Texas Life Insurance News Releases

Life Insurance Phone Application

Can I Complete the Application Process By Phone?

Yes. The life insurance application process differs for customers with differing circumstances. When you begin your search for affordable Texas term life coverage you will learn that the process has been simplified to now do the application by phone.

Application information is taken over the phone in an easy 5 minute interview.

Do not misstate your medical history in order to get a better insurance rate classification. Insurance companies will investigate your medical history through the results of your medical examination and inquiries to the Medical Information Bureau (MIB), which is a clearinghouse of medical information for all insurance companies.

1. Completing The Application

Application information is taken over the phone in an easy 5 minute interview.

2. Completing The Medical Examination
Insurance medical examinations are generally done by para-medicals, who are licensed health professionals, and are independent contractors hired by the insurance company. The basic medical examination can include a physical exam, urine specimen, and blood work.
For higher amounts of life insurance coverage, a treadmill, EKG, and X-ray are usually required.

– Get a good night’s rest the night before your exam.
– Fast for at least eight hours before the exam.
– Don’t smoke or chew tobacco for at least an hour before the exam.
– Avoid coffee, tea, or other caffeine drinks prior to the exam.
– Avoid alcoholic beverages for at least 36 hours prior to the exam.
– Limit salt intake and high-cholesterol food 24 hours before your exam.
– Don’t engage in strenuous physical activities 24 hours before the exam.

3. Medical Underwriting
Each insurer sets its own underwriting standards. Then each application for insurance is reviewed to determine if the applicant meets those standards. Life insurance underwriting requires total medical underwriting and risk classification. Medical underwriting involves assessing the applicant’s risk of death. An underwriter reviews your life insurance application and the results of your medical examination. Underwriters have the option to order whatever additional medical tests they deem necessary Life insurance applicants are grouped together into risk classes and charged premiums relative to their risk classification. Applicants in a higher risk classification are charged a higher premiums. The insurance company wants to see if you have any health condition that could eventually affect the insurance company’s
risk. Blood samples will test for the presence of antibodies or antigens to the HIV virus; cholesterol and related lipids; liver or kidney disorder; diabetes; antibodies to hepatitis; prostrate specific antigen; and immune disorders. Urine samples screen for tobacco/nicotine use, certain medications, cocaine, and other drugs. Remember, medical underwriting differs only slightly from company to company.

4. Risk Classifications

Preferred
If you are a better-than-average risk, have not used tobacco products in the past 5 years, have an excellent lifestyle and excellent medical history, no significant disease in your family history, with no dangerous hobbies or extended foreign residence, you may be charged a preferred or super preferred rate.

Standard
If you are considered a typical risk, you will be charged one of the standard rates.

Rated
If you pose an above-average risk, you may be classified as an increased risk and charged a higher premium.

Declined
If you are rated as uninsurable, you may be denied coverage entirely.

Options if you are rated or declined?
More than 90 percent of life insurance policies are issued as applied for. If you are rated or declined, the rating is not always permanent. Quitting smoking, weight lose, bringing down your cholesterol or blood pressure will change your rating as an insurance risk and may change your risk classification.

5. Quoting A Premium
If a medical problem is discovered, you may be offered a rated, or substandard premium. This means you won’t be declined but you’ll have to pay a higher premium if you want the
life insurance. There are two types of risk ratings. They are flat ratings and table ratings.
For instance, the underwriter will usually issue a flat rating for a short time after a major surgery. However, a person with high-blood pressure would usually receive a table rating. Table ratings are a percentage of the standard premium. For example, a Table B rating
might be 140 percent of the standard premium. an underwriting decline becomes part of a permanent record with the Medical Information Bureau which is then available to all insuring companies.

Whitney Houston Life Insurance

Whitney Houston had her fair share of chart-toppers, even posthumously on iTunes and Amazon, and though the superstar’s finances took a hit during her personal struggles, it is still believed to be a substantial estate that will only get larger.

While there were recent reports that Houston was struggling financially, the sales of her music after her death will improve the condition of her estate, as will the fact that she’ll no longer be burning through cash. Michael Jackson sold over 8 million albums in the U.S. alone in the six months after his death, and close to 30 million worldwide.

Although details of her estate and will have not been made public it is believed that her only child, daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown, 18, will be the main beneficiary. Houston had a will and the estate process is ongoing, according to a source familiar with her affairs.

Zach Greenburg, Forbes writer, said Whitney Houston will not match Jackson’s postmortem earnings, but if her music sells even half as well as Jackson’s did, her artist royalties alone could bring the estate more than $10 million in the coming year.

