With the recession affecting everything from mortgages to the price of food, many are looking to quick-fix solutions and assessing their finances in order to help their finances go further. According to research carried out by one of the UK’s leading banks, many are choosing to cut corners in an effort to save money, but whilst it may save them a little, the impact on their credit rating could be potentially dangerous.
Many are now choosing to cancel certain insurance policies in an attempt to put the funds towards bills and other expenses, but by doing so they risk putting themselves at risk, and in some cases getting rid of crucial cover due to financial difficulties.
There are certain insurances where cover is mandatory – such as third party, fire and theft on car insurance and buildings insurance for homeowners. By choosing to cancel these aspects of your policy, you risk invalidating further claims and applications in future.
One of the most affected policies is that of buildings insurance, with some homeowners choosing to cancel or reduce their level of cover on their policies. However, by doing so they run the risk of invalidating their mortgages – as buildings insurance is one of the main legal requirements required to secure a mortgage.
Worryingly, numbers of life insurance policies are also being cancelled, or the level of cover changed, which could be disastrous should something happen to the policyholder, leaving them out of pocket during their time of need.
If you’re worried about your finances and are looking to reassess your financial situation, it’s best to take the time to assess your finances and also look into switching your current policy, seeking advice if you’re still not sure.
With a wide variety of policies to choose from – including life insurance and buildings and contents insurance – you could save yourself some much needed money by taking the time to research different policies.
Look into perhaps reducing some aspect of your current policy without straying from the mandatory aspects, and also consider increasing the excess on your policy, as this could help to bring down your premium.
Posts Tagged ‘ Life Insurance Policies ’
Sep
In this article I will just break down insurance so as to take the confusion out when shopping for one:
Insurance covers 4 key components:
-Life
-Property
-Income
-Health
Depending on your age, income statues, and life stage you may need anywhere from two to all four types.
An insurance policy has 3 major components you should look at when purchasing it:
1. The Premium
This is your most recognizable and easiest part to understand. Your premium is the payment you pay for that policy whether you pay for it yearly, semi-annually, or monthly. The size of the premium determines the type of coverage you will receive with your policy
2. Coverage
The coverage determines what the policy covers or does not cover in case you will ever file a claim, such as a health emergency, or property damage (accident).
3. The deductible
The deductible states how much money you will have to pay before your insurance starts their coverage, whether it is $500 or $3000, you have to put this money down first on an expense before the insurance coverage kicks in (except life insurance policies).
Sometimes the deductible is a percentage, such as 10%, and comes in various forms and added terms such as you will be covered up to $1 million in expenses, or after you pay $500 you will pay only 20% of your bill.
So the deductible comes in various shapes and forms and you must look at these more carefully than the premium, to see what kind of cash you will have to fork in order to coexist with the insurance payments.
The most important part of your insurance policy is your coverage and then the deductible. For your purposes you must examine what is covered and what is not (such as car theft). You don’t want to be happy only paying $60/month on your car insurance, only to find out when it’s stolen that it was not part of your coverage.
I will add one last segment to this article which is how you can buy insurance.
You can do so in one of the following ways:
-from an insurance agent that is not associated with the company
-an agent of the company
-directly from the company
A perk of buying directly from the company is that the policy will probably be cheaper as there will be no commission if it’s online. However, independent agents can offer you more choices because they are not bound by one insurance company.
The best way to go is based on your needs. If you need very simple car insurance you can probably go online directly to the company, but if you need a more complicated policy that you have never encountered before, it will be wise to speak with a good agent.
How do you find a good agent? Well, that’s a big mystery; you can find a good agent just like you can find a new mechanic: by asking for referrals from friends and coworkers. If they have been with an agent for a long time and can relate a good story where the agent provided them with a really good service, that’s probably a good bet.
Most people shy away from taking life insurance policies, thinking that the procedure is complicated and long drawn out. They are practically unaware of details such as life insurance rates and premiums. As the premium and insurance rates are correlated, it is best to subject a policy to careful and detailed examination before buying it. Life insurance policies can be used for many purposes such as protecting your family after your death, repaying a mortgage, paying inheritance tax, and protecting a business against the loss of a key individual.
Insurance policies broadly fall under two categories – a single life insurance policy or joint life insurance policy. The different insurance policies include health insurance, term life insurance, long term care insurance and home insurance for property protection. The insurance rates for these policies are classified as preferred plus, preferred, and standard. A person in the United States with some minor health problems over his lifetime can easily qualify for standard insurance rates. Preferred rates are provided to persons having a good and healthy physique. These rates are offered only after detailed medical checkups including height, weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels. The preferred plus rates are given to people who have no history of drug or alcohol abuse.
Life insurance rates vary depending on the type of policy you choose as well as the amount of coverage you request. Considering the fact that women tend to live longer than men, the life insurance companies offer lower premiums to females than males. In such cases, the insurance rates will also be lower than normal policies. Most of the insurance companies also consider your age while applying for a policy.
