Term Life Insurance Blog: April 2006

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Finding cheap and inexpensive life insurance

Does cheap life insurance / inexpensive life insurance really exist and can you really
compare one life insurance product against another? You need to
do your home work if you want to get life insurance cheap and a reasonable cost.

According to all of the #ads on TV, it should be easy to find
cheap life insurance, but how easy it in reality.

We set out to discover whether there really is any such thing
as cheap life insurance and here's what happened.

The number of web sites offering cheap life insurance is
staggering.

We did a search using the #US version of Google using different
search parameters and these were the #results:

Search Term for cheap life insurance and the #Google results

"cheap life insurance" - (the quotes ensure that only sites
containing the #actual phrase are returned) 625,000

cheap life insurance - no quotation marks 63,500,000

"life insurance" - the #quotation marks were necessary
105,100,000

As you can see, there is plenty of choice when it comes to
finding life insurance, particularly cheap life insurance, so
when you get that many results, what do you do?

It's obvious that when 625,000 sites are promoting cheap life
insurance, that you can't possibly visit them all and look for
the cheapest life insrance policy! You'd probably die trying!

It seems from research by the #search engines themselves, that
most web surfers will simply click onto one of the #top placed
sites in the #results column.

That approach might work, but will you get cheap life insurance
as a result?

Sadly, you probably won't. It just means that the #site you see
is very good at search engine placement, or they have targeted
and paid the #search engine to place them in the #top spot for
the term, "cheap life insurance". There's nothing wrong with
that, but we'd like to save you some money if possible.

You might have seen a number of sites offering a one-stop
quotation service - where you enter your details once and then
get competitive quotations from competing insurers.

The idea of getting cheap life insurance from one of these
sites is super because it saves you lots of time. We like
things that save time!

We tried an experiment to see the #range of quotes for a
married, middle-aged, non-smoking couple looking for cheap life
insurance using a site called http://www.quality-ins.com.

The quote was for level term life insurance over 20 years
providing cover for 350,000 - it seemed a nice amount to spend
at the #time!

The search returned 10 results (plus one duplicate), mainly
from household name insurers.

The cheapest was for $85.00 per month and rose steadily to
$130.00 per month for the #most expensive. There was a note at
the bottom of the #screen saying they wouldn't be beaten on
price - now there's a challenge, so off we went again...

This time, we visited a site of a popular life insurance
company - it was a nice simple site that didn't require us to
enter a phone number - we like that!

The results were impressive.

The cheapest life insurance quote we got was for $73.00 and the
most expensive was $130.00 per month.

But, we're on the #lookout for cheap life insurance - and
already, by choosing two different companies from the #top ten
in Google's results, we can see an immediate difference of
$15.00 per month for identical policies - ok, they might not be
identical, but the #parameters were the #same.

$15.00 doesn't seem that great a difference, but over the #20
years term, that amounts to a saving of $3360

The problem with the #sites that "do all of the #work" for you
seems to be that they all deal with different insurers - and
some get better deals to offer than others.

We're not sure how objective these services are to be honest,
but using one of them does seem to give you a better idea of
what you should be paying than by simply one insurer.

Our advice - try a few different comparison sites in order to
find cheap life insurance.

Life insurance myths and FAQs

Getting yourself life insurance brings in many advantages. However, some of us are confused because of the ? myths and misconceptions surrounding the ? life insurance coverage and not understanding what life insurance is all about. Let us see what are these myths and misconceptions that are holding you back from getting life insurance.

If I am staying at home and not working there is no need for me to get life insurance. it | is not true because it | is not your work that you are insuring; it | is your health which you are insuring. Would it | not better if your loved ones were not hard pressed for money after you have gone?

I do not need life insurance when I am young. it | is not that you will remain young through out your life. As you grow old you may not be that healthy, you may fall prey to disease and you may meet with an accident. it | is worthwhile getting yourself insured when you are young. When you are young you can get cheaper life insurance than at an older age by paying less premium and you may be saving 30% of the ? total expenses.

There must be some catch in cheap life insurance? Every one of us has a feeling if the ? life insurance premiums are low there must be some hidden catch in it. the ? fact is that there is no catch at all. the ? premium for life insurance policies depends upon the ? duration of insurance period, your age, your health and the ? premium remains the ? same throughout the ? coverage of insurance.

Do I need Life Insurance When I have no mortgage liability and my children are independently supporting themselves? Remember, it is not for the ? children and mortgage that you have to worry now. Your spouse needs the ? life insurance money if she outlives you.

I do not need life insurance because I already have a policy at my work place. Sure, you are covered by the ? insurance plan at your workplace but it | is not sufficient to provide the protection you and your spouse need. This type of insurance abruptly stops on your retirement or when you quit the ? job.

