Things you must know about Life Insurance

All About Term Life Insurance
By Sarah Martin

Term life insurance is one of the types of life insurance policies you can purchase. This type of life insurance will only pay the amount of the policy to your beneficiary if you die during the term specified in the policy, which could be between one and thirty years depending on the length of term you choose.
It is the simplest form of life insurance in that you choose the amount of life insurance you need and make the annual premiums for each year of the term. If you are still alive at the end of this term, then this policy is no longer valid and you have to take out another policy for another term.
Within term life insurance there are two types of policies - level term and decreasing term. Level term is the most commonly purchased policy because it pays out the same amount when you pass away at any point during the term. The term lengths you can choose from are:
• yearly, which means you renew the policy on an annual basis
• 5 year renewable term
• 10 years
• 15 years
• 20 years
• 25 years
• 30 years
• a policy that lasts until you reach a specific age, which is usually age 65
Of these, the 20 year term life insurance is the most popular. Your age is a determining factor though, because if you take out life insurance at age 65, very few insurance providers will provide you with a policy beyond the age of 80, so this would shorten the term.
When choosing a term life insurance policy, a renewable policy is really something that you need to look for. With this type of policy, when the term ends, you have the option of renewing it for another term. This is important because by this time you may have medical conditions that would make it hard, if not impossible, to take out a new policy. When your policy is renewable, you will be able to renew it without any problems in spite of these medical conditions.
The premium that you pay for term life insurance depends on several factors. Your age is one of these factors. The younger you are when you purchase a policy; the cheaper it will be because there is not big likelihood of you passing away at an early age. Your lifestyle also factors into the cost as well. If you smoke, drink alcohol excessively or take drugs, your premiums will be higher than that of a person who does not.
You will have to pass a medical check by a doctor to ascertain that you are in good health as well, unless the company offers no medical exam life insurance. Your occupation will play a part if you work in a field classified as dangerous, such as working in a mine. This is because there is a greater possibility of you being killed on the job.
The premiums will remain level for the length of the term. In a renewable policy, the premiums increase at the time of renewal. For example, in a five year renewable policy, you pay an annual premium that stays the same for the first five years and then the rate increases for the next five years.
The reason that level term insurance is more popular than decreasing term insurance is that the amount paid to the beneficiary remains the same throughout. With decreasing term insurance the amount of the payout decreases each year of the policy, which means that if you pass away about a month before the end of the term, there is no money left in the policy to pay to your beneficiary.
Sarah Martin is a freelance marketing writer based out of San Diego, CA. She specializes in finance, business, and term life insurance.


Life Insurance Needs Calculations
By Marilyn Katz
Lot of people decide they should purchase life insurance to make sure their family has money in case they pass away. Like the sign says in the old insurance agent's office, no widow ever complained that she had too much life insurance! Of course, in these days of two incomes, both moms and dads are making sure they are covered. But as the family breadwinners are looking into buying policies, just how much coverage should they purchase?
What do you need to cover?
A home mortgage is a starting place for many people. How much money do you still owe on your home, and how far would your spouses income go towards making payments. Many breadwinners want to make sure their family can stay in their home if they lose one income. In fact, a home mortgage is one of the primary reasons that people start looking into buying life insurance. Even if the decision makers in a family decide that the home must be sold if one income earner passes away, it is still important to give the other decision maker time to keep the mortgage payments current for several months so the home can be sold for a good price, and not in a panic.Other debts and obligations are also considered. Do you still have car or credit card payments? Do your kids go to a private school or need special services? If one breadwinner passed away, could the rest of the family continue with their current lifestyle. What things are the most important to continue? Of course, normal bills like food and utilities need to be added in. How much does it cost just to keep the electricity and phones turned on?What about the future? Do you plan to help your children go to college, or would one spouse need more education to help replace the salary of the covered spouse?What other services would you need if one spouse passed away? If you need to eat out more, or provide for paid childcare, consider that too. Sometimes one spouse does not earn income, but provides services that would cost the family a lot of money.Of course, the idea here is not to make money or get rich from life insurance. We are just trying to replace the income and services that a breadwinner or service provider gives to the family. Even if it is not reasonable to expect life insurance to replace the income of the covered person, it is reasonable to expect it to provide enough coverage to be able to transition to another lifestyle in as painless a way as possible. If you consider your life insurance needs, you will be able to find an affordable policy that can provide security for your family.


