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Life insurance is great for individuals that have a family, dependents and earn the most income to support their family. Life is unpredictable and it is important to ensure your family and loved ones are taken care of financially in case anything happens to you.

When shopping for life insurance in South Carolina, searching online and using the internet’s resources are a great way to educate yourself on life insurance basics, shop and compare quotes for the best life insurance policy for you. There are three different types of life insurance policies - universal life insurance, cheap whole life insurance and cheap term life insurance.



Universal Life Insurance - combines life insurance with savings. Insurers are able to have the benefits of term life insurance and combine that with tax-deferred interest accumulating savings account. Sometimes you may not even have to pay premiums during the entire policy. If your money to pay the death benefit and other costs accumulates in the tax-deferred savings portion of your policy, then premiums may not be required to keep the policy in force.

Cheap Whole Life Insurance - this type of policy will cover you for your entire life. Your death benefit and premium generally remain the same. Whole life insurance also builds cash value, which could enable you to earn a return on a portion of your premiums that the insurance company invests. Your cash value is tax-deferred until you withdraw it and you are also able to borrow against that money.

Cheap Term Life Insurance - this type of life insurance is low cost and great for young healthy individuals who are healthy and may not be able to afford cash-value life insurance premiums and want to ensure their dependents are taken care of in the event of death. Your policy will cover a pre-determined “term” which is normally one, five or ten years. Your premium payment and death benefits are only during that term. After the term you will have options to continue coverage and have the opportunity to convert to a cash-value life insurance policy.



 

Universal Life Insurance

Universal life insurance combines cheap term life insurance with a tax-deferred interest accumulating savings account. This life insurance plan provides insurers with death benefit as well as incorporating savings abilities.

Investing

Universal life insurance is also known as “flexible premium adjustable life insurance,” and gets this term because it is somewhat of a flexible version of cheap whole life insurance. Your insurance company will take a portion of your premiums and invest them in bonds, mortgages and money market funds. You earn the return on said investments which is credited to your policy tax-deferred. You usually receive a guaranteed minimum interest rate which is not dependent upon the performance of your investments so you will always get a certain minimum return on your money. When your investments do well, normally the insurance company will increase your interest rate return.

Death Benefit

You generally have two options when setting-up your universal life insurance policy. One option will pay your death benefit out of your policies accumulated cash value. This policy costs less in premiums, but it can take a while to build up sufficient benefit. The other option will pay you a face value that you agree upon in the contract plus your accumulated cash value. This option cost more in premiums, but you are guaranteed at least a specific amount of money in your death benefit. Most life insurance companies can set your policy up so you will have a no-lapse guarantee as long as you pay your minimum designated premium. The policy could stay in force to age 100 or above. Universal life provides you the flexibility to adjust your death benefit according to your needs allowing you to pay smaller or larger amounts depending on your finances.

Cheap Whole Life Insurance

Cheap whole life insurance policies cover you for life. Generally your death benefit and premium will always stay the same. Cheap whole life insurance builds cash value which is tax-deferred until you decide to withdraw it or borrow against it.

There are different types of cheap whole life insurance. These include traditional, interest-sensitive and single-premium whole life insurance policies.



Traditional whole life insurance - this policy gives you a guaranteed minimum rate of return on your cash value segment.

Interest-sensitive whole life insurance - provides a variable rate on your cash value portion which is comparable to an adjustable rate mortgage. This gives you the flexibility with your cheap whole life insurance policy such as increasing your death benefit without increasing your premiums depending on the economy.

Single-premium whole life insurance - this is great for individuals who have a large sum of money who would like to purchase their policy up front. This cheap whole life insurance policy also accrues tax-deferred cash value.



 

One of the features that make cheap whole life insurance popular is that a portion of your premium money goes toward your cash value which could pay off your entire policy after a few years. Another advantage is unless you make a change to your cheap whole life insurance policy, you will be covered for life with no future medical exams.

Cheap Term Life Insurance

Cheap term life insurance is great for those individuals who want to protect their family in the event of their death. Cheap term life insurance is often referred to as “pure insurance protection” because there is no cash value like cheap whole life insurance or universal life insurance. Cheap term life insurance also expires at a certain time after either a set number of years or when you reach a certain age.

A medical exam will most likely be required when you are buying cheap term life insurance. Most exams cover height, weight and medical history. Sometimes test results can hinder your ability to get approved for term life insurance or it could potentially increase your rates, but if you are healthy you should be fine.

 



Thanks to Zack for contributing this article to our Annuities blog:

Personal Injury Insurance Settlement

Rising interest rates are another reason to avoid Equity-Indexed Annuities. If you are retired or near retirement, don’t let yourself be talked into purchasing an Equity-Indexed Annuity. If you do, it could easily be a decision you regret for many years to come.

I’ve been called ‘a lone voice in the wilderness speaking out’ about the dangers of equity-indexed annuities. It seems that everywhere you turn there is an advisor or insurance agent telling you an equity-indexed annuity is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Don’t believe them.