Houston made millions for her roles in “The Bodyguard” in 1992 and “The Preacher’s Wife” in 1996, the latter for which she reportedly earned $10 million. And in 2001, Houston renewed her contact with Arista Records, signing a $100 million deal, one of the biggest recording deals in the history of the music business, Variety reported at the time. The deal called for at least six albums and two greatest-hits compilations. Her comeback album, “I Look to You,” was released in 2009.

Houston is the 20th top-selling artist in the U.S. of all time, selling 55 million records, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. The single, “I Will Always Love You,” from “The Bodyguard” soundtrack is the longest running number one single from a soundtrack album.

Houston’s “Nothing but Love” world tour, from December 2009 through June 2010, was her last. The tour, her first in ten years, grossed millions of dollars.

Keith Caulfield, Billboard’s associate director of charts, said while Houston’s sales will not come close to the financial success of Michael Jackson, who had publishing, song-writing and recording royalties, her greatest hits album will re-enter Billboard’s Top 10 chart possibly this week. Already, 50,000 were sold in the first day or two after her death.

However, Caulfield said it is difficult to estimate how much Houston will receive because how her contract was structured is unknown.

“Certainly, we would expect that her estate won’t be broke,” said Andrew Mayoras, attorney and co-author of the book, Trial & Heirs: Famous Fortune Fights!, even if the reports of her financial struggles were true.

A source familiar with Houston’s financial situation told ABCNews.com that “she was far from broke.”

The surging sales of Whitney Houston’s music may be a large boost to her estate, as with other artists after they have passed away. Jimi Hendrix is an example of an estate which grew from almost nothing into a huge, multi-million dollar venture, said Mayoras.

Houston also completed the filming of “Sparkle,” produced by Sony’s TriStar Pictures, and it is scheduled to be released in September. Houston plays the mother of “American Idol’s” Jordin Sparks in the film.

Andrew Katzenstein, estate lawyer with Proskauer Rose LLP in Los Angeles, said it is difficult to estimate her royalties because her earnings will be multiplied by an unknown formula, possibly dependent on the recent sales of her songs. He also said her earnings could be less with digital distribution, through services like iTunes.

“But she’s an international star, and her music was fantastic,” Katzenstein said.

Like other celebrities, Houston also had public financial and legal tangles, including struggling with drugs and alcohol. After her divorce with R&B artist, Bobby Brown, in 2007, Brown reportedly sued Houston for custody and spousal support.

Bobby Brown said he was “deeply saddened at the passing of my ex-wife.”

“At this time, we ask for privacy, especially for my daughter, Bobbi- Kristina,” he said in a statement. “I appreciate all of the condolences that have been directed towards my family and I at this most difficult time.”

Her stepmother sued Houston over a $1 million life insurance policy from her late father, John Houston.

Houston had lent her father $723,800 in August 1990 for the purchase and renovation of a home in New Jersey in which he lived with his wife, Barbara. When John Houston died in February 2003, he bequeathed all his assets to his widow.

“Although Barbara and Whitney may be considered stepmother and daughter, that relationship never really jelled,” the court filing stated.

Barbara inherited the property, though Whitney owned the mortgage on the house and was the named life insurance beneficiary. But Barbara claimed the life insurance money was meant to repay Whitney for that mortgage. When Whitney refused to credit the life insurance money against the mortgage, Barbara sued in 2008.

Though the case was finally dismissed in December, Houston’s attorney, Bryan Blaney, told ABC News on Monday Houston had planned to file a complaint to have her stepmother evicted from the property.

“It’s no different that it’s her property, or the property of her estate, which would go to her daughter or whoever her beneficiary is,” Blaney said.

Blaney said the complaint was prepared before Houston’s death but it has not been filed for reasons “unrelated to anything of significance.” He said he expects to be updated by her manager.

“I don’t think there will be any reason not to file the complaint,” Blaney said. “I can only tell you there’s a whole lot of things going on with the folks right now in regards to her manager and family members.”

Blaney said he was “devastated” by the loss of Houston, who was a “tremendous” person.

“I always thought it was sad that people would reach out to make her life more difficult than it needed to be,” he said. “I always found her to be a sensitive and nice person and whatever issues she might have had, I can’t comment. I don’t know them.”

Blaney represented Houston to dismiss the charge of drug possession in her suitcase at an airport in Hawaii in 2000.

“I think she became an easy target for tabloids,” he said. “There were instances that were plainly unfair in tabloid editions of her just to sell newspapers.”

Barbara Houston, who declined to comment, continues to reside in the property in Fort Lee, N.J., her attorney, Gilberto Garcia, said.

“It’s a sad thing what happened for everyone involved,” Garcia said of Whitney Houston’s death. “She was a great figure and a great voice. She was a good daughter to her father.”