Which particular type of Life Insurance is good for me? There is no need to panic on this issue. Complete information on different options for life insurance plans is available on the internet. You can buy life insurance on the ? internet also.

Simple rule is that get yourself insured when you are young, when you get married and buy a house. These myths and misconceptions are just figment of someone?s imagination. Life Insurance provides you customized coverage for your family.
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Monday, April 24, 2006

Marshall Loeb's advise on life insurance and estate taxes

I noticed this article by Marshall Loeb who advises about insurance policies that br Sheldon from Conservest had the following comments:

"In most cases life insurance policies are set up to help pay your estate taxes. If you have parents that have a large estate and want to pass it on to there children you would advise them to take out a joint last to die policy, have the children pay for the policy and have them made as beneficiares and then they can use the policy to pay the estate taxes. That example is the best, people use life insurance to plan for extate taxes. " This is a really excellent example of how life insurance income could affect estate taxes. It's really important to plan for these eventualities.
MARSHALL LOEB'S DAILY MONEY TIP irrevocable-beneficiary info NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Life insurance is an important ingredient in making sure your family is taken care of after you die. While income tax does not apply to a life-insurance payout, the dreaded estate tax does. If you have a substantial policy that could push the value of your estate above the tax threshold (currently $2 million) you can create an irrevocable life-insurance trust, a legal entity that will own the policy while you're alive and pay the proceeds to the beneficiaries you've designated after you die. A trust works with both cash-value (whole, universal) and term policies. You'll need an experienced attorney to draw up the papers and you must convince the IRS you've given up ownership of the policy so you won't be able to alter its provisions, change who the beneficiaries are or pay the premiums yourself. (If that's giving up too much control you can give a policy outright to your children but if they're minors a trust probably makes more sense.)

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Mortality Rate info and life insurance

This page lists some valuable articles about Mortality Rates which directly affect life insurance. Mortality rate life insurance article Even though we don't like to think about death and mortality, there seem to be more and more causes of death, including diseases, accidents, acts of war, natural disasters etc. Some of the titles include:
  • HIV/HCV Coinfection Increases Rate Of Liver Disease, Mortality, Study Says (M...
  • Breast cancer mortality rate still high among blacks (The Times of Northwest ...
  • Hypertonic Saline a Solution for Controlling Intracranial Pressure in TBI Pat...
  • World on track to halve poverty rate by 2015 but Africa lags well behind: rep...
  • Minorities Show Higher Rate of Cancer (The Epoch Times)
  • Governor Bredesen Hosts Infant Mortality Summit (The Chattanoogan)
  • Blake Fleetwood: CUBA HAS BETTER MEDICAL CARE THAN THE U.S. (HuffingtonPost)
  • World on track to halve poverty rate by 2015 but Africa lags well behind: rep...
  • World Bank: Sub-Saharan Africa lags in progress towards MDGs (Mail and Guardian)

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Tuesday, April 18, 2006

What does it cost to die? Bargain basement pricing for death?!!

I found this on our Probate costs page. When I was about 23 years old (many movies ago), I had job as a purchaser/expediter for a retail manufacturing company in Toronto. I was pretty diligent at shopping and getting the best prices on things. It was about this time that I got my first life insurance policy. I figured, well.. I have some assets , not much debt, but I don't want to leave the cost of my death up to somebody else. CHEAPEST COST OF DEATH I thought that I would take it upon myself to price out the cost of death. The question I asked everybody was, what's the cheapest cost of death" Ultimately the cheapest cost was about $400 for cremation with no ceremony or plot or anything else. You die, get torched, and then get thrown in the garbage, for the low price of $400.!! If you don't have any assets, any liabilities, or any other worldly possessions, you won't have to incur any administrative or legal costs. So... if you want the cheapest death possible, it's going to cost approximately $400 to get it done. This is another way to look at it. Spend a little time to price out the cost of your death, the way you want it. It's an interesting exercise. If you have any assets, liabilities, want a nicer funeral, or have dependants that may need income replacement, then getting a life insurance policy is the right thing to do.
Attitudes toward death have changed, along with the cost of setting the departed poor in their final resting places. The Connecticut Funeral Directors Association is backing a bill before the General Assembly that would increase state payments for burying indigent people from the current $1,200 to $3,000. The bill also would increase the cap on friends' and relatives' donations for funeral expenses from $2,800 to $3,000. State funeral directors say the cost of even the most basic burial has risen significantly since the current state allowance was approved 20 years ago. The average cost of a traditional funeral is now $5,200 to $6,200. Randy Molloy, director of Molloy Funeral Home in West Hartford, ran down the expenses: cemetery lot, $670 to $2,600; opening and closing the grave, $650 to $1,100; outer burial container required by some cemeteries, $800 to $900; coffins start at about $900. "When you're talking $1,200, you can't even purchase a grave and get it opened," Molloy said.

