Archive for October, 2008

Life Insurance - Mortality Issues ?

Friday, October 31st, 2008

When faced with designing a life insurance portfolio as well as for any financial planning, an important factor is estimating your life expectancy. This is a guessing game such as science. There are a number of resources, tables and web sites with simple to complex calculators, available for this purpose. Please keep in mind that, the more variables you introduce the greater the likelihood that your estimate will be wrong.

A good starting point is the table issued by the US Government, for use by life insurance companies in determining a basis for life insurance premiums. This table is updated every few years and is called the Commissioners Standard Ordinary Mortality Table.

The following are some of the many factors that can impact your life expectancy:

Gender- males generally have shorter life expectancies than females.

Tobacco Use- if you use tobacco, your life expectancy will be shorter than for those who don’t use tobacco. Smoking will especially shorten your life expectancy.

 Alcohol use- excessive alcohol drinking can reduce your life expectancy.

Driving- unsafe driving indicates greater risks of accidents and death and will therefore reduce your life expectancy.

Blood pressure- especially uncontrolled high blood pressure will reduce life expectancy.

Family medical history- if a parent or sibling has had a history of heart disease, cancer, diabetes or high blood pressure prior to age 60 then life expectancy may be lower and is a factor though it is hard to measure.

A good resource is the life tables available from the US Department of Health and Human Services- Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Annually, they publish a life expectancy table on their web site.

A search on any internet search engine will find a multitude of sites and calculators on the web. Almost everyone will give you a different estimate. Therefore, in doing your planning, the best option will typically be one you best understand and makes the most sense to you in every way. Possessing life insurance will be useful to your family when they are mostly in need of it.

Life Insurance is it vital ?

Friday, October 24th, 2008

Life insurance offers a tax free lump sum upon the confirmation of the death of the insured person. The inheritor mentioned on the policy will then receive the full cash lump sum. The money obtained from life insurance can be used in a number of ways. The mortgage can be paid, the household can be maintained and most importantly, the risk of a financial breakdown can be eliminated. Life insurance is worth the money that you pay every month as premiums. While you are still alive, you can have the peace of mind that even when you are not around, your family will be looked after.

When the breadwinner of the family passes away, there is often the financial pressure which arises due to the automatic loss of income. Life insurance rightly addresses to this situation by allowing a payout to help remove stressful mindsets by providing hope. While there is still the pain of the death of your loved one, the payout which life insurance provides can help you cope with the various challenges of life. Even cremation costs have gone off the roof. So, with the money you obtain, you may easily organize a decent cremation ceremony to part ways once and for all with your beloved.

If you step into the insurance market to find a life insurance product, you will be sure to obtain what you want. There are many insurance companies, each offering different or similar life insurance schemes. If you want to end up with a high quality life insurance plan, searching for quotes on the Internet can be an astute idea. Through simple clicks of your mouse you will be able to meet up with various insurance providers. Comparing quotes and making the good decision will undoubtedly allow you to the life insurance policy that suits your needs.

Can i have conversion and renewal options on my life insurance

Friday, October 17th, 2008

Many of the life and critical illness insurance plans have different add on’s that are available to you at an extra cost normally. These are aimed to give you some extra protection on your protection insurance should your circumstances change. After all all of our circumstances change on a regular basis so its no good if the policy has no flexiblity built into it. The flexibility in the contract is often shown by an increase in the premium on a montly basis.

The conversion option is available on some life insurance plans this gives flexiblity by allowing you the ability to change the plan into a new plan within the original term and not having to provide further medical evidence to the insurer. This is good if you have suffered from a few ailements since the original policy was taken out.

The other option available is the renewal option this option is similar to the conversion option, however the main difference is that the option to renew is available when the polcy ended. This once again is available to do without the need for additonal medical evidence. Once again this is nice if you have suffered from a few medical issues since the orignal policy was underwritten. Insome cases you may not of been in a position to take a futher policy if you had suffered from something serious.

My life insurance broker told me I have terminal illness what is this ?

Wednesday, October 8th, 2008

With the majority of the life insurance contracts, if they be level decreasing single or joint they have something called terminal illness added into it. What it is this terminal illness ? I have a friend who has critical illness insurance on his life is this the same thing ?  Well the answer is no, terminal illness is added without cost and is where the insurer will pay out when the policy holders life expectancy is no greater than 12 months. The defintion is normally where the consultant or the chief medical officer is agrees that a rapidly progressing incurable illness is present. The idea behind the terminal illness is that the client will get the money before they die and this will give them an opportunity to sort out what ever they want to do prior to them passing away. The idea behind the cover is that the time when you are most vunerable a cash injection will hopefully help ease the pain.