Archive for the ‘Life Insurance’ Category
Ignoring purchasing life insurance is one of the biggest mistakes that single people can make. Here is why. In your early years you really have very little need for life insurance, or possibly no need at all. If you die while you are young all that is needed is sufficient cash to bury you. It doesn’t take a lot of money to do that. Most parents, in the United States, can afford to bury a child upon death. If your parents cannot afford to bury you all you need is a policy for about $10,000. That should take care of it.
Here is an example why a single person would buy a life policy. This is woman 23 years old and a college graduate…she works very hard and would like to buy a house. Her older brothers bought theirs at an early age and she feels she should also. You may feel this is a farfetched case but it is not. I know of cases quite similar to this. It is very likely that she will have a mortgage on that house. She wants it paid off if she should die. This certainly is a good reason to buy a life insurance policy.
Here is another example where it is wise to buy life insurance while you are quite young. A young man who is pretty smart graduated from medical school. It took him many years of hard work to achieve this. Because of his expertise he carefully looks at the state of his parents and grand parents health. Even though medical science has advanced considerably he knows that he could develop some of the same ailments his parents and grand parents now experience…
As he intends to marry and have a family some time in the future he feels that it would be the intelligent thing to buy some life insurance now while he can get it at a very low premium and while he still can qualify for it. He will have it when he needs it. If he should die before he marries he feels it would be a great idea to let the proceeds be payable to his parents as their assistance was invaluable while he was in school.
Another good example is the young person who intends to go into business some day. That man or woman certainly intends to make their business a success. There will be a need for life insurance whether we are talking about sole proprietorship, a partnership or a corporation. There may be a need for life insurance specifically to fund a buy sell agreement or may be for key employee insurance. If this person buys the life insurance now there wont be a problem when the policy is really needed. The rate will be much lower while this person is still quite young.
These are just some of the reasons why a single person should consider life insurance. There is little or no need now but you should consider where you plan to be 5, 10 or 20 years down the line. Will you need a policy then? More importantly, will you be able to qualify for it?
There are so many life insurance companies out there to choose from nowadays that there are literally hundreds of different companies who offer life insurance. This is great as it gives people a variety and choice, and allows them to make a decision on the best possible supplier to meet their needs. However, there are some drawbacks to having a wide range and vast selection to choose from, that sometimes it can become intimidating and often overwhelming for an individual to be able to make a decision and pick one single company.
Monumental Life Insurance
Monumental Life Insurance is definitely one company that should be considered as a leader in their market. The Company is a member of the AEGON Insurance Group, which is an international group that has a number of pension, insurance, and financial services organizations – and it also presently ranks as one of the largest insurance services groups throughout the globe.
Other than the Monumental, there are many other life insurance companies that one may choose from; it is important to be aware of all the options that are open to you before any decisions are made on any one particular company and policy.
Other Companies
Besides the Monumental Life Insurance Company, one of the best life insurance companies around is the London Life Insurance Company. They are a renowned world leader and provider of life and health insurance, as well as retirement and investment plans, and mortgages for your home – covering a lot of financial services products. The company offers a wide range of different financial products and services, and most help meet the needs of differing individuals throughout the world.
In terms of insurance, this organisation helps people plan on meeting their needs of the future, this can be establishing a career, or trying to start a business or family and London Insurance have a lot of different policies for individuals to choose from that ill be right or you.
By having the right life insurance cover and protection policy allows an individual person to feel whole lot safer and provides them with peace of mind, especially since they are aware that when they die they will become a financial burden on their family, by passing on all of the costs to their family and these not being covered by anything. However, by having one of these policies, their family will be given a lump sum from the life insurance policy towards paying the costs of the funeral and other expenses, this is relieving to all of those involved.
When you go about choosing life insurance cover, you should take this process with great sincerity; although there are many different good life insurance companies around, there are many other companies that are cowboys and the important thing here is that you are able to spot them from the rest. You will want to steer clear of these bad apples, and not enter into business with them. If you take your time and put effort into researching this process ad getting the best possible outcome – a great policy or plan that you are looking for – then you will have accomplished what many others have too.
I recently learned the hard way that is never too early to get life insurance. I am thirty years old and I never thought about buying insurance for my life, after all, I had all the time in the world. Well I did think once or twice, but there was always something more important. Then my brother-in-law suddenly died in a car crash. My wife was devastated and so was I. The worst part was when we had to bury him and everybody had to pitch in. He left his wife and his five year old daughter, and the sad part is that they will have a tough time for a long time because he did not plan ahead.
I quickly ran and got myself a policy. I calculate more or less how much my wife would need to keep up with the mortgage and the college for the children in case something happened to me. I got a policy for $150k of universal whole life insurance (the kind that does not expire and build cash value) and I also bought another $350k in Term life insurance (Term is a policy that has a set duration; 15, 20 or 30 years terms and does not build cash value).
According to the specialists I am still under insured. Because I have 3 children, by their calculations, I should have bought around $600k worth of whole and term life. I am considering buying more insurance in the future, but for now that was all I could afford. Universal whole life insurance is considerably more expensive than term life insurance, and you can buy a term policy for a quarter of what you paid for universal whole life. The important thing is to diversify and have a little bit of both.
Now I sleep easier and if something happens to me, I know my family will have something to fall on. And the moral of the history is: is never too early to plan ahead and buy life insurance.
Life insurance is a good thing to have, especially if you are running a business or are earning a good salary from a reliable company. However, you may end up having more problems if you do not understand the entire coverage or skip the fine print. It is important that you know the possible risks to make the right choices that will give you security.
