Life Insurance Basics

Have you ever thought about purchasing life insurance? Lately I've been doing research on life insurance and found out that the premiums people pay can vary greatly. Studies show that three fundamental factors that affect...
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This is a subject that most people would just prefer to ignore. After all, it requires you to face your own mortality and then make some hard decisions about how you want to provide for your family after your death. A recent...
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Survivorship life insurance policies, also known as second-to-die life, insure two lives, with the insurance proceeds paid after the death of the second insured. This insurance is often used to provide financial liquidity to...
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As retirement age approaches, it's usually a good time to reassess your life insurance policies, since your needs may change then. With your children on their own and no earned income to replace, you may no longer need a...
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Executive Summary This article discusses and compares a wide range of planning options for maximizing and transferring qualified plan assets from a plan participant to his or her heirs. For demonstrative purposes, the focus...
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More often than not, life insurance is purchased to provide financial relief to dependents in the event that a family's breadwinner(s) prematurely dies. This is the most significant use of that product. Yet, in the...
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Life insurance is one of those things you know you should pay more attention to, but can never seem to get around to doing. Part of the reason is an unwillingness to deal with our own mortality. But the vast array of...
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This is a topic for mass debate - schools of thought reign supreme here just like in the old school of what car company do you prefer - Ford, Dodge or Chevy. This is a much more important topic than just bragging rights; it...
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I have read perhaps thousands of articles and books on the topic of financial planning and I am still amazed at how many articles and books mislead so many people about what type of life insurance to buy. Many of the self...
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We all know we need insurance but it's not usually at the top of our priority list. Insurance is a valuable tool to protect our families from unforeseen events that can severely damage their financial futures, but it does...
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Term insurance is typically purchased to protect a growing family from the catastrophic loss of a "breadwinner". Lower initial premiums offer the flexibility to fit immediate needs. However, over time, a more permanent and...
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Proper financial planning involves making sure you are taking advantage of every available asset and financial opportunity. However, there is one asset people often ignore that could potentially add hundreds of thousands...
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Most people think that their life insurance policy has no value until they die. But a market is emerging for buying and selling existing life insurance policies. If you currently own term or universal life coverage that you...
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Life insurance is a topic that concerns many people, yet very few actually take steps to make sure they are properly covered. According to a 2003 MetLife study, 49% of the respondents are concerned about their family's...
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Benjamin Franklin wrote "in this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." Unfortunately, in the area of estate planning, both of these factors must be considered for couples with larger than...
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Here's a reliable rule of thumb when it comes to buying the right amount of life insurance: there is none. While it's easy for some so-called 'experts' to say everybody needs life insurance protection equal to 10 or 20 times...
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In August of 2004, a Wall Street Journal article announced term life insurance rates were at rock bottom and would soon begin to climb. The exact opposite has occurred to the benefit of the consumer in this extremely...
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Prices are rising and availability is shrinking for some advanced insurance aged clients seeking the guarantees Universal Life Insurance (UL) offers. The new versions being introduced in the marketplace are showing UL...
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Did you know in 2004, the federal government collected more than $25 billion in estate and gift taxes? Although there is no known number for the amount of family fortunes and legacies lost to this form or taxation, rest...
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In a recent press release that garnered little mainstream press, one major life insurer has turned what has been a difficult insurability situation for many prostate cancer survivors into a non issue going forward. To...
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Remember all those premiums you have paid over the years on your Whole Life (WL), Universal Life (UL) or Variable Universal Life (VUL) policies? Did you know even life insurance policies have a basis, not just stocks,...
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In a recent press release that garnered little mainstream press, one major life insurer has turned what has been a difficult insurability situation for many breast cancer survivors into a non issue going forward. To date, no...
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Many people are under the impression that they must buy one type of insurance, or the other. One choice or the other choice decision, period. The truth is, you could all types of coverage in force at the same time, on the...
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Many life insurance policies that were purchased within the last ten years have been severely affected by interest rate declines, putting their viability into question. Most insurance owners are not aware that, in view of...
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Equity markets have been very strong performers in 2005 and year to date in 2006. VUL policies that contain this investment component in addition to the insurance component are responding to consumer demand for...
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The purpose of life insurance is to do one thing, and that is to replace the income of the breadwinner if he or she should die prematurely. A premature death means that the person in question still has financial...
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The title of this paper may have surprised you since rarely would someone call term insurance an investment. I don't sell insurance, however I think there is opportunity here in some situations by using a term policy with...
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Making decisions regarding life insurance may seem simple enough if you believe what you see and hear in television and radio advertisements. However there are many things to consider and wading through the sales pitches...
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