by john83lee » Wed Dec 17, 2008 05:57 am
I want to purchase a term life insurance policy, please suggest me how it will be beneficial for me and if made my wife as nominee how she will get benefit if any thing happens during the policy period.
Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 01:04 pm Post Subject:
As far as I know, term life insurance covers the insured for a fixed period of time. Example, you want to have a 5-year term insurance plan. Your protection would only be for 5 years. If something happens to the insure within the period, the beneficiary gets the proceeds. But after the 5 year period, the plan matures. You need to renew it for you to be protected again.
What is good about term life insurance is that it is cheap. It is the cheapest type of insurance (i think... :D) But it offers limited protection and benefits.
I would suggest that you buy a plan that earns dividends and has cash values. It cost a little higher compared to term but it offers much better benefit.
Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2009 03:38 pm Post Subject: term life insurance
Does the value of the insurance decrease as you get older, or does the price of the insurance increase as you get older?
Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2009 04:30 pm Post Subject:
The death benefit ("value") may or may not decrease over time. That depends on the type of term policy -- level or decreasing.
All life insurance is more expensive as you get older. Insurers compensate for this by creating a "level premium" that does not change over time and is expected to cover the full cost of insurance throughout the term of the policy. Applies to both term life and cash value policies. Cash value policies simply add additional money to the required premiums to create the cash accumulation.
Due the their complex contract structures, universal and variable life policies cannot guarantee both cash accumulation and a death benefit, although it is possible to have both, and for a beneficiary to receive both.
Contrary to a number of old posts in this thread, no form of life insurance is "an investment." Some policies have an investment component (Variable policies), but it is unethical to describe or market life insurance as an investment. It is what it is: protection against dying too soon to achieve one's financial goals. The insurance proceeds are intended to make up the difference.
Anyone who has a securities license necessary to market variable contracts is supposed to know that securities laws specifically prohibit discussing variable forms of life insurance as an "investment" or anything other than life insurance. Same is true of a variable annuity. It is an annuity with an investment component.
If used in a slightly different context, to pay expenses such as taxes or legal fees when a person dies, it is intended to leave at least enough money to cover those obligations, thus leaving one's accumulated wealth and possessions intact for their heirs. Seen this way, the insurance is definitely protection and not an investment in any sense. For the wealthy, it is leveraging one's resources for maximum efficiency.
And in deference to one early post suggesting that not many people buy term insurance, term insurance sales have increased as a percentage of most insurers' total book of business in the past 10-20 years. Most reliable financial advisers recommend term insurance for basic survivor income protection needs (again, for maximum efficient use of one's limited capital), and cash value insurance for specific non-income needs such as estate taxes and other aspects of wealth preservation.
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 05:10 am Post Subject:
Well I think Long Term Care Insurance would be better option than Life Insurance. I am planning to buy myself and i am researching about it for quite some time now. You can learn more about it on www (dot) long-term-care-insurance-planners (dot) com
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 07:27 am Post Subject:
revacyrus . . .
Well I think Long Term Care Insurance would be better option than Life Insurance
Long term care insurance and life insurance are two entirely different concepts. LTCI provides options for independence in the face of a chronic, debilitating illness. Life insurance provides protection against not living long enough to achieve one's financial goals.
You cannot do with LTCI what you can with life insurance, but you can get a LTC benefit added to a life policy (although I am personally a fan of such a strategy).
You wouldn't buy a Hummer stretch limo to go off-roading in the Mojave Desert, and you probably wouldn't buy a Jeep Cherokee to go to the Academy Awards, even though it would take you there.
The point is, there are different products to meet different, but specific needs. One has to evaluate their needs and protect them appropriately. There is no simple solution to the challenges of life that a single insurance product will meet.
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 03:40 pm Post Subject: Term v. Permanent
Here is a quick rundown of the difference between term and permanent life insurance from the My Allstate Financial Web site:
Term Life Insurance: This coverage lasts for a "term" you choose, usually 10, 15, 20, or 30 years. During that time, your life insurance premiums are guaranteed not to increase. If you pass away during that time period, your beneficiaries get a cash death benefit. If you live longer than the term period, you have the option to continue your life insurance coverage for an annual, renewable premium, which is generally much higher. You can usually convert a term life insurance policy to a permanent life insurance policy without getting a new medical exam.
Permanent Life Insurance: There are two big ways that permanent life insurance is different from term life insurance. First, the policy is meant to last the rest of your life (as long as you make the required premium payments, of course). Second, part of the money you pay into your permanent life insurance policy is set aside in an account where it can grow cash value that you can tap into later on. There are several types of permanent life insurance, each with different advantages.
As an advocate of Allstate Insurance, I suggest checking out their life insurance policy information on their Web site.
Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2010 05:00 am Post Subject:
Could anyone explain what is Long Term Care Insurance?
Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2010 06:08 am Post Subject:
Long Term Care Insurance (LTCI) is a contract that promises to pay a daily benefit of one's choosing to cover the cost of care in a setting outside an acute-care hospital. In order to obtain a benefit, one must be diagnosed as "chronically-ill" and in need of stand-by or hands-on assistance with two or more of six defined "Activities of Daily Living" (ADLs): eating, dressing, bathing, toileting, continence, transferring [in a "tax-qualified LTCI policy]. Separately, a diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease or other "cognitive impairment" such as senile dementia will also trigger the payment of LTCI benefits. (One needs to satisfy an "elimination [waiting] period" (0-90 days or more) before the insurer begins to pay claims.)
A "comprehensive" LTCI policy pays for care received in a skilled nursing, intermediate care, custodial care, continuing care residential community, or home care setting. While it does not pay medical bills, LTCI does pay for occupational, physical, speech, and other therapy and rehabilitative services. It also pays for community based care such as Adult Day Health Care.
Fundamentally, LTCI provides a "bucket of money", when qualified for benefits, that can be used to pay for covered expenses that medical insurance does not cover. Medicare Part A provides for skilled nursing facility care for up to 100 days (100% days 1-20, and in 2010 you pay $137.50 per day for days 21-100, Medicare pays the balance, and if you're still in the SNF after 100 days, Medicare pays NOTHING, and a person without LTCI or similar benefit as a rider to Life Insurance or an Annuity might be forced to deplete their savings, sell assets, or turn to Medicaid (Medi-Cal in California) for financial assistance. Medicaid requires a "spend down" test to qualify for benefits, which can be difficult or impossible to satisfy lawfully.
In short, LTCI offers the insured independence from state and federal involvement in their personal affairs following a triggering event. It is a highly valuable resource that still hasn't made it onto most folks' "radar screens".
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