Price Disadvantage
Cost is among the most common pitfalls of life insurance. A lot of guaranteed life insurance policies are made to support funeral expenses only. Most policies actually do not provide benefit values higher than $15,000 to $20,000. These policies are quite expensive since the insurance company only has to base the premiums on the gender and age of the applicant.
Because of this, a lot of individuals may be paying the insurance company more in the premiums they applied for than the death benefit of the plan. It means that the insurance policy does not even perform better compared to a savings account. Currently, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners is trying to alleviate the problem.
Paying More Than What You Deserve
Graded benefit periods is a feature in guaranteed life insurance policies wherein the insurance company keeps itself protected from individuals who want to apply for insurance while having only a possible short time to live. There may be indications in the policy that if the person dies within a certain period of time after the policy is provided, the insurance company will only be responsible for paying the premiums, and interest accrued to the applicant. Further financial support will not be given.
It is recommended to get a thorough physical exam and medical check-up first to determine if you are eligible for traditional insurance. If you become eligible for traditional insurance, you may discover that you need to pay less to get more benefits compared to getting a guaranteed life insurance policy. Guaranteed life insurance becomes a good alternative if you find it difficult to apply for other policies because of your age or current health condition. A financial advisor will help you determine and find other possible options.
Stringent Requirements
Insurance companies actually have the right to refuse coverage to individuals who appear very unhealthy or have conditions like obesity, diabetes, cancer, tumor, etc. There is actually a very long list of conditions given to insurance agents to turn down individuals should they have one or more of the given items on the list.
Middle-age individuals have to pay more for term life insurance, compared to younger applicants. The cost of renewable term life insurance may also be higher than a standard policy. The policy, however, can be renewed without the person having to go for a physical exam. There are also policies that require new medical records each time you wish to renew the policy.
Young adults have a better chance of getting reliable security by investment in permanent life insurance than term life insurance. Permanent life insurance will insure the person until the time of death, so it never expires. After the premiums are set, these can no longer change regardless of changes in the person’s health status, weight or age. Permanent life insurance will cost more for younger individuals, but term life insurance will cost more for middle age people.
It’s no secret that term life insurance for smokers is going to be considerably more expensive than it would be for non-smokers. It is common knowledge that people who smoke have a shorter life expectancy than those who don’t because of the many health risks associated with smoking. A shorter life expectancy means a higher chance of an insurance company being required to pay a claim and anything that increases risk to the insurance company will result in more expensive coverage. Although it will be more expensive for a smoker, getting a term life insurance plan in place is still a good idea.
When a person dies, their surviving family members are left not only to mourn the loss of a loved one but they also face a lot of new financial challenges. Obviously, there is the loss of your income which would make it more difficult for surviving family members to pay the bills each month but there are also various other costs like funeral expenses, taxes, probate etc. so having a good life insurance plan is a great way to ease some of the financial burdens that your family is likely to endure if you should happen to pass away prematurely.
You know that by smoking you are putting yourself in a higher risk category and therefore making it difficult to find a better rate for your coverage. One way to cut your rates in half would be to quit smoking, however if that’s not an option right now there is another way to find the coverage you need at an affordable price. The big secret to getting the best price is to simply do a little research.
Researching the best prices for an insurance policy may sound like it would take a lot of time and effort but that really is not the case, especially in the information age. The Internet makes researching the price of any types of goods or services very easy. When it comes to insurance rates, finding a better deal is much easier than you might think.
There are literally hundreds of companies competing for your business and because there are so many insurance providers available it stands to reason that prices will vary considerably from one company to another. The Internet makes comparing the prices of several different companies a simple and efficient process. There are many websites available online that allow you to fill out a short form with a little bit of information, click a button, and then almost instantly receive back all of the information you need to make your decision.
You can quickly and easily find the coverage you are looking for at the best possible price. When you have a list of prices and coverage options available at your fingertips it is incredibly simple to locate the best deal and finding your best option can save you hundreds of dollars and will only take a few minutes of your time.
BEEN THERE, DONE THAT!
Being in sales and business building for most of my career I understand the concept of cold prospecting. I’ve done my share of knocking doors and getting to know people. The most expensive part of starting off your career in life insurance sales is developing a client base.
Often a new sales recruit will look at a seasoned and successful life insurance agents and enviously comment to them self, “I wish I had their client list”.
WHERE DO I START?
I’ve been at the start of a sales process where I scratch my head and say, “where do I start” looking for prospects. I have then gone out, checked out a thousand places to figure out who was buying my product or service. All the while knowing that I’m going to strike out with a high percentage of the people and companies that I contact.
COLD PROSPECTING DOESN’T REQUIRE CASH UP FRONT
The benefit to cold prospecting is that there isn’t any up front cash required. I’ve been able to set up businesses with little or no cash by taking the time to do cold prospecting. I leveraged my time and enthusiasm. Thus I can see the appeal to cash short – life insurance agents who are just starting off in their careers.
Most times the people who have a good reputation and a large client base are those who have put in the agonizing hours working their prospects. As time has passed they’ve gotten better at getting to know people and developing word of mouth. But in the beginning they’ve had to do the up front work.
I’ve found that people who like to take short cuts are those who are impatient and often quit because they don’t get quick sales results.
In any type of sales, you need to go the distance to learn the skills required to stay in business. Many times you learn valuable lessons after you’ve failed several times at what you’re doing.
Bottom line, it takes time to learn the sales trade.
THE QUESTION:
Should you take all that time to learn to cold prospect or to deal directly with life insurance leads??