Posts Tagged ‘People’

Life Insurance VS A Retirement Policy

Sunday, July 25th, 2010

Many people find out at retirement that they have not enough money to live the lifestyle they are used to. There are too many people in this country that have no retirement benefits and will be living on social security benefits alone. For someone living on social security benefits their lifestyle will change dramatically and they will find that they may not have enough money to keep their home and retirement becomes a burden rather than a joy.

When you hear about a life insurance policy you automatically assume it is only to be used for death benefits. The fact is that many life insurance policy pay out retirement benefits that are tax free. You can find the policy with mutual funds, stocks or bonds, and even with cash from your bank account.

Death benefits are important but having a proper retirement package that offers peace of mind after you stop working is a top priority for most people. The policies can be customized to pay out specific amounts for a specific period of time after retirement or to pay out from the cash reserves over a period of a lifetime. The payments are not counted as income from the government and this will act as a huge advantage for most people.

Retirement benefits can be utilized in many ways with the life insurance policies. You can borrow from cash values or have a payment plan designed to meet your needs. In both instances there will be certain pros and cons.

Money that is accumulated in the policy that offers retirement benefits is available for you or withdraw without suffering any penalties or taxes. A standard retirement package such as IRA benefits allows you to withdraw the money to but you suffer penalties for early withdraw as well as income tax on all finds you receive from the account. The insurance policy making payments to you that are tax free after you retire is a huge advantage it has over the standard retirement benefit package.

If you are borrowing cash from the retirement policy as a method to avoid having to pay any taxes on the money you may be surprised that you could be hit with capital gains tax on any payments that aware in excess of the premium, this is for the lifetime of the policy so if you paid over for 40 years you can expect a huge penalty. If you are now 80 or 85 and are trying to just get by with paying estate taxes and pay the high cost of health care this tax could put you in the poor house and cause you to lose everything you own trying to pay it back.

Your agent may have shown you a wonderful retirement package that was based on the rate that you received when you purchased the policy. The rates are subject to change and this will affect your retirement policy as well, meaning rates go up you travel the Mediterranean after retirement, they go down you are living in a trailer eating TV dinners every night. But with the security of the standard retirement package comes taxable income and lower payments and the insurance policy offers higher payments and tax free benefits but the risk may be slightly higher on your money.

Graham McKenzie is the content syndication coordinator a leading South African Life Insurance and Life Cover portal. For tips on how to save on your life insurance visit our website.

Getting Life Insurance If Your Are HIV Positive

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

Having a life insurance policy in place can bring peace of mind to individuals who want to ensure the financial security of their loved ones even after their death. If you have been diagnosed as HIV positive and you do not already have a life insurance policy in place it can be extremely difficult to obtain one. While many insurance companies will turn you down immediately, others will offer high premium policies that will cover only the cost of your funeral.

You should check to see if you have any existing policies in place already. You may have life insurance from your employer or through your home mortgage. Check to see if any existing policies include rider policies. Your employer may have a life insurance policy that is automatically extended to you and will pay out a percentage of your wages to your beneficiaries. If you have any policies that are in effect be sure to keep them active, if they lapse you will most likely not get them back with an HIV diagnosis.

Social security offers death benefits to your beneficiaries. Go to your local social security office and find out what the benefits are and make sure you have updated the information for the correct beneficiaries to get it. If any changes need to be made they will assist you on how to do this.

You can speak to an attorney to have any questions you may have answered about social security benefits, other existing policies and beneficiaries.

The human resources department at your job will be able to assist you with any programs or life insurance policies that they offer that may be available to you. Many employers will automatically have you insured through a group life insurance policy that pays out a certain percentage of your wages in the event of your death. These policies require no underwriting and no pre qualification. If you are not already a part of this program you can find out how to go about getting included in the policy. It is usually a very small amount paid directly from your paycheck.

If you are employed where no policies are available for death benefits then you may choose to look for an employer who does offer the benefits and switch jobs. Even if you take a cut in pay it is worth the peace of mind that your loved ones will be taken care of. Be sure this does not affect your health insurance coverage as many policies will refuse pre existing conditions.

An HIV AIDS case worker will be able to help you in your search for death benefits. They can offer you the many programs or life insurance policies that are available to you. Some insurance companies will offer policies to HIV positive clients with the new medications creating an effective way for the individuals to live a longer life than years before.

Guaranteed insurance companies are available to anyone even if they are terminally ill. The policies will usually only cover the cost of your funeral or burial and will have much higher premiums.

Graham McKenzie is the content syndication coordinator a leading South African Life Insurance and Life Cover portal. For more information on the different types of life insurance visit our website.

