Life Insurance Premiums

If you are over 50′s, there are affordable ways to prepare for the future.

With over 50s life insurance cover there is guaranteed acceptance- and in most cases there is no need for a medical check up. Its easy to find coverage as you can apply online to get a quote.

Can can choose the plan that you an afford and the coverage depends on the level of cover you want. Monthly payments are clear and premiums are always the same month to month, and are guaranteed never to rise once your plan starts.

It is one of the simplest ways to leave your family a guaranteed tax-free cash lump sum after you die to put towards funeral expenses and outstanding debts.

The key benefits in having a Life Cover for over 50′s:

1. No Medical or health questions
2. Monthly payments stay the same after you sign the policy
3. Guaranteed tax-free cash lump sum
4. All application will usually be processed within 71 hours
5. You have have peace of mind.

The internet has become a very popular way to purchase life insurance policies. Remember all state laws and regulations regarding selling insurance apply to the Internet and insurance-based Web sites. Do some research and make sure the company is authorized to do business. Call the Insurance Consumer hotline before signing any policy.

Most people prefer to buy life insurance through an agent or broker.

Agents represent one or more companies. The agents job, is commission based to sell your policies of the company they represent.

Brokers represent and work for you. You would describe to the broker the type of coverage you want and the amount you want to spend. The brokers job is to survey the market and bring back options for you to review. The broker also receives a commission of the sales they arrange.

It is very wise to choose your agent or broker carefully.. Choose some who is an established business person in your community. If you have concerns about an insurance provider contact the Insurance Consumer Hotline.

You do not need a lawyer to resolve disputes in most cases, most insurance companies will generally be willing to work with your to straighten out any problems.

First contact your insurance agent. If your concerns are not addressed contact the company’s customer service office. If customer service fails short of your expectation ask about the company’s procedure for appealing decisions.

If your self-help efforts fall short then the next step is to contact the Department Of Insurance Office of Consumer Services, and speak to a life insurance analyst. Your analyst will answer your questions over the phone and explain any additional steps you should take to resolve your problems. The staff will give you an honest and unbiased answers to all your questions.

If this explanation does not satisfy you, you can then request a complaint form which your insurance analyst will mail to you with instructions of how to fill the complaint form. Your analyst will review all the facts to make sure the company follows its contract with you as well as Insurance Regulations.

The most frequent complaints about Life Insurance are:

1. Misrepresentation
2. Information requested
3. Coverage question
4. Claim denial

It is illegal for a stranger to take out an insurance policy on your life. The stranger has no insurable interest and could have an unhealthy desire to see you die sooner than nature intends, so that his can collect the death benefit.

A life insurance policy is like anything else, if you own it, you can sell it, even to a perfect stranger who has no conceivable insurable interest, who then becomes the policy owner and can then name himself as the beneficiary.

There are Viatical Insurance Buyers and Sellers of life insurance policies and they call themselves viatical settlement firms. The viatical firm buys insurance policies from people with terminal illnesses and sells them to investors.

Some basic questions to ask your agent to guide you through the process are:

• How much will this life insurance policy cost me each year
• How much is the Sales commissions
• How much am I charged for Administrative fees
• What is the future life insurance cash value
• How much will I pay for penalties for an early surrender of this life insurance policy
• When do the penalties stop for early surrender
• What is guaranteed in this life insurance policy
• Are interest rates declared monthly or annually
• How long should I plan to keep this life insurance policy
• Should I keep it for a few years or for decades

Take your time to decide before you sign any forms and talk to one other person in your family or a friend.

The best way to explain what a life insurance rider is as follows:

Riders are modifications to the basic insurance policy added at the same time the policy is issued. Riders are used to either add or limit benefits to the policy. Riders change the basic policy to provide some feature desired by the policy holder. The policy holder will have to pay an extra amount to cover the rider.

When your agent includes riders to your policy to calculate your premium, ask the agent to price each rider separate. You then can decide whether your believe the added benefits any rider provides is worth the extra cost.

The most common riders I know of are:

Accidental death: Double indemnity. It means that the benefits paid by your policy will be 2 times the face amount of the policy if you die in an accident. It is known that 20% of all policy holder die in accidents. The cost for an accidental death rider is generally inexpensive. This rider is worth considering.

Waiver of Premium: This rider let you stop paying premiums whenever you become disabled and can no longer work. It is important to understand what the rider define “disabled” In most cases it means that you can not do any kind of work not just the work you had when you signed the policy. You may want to consider getting a disability policy to protect your from financial hardship due to a disability. Depending on the type of policy you buy, it could provide money to pay for all your living expenses and not just your life insurance premiums.

Mortgage Protection: This rider attaches a mortgage life policy to your main policy.

Other Insured: You can add life benefits for your spouse or children.

Guaranteed Insurability: This rider would typically be added to a whole life or universal life policy. Whereby it gives you the right to buy a new policy or increase the limit on your existing policy without passing another medical/physical exam. The rider will also specify how much you can add and when to do it.

Accelerated death benefit: This rider will let you sue some part of your death benefit when you have a terminal illness.

The typical “funeral policy” is a whole life policy with a small death benefit for about $5,000.00

There is an alternative to funeral insurance if your concern is paying funeral expenses. The traditional alternative is a pre-need contract with a funeral director. Here is how it usually works:

1. The funeral director contracts to provide a funeral for a specified amount.

2. Your payments go into an escrow fund

3. The money remains yours

4. Unlike life insurance, you can withdraw your money from the pre-need escrow fund.

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This policy builds cash value and the policy holder can use the cash value to get a policy loan. The loan can only be for the amount up to a percentage of the policy cash value. The loan of course will accrue interest. Note though that if the loan plus interest amount exceeds the cash value, the policy will expire with no value.

The advantage of a Whole life insurance policy is that the policy can return money to the policy holder in the form of dividends, if the company earns a surplus because of profitable operations. Since earnings such a surplus depends on many variables, dividends are never guaranteed.

There are different type of Whole Life Insurance. The most common types are:

Joint Whole Life- provides basic whole life benefits, but two lives are insured under the same policy.

Last Survivor Whole Life-a Joint whole life, designed mainly for married couples.

Universal Life- the policy holder can choose your policy’s face amount and premium and to change these factors while the policy is in effect.

Adjustable Life- allows the policy holder to vary the coverage as insurance needs change.

Indeterminate Premium Life- specifies 2 premium rate- a guaranteed maximum and a lower rate you actually pay. Your premium can never be more than the guaranteed maximum.

Interest Sensitive Whole life- similar to indeterminate premium life, but taken a step further as cash value can increase beyond the state guarantee if economic conditions warrant.