance fairly recently, there might be a trail of the companies to which he applied. The Medical Information Bureau (MIB) maintains a database that might show if insurers requested your relative’s medical information within the past seven years. Record searches can be requested through the MIB’s Policy Locator Service and cost $75. The MIB says that nearly 30 percent of searches turn up leads.
Posted: August 20th, 2011 | Author: admin | Filed under: Life Insurance | Tags: Cash Values, Collateral, Interest Rate, Investment Portfolio, Life Insurance Company, Life Insurance Policies, Life Insurance Policy, Life Policies, Lump Sum, Period Of Time, Permanent Life Insurance, Premiums, Rest Of Your Life, Slant, Term Insurance, Term Life Insurance, Variable Life Insurance, Variations, Whole Life Insurance, Whole Life Insurance Policies | Comments Off
Did you know that whole life insurance or some variation thereof is bought more than another types in the United States? Why do you think this is so? Is it because the people know nothing about term insurance? Not so! Term insurance is simple to understand. You own $1,000,000 of term life insurance for a specific period of time and you die within that period the life insurance company pays $1,000,000, as long as you keep paying the premiums. Everyone knows about term life insurance.
Permanent life insurance is a different matter. There is much more to absorb when it comes to a permanent policy. You can consider the whole life insurance policy which is really a policy which lasts for the rest of your life, even if you live to age 100. The premium payments can be level for the entire period or, as with some modified whole life policies, you start out with a lower premium and it increases every year for 5 or 10 years then it levels off.
On the other hand you can contract with the life insurance company to pay only for a specific period of years, 10 years or 20 years for example, and the policy will remain in force for the rest of your life. You can also arrange with the company to pay one lump sum and you have your single premium whole life insurance policy for the rest of your life.
Even the the variable life insurance policy is whole life based thus it is considered permanent life insurance. Variable life insurance is a whole life policy with an investment portfolio attached.
These are the basic variations of whole life insurance. Each life insurance company has a different slant to their modified whole life policies, however.
Whole life insurance policies have guaranteed cash values which you may use as you see fit. You may use these values as collateral if you want to get a loan from a bank or other financial organization. On the other hand you may choose to borrow the money from the policy itself. The interest rate is usually lower and you are never under pressure to repay within a given period of time. Any outstanding balance, however, will be deducted from the face amount upon your death.
Whole life insurance policies also earn dividends if your life insurance company is effective with their investments and also if they keep expenses down. Dividends are not guaranteed. These dividends are applied according to your wishes.
The dividends earned on your whole life policy can be used to reduce premiums, can be paid to you in cash each year, can be left with the life insurance company to accumulate interest or they can be used to purchase paid up additions. Paid up additions are tiny single premium whole life insurance policies which increase the amount paid at death. They also have cash values which accumulate interest and they earn dividends as well.
Permanent life insurance policies are very effective, yet complex, tools. If you take the time to understand them you will more appreciate why more people buy them than term insurance. Whole life insurance can be kept for the rest of your life.