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Presently life insurance policies are not just restricted to offering financial benefits on the death of the policy holders to his near and dear ones. The life insurance plans currently offered by providers have many other benefits attached to them; long term saving plans being the most attractive one. Below mentioned are the different types of life coverage plans and the extra benefits they come with.

Child Plans: A hugely popular life insurance product is child plans. Such plans are designed keeping in mind the needs of children that parents would not want to compromise on. All parents think about buying a policy for their children, when they choose a child plan it serves more than one purpose. Such a plan will act like a mediclaim as well as a savings option for your child. The returns are guaranteed at the maturity period which then can be used for shaping the future of your child.

Retirement plans: To make post retirement period financially independent for individuals are retirement plans. These plans offer life coverage and on the other hand help policy holders plan their retirement well in advance. The maturities of such policies are when the policy holder reaches his retirement age. This way the policy holder is assured of receiving a good amount at his retirement and can enjoy the benefit. Thus such a policy will assure its holders a worry-free post retirement life minus any dependency on others and cost cutting.

Growth plans: For people who want to make the most of their investments and wish to play safe too are growth plans. Growth plans offer flexibility to the policy holders in terms of money investment, policy tenure, premium payments etc. The premiums paid for such a policy are then invested in the capital markets and the profits earned are shared with the policy buyers. The investments are done wisely keeping in mind the volatility of the markets and keeping the hard earned money of individuals safe. The basic life coverage is also included in these plans. For people who wish to invest in the capital markets and earn extra income, growth plans are the apt option.

Saving plans: Everyone wishes to save money to fulfill needs he/she may encounter at a later stage in life, savings plans are just right for such purposes. In such plans the premiums are to be paid at regular intervals by the policy holders and the up to a certain period of time and during the maturity period a lump sum amount with the interest earned is handed over to him. Saving based life insurance plans give the policy holders the benefit of life coverage and also the scope of accumulating finances for future.

The scope of life insurance plans has thus broadened giving policy holders more than what they have opted for. Funding child’s education or marriage, retirement planning, earning extra money through capital market investments; all this and a lot more can be done in a systematic manner if you choose a reliable life insurance plan and provider.

Many ask whether or not life insurance plays a role in the retirement planning process, and it can actually be very beneficial for those planning to retire to purchase a life insurance plan. Life insurance doesn’t have to be an extremely complicated process, since it’s meant to make life easier once an individual has passed.

Although many companies have tried to reevaluate life insurance to make it become something jazzed up and completely different, Rene Lacape, Marketing Manager for eQuote Life Insurance, believes it is important to “stick to the basics” when it comes to buying or selling a life insurance plan. Certain categories of life insurance are very popular among the retired and soon to be retired community, such as cash value life insurance that can be used either inside or outside a pension plan.

It can be beneficial either way, and even provide extra tax deductions for the purchase of the premium each year. Market risk protection is also offered with a cash value life insurance plan, and is available on the plan from day one all the way until the value of the plan is distributed. The distribution options on the life insurance plan include the participant buying the policy from the pension plan, the ownership of the plan changing from one individual to another, or a maximum loan is made from the policy using the premium that has been paid into the account.

If death of the participant does occur, the policy can be immediately paid to the designated beneficiary, without the need or probate court or any other deciding factors. It is beneficial for the beneficiary, since it offers the premium right away up until the retirement plan benefits kick in. It is also ideal for the beneficiary, since the proceeds in excess of cash value from the life insurance plan are also tax free.

Life insurance is capable of satisfying the more conservative side of a portfolio,” says Rene Lacape, Member of the San Diego Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and guest radio host on Radio Nueva Vida. “People are traditionally looking for peace of mind, protection and guarantees when they consider purchasing the life insurance that will cover them and their loved ones.” Nobody wants to be locked into anything these days, though, so living benefit flexibility is really important.

The life insurance industry really needs to focus on helping the Y and X generations by showing them how to get started with financial security. They need help getting started when it comes to the most basic things like disability income, monthly savings and life insurance, adds Rene Lacape. “The younger generations are not looking for complexity, but what they are seeking is integrity, honesty and generosity.

If you ask any person, especially a professional, about their biggest financial failures, most of them will tell you about how they failed to save all their lives. They will tell you about their glory days of their careers, when they had too much to spend and seemingly so little time to spend them all. They bought nice clothes, bags, shoes, jewelry and then got a nice pad to live on. But if you ask them how much they kept in the bank, zap. Zero. Some of the kids nowadays even have unbelievable credit on their credit cards! Seems like somebody needs to give them a long sermon on personal finance.

So if you are one of those people who have absolutely no savings or very little investments, one of the things which you might want to consider buying is life insurance. It’s something that you might need one of these days. If you suddenly encounter an accident or get seriously ill, at least it will help you get over the financial hurdles little by little.

If you have personal savings AND life-insurance coverage, then that’s better. It’s like having two kinds of savings at the same time. Your personal savings consists of the money which you set aside. The insurance, at times of emergencies, represents the money that you actually intended on saving for such circumstances. Imagine how much relief it would be for breadwinners if their dependents are all insured. Now they don’t have to worry about the unexpected blows of illness or accident. Remember that most of the financial crises happen at unexpected times, so you have to be ready with some life insurance plans.