Assessment Of Risk With Life Insurance

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

Many people apply for a life insurance policy, but only few get approved for the same. If you have enough money to pay the premiums would not mean that your chances of approval are higher. Your application for a life insurance police is passed through a rigorous underwriting, before a decision can be taken on the approval or denial of the same. Underwriting means the assessment of risk for granting a policy for an individual, and the monthly or yearly premium amounts for the same.

Companies hires experts, called the underwriters to do the underwriting for them. At the end of the day, insurance companies need to earn profits that make them so choosy about accepting life insurance applications. There are three steps involved in the process of underwriting which are examine the application, decision to insure or not, determine the premium. Below is a discussion on these steps.

The first step needs the companies to gather information about the applicant. The application needs to be examined against many parameters, such as marital status, sex, type of living area, age, and current health status and so on. All these parameters are looked into one by one, and a final conclusion is then drawn.

The application examination is then followed up with decision making. The applicant is given a score for all these parameters. These parameters are called risk factors by the insurance companies. A high score on the risk factors leads to the rejection of the application, and a low score will see the applicant get an approval. Each risk factor is important and has its own meaning. However, many people believe that the insurance companies give utmost importance to the age and health of the individual. If the individual is young and healthy, the chances for approval are very high. On the other hand, an old aged individual who has a few health problems may experience a denial. The living environment of the individual is also given huge importance. If the applicant lives in an unhygienic environment, he or she is believed to suffer health problems. At the same time, an individual living in a clean and healthy environment would indicate a good health for the individual. The gender of the applicant can also make a difference at times. Women are regarded as healthier individuals compared to the men. This is because women tend to take lesser tensions and depressions. Interestingly, the same holds opposite for married people. In other words, a married man is expected to live a healthier life as compared to a married woman. All these factors play an important role while the decision making. Living habits of an individual also make a significant difference. A smoker or drinker will find it hard to get the approval.

The above risk factors also help in determining the premium amounts for the individual. A high score would get the individual to pay higher premiums. A young and healthy individual normally pays lower premiums as compared to an old ailing individual.

Graham McKenzie is the content syndication coordinator a leading South African Life Insurance and Life Cover portal. For tips on how to save on your life insurance visit our website.

A Brief History Of Life Insurance

Sunday, June 20th, 2010

Life insurance or life assurance is an agreement between the plan owner (the insured) and, the insurer (insurance company) where the insurer agrees to pay a sum of money fixed in the contract at the time of the insured?s demise. This may also comprise but also promise to include indicants such as an incurable disease. The plan owner agrees to pay a certain sum each month, three months, six months or a year which is affirmed upon by the contract. The policy can also state that the insurer will pay for memorial service and some health expenses independently from the agreed compensation sum.

Insurance has been around since society began. The earliest form of insurance was the old protection rackets that organized crime families still use even today. Criminals or rulers of a country would ?guarantee? that a business or home would not be damaged or destroyed by criminal activities for a weekly cut of said earnings of the business. This form of blackmail and extortion quickly led to merchants and shopkeepers living in their businesses. So that when the criminals came they would be greeted by sword and spear. These actions, taken by these early businessmen, led to the old saying, ?The greatest protection comes by the sword.?

The first known form of insurance appeared in China as early as 5000 BC. It was a way for traders and merchants to lessen their losses in the event their shipment was stolen or ruined. The first know form of Life Insurance began in ancient Rome. They were called burial clubs and they covered the cost of member?s funeral expense and help the members surviving family out fiscally.

As human society became more modern, many traders would hire retired soldiers, i.e. mercenaries, to help shepherd their goods from place to place. These men could in some ways be called the first security guards of human society. But it was hazardous and difficult work, but for the soldiers of fortune of that time it was some of the best work one could get.

Now in the modern age insurance is now a necessity for a normal life in every nation on Earth. Insurance now covers Life, property, health, and even liability from lawsuits. The insurance commodity is now a multi-billion dollar business. The first known insurance business was started after the Great London Fire in 1666. The fire destroyed-,200 houses. After this tragedy, Nicholas Barbon opened an office to insure buildings. In 1680, he established England’s first fire insurance company, “The Fire Office,” to insure brick and frame homes.

The first insurance company in the United States was founded in Charleston, South Carolina in 1732. The company insured against fire damage and Benjamin Franklin helped popularize the concept of insurance in the nation at the time. In 1752, Benjamin Franklin founded the Philadelphia Contributorship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire. Franklin’s company was the first to make contributions toward fire prevention. His company also tried to warn against certain fire hazards, but it refused to insure buildings that were at considerable risk of fire, such as wooden houses or warehouses.