There are many websites providing detailed information about the best online quotes and insurance rates. While comparing the rates in various sites, you find that both the standard and preferred insurance rates vary by hundreds between companies throughout Canada and the United States of America. When comparing the rates, care should be taken to compare only standard to standard and preferred to preferred rates.
An insurance settlement represents the settlement of an insurance claim made on an insurance company. This could be a claim by an insured person under his own insurance policy, or a third party claim.
Insurance companies could make the settlement payments in different ways. One of these is to defer the payments as when the company promises to make annuity payments over a number of future years.
A life insurance settlement, or life settlement, is something different. It involves selling your life policy for immediate cash to a life insurance settlement company. If you are aged over 65, and have a life insurance policy, you could sell the policy. Life insurance policies are like any other asset that you own, and you are free to sell it.
Insurance Settlements Can be Cashed Out
Life Settlements are cash outs by their very nature. You could also cash out any deferred payments you are receiving under an insurance settlement. We look at both below.
Selling Life Insurance Policies
There are a number of reasons why you might want to sell your life insurance policy.
* Paying the premium has become a heavy financial burden
* You need cash for a prolonged medical treatment
* There are life policies in the market that are more cost effective
* There are investment options that you consider better
* Your business or personal situation have changed and a life insurance policy might not be the best
option under the changed situation
Factors like those mentioned above could make it better to cash out your life policy. In extreme cases, you might even have to let the policy lapse before you are able to make any claim.
The common alternative in such a case was to surrender the policy to the insurance company and get the surrender value. This was a poor alternative as the surrender value could be zero or a very low sum compared to the premium you have been paying for years.
If you are aged above 65, you now have the alternative to sell your policy and get a sum significantly higher than the surrender value. The amount depends on such factors as your present medical condition, statistical life expectation, smoking or tobacco use habit and the policy type.
Selling Other Insurance Settlements Involving Deferred Payments
Where your insurance settlement involves annuity payments, you might wish to cash it out for a lump sum. A lump sum of cash now could help you invest your money better or meet the expenses of a prolonged medical treatment.
In such cases you are allowed to accelerate your insurance settlement payments. A court process is involved to determine that cashing out the annuity payments is in your best interests. If the court approves the acceleration, you could sell your annuities in whole or in part and get a lump sum of cash.
Term insurance: simple and affordable
When it comes to comparing different types of insurance policies for covering your life term insurance policies turn out to be the most simple and inexpensive. If your insurance needs don’t require sustaining a policy for your entire life, you may find it very appealing to get a term policy especially with the price tag being times smaller than of continuous policies.
Why term policies are the cheapest option for life coverage?
Term insurance policies will cover you only for a specific period of time. They also usually have pre-set premiums and fixed amounts of benefits to receive. Term policies can last from one to 30 years, but the most popular options are 10 and 20 year term policies. The vast majority of these policies cannot be renewed and the chances for the insurance company to pay out death benefits on term coverage policy are minimal. In fact, only about 1% of all term insurance policies actually give out a death benefit to their clients. That’s why the insurance company can place a significantly lower price tag on such a product.
Why taking term insurance coverage?
Term insurance policies are aimed at covering certain types of debts in case the policyholder is disabled or dies. Some debts that term insurance coverage may pay for include:
- Consumer credits
- Mortgage loans
- College education for children
- Funeral expenses
That’s why people who get 30-year mortgage deals are looking for 30-ear term life insurance policies. The most widespread options in terms of policy duration are those of 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 years. Short-term policies are also available but they are rarely purchased.
Types of term insurance policies
Decreasing term insurance policies, also referred to as mortgage insurance policies, have a fixed premium over the entire term, however the death benefit is constantly decreasing with the time passing, being often connected to your mortgage debt. And as you pay out your mortgage, your insurance amount is decreased respectively. Insurance experts are not very enthusiastic about this type of policies although it’s a cheap life insurance option. But keeping in mind the low percentage of death benefit payout there’s not much sense in having such a policy.
Other types of term life coverage include:
- Burial insurance: such small insurance are aimed only for covering funeral costs.
- Group term insurance coverage: suitable for enterprises as it is designed to cover more people than standard policies.
- Specified age term insurance: such policies provide coverage only until the policyholder reaches a specified age.
- Return of premium: such policies will reimburse a part or all the premiums you have paid during the term if a claim is not filed. However, the premiums with such policies are usually higher.
Although, term life coverage is a relatively inexpensive compared to other types of insurance, your policy can still cost you much in premiums if you don’t take some time and shop around for a good policy. There are numerous insurance companies providing term insurance policies, and the rates can differ significantly for the same type and amount of coverage. That’s why it really pays off shopping around and getting as much life insurance quotes as you can, in order to find the perfect term insurance policy to purchase. Be smart, and don’t get the first policy you are offered with as there may be numerous offers way better than that.