Garcia said Barbara Houston sent condolences to Houston’s attorney.

“My client is quite shaken up by this,” Garcia said. “I don’t know that the case matters much in comparison to everything that’s going on.”

Mayoras said he assumes Houston used life insurance of some type to protect her daughter, Bobbi Kristina, regardless of reports of any financial struggles.

The state of the multiple Grammy and Billboard music award winner’s finances are unknown at the time of her unexpected death. Her estate will profit from royalties for future sales of her songs, as well as licensing deals for her name, image and likeness.

Ideally, Houston would have set up at least a revocable living trust to provide for her daughter, so she doesn’t receive everything at once, Mayoras said.

“Most people with even a modest amount of wealth use trusts to control how and when their money is passed,” he said. “For example, we would hope Whitney would have spaced out Bobbi Kristina’s distributions over time, so that she would receive a percentage as she reaches certain ages. Most 18-year-olds are not mature enough to handle a substantial inheritance.”

Ideally, Whitney would have named a trust as the beneficiary of any life insurance, Mayoras said. Otherwise the money would go directly to the named beneficiary, possibly Bobbi-Kristina.

Depending on whether updated she updated her documents after her divorce from Bobby Brown, there could be complications if he is named as a beneficiary, Mayoras said.

“Hopefully, she would have taken steps to update her documents to eliminate anything going to Bobby Brown, ” Mayoras said, “unless, of course, she wanted him to receive something. But many people don’t take the time to update their estate planning documents after a divorce.”

Houston did sell a home in Alpharetta, Ga. for $1.19 million in May 2007, shortly after the divorce, for which Houston had received a notice of default. Houston bought the home in 2003 for $1.38 million by taking out a 15-year mortgage for $1.1 million, according to public records. The home was where the 2005 reality television show, “Being Bobby Brown,” was filmed. Houston had a county tax lien on the property for $17,644 in December 2005, according to public records.

Houston had a handful of properties that she unloaded or tried to unload recently. She also sold a house in Mendham, N.J. for $940,000 in January 2010. She also listed another home in Mendham for $2.5 million in 2009, Zillow reported. Houston reportedly owned a home in New Bergen, N.J. that she bought in 1989 for $955,000.

Without doubt this news you hear today is stuffed with tales from the early dying of pop star Whitney Houston. It’s another tragic finish to some existence cut way too short. I’m not taking a chance how she died or why. I only desire to explain that existence can finish very all of a sudden for anybody anytime! That’s the life insurance coverage consultant within me.

While I must admit I wasn’t a large follower of Ms. Houston, I can tell in the amount of reviews, blogs and posts that there have been many people who have been very keen on her. It is indeed my hope that good quality may come out of this tragedy which it’ll keep others from making exactly the same mistakes.

Like a life insurance coverage fanatic, the very first factor that found my thoughts was I question just how much life insurance coverage this 48yr old lady had and when she’d done any estate planning. When individuals die this youthful, many occasions estate planning hasn’t entered their mind. You will find lots of tales available that highlight this statement. Actually, we’ve used this fact in our marketing pieces. It’s known as Much More Training From Notoriously Bad Estate Planning and that we provide to financial experts hoping that they’ll make use of the details to assist them to convince their customers to organize. The piece does the selling for you personally! You create it for your customers plus they take about ten minutes to take a look and you request these to let you know about their estate planning. Hopefully they let you know their exact plans. Odds are they cannot. Otherwise, guess what happens to complete next.

Again, I don’t want to minimize the death of Whitney Houston but it does give us the chance to talk to clients about what we do and why we do it. We are there in the lowest point in people’s lives and can give them support like no other profession

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Whitney Houston, who ruled as pop music’s queen until her majestic voice and regal image were ravaged by drug use, erratic behavior and a tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown, has died. She was 48.

Houston’s publicist, Kristen Foster, said Saturday that the singer had died, but the cause and the location of her death were unknown.

News of Houston’s death came on the eve of music’s biggest night — the Grammy Awards. It’s a showcase where she once reigned, and her death was sure to case a heavy pall on Sunday’s ceremony. Houston’s longtime mentor Clive Davis was to hold his annual concert and dinner Saturday; it was unclear if it was going to go forward.

“I am absolutely heartbroken at the news of Whitney’s passing,” music producer Quincy Jones said in a written statement. “I always regretted not having had the opportunity to work with her. She was a true original and a talent beyond compare. I will miss her terribly.”

At her peak, Houston the golden girl of the music industry. From the middle 1980s to the late 1990s, she was one of the world’s best-selling artists. She wowed audiences with effortless, powerful, and peerless vocals that were rooted in the black church but made palatable to the masses with a pop sheen.

