Are you thinking about buying an annuity? Before you make a decision - is it suited to your situation - search some main terms. Make no mistake.
What is an annuity?
How are annuities different from life insurance?
What is a deferred annuity?
What is a immediate annuity?
Life insurance is a good thing to have for most people. It protects your spouse, and children should anything happen to you and in the process provides peace of mind to you knowing that you are protecting them. However, just because it is a good thing to have does not mean you should pay more for it than you otherwise have to.
Do you know if your family would have the financial resources to maintain their standard of living if something happened to you? According to the Life Insurance Marketing and Research Association, approximately 60 percent of Americans lack individual coverage and 22 percent have no protection whatsoever. (1) The very thought of premature death may make you worry about the changes your family would need to make if your income were no longer available. A good way to protect your family’s future is with life insurance.
Life insurance or life assurance is a contract between the policy owner and the insurer, where the insurer agrees to pay a sum of money upon the occurrence of the insured individual’s or individuals’ death.
Insurance
Most of the chat about life insurance, is for a term life insurance product. It is understandable because temporary coverage is usually more affordable for large amounts of death benefit. Why? Well, because of the very nature of term life insurance. It expires after a set amount of time, or a term. The company underwrites the policy and of course, only offers coverage to people that they believe will outlive whatever time period the insurance covers. So when you apply for a 20 year term policy, and the company issues your policy, they believe you will survive that period of time! Of course, that is good news, but is this really the security and benefit you are looking for? You may find yourself lacking any sort of coverage just when you need it the most!
One question that’s asked by nearly everyone eventually is “should I get a life insurance policy?”.
Every person wants to provide the very best for his or her family and hence, makes various plans to ensure financial stability under all circumstances. However, the scene changes a little after retirement, as the regular source of income comes to a halt, while the household expenses still have to be met. In such a scenario, it becomes imperative that the financial condition is met with an additional source of income from somewhere or the other. A life insurance policy in the case of a person who is sixty five years or more can be just the tool to meet a financial crisis. The individual can easily trade his insurance policy to go in for senior life settlement, which will instantly meet his urgent need for cash.
Quite a number of people do not like the idea of term insurance. This is due to the fact that clients are uncomfortable with not benefiting from this plan when living. Some ever-thinking insurers introduced a refundable term plan to increase options for consumers. A refundable term (RT) plan ensures that if the insured survives the coverage period, all premiums would be refunded. The plan I am familiar would refund only premiums paid without interest. It is my view that the value of refundable term insurance is non-existent.
The Internet has lots of information about the benefits of life insurance, but few websites tell how much life insurance actually costs. Each year, however, Insure.com surveys 25 leading insurance companies-those with A.M. Best Company ratings of A++ or A+, called “Superior,” and those with ratings of A or A-, considered “Excellent”-to find the lowest rates available for level term life insurance by age and gender. The latest survey was taken on November 12, 2007 and published on the website three days later. The results were positive for consumers: The price of life insurance continues to decline.
Many people have life insurance through their workplace, or else they purchased a term life insurance plan that expired when they were middle aged. So now we find people at 50, 65, or even in their 80s, looking for an affordable life insurance plan! Perhaps these people are looking for a good life insurance plan for retirement because their company life insurance will not cover them.