Whole vs Term Life - Why Term is the Better Option For You
By W A Henderson

As you size up your options and consider the different variables of whole vs. term life, you are going to run across a number of opposing arguments. You will probably find benefits to both types of life insurance. However, for many people the answer to this question is term.
The primary difference between the two is that a term policy is life coverage only. As the person insured passes away, the insurance company will pay the face amount of the policy named to the beneficiary. Whole insurance combines a term policy with an investment component.
The problem with whole insurance is that it is expensive. You are forced to pay not only for the insurance, but also for the investment portion. If the investment benefited you, it would be worth the extra cost. The problem is typically it is not worth the investment. It is just a waste of your money.
If you want to invest in something and save for retirement, there are far better options for you to pursue. Whole life insurance policies come with high fees and commissions. If that were not enough, there are up-front commissions that you must pay that are typically the entire first year's premium. Why get into something that you do not even know what type of investment return you will actually get?
As for term life insurance, it is extremely cheap for people who are in decent health and below the age of 50. After the age of 50, you can expect the premiums to get progressively more expensive. However, the same holds true for whole insurance as well.
If money is not an object to you and you are willing to take the risk with the investment you are required to make, whole life insurance is not a bad idea. However, the answer of whole vs. term life for most people boils down to the overall cost and rewards.
You are going to get the exact same coverage with term life insurance as you would with whole. You just are not forced to make an investment in something you could care less about. Instead of making this forced investment, go with term life insurance and invest in something down the road when you are interested.
Before you make the decision of what is best for you, it is vital you do your research of whole vs. term life. You do not want to make a mistake and get caught into something you do not want as insurance. Take your time and consider your options wisely.
W A Henderson: Would like you to visit arguably the Best Life insurance website on the internet today for your free quotes. Go to http://www.LifeQuotes4You.com


Term Life Insurance - Show You Care
By Chimerenka Odimba
Many young people hate thinking about the possibility that they might have their lives cut short. Its not any bodies prayer and if a young person is unmarried and has no one dependent on them then a term life insurance policy really wouldn't be a need. But if you have a young family who are depending on you, then you are bound if you really love them to take out a policy that ensures they are well taken care of if any thing happens to you.
For a young couple, I recommend term life insurance and for the following reasons.
When compared with other types of life policies, term life would offer you the most coverage for your money.
If you home still has many years of mortgage, you can have it covered such that your family does not lose the home if anything happens to you. How do you do this? Get term life coverage for a term (period) slightly more than the years you have left on your mortgage.
For your kids education, you can have it covered by calculating what you think it would cost to give them the kind of education you want them to have and factor it into the the term life insurance policy you are getting.
Doing these shows your love for your family because you have ensured that their future is secured.
While getting your term life coverage, you would want a cost effective policy. The best way to get this is to get free online quotes from free quotes sites and compare their quotes. I can assure you that you would save tremendously by simply doing this.Especially if you get as many free quotes as you can or at least five.
You can start with this sites I highly recommend.
Insureme
Quotes! Hometown Quotes!
Chimerenka Odimba is the publisher Several finance based sites.
How Beneficiaries to Life Insurance Policies Can Locate Unclaimed Life InsuranceBy Maria Mbura
Life insurance is usually purchased to protect against the loss of income in the event of the death of a policy holder. It is a good security for your family in case of death.
You will find questions being raised by beneficiaries after they bury their deceased. Questions like: how can you find out if you are the beneficiary on a policy? Or how do you find out if someone had a life insurance policy before they died?
A beneficiary is any person named in a policy as the one to be paid the benefits. In these cases an insured policyholder fails to inform the beneficiary or beneficiaries of the existence of a policy in case of their demise.
So how can you find out if you are a beneficiary on a life insurance policy or if the deceased had a valid life insurance policy.
It is not an easy task to find out if someone had a life insurance policy before they died. The relationship between the policyholder and the insurance company is one of confidentiality when the policyholder is alive.
There exists over $1billion of unclaimed life insurance death benefits as a result of the lack of awareness by the beneficiaries and other interested parties.
The onus of claiming these benefits falls on the beneficiary and in this case the beneficiary is unaware of the existence of the death benefits therefore the failure to claim the proceeds.
If these benefits remain unclaimed after a certain stipulated period which vary from state to state the insurance company is required by law to forward the unclaimed life insurance to the state governments.
These are the steps you can take in your quest to answer the questions above and trace any death benefits:
To find out this information you will need to get into the deceased records of credit cards and bank statements or payslips to check any premium payments to an insurance company. This would include any safety deposit box and any other important documents.
Check with their lawyers, accountants or employer for any information. Ask relatives, friends and colleagues for any information they might have.
Check with the State Office for Unclaimed Property for any records of insurance payments forwarded by insurance companies. Conduct a free online search through the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators website at MissingMoney.com.
Employ the services of a private investigator to get you the information. If you identify an insurance company, write to them to check if the deceased had a valid insurance with them.
To apply for any information you'll require to provide a death certificate and a notarized application.
With due diligence it is possible for beneficiaries to life insurance policies to locate unclaimed life insurance benefits in most states in the US.
If you are beneficiaries to life insurance policies looking for unclaimed life insurance visit http://howmuchdoeslifeinsurancecost.info for more tips on how to go about tracing your benefits.