Her success carried her beyond music to movies, where she starred in hits like “The Bodyguard” and “Waiting to Exhale.”

She had the he perfect voice, and the perfect image: a gorgeous singer who had sex appeal but was never overtly sexual, who maintained perfect poise.

She influenced a generation of younger singers, from Christina Aguilera to Mariah Carey, who when she first came out sounded so much like Houston that many thought it was Houston.

But by the end of her career, Houston became a stunning cautionary tale of the toll of drug use. Her album sales plummeted and the hits stopped coming; her once serene image was shattered by a wild demeanor and bizarre public appearances. She confessed to abusing cocaine, marijuana and pills, and her once pristine voice became raspy and hoarse, unable to hit the high notes as she had during her prime.

“The biggest devil is me. I’m either my best friend or my worst enemy,” Houston told ABC’s Diane Sawyer in an infamous 2002 interview with then-husband Brown by her side.

It was a tragic fall for a superstar who was one of the top-selling artists in pop music history, with more than 55 million records sold in the United States alone.

She seemed to be born into greatness. She was the daughter of gospel singer Cissy Houston, the cousin of 1960s pop diva Dionne Warwick and the goddaughter of Aretha Franklin.

Houston first started singing in the church as a child. In her teens, she sang backup for Chaka Khan, Jermaine Jackson and others, in addition to modeling. It was around that time when music mogul Clive Davis first heard Houston perform.

“The time that I first saw her singing in her mother’s act in a club … it was such a stunning impact,” Davis told “Good Morning America.”

“To hear this young girl breathe such fire into this song. I mean, it really sent the proverbial tingles up my spine,” he added.

Before long, the rest of the country would feel it, too. Houston made her album debut in 1985 with “Whitney Houston,” which sold millions and spawned hit after hit. “Saving All My Love for You” brought her her first Grammy, for best female pop vocal. “How Will I Know,” ”You Give Good Love” and “The Greatest Love of All” also became hit singles.

Another multiplatinum album, “Whitney,” came out in 1987 and included hits like “Where Do Broken Hearts Go” and “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.”

The New York Times wrote that Houston “possesses one of her generation’s most powerful gospel-trained voices, but she eschews many of the churchier mannerisms of her forerunners. She uses ornamental gospel phrasing only sparingly, and instead of projecting an earthy, tearful vulnerability, communicates cool self-assurance and strength, building pop ballads to majestic, sustained peaks of intensity.”

Her decision not to follow the more soulful inflections of singers like Franklin drew criticism by some who saw her as playing down her black roots to go pop and reach white audiences. The criticism would become a constant refrain through much of her career. She was even booed during the “Soul Train Awards” in 1989.

“Sometimes it gets down to that, you know?” she told Katie Couric in 1996. “You’re not black enough for them. I don’t know. You’re not R&B enough. You’re very pop. The white audience has taken you away from them.”

Some saw her 1992 marriage to former New Edition member and soul crooner Bobby Brown as an attempt to refute those critics. It seemed to be an odd union; she was seen as pop’s pure princess while he had a bad-boy image, and already had children of his own. (The couple had a daughter, Bobbi Kristina, in 1993.) Over the years, he would be arrested several times, on charges ranging from DUI to failure to pay child support.

But Houston said their true personalities were not as far apart as people may have believed.

“When you love, you love. I mean, do you stop loving somebody because you have different images? You know, Bobby and I basically come from the same place,” she told Rolling Stone in 1993. “You see somebody, and you deal with their image, that’s their image. It’s part of them, it’s not the whole picture. I am not always in a sequined gown. I am nobody’s angel. I can get down and dirty. I can get raunchy.”

It would take several years, however, for the public to see that side of Houston. Her moving 1991 rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” at the Super Bowl, amid the first Gulf War, set a new standard and once again reaffirmed her as America’s sweetheart.

In 1992, she became a star in the acting world with “The Bodyguard.” Despite mixed reviews, the story of a singer (Houston) guarded by a former Secret Service agent (Kevin Costner) was an international success.

It also gave her perhaps her most memorable hit: a searing, stunning rendition of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You,” which sat atop the charts for weeks. It was Grammy’s record of the year and best female pop vocal, and the “Bodyguard” soundtrack was named album of the year.

She returned to the big screen in 1995-96 with “Waiting to Exhale” and “The Preacher’s Wife.” Both spawned soundtrack albums, and another hit studio album, “My Love Is Your Love,” in 1998, brought her a Grammy for best female R&B vocal for the cut “It’s Not Right But It’s Okay.”