I’ve talked at length in other articles about the hidden dangers in Equity-Indexed Annuitiea, but the 3 main reasons are (1) they needlessly require you to lock up your money for a very long time, (2) the majority of your returns are still based on the stock market and (3) the commissions for selling an Equity-Indexed Annuity are so high it creates a tremendous conflict of interest for those recommending them. Rising interest rates are just one more reason. Let me explain.

Equity-Indexed Annuities eliminate your flexibility and control over YOUR money. In today’s post-9/11 world where terrorism is a very real threat, it’s important that you have the ability to make changes to and access all of your money when you need to–without incurring surrender penalties that can be as high as 20%! Locking your money into an Equity-Indexed Annuity for 10-15 years causes you to lose control of all but a small portion of it. Equity-Indexed Annuities don’t offer enough reward in exchange for such a long-term commitment.

The main selling point of an Equity-Indexed Annuity is the ability to participate in the return of the stock market but have a ‘guarantee’ that your money will earn at least 3%. The performance of these investments is designed to come from the stock market, not the guarantee. If you are willing to invest in the stock market, I feel there are better ways to do so which provide downside protection while allowing you to retain complete control and flexibility. (Contact me for more information.)

Rising interest rates is another reason you shouldn’t invest in an Equity-Indexed Annuity. Over the past 3 years, the thought of earning a 3% fixed return on your money didn’t sound too bad. Certificates of Deposit at the local bank have only been paying 1% or 2%. That’s made it difficult for those relying on that income to meet their monthly needs. Equity-Indexed Annuity salespeople have used this as a main selling point.

But things have changed. The Federal Reserve recently increased the Federal Funds interest rate by one quarter of one percent. That may not sound like much, but it’s the first time they’ve raised rates in four years. They also signaled that the economy is heading in the right direction and that they’ll continue to raise interest rates over the next few years as necessary to keep inflation in check.

The interest rates available on Federally Insured Certificates of Deposit (CDs) have already risen significantly. You can earn almost 2.5% on a 1-year CD and over 3% on a 2-year CD. The futures markets project that Federal Funds interest rates could be as high as 3% by the end of 2005. That’s means it is likely that you’ll be able to get a 1-year CD for over 4% and a 2 or 3-year CD for 5%.

Think about it–if you can earn 5% on a short-term, Federally-insured Certificate of Deposit, why would you want to lock your money up for 10 to 15 years with a guarantee of only earning 3%? Especially if you’d have to pay a penalty that could be as high as 20% to get at more than just a small portion of it! It just doesn’t make sense.

For those needing income, now is the time to be patient. Use short-term investments like Certificates of Deposit that mature in 1-year or less. When they come due, chances are rates will be significantly higher and your patience will be rewarded.



Thanks to Jeffrey Voudrie for contributing this article to our Annuities blog:

Cash Payout On Structured Settlement

An annuity reverse mortgage is quite different from other regular and not so traditional mortgages. However, it is more beneficial for the policy holder. Well, annuity reverse mortgage is where a senior citizen can borrow against the equity in their home to receive payment in a form of monthly payment or lump sum. Hence, it is advisable to opt for this kind of reverse mortgage because it offers great benefits.

With the time, the loan balance decreases, as the insured is able to pay the amount of equity in allocated tenure. In this kind of loan, the borrowers receive money for the equity in their homes. As they receive money, the equity in their home declines and their loan balance increases. However, an annuity reverse mortgage should not be confused with a home equity loan or home equity line of credit, as both of these are ways of obtaining money for the equity in a home. With either of these, the borrower must pay at least the monthly interest that is levied on the loan amount received, or the amount that they have drawn from their equity line. However, a reverse mortgage client does not have to pay anything until the loan is paid off. However, it is quite different for annuity reverse mortgage. However, there are various types of annuity reverse mortgages available and can be quite expensive in comparison to regular mortgages. The annuity mortgages are more beneficial in terms of money to the insured person.

Well, the kinds of annuity reverse mortgages currently available today include reverse mortgages offered by state or local governments often referred single purpose reverse mortgages. These annuity reverse mortgages are the least expensive. Moreover, they can be restrictive also, on how the money is distributed and can be used. The other one is federally insured home equity conversion mortgage. These annuity mortgages are less expensive than other private sector reverse mortgages, but more expensive than the mortgages bought from the authorities. The third kind will be private sector or proprietary reverse annuity mortgages.

However, all these annuity reverse mortgages feature charge origination fees and closing costs. Therefore, if the person who is seeking this loan is still unsure, then it is advisable to hire an agent or a broker from a reverse mortgage firm to avoid any hassles in future. In fact, it will benefit them more, if the borrowers’ acquire knowledge on such reverse mortgages, so that the company or the broker cannot misguide him or her. Likewise conventional reverse mortgages, the annuity mortgage has to be paid when the last owner of the property named on the loan dies, the homeowner sells the home r has permanently move out of the home. However, prior to any of these conditions, nothing needs to be paid on the loan. There are also default conditions that can cause repayment of the loan which are similar to default conditions for other mortgages e.g., declaration of bankruptcy, donation of the home, abandonment of the home, fraud or misrepresentation, and more.



Thanks to Antonio Redford for contributing this article to our Annuities blog:

Best Equity Index Annuity