Graham McKenzie is the content syndication coordinator a leading South African Life Insurance and Life Cover portal. For tips on how to save on your life insurance visit our website.

Life Insurance Is The Only Way To Live

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

The world has gotten a lot more complicated than it used to be. Some of those complications are good ones, though. For example, there’s many more ways to manage your finances and your future so you and your loved ones can be safe later on. It used to be that all you could do was save up and hope for the best. But with life insurance in the picture, there’s all sorts of ways to secure yourself against misfortune with the expense of this partially in your control.

Insurance companies allow us to pick the kind of coverage we need and how much of it we need, and pay off premiums with discounts for being a low-risk policy holder. With just a little time and energy put into planning out our futures we can enjoy a comfortable insurance arrangement and rest up for the remainder of our lives.

With the added security of insurance to cover us when unexpected things happen, we can safely plan out our lives with a foundation of known variables and minimized risks. The insurance industry is sophisticated and has a facet to deal with almost every aspect of your life, and this lets you make better financial plans with better results even if you’re unlucky. Don’t get lulled into a sense of false security just because you have a lot of money!

Often, when our income is higher, we forget the future in the security of the present, sometimes going more into debt based on future income than saving for future threats. This lack of financial planning can have horrendous effects. However, if when our income is higher, we continue to plan ahead, investing for the future, it will allow us to retain the luxuries of the present throughout the rest of our lives. It is easy to get caught up in the everyday which flies ever faster until it is too late, so prepare now while you are still at minimum risk and the payments will be low and the return is high.

A few years back, my aunt lost her husband. Thankfully, she didn’t have to worry about any financial concerns because my uncle had invested in life insurance several years before. She was being compensated well by it and therefore had no trouble providing for her children in their educational pursuits. My cousins were not missing out on any opportunity in life they may have had taken from them thanks to our life insurance policy. This helped me to decide that when the right time came, I too would be taking out a life insurance policy so that my family would be safe in a life after me, no matter when that time comes. As soon as I had my affairs in order, I discussed my plans with the professionals and decided to invest in life insurance. It was explained to me the importance of paying premiums on time so that the policy will not be disturbed or interrupted.

My cousins did not miss out on any of the luxuries they had while their father was still alive. Because of my uncle?s example and my aunt?s financial comfort after he was gone, I made up my mind that when the opportunity came, I too, would invest into a life insurance policy for the sake of my family. With the aid of a good life insurance agent, we put together a plan investing into the universal life insurance policy, similar to that of my uncle?s. The agent explained that it is important for me to pay my premiums on time so the policy did not lapse or get disturbed in any way that may cause a problem in an emergency. I agreed to the rules and regulations put forth and found peace in the security of the future for my family.

Susan Reynolds is the webmaster for a leading South African Life Insurance provider. For more information visit: http://life.insurance123.co.za/

Life Family Protection

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

Life insurance provides a potential coverage in case of death of the insured within a fixed period. Before providing life coverage, it is habitual for an insurance company to check up the health and medical records the insurance seeker as well as his family members. If insured, then in case of death the family would the amount of insurance, to lead their living. This is the other way of investment also.

Term life coverage is a temporary measure of protection. It will help to clear off the debts and serve as an extra security of the insured. Individual?s demand and obligations differs from person to person. At the time of its maturity, it would be helpful to meet out the immediate obligations and necessaries.

The price to be paid for a life insurance depends upon your health. Those having good health records, secure coverage at cheaper prices. Good healthy person will get lengthy policy for the coverage selected and the terms that are at your choice are many, like 10,20,25 years.

Coverage, ranging from 100,000 to million dollars, can be selected, as you desire. Comparison of various companies? plans, their premiums, special benefits attached to it and the more have to be taken up. You can make a wide range of search and offer prices online, by going through the different companies? websites. Not only the low premium should be the factor, but also the advantages and disadvantages persistent, should also be considered.

Life insurance coverage can go up to the millions, but most of us aren’t quite that wealthy. More people will settle for amounts in the thousands or tens of thousands range. If you have doubts about how much coverage you should get, or how much you should be willing to pay, there’s nothing wrong with getting the advice of professionals in the insurance industry. Better yet, though, you can try comparing quotes from various companies online. This is free, easy to do, and only takes a few minutes. The important thing to keep in mind when getting online quotes is that you have to fill out your forms accurately. Bad forms means your calculated quotes will be inaccurate, and that’s your fault for giving the companies bad info to work with!