But during these career and personal highs, Houston was using drugs. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2010, she said by the time “The Preacher’s Wife” was released, “(doing drugs) was an everyday thing. … I would do my work, but after I did my work, for a whole year or two, it was every day. … I wasn’t happy by that point in time. I was losing myself.”

In the interview, Houston blamed her rocky marriage to Brown, which included a charge of domestic abuse against Brown in 1993. They divorced in 2007.

Houston would go to rehab twice before she would declare herself drug-free to Winfrey in 2010. But in the interim, there were missed concert dates, a stop at an airport due to drugs, and public meltdowns.

She was so startlingly thin during a 2001 Michael Jackson tribute concert that rumors spread she had died the next day. Her crude behavior and jittery appearance on Brown’s reality show, “Being Bobby Brown,” was an example of her sad decline. Her Sawyer interview, where she declared “crack is whack,” was often parodied. She dropped out of the spotlight for a few years.

Houston staged what seemed to be a successful comeback with the 2009 album “I Look To You.” The album debuted on the top of the charts, and would eventually go platinum.

Things soon fell apart. A concert to promote the album on “Good Morning America” went awry as Houston’s voice sounded ragged and off-key. She blamed an interview with Winfrey for straining her voice.

A world tour launched overseas, however, only confirmed suspicions that Houston had lost her treasured gift, as she failed to hit notes and left many fans unimpressed; some walked out. Canceled concert dates raised speculation that she may have been abusing drugs, but she denied those claims and said she was in great shape, blaming illness for cancellations.

The People of Texas Like Online Life Insurance Marketplace

Online Texas Life Insurance Marketplace, the Texas Life Insurance Broker, announced today that the company has reached Page one with their page on the Facebook Platform for Texas Life Insurance .

Individuals interested in how to buy life insurance in Texas and no medical exam life insurance in Texas, can choose to click ‘Like’ on the Facebook Platform page to be able to follow the company’s news, or mention the company in one of their posts.

Those that connect with the online insurance marketplace on the Facebook platform, can read different articles and blogs about life insurance, can answer different polls, stating their opinions about various topics in the life insurance area, and can connect with others, and discuss questions about life insurance.

“We are overjoyed that every day more and more people are finding us on this social media site,” said Scott Thiltgen, owner of Texas Term Broker.

Facebook gives everyone the power to share with the people they care about, making the world more open and transparent. Facebook users communicate and share information through the social graph, the network of connections and relationships between people. Facebook gives companies and the developer community access to the social graph through Facebook Platform. Using a rich set of tools and online services, developers can build applications that are deeply integrated into the Facebook website. Millions of Facebook users return to the site each day, providing unparalleled distribution potential for applications and the opportunity to build a business that is highly relevant to people’s lives.

In 2007, Facebook launched Facebook Platform to empower developers and entrepreneurs around the world make the Web more social for users. Millions of Facebook users return to the site each day, providing unparalleled distribution potential for applications and the opportunity to build a business that is highly relevant to people’s lives.

Texas Term Broker is an online provider of life and health Insurance quotes. It is unique in that this website does not simply stick to one kind of insurance carrier, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. This way, clients have offers from multiple carriers all in one place, this website. On this site, the client will have access to quotes for Texas Life and Health insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc.

Life Insurance and Estate Planning

Life insurance coverage is the fact that most versatile of investment of minimal-risk product which works best for clients in nearly any wealth category and existence stage. In the past, it’s been an essential component in lots of a properly-performed estate plan, also it remains probably the most relevant, secure possibilities. However, with last year’s restored estate tax exemption, agents must still adjust their scope and sales hype if this involves offering this time around-honored solution.

The way the forex market change within the short- and lengthy-term? Which financial planning problems is it more beneficial suitable for solve? John Titus, advanced marketing attorney at Saybrus Partners, a Hartford, Conn.-based wealth management firm, weighs in at in regarding how to get the most from the merchandise this year and beyond.

Why is life insurance coverage a highly effective wealth transfer vehicle?

For just one, after dying, its benefits are immediate. Second, and much more important, its smart an advantage that’s generally tax-liberated to the beneficiary and may usually be produced estate tax-free if required. Thus, the policy’s internal rate of return on its rates is fairly attractive. And, in present day economic atmosphere, another reason life insurance coverage is really good at this context is the fact that its benefits aren’t always correlated to the market conditions. When dying benefits are compensated, for instance, the present status from the stock exchange isn’t a factor.

How have recent estate tax rules influenced or transformed the requirement for life insurance coverage inside a well-rounded estate plan?