See, life insurances is not a luxury; nor something that you can automatically avail at times of need if you did not pay for it beforehand. So since most life-insurance-plans come with affordable installment rates and in the most convenient payment schemes, better purchase the life insurances coverage that will suffice for when you need it. There are also a lot of legitimate online deals available. So purchase the earliest you can. You can never be too sure…and it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

Life insurance otherwise known as temporary insurance, is something that covers a person against death for a limited amount of time. There are different terms which can either be, until the person’s children are grown, or until their education is paid for, or even until retirement. You are the one that pays for the policy period and at the end of the term the contract or policy expires. If there have been no claims made to the policy during the term, then unfortunately no benefits will be paid out after the policy expires. It is the same thing as auto or homeowners insurance.

There is another kind of life insurance which is known as whole life insurance however otherwise known as permanent insurance, this is something that does not expire as long as you pay the premium amount that you are suppose to. It gives you the same coverage as term life insurance but it also gives you an investment vehicle.

Part of the premium goes for life insurance, and the other part goes to an investment account. This account can be either an interest bearing account or something else like a stock or bonds investment account. The best life insurance companies will provide you the best quotes on both of these.

Almost all life insurance companies good or bad sell their products through people that are called agents. Some companies use agents that can only represent their company. The best life insurance companies according to the source Budget Life Top 15 are Ohio National Life Assurance Corporation, Western Reserve Life Insurance Company of Ohio, ReliaStar Life Insurance Company, West Coast Life Insurance Company, Savings Bank Life Insurance Company of Massachusetts. They used a third party database of top term life insurance companies so that they would be able to rank the companies by the lowest life insurance rates.

Life insurance costs can seem strange and weird–not to mention boring and irritating–to most people. Life insurance is a product most people don’t like thinking about not only because it can seem so dull but because it requires them to think of death–typically their own.

Yet it is possible to understand life insurance costs, and with that it becomes easier to understand the value of this quite amazing financial product.

MORTALITY TABLES

Mortality tables are piles of organized statistics on risk factors for death probabilities compiled from across the nation. Mortality tables are used by statistical scientists called actuaries to figure a life insurance company’s premium pricing. An insurer prices a policy to: pay for overhead; have enough money to invest; make a profit; and minimize its own risk. Actuaries consider: gender, age, smoker status, and “preferred risk” factors. They will then make actuarial adjustments based on a more rigorous medical exam of a given individual who applies for life insurance. “Preferred risk” status is conferred upon individuals who don’t smoke and whose medial exams return results saying they are healthier than average for their age, and this risk level results in lower premiums for a given policy, sometimes dramatically so.

COSTS GOING DOWN

Most people might be surprised to learn that when adjusted for inflation, the cost of life insurance has been going DOWN for over a decade. Not many products in any industry can boast that. Why is this happening? People on average are smoking somewhat less, getting more active, and receiving better life-sustaining medical care in their old age. In short, they’re living longer, and that’s reducing life insurance companies’ risks. Individual actions have a group effect on life insurance premiums. Furthermore, the costs of doing business for life insurance companies and agents has been going down with the rise of new technologies such as the Internet.

HOW CAN I SAVE ON LIFE INSURANCE COSTS?

Many people complain that they are “insurance poor”, meaning they feel like they have too much discretionary income going to insurance premiums–with life insurance usually the most despised (and thus first to be dropped) among these. Many life insurance agents don’t help, either–they are trained to “not leave money on the table” after doing a Financial Needs Analysis with a prospect or a client, and they usually have their own bread riding on the outcome of a meeting.

Which leads to a couple of first tips to save on life insurance costs: don’t buy coverage you don’t need or really isn’t in your best interests. Guess what that means for you? Forget “whole life” insurance. You have no business wanting life insurance for your “whole life” unless you’re buying a policy after age 60. Life insurance is intended to be a temporary risk minimizer while you build personal wealth. You want term life or, if you’re more financially sophisticated, universal life.

Agents from major companies often try to push whole life because it pays them the biggest commissions. Ergo, tip the next: try to do business (if possible WITHOUT sacrificing customer service or financial advisory quality) with a life insurer that prices in only tiny commissions in its premiums. Insider secret here: you may want to get life insurance through a full-service, fee-based financial planner who doesn’t care about life insurance commissions. Along these same lines, do not buy any “riders” on your policies. These things cater to people’s irrational fears and lack of financial planning sense to line the pockets of insurance agents. If an agent brings one up just tell him “no, end of discussion”.

Speaking of premiums: do buy as much life insurance at one time as you can afford. Life insurance agents actually aren’t kidding when they say everyone should have coverage 8 to 10 times the amount of their annual income. As you buy larger amounts of life insurance, the price per thousand dollars of coverage usually goes down past certain thresholds such as multiples of $250,000. As with most things, buying by volume is cheaper in the long run.

Also, if you feel you could have qualified for lower premiums (for instance, you don’t smoke but chew tobacco so were given smokers’ rates), negotiate with the insurance company. You have the right to drop the policy, and they want your business. (Note: don’t be crazy, though. If you’re a smoker who jogs you may not have a leg to stand on.)

Another way to save money with respect to your medical condition: make it better. If you know you’re overweight but need life insurance, take a small policy for one year, start working out and lose weight, then apply for the policy you want next year to save big time on premiums.

If you have a pre-existing condition, try to find a specialist life insurance company that caters to people just like you. A good financial advisor or planner can help with this, as can insurance brokerages.

Also with regards to premiums: beware of churning! This is a ILLEGAL practice where a slimy agent dupes a client into taking money out of an existing life insurance policy to fund a brand new one “for free” with the same company. Life insurers are quick to compensate clients for being victimized by one of their agents, however, so contact the state insurance bureau if you suspect foul play.