Besides getting quotes online, staying fit and healthy will do you a world of good, both personally and in terms of sparing your wallet. The lower-risk you are, the better your premiums will be. In other words, ironically, the less likely you are to need your life insurance, the less you’ll have to pay to keep it going. The best way to take advantage of this is to get life insurance when you’re very young and healthy. By keeping it up through the years, it will be there for you when you need it the most, and you’ll still have the same low premiums you started with.

A life insurance agent can help you determine which policy is best suited to your financial situation. Using the internet to research life insurance policies and prices allows you to get the best policy and help secure you and your family?s financial future.

Susan Reynolds is the webmaster for a leading South African Life Insurance provider. For more information visit: http://life.insurance123.co.za/

A Safe Future Through Life Insurance

Sunday, May 16th, 2010

There’s no way to get through life comfortably without a secure financial foundation. If something bad could happen to you, think to yourself, ‘Could I pay for that without any help?’ For most accidents and disasters that’s not the case. Even if you can pay it all off, you end up stressed and uncomfortable from the unexpected expenses. That’s why we have insurance like life insurance to help us when things don’t go our way.

It could threaten the lifestyle you have come to enjoy and took for granted. The best way to protect your future is to invest in life insurance. In my opinion it is the most important financial decision I’ve ever made. I took out a Whole Life insurance policy and was pleased with the terms and the service I received.

Timely action will help us gain the upper hand on unexpected problems. we should always keep in mind the fact that there are people depending on us and the decisions that we make will surely enough, affect them also. We should act responsibly and take the initiative so that we have a clean slate to begin with. The act of investing in a life insurance will not only provide you with incredible confidence, it will also provide your family with a sense of security that their future has been taken care of.

If I had not gotten the health insurance plan, we would have been at our wit’s end wondering how to pay the bills. The plan I purchased covered the expenses completely; I had no out-of-pocket payments. Purchasing the Health Insurance policy was efficient and easy. I feel that I made good decisions for our future; the bills could have impacted our family’s finances dramatically.

Few years back, my sister completed her studies and said to me that once she gets a good job and gets settled, she wanted to invest in a life insurance policy. She wanted to have an independent and secure future. Later on, she got settled and took a policy. Once she got insured, she advised me to get a life insurance policy once i get settled. And when i got a job, i went to a consultant and after looking at all my details, she gave me the advise that i should get a universal life insurance policy. If you are looking for financial security, the best way is investing in a life insurance policy. Remember, financial security is everything. Better be safe than sorry.

Susan Reynolds is the webmaster for a leading South African Life Insurance provider. For more information visit: http://life.insurance123.co.za/

Whole Life And Term Policies

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

Life insurance is very popular these days. Many people purchase policies, and advertisements for it are as prevalent as those for car insurance or home insurance. Yet most people don’t understand how life insurance works as well as they understand other kinds of insurance.

Basically speaking, there are two types of life insurance. Term life insurance is one. Whole life insurance is the other. Each of these types has a number of subcategories, but understanding these two basic types will provide you with a clear picture of how life insurance works in general.

Whole life insurance covers you for your whole life. In the event of your death, your beneficiary will receive a financial compensation set by the terms of your policy. It often comes with a fixed premium, which means that you pay a fixed amount your whole life, as opposed to paying less when you are younger and more when you are older. Whole life insurance policies could be said to blend insurance protection with some features of an investment fund.

Every body may be aware of about term life coverage policies. This is a popular policy and preferred to by many. There not only low premium policies but also lies within our choice of the term. The whole life policy gives coverage till your life but a term policy expires when its term ends. If you go for a life coverage after the expiry of the term policy, at that time, your cost would much high than that one that was available when you took a term coverage policy. Many of the public do not fully know about the different kinds and different options available in life insurance.

Because term life insurance is bought for a relatively short period of time its premiums are able to be smaller. A lot of insurance agents will focus on term life insurance because the immediate cost savings are attractive to a lot of potential clients. Although term life insurance does have short-term savings benefits, whole life insurance has its own advantages. For a lot of people, whole life insurance will be a better policy in the long run because of its fixed premiums. Basically, it is a matter of saving money immediately and paying more later on, or saving it in the long run but paying more immediately.

Whole life insurance can also be used as an asset. Many whole life insurance policies will allow you to borrow money against the value of your policy. This can be a valuable resource, and make whole life insurance a greater asset than term life insurance for some people. You can even decide to cancel your policy in exchange for its cash value. (This is called “cashing out” your policy.)

You can easily find quotes for both kinds of life insurance online. Usually for free. As with most things, comparing quotes from different companies is a wise idea. You will also need to choose a beneficiary who will receive your policy benefits in the event of your death. It would also be wise to hire a lawyer as well, to make sure all of the legal angles are covered.