The current temporary rise in the estate tax exemption implies that less individuals will be influenced by tax rules. Much less sometime ago, a husband and wife with combined assets of $5 million could have been facing a $1.5 million federal estate tax liability. For deaths this year and 2012, that same couple doesn’t have federal estate tax liability. Obviously, the question pending over all this is the way forward for the estate tax exemption, that is slated revisit $a million in 2013. Count me among individuals who think it’ll stay at current levels for that expected future.

When the exemption remains at $5 as well as $3.5 million, estate proprietors will turn to life insurance coverage like a strategy to cope with other, non-estate tax-related financial targets and challenges. These challenges include business succession planning, using needless IRAs and deferred annuity and taking advantage of life insurance coverage like a supplemental retirement earnings vehicle, amongst others.

Would you expect the forex market to alter within the next 5 years? If that’s the case, how?

I actually do think you will see significant market uncertainty as well as unpredictability for that expected future. Nonetheless, I believe that federal estate and gift tax exemptions will stay at relatively high levels.

Because the federal budget reduces, federal grants or loans towards the states will even likely shrink, putting more financial pressure on condition budgets. Consequently, I believe that condition inheritance taxes will most likely remain in place as well as return in states which have removed them. Many states are needed to balance their budgets, and condition inheritance taxes will most likely be a welcoming supply of revenue later on. Because of this, estate proprietors will need to keep close track of this problem. I believe it is more probably that tax rates will rise soon which life insurance coverage like a supplemental retirement earnings vehicle could play an progressively natural part for the reason that regard.

Is life insurance coverage equally suited to clients with all of amounts of wealth?

The fast response is yes. When the federal estate tax exemption amount stays in the $5 million level or near to it, then certainly less estate proprietors will need to bother about federal estate taxes. I see pointless why our prime-internet-worth estate owner won’t still turn to life insurance coverage to supply the liquidity required to pay future estate taxes, even when the total amount needed is less.

For individuals who’ll not need to bother about federal estate taxes, you will find other non-estate-tax-related financial issues that life insurance coverage could be a solution. Again, using life insurance coverage like a supplemental retirement earnings vehicle might be quite attractive within an atmosphere of rising tax rates.

What’s the No. 1 question you listen to clients about integrating life insurance coverage to their estate plan? How can you answer it?

Most likely probably the most comon question nowadays is, “So why do I want life insurance coverage basically don’t have any estate tax problem?” I answer this in a few various ways. First, the financial agent and also the client must have attorney at law about the way forward for federal and condition estate taxes. The customer might not have an problem today, but might have one later on.

When the client and agent agree that there’s no federal estate tax problem, then your agent should discuss other financial planning problems that would use life insurance coverage included in a general strategy.

10 Of the Best Features of Life Insurance that are overlooked

Buying life insurance coverage is among the most significant financial choices customers make. Yet they frequently know hardly any concerning the options that come with their plans, so that they neglect to make the most of them.

Listed here are 10 of the very generally overlooked options that come with life insurance coverage plans and why they are vital that you you like a insurance holder.

Waiver of premium. This feature pays the premium of the policy should you become seriously ill or disabled.

Faster dying benefit. This feature enables you to definitely receive payday loans from the dying advantage of your policy if you are identified having a terminal illness. Lots of people with this particular benefit make use of the money to assist purchase treatment along with other expenses whether they have only a short while to reside.

Guaranteed purchase option. With this particular feature, you can buy coverage at designated future dates or existence occasions without showing you are in good condition.

Lengthy-term care riders. Some existence items include this method, which enables you to employ the advantages of your policy to cover lengthy-term care in return for a lower existence benefit.

Spouse or child term riders. Existence guidelines with this particular feature permit you to purchase term life insurance coverage for the spouse or dependent child, as much as age 26. This method could be a less expensive method to purchase coverage if you cannot afford separate guidelines.

Cash value plans. This kind of policy pays out upon your dying as well as builds up value throughout your daily life. You should use the money value like a tax-protected investment, like a fund from which you’ll borrow and employ to pay for a policy rates later.

Mortgage protection. This feature, typically available on term existence guidelines, pays your mortgage should you die.

Cash distributions and financial loans. Many universal and whole existence guidelines permit you to withdraw or take a loan, while using cash worth of a policy as collateral. Rates of interest are usually relatively low. You may also make use of the cash worth of your existence policy to pay for your rates if you want or wish to stop having to pay rates for some time. You are obligated to pay the borrowed funds or perhaps your receivers will get a lower dying benefit.

Survivor support services. Some existence guidelines offer services that offer objective financial and legal help receivers.

Worker assistance programs. This feature makes assets open to you for issues that can impact your individual and professional existence. Assets are often free and help address issues for example drug abuse, stress, marital problems, legal concerns and major existence occasions.

