info life insurance

When people are younger and feeling the need to protect the long-term financial interests of their new families, they buy life insurance. Years then pass. Many policyholders remain financially secure and, when life finally ends, pass on significant benefits to their dependents. But a proportion of people find their financial position worsens when they retire. With no regular source of income, savings can run down and, if a family or health emergency strikes, the continued occupation of the home can come under threat. When people look at the assets they hold, they see the life insurance policy. Does it hold any value? The answer you get depends on who you ask. The insurance company that sold the policy will discuss two possibilities. The first assumes the policy has a cash value. The company will allow you to draw down on that value or to use it as collateral for a loan. The second is the so-called "cash surrender value" (CSV). This terminates the contract you have with the insurer and, because it is no longer obliged to pay out, it returns some or all of the money you have paid as premiums over the years.

In reality, neither of these options is very attractive. The insurers usually push a loan with a rate of interest that eats up the rest of benefits over the years, i.e. if the loan does run for years, it effectively becomes the only cash ever paid out by the insurer. The CSV is also very poor value, paying out a pittance now rather than the full amount later. And because the insurance industry is powerful and has real influence over the news media and magazines, there is little coverage of the alternative. Or, if the alternative is mentioned, there are horror stories to warn people away. The insurance industry wants to maximize its profit and does not want anything getting in the way.

The alternative has been standard in Europe for decades. Given the bad press Europe gets, this is probably the kiss of death, but you should understand this is a tried-and-tested program to realize the value in life insurance policies. In the US, if you are older and have a policy worth not less than $250,000, there are willing buyers who will pay significantly more than the CSV, albeit less than the face value of the policy. The right to transfer life settlements was established some ninety-nine years ago in Grigsby v. Russell, 222 US 149 (1911) but a formal secondary market is only now really growing. It works like a brokerage with agents introducing buyers to sellers. The cash prices paid are substantial. This is not a scam. It is not a new "sub-prime" disaster waiting to happen. This gives you cash in your hand for your old life policy. So never allow your policy to lapse, never surrender your old policy and, unless you are desperate, never borrow on the cash value. Selling on the secondary market releases far more value.

So, when you are getting life insurance quotes, prefer policies with a face value of not less than $250,000 and always make the extra effort to buy a policy with a cash value - if not as you first policy, then as soon as you can afford it. You need to allow time for the policy to build up value. So, when evaluating the life insurance quotes, look for premium rates you can afford. You will lose the chance on the secondary market if you cannot afford long-term payment.

The biggest financial decision you are likely to make is buying a home, closely followed by less expensive must-haves like a vehicle. But the one deal you should aim to get right is the decision on life insurance. This is the difference between leaving your dependents with an adequate amount of cash to see them through the times of economic hardship after your income is lost, and leaving them with nothing. In this, the decision on term as against permanent insurance is the key. Put the wrong key in the lock and you open a door into real financial hardship. So what's wrong with term insurance? Think of this as like a bet. If you die within the term, your dependents are the winners.

If you prove healthy and live too long, you lose the premiums you paid and your dependents get nothing. Now, when it comes to permanent insurance, this builds up a cash value. The longer you have the policy in place, the more valuable it comes as the premiums you pay attract investment returns. During your own life, you can take some of this money back or borrow using the fund as collateral. When the sad day finally comes, the benefits are paid out to your dependents less whatever drawings or borrowings you have made.

From these short sentences, you will immediately suspect the other difference between the products. Term life insurance is the cheap option. It gives you security in the amount of the benefits for the number of years you select. If you buy one term policy after another, the premiums are higher each time because your life expectancy is less on each renewal. Permanent insurance premiums are higher because a percentage of what you pay is invested on your behalf to generate the cash value. So your fund receives the benefit of the interest, dividends and other returns the investments generate. This makes the total of the cash value the key factor. Do you want a higher rate of return on the premiums? This can be for your own benefit should there be an emergency during your life. Or it can build up over the years for your dependents. If the answer is yes, you must be prepared to pay more to start off the policy - the first year's premiums often disappear into a black hole representing set-up costs and the selling agent's commission. But the amount you pay stays the same throughout the lifetime of the policy. So, with inflation, what starts out a struggle slowly grows easier to pay.

The real problem is the uncertainty of the future. Who knows how inflation may affect different aspects of life. What may be cheap now, may be expensive tomorrow and vice versa. So here are a few simple rules. If all you want is cover over the next few years (no more than ten), get life insurance quotes for a term policy. Ten years is not a long enough period of time to build up a worthwhile cash value. Estimate what benefits might be needed, e.g. your daughter will need $50,000 to cover her college tuition fees, and the total will set the amount of the insurance. If you are looking at a period of at least twenty years, you should think seriously about permanent insurance. Again, get life insurance quotes but you should also take advice on the different types of policy available and create or review your estate plan. Between ten and twenty years is a gray area and whichever way you decide is not going to be wrong.

Reasons for not canceling your life insurance policy

When facing economical downshift, it can be quite tempting to minimize costs by refusing certain things you might feel as useless or luxury. However, insurance should be amongst these things. Having your life insured may look like a loss of money now, but when the moment comes it can be a great deal in sustaining and supporting your spouse and children from the financial point of view.

If have your life insured, having your policy cancelled can turn into a big mistake from the financial point of view in the long run. Of course, it is very hard to resist such a temptation when having to pay high premiums that do you no favor in means of lowering your expenses. But you have to see the whole picture rather than concentrating on details. The following are six important reasons for refusing to cancel your life coverage policy.

1. Insuring your life is an investment.

When people choose to insure their lives they provide a valuable investment to their loved ones that can be used after certain circumstances. Of course, it's very hard to grasp the situation when you are gone and the relevance of your needs, but think about your family. Losing a key person will lead to serious hardships that will affect the financial situation of your spouse and children as well. And when you insure your life you ensure that your loved ones won't be experiencing financial problems.

2. Life insurance premiums have already been paid.

This will sound as the most logical reason for those who are thinking about the "now" situation. Just think of all the premiums you have already paid. This especially refers to those who had their policies for a while now. Unless you have special types of insurance policies, all the premiums you have already paid will simply turn into a waste of money.

3. You can raise the cash value of your policy with time.

In case you have universal or variable life coverage policies, you probably know that they are typically financed through mutual funds. And if the funds increase, so will the cash value of your policy, which will definitely be a nice feature for you and your family.

4. Some policies allow you to skip premium payments.

Some types of universal insurance policies will allow you to skip a certain amount of premium payments after a specified period of time. And when facing financial hardships it may be wise to use that option. Such policies aren't typically associated with cheap life insurance options but in the long run you get more benefits when using them.

5. Lower the coverage amount to reduce the premiums.

The premiums you will pay are directly related to the amount of coverage carried by your policy. If you lower the coverage amounts your premiums will go down respectively. However, keep in mind that reducing the coverage amounts below a certain point will make your policy senseless, because it won't be able to meet your insurance needs when the moment comes. Define the minimum required amount of benefits to be received and go on from there.

6. Finding good life insurance quotes will be tough in case you cancel.

If you decide to cancel your current policy now and find another one after some time you may be surprised to find out that your rates will be much higher than with your initial policy. Insurance companies tend to give higher life insurance quotes to those who have cancelled their policies before end of term, and you will probably be older when getting the new policy - a factor that also strongly influences the final rates.