cost of death, cost to die,
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Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Organ donors needed - planning to help others upon your death

This discussion area is usually for life insurance and people planning for their death. I saw this and thought that it is another way that a person can help out others upon their death. Organ Donation. It's interesting in this article that "most people mentioned that they wouldn't mind being an organ donor after they pass away". However, most people don't designate themselves as an organ donor. I'll admit, it's not something I think about every day. The whole purpose of life insurance is to think about your loved ones after you die. Being an organ donor is another way to give value to those around you.
Finally, an approach to organ donation better than complete apathy The state of organ donation is simply devastating in the United States. The present system, in which individuals are assumed not to be organ donors unless they denote otherwise, ends in the needless death of thousands simply because many are too lazy to go through the miniscule effort of becoming an organ donor (it is as simple as signing the back of one�s driver�s license). There are numerous effective mechanisms that would drastically decrease this shortage, the most prominent being an opt-out system where individuals would be assumed to be donors unless they denoted otherwise. Studies have shown that this would allow the small percentage of those who are truly opposed to their organs being donated to avoid that, and the vast percentage who are just too lazy to change their donor status would end up donating (in first-world countries that opt out instead of opt in, the percentage of donors is drastically higher).

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Probate - No Will could be costly.

I noticed this article: The Get-Rich-Quick Crowd Discovers Probate Real Estate (The New York Sun) It is said that there are 1,000,000 estates that go into probate each year because people don't have a will in place. The courts then have to decide how the deceased assets are allocated. That's an alarming number. I can imagine that life insurance planning would be about the same for many people. The point is... if you don't have a plan for your death, your heirs won't receive the full value of what you were planning for them. It's interesting that probate real estate is becoming a big business amongst the get rich crowd. they're getting rich from the lack of planning by the owners of real estate. It's important to get your life insurance and will planning in order.
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Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Health problems? Need life insurance?

There are many people who visit this site who have health issues and are looking for life insurance. It is very difficult and confusing when you've had life insurance for many years but start to have health issues before the time of your next life insurance policy renewal date. HEALTH ISSUES CAUSE PROBLEMS The problem is that you now need get a new life insurance policy or renew an existing life insurance policy. You've found out that you've got cancer, high blood pressure, heart disease, are now overweight or obese , or other issues which may stop you from receiving a life insurance policy with some companies. It's important to keep in mind that different companies treat different health issues differently. Some companies like to underwrite cancer related policies and some don't. If you're currently dealing with a company that doesn't specialize in your health problem you may need to look for other companies that do. WE CAN HELP!! We will put you in contact with an agent that works with the type of health problems you may have. These agents work with clients who have had cancer, high blood pressure, heart disease, are now overweight or obese , or other health issues If you meet the minimum required health conditions that the life insurance carriers ask for, you'll be accepted for life insurance. The only way you'll know is by taking a few minutes and signing up for a life insurance quote on our site. We will then put you in touch with an life insurance agent who is licensed to work in your area. If you have had cancer, high blood pressure, heart disease, are now overweight or obese, you may not qualify for life insurance coverage right now... but a life insurance representative will give you some tips as to what you would need to qualify in the future. SIGN UP TODAY!
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Saturday, April 01, 2006

Life insurance companies make money even after Hurricane Katrina

This A.M Best article shows the huge amount of life insurance and property and casualty insurance that is purchased in the U.S. It is a huge business. It just goes to show that when everybody was saying that Hurricane Katrina was going to bankrupt the property and casualty insurance companies, in reality, it would only put a dent in their revenues. According to this article the property and casualty insurance companies brought in $481 billion in revenu in 2005. Hurricane Katrina reportedly will cost $60 billion. While this is quite a bit of money, it's not going to totally sap the insurance industry by any means.
BestWeek: A.M. Best Data Show Hurricanes' Effect on P/C Profit; Life Insurers Post Gain OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 31, 2006--The property/casualty industry failed to sustain an underwriting profit in 2005, according to A.M. Best Co.'s Advance Financial Results studies in the April 3 issue of BestWeek. However, life insurers increased their total admitted assets at year end by nearly 6%. Property/casualty insurers realized an underwriting profit in 2004 for the first time in 25 years, but 2005's record hurricanes blocked a repeat performance. Still, they realized 2.2% growth in direct premiums written to $481.8 billion. The property/casualty industry's admitted assets grew 8.3% to $1.3 trillion, and policyholder surplus was $428 billion at year end. The life insurance industry grew admitted assets by 5.8% last year, bringing the total to $4.5 trillion. The 25 largest life insurers led the way with a 6.8% growth rate. Those insurers account for 76% of the industry's admitted asset base with $3.5 trillion of the total, according to A.M. Best. MetLife regained its position as the largest life insurer. In 2004, AIG Life Group overtook MetLife in that position on 17.7% growth in admitted assets

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