“Customers need to know their life insurance coverage guidelines so that they don’t overlook important features that may be important to their livelihoods,” states Shaun Koll, assistant v . p . of product for Colonial Existence & Accident Insurance Provider. “Make certain you’ve got a copy of the policy, you know in which you ensure that it stays which another person in the household also knows in which you ensure that it stays. You could request a duplicate of the policy out of your insurance provider if you want it. Additionally, evaluate your insurance policy every so often to make certain it’s right for your stage in existence.”

Texas Life insurance

Life insurance for kids: Long term benefits come from early investment

November 25, 2011

Being protective goes hands-in-hands with motherhood. From hands sanitizer gel to bike headgear to high-tech child car seats, moms and fathers will visit the finishes of the world to have their children safe, seem and happy. But eventually, the scrapes and bruises no more require a healing hug, working out wheels appear the bike and also the day comes when they are driving to college – not only senior high school, but college. You may be surprised, but you will find actions you are able to take since will safeguard them then – as well as beyond.

It isn’t uncommon for brand new parents to think about adding life insurance coverage coverage towards the other guidelines they carry, like vehicle and medical health insurance. It’s really a difficult factor to consider, but it is an additional protection which will make sure that kids and also the making it through spouse is going to be taken proper care of in case that certain parent dies. However, you will find other ways a life insurance coverage policy can really make a difference for the child.

May possibly not be something which immediately involves mind, but getting a life insurance coverage insurance policy for your kids might have lasting benefits for his or her financial future. However, doing this when they’re still youthful couldn’t only equal to financial savings within the long-term, but better protection of the assets because they themselves reach a time where they’ll think about a family that belongs to them.

In practical terms, giving your kids the gift of the life insurance coverage policy safeguards them from medical underwriting and costs. You will be creating the policy early enough which costs is going to be lower, especially in the initial stage, also it can help with keeping them workable further in the future, with respect to the plan.

Through the years, a life insurance coverage policy may become a significant part of the children’s financial protection. And when they are in the right age to achieve the discussion about how exactly to become financially responsible, it’s really a useful example, among other training like creating a good credit score and wise investing habits.

Some insurance coverage allows your son or daughter to create changes his or her existence progresses, providing them with the opportunity to increase coverage because they undergo life’s milestone occasions, like marriage, getting a home loan to purchase a home and getting children that belongs to them. Rates will increase with added coverage, however the added costs connected with medical underwriting is going to be removed.

Searching for the kids is definitely an instinct which will never fade. Because they grow, you’ll help guide them on the right track in existence, but sooner or later, they will be off by themselves. Providing them with lengthy-term protection when they are youthful will make sure that you are assisting to be careful on their behalf, lengthy after they have left the nest.

What to ask before buying a traditional plan

Nowadays when a life insurance agent comes to sell you a policy, the spiel is remarkably different. He no longer quotes the highs of the stock market or sells you the dream of quick money through equity investing. He instead assures the safety of your capital and guarantees your return. This change mirrors the changing trend in the life insurance sector, where traditional plans are making a comeback and leaving the once popular unit-linked insurance plans (Ulips) behind.

Jayachandran/Mint

Owing to last yearâ€™s reforms and volatility in the stock markets, insurers have once again turned their focus on traditional plans. Unlike a Ulip where investments are market-linked and costs are transparent, traditional plans work on the principle of give and getâ€” you pay x every year and you will get 15x+y in 15 years is how most traditional plans are structured. But over a period of 15 years, this 15x+y usually translates into a paltry return. Even the bonuses that most traditional plans offer are seldom able to improve the returns. So before you succumb to a traditional plan, here are four key questions you need to ask.

What you give and get?

This is an important parameter to consider.

Comparison: First, it enables comparison. Says Rituraj Bhattacharya, head (market management?), Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Co. Ltd: â€œThe way to compare traditional plans is to look at the guaranteed sum which is typically the sum assured. For this sum how much premium do you have to pay over a given term is how one can compare products.â€

Costs: The give-and-get equation gives you a sense of the costs. Letâ€™s understand through an example. Take a traditional endowment plan for a 30-year-old for a term of 20 years with a sum assured of Rs. 10 lakh on an annual premium of Rs. 46,931. The guaranteed payout under this plan is the sum assured and the non-guaranteed component is the bonuses which are at the discretion of the company. Compare this with a term plan which will charge an annual premium of around Rs. 2,000 for the sum assured mentioned above over the same term. In other words, you pay Rs. 44,931 extra to guarantee that sum assured on maturity.

Rate of return: The give-and-get equation of a traditional plan helps you understand the returns from the policy, too. Use a financial calculator that gives you the internal rate of return from the net or swing the numbers past your financial planner and you will understand the delusion guaranteed return is. In the above example, the return on your investment is just 0.66%.