Susan Reynolds is the webmaster for a leading South African Life Insurance provider. For more information visit: http://life.insurance123.co.za/

Life Insurance

Friday, May 7th, 2010

While none of us like to think about our mortality, if you want to ensure that those you leave behind are financially comfortable then considering buying life cover is a necessity. Certainly, looking on the internet for information and getting quote from a specialist life insurance broker is often the best way to go about taking out valuable security.

There are various forms of life cover and you have to decide first which the right choice for your circumstances is. Of the various types of life assurance, term life cover is probably the most common. In a nutshell, you choose how many years you want to be covered for and if you pass away during the policy term, you family would receive a tax free lump sum. However, the cover would not pay out if you were still alive when the cover ended.

So, why is life insurance so important? The majority of people believe life cover to be something that just pays towards the costs of their funeral. However, it is much more than that, it gives your family comfort financially so they can continue meeting essential bills such as the monthly mortgage repayment.

The insurance benefit will be a great boon to your family. When there no other earning member, the coverage received would be very useful to meet out all your necessities necessary for a problem free life. It is enough to make coverage to meet out only that much what is needed. Searching through online and if need be contacting an agent is the appropriate way to find a proper insurance coverage.

Life insurance premium is decided by taking into account current physical health. In short, a person with ideal mass according to their height can get the lowest premium. It is for sure that one with a disproportionate weight to his height is to get higher premiums for his insurance. One can exercise regularly and eat nutritious and healthy food to maintain a fit and healthy body.

It should be noted that smokers and those individuals who like a drink will often have to pay more to insure their lives than someone who does not. To be classed as a non smoker you need to have given up the habit for at least 12 months before you go to buy your policy. To decide how much you life cover you will need, multiply your yearly salary by around ten times. This will give you a starting point as to how much to insure your life for. Consider things such as how much it would cost to clear any outstanding debt such as a mortgage, any loans and credit cards. Would the money be used to put your children through higher education etc.

As we cannot predict what could happen in the future we do have to give some thought to protecting our lives against the fact that we could die at anytime. Life cover does just this and it does not have to be expensive.

Susan Reynolds is the webmaster for a leading South African Life Insurance provider. For more information visit: http://life.insurance123.co.za/

The Benefits Of Researching Life Insurance Online

Thursday, May 6th, 2010

The best possible life insurance policy is one that will pay out an appropriate amount of money to handle what your family and heirs will need after you’ve passed, but which you can also afford. Start your search by looking for policies that you can afford, and see which has the best policy for the price. Remember that depending on what you have to spend, you may need to adjust the amount for which you’re insured or the term over which you’re insured to make sure that it’ll fit your budget – you can adjust the term or payout later if you need to.

To get the best price comparisons, you can look online. Many life insurance companies these days offer free online quotes so that you can compare with other companies and make the decision on what works best for you. Some other websites also allow you to run side-by-side comparisons of up to five different companies at once. This makes it even faster and easier than looking at each company?s website.

If you’re afraid of entering your information on so many web pages, don’t be. Verify that the companies are legit businesses and if they are, you can feel good about submitting your information to them. They are seeking your business and are unlikely to give out your information and abuse your trust. As long as you know the website is legit, you have nothing to fear from these companies.

When comparing life insurance quotes, be sure to compare premiums, terms, death benefits, and clauses for each that you’ve selected to research. By comparing quotes, you’ll be able to get the best death benefits possible for the lowest possible price.

Take special care to looks closely at the length of the term you’ll be insured, so that you’re comparing apples to apples. Longer terms will be more expensive, so compare terms of equal length. Also try to get the longest term that you can, so that you don’t need to begin looking for life insurance again in the near future. Whole life or universal life insurance are good options if you can afford them, since they will never expire, but can be somewhat expensive. On the other hand, a term life insurance plan can be good for you if you don’t have the money for whole or universal and you need to cover a certain segment of your life (for example, until your children are out of the house and caring for themselves).

Of course, a ‘good’ rate is relative! What defines a rate as good depends on your own financial situation – there’s no point in getting a policy you’re unable to keep up payments for. Think about the price point you can actually afford on a monthly basis and hunt for quotes that hover roughly at that level. Unless you’re quite well off, you will probably end up adjusting your goals for the coverage on your life insurance, either in duration or quality, to get a sufficiently cheap policy that fits your ability to maintain it financially. Don’t worry, you can always upgrade it later on if your money situation improves down the road.

Get the best rates that you can by looking online, but remember that your search for life insurance isn’t all about price; buy life insurance is for the peace of mind that a good policy can provide.

Susan Reynolds is the webmaster for a leading South African Life Insurance website. For more information visit: http://life.insurance123.co.za/