What are the additional benefits?

But you also get bonuses, the agent will argue. Typically, in a traditional insurance plan there are three kinds of bonuses: cash, reversionary and terminal. The premiums that you pay get invested in a life fund which is kind of a perpetual fund that an insurance company has. Says Bhattacharya: â€œThe insurer meets all his liabilities of paying claims or maturity through this fund. So depending upon the interest rate scenario and surpluses that this life fund has, a company may declare a bonus.â€

Cash bonus: Once the company declares a bonus it becomes guaranteed. If you choose to have it as cash, it is called cash bonus.

Reversionary bonus: The guaranteed bonus can also get added to your sum assured. This is called the reversionary bonus.

But you must be careful with reversionary bonuses since they can significantly impact your returns. There are two kinds of reversionary bonuses: simple and compound. As the name suggests, a simple reversionary bonus is a percentage of the basic sum assured that once declared becomes a guaranteed payout, but a compound reversionary bonus is a percentage of the overall sum assured. Hereâ€™s an example: a 6% simple reversionary bonus on a sum assured of Rs. 100 will bump up the sum assured to Rs. 106 in the first year and Rs. 112 in year two. However, a compound reversionary bonus will bump up the sum assured to Rs. 106 in year one and Rs. 112.36 in year two. But Kapil Mehta, managing director, SecureNow Insurance Broker Pvt. Ltd, has a word of caution: â€œThe rate at which a simple reversionary bonus is paid out creates an optical illusion because the rates are more than the rate of a compound reversionary bonus. However, in the long term and with the power of compounding, a compound reversionary bonus tends to give you better returns.â€

Terminal bonus: This is again totally at the discretion of the company and is paid at the end. Says V. Viswanand, director and head (products and persistency management), Max New York Life Insurance Co. Ltd: â€œOne also needs to look at liquidity in a policy. A cash bonus is a good idea in that sense because it gives you the freedom to have the money at your disposal anytime you want.â€

Bonus rates: You should also have an idea about the bonus rates that the company has been declaring. Most companies will have some historical data of their bonus rates, which can access through the insurerâ€™s website or the agent.

Says Bhattacharya: â€œTypically, a company does not have a lot of volatility in bonus rates. Since the bonus rates depend on the surpluses in life fund, interest rate is only one factor that determines that surplus. Hence, most companies will maintain a stable bonus rate structure.â€

Adds Kapil Mehta, CEO, SecureNow, an insurance broking firm: â€œBonus rates get declared as a percentage of the sum assured and so it becomes very difficult to get a sense of returns. However, on an average, the returns from the bonus are not more than 4%.â€

What happens if you surrender policy?

Thatâ€™s usually far and the last thing in your mind when you are buying the policy. But itâ€™s a relevant question nevertheless. Typically, traditional plans are front-loadedâ€”a large chunk of the costs are deducted in the initial yearsâ€”and so in the first three years, most traditional policies donâ€™t have a surrender value. If you choose to surrender your policy within this period, you get nothing back.

After three years, the policy usually assumes a surrender value. Most insurers will offer two options: a minimum guaranteed surrender valueâ€”which is a regulatory requirementâ€”and a non-guaranteed surrender value. The guaranteed surrender value is a fixed percentage of your premiumsâ€”around 30-35% of all the premiums paid minus the first yearâ€™s premium.

The non-guaranteed surrender value is arrived at more scientifically and indicates the value of your investments. The non-guaranteed surrender value depends upon the sum assured, bonus, policy term and the number of premiums paid. Since the non-guaranteed surrender value is a better reflection of your investments, it is usually higher than the minimum guaranteed surrender value. Usually in the industry, it is the minimum guaranteed surrender value that is paid out, but some insurers offer the higher of the two surrender payouts. Choose the latter option.

What happens if you stop paying premiums?

How a skipped premium will impact your benefit is also important to understand. Typically, if you skip paying a premium in the first three years of the policy, it will lapse and you will get no benefits. Some insurers may choose to pay you a discretionary sum.

However, if you skip paying a premium after three years, your policy will continue to exist but with reduced benefits. After three years, your policy assumes a cash or surrender value. Depending on this value, the insurer may settle for a reduced sum assured or may offer an extended term cover of the same sum assured for a number of years. Your policy will no longer enjoy any variable benefits.

You also need to understand the revival norms of the policy. Says Viswanand: â€œSome insurers allow a period of five years to renew ones policy, while others may offer only two-three years. Typically, reinstatement norms are same for all the policies of an insurer.â€

If you manage to get an answer for each of these questions, you would understand your benefits and policy clearly.

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