Ideas, tips and news about life insurance and the uses of life insurance

It’s true that insurance companies charge more for life insurance if you smoke cigarettes but you still can search the market and get the best rates possible on the lifeinsure.com site. If you do quit cigarette smoking later and remain in good health, you can either reapply with the life insurance company you get or get a new life insurance policy at non-smoking rates. Call us (toll free 866 691 0100) so we can assist you with direction on which way to go to make sure you get life insurance with great prices and to keep your options open.

If you smoke cigars or chew tobacco, some life insurance companies will charge the same as if you smoke cigarettes, some lower. We know which insurance companies differentiate and charge lower for cigar smokers and also which ones are lower if you chew tobacco and don’t smoke. The prices shown on the lifeinsure.com site for tobacco use don’t reflect this. Your situation may require custom life insurance quotes which we would be glad to do for you. Contact us for those custom quotes and describe your tobacco use and we’ll work those quotes up for you.

On the lifeinsure.com site there is an article describing universal life with secondary guarantees.

These secondary guarantees overcome one of the main objections to universal life insurance policies which is that the policy could lapse or need additional premiums if interest rates go below those projected or if the life insurance company raises the cost for insurance (the mortality cost).

Secondary guarantees guarantee that the policy won’t lapse even if the above factors of interest or increased mortality costs come in. But what if you miss a premium on a universal life policy with secondary guarantees? In the past, you could lose the secondary guarantee!

Now, many of these policies have catch up provisions which allow you to make up missed premiums or even to fund the policy with lower premiums “betting” on interest rates and if that doesn’t work you can make up the premiums.

To learn more about secondary guarantees, follow this link to another blog article, go to the universal life section of the lifeinsure.com site to get a quote or call us at 866-691-0100

If you have a medical problem or an adverse medical history, can you get life insurance and at what price? The answer is – usually. If it’s a very serious medical difficulty which is recent then it becomes more problematic but not impossible.

Every case is unique and each insurance company is different in how they treat medical conditions. Some companies may do better with heart conditions, some may do better on diabetes, others on cancer now in remission. Our job (and expertise) is to know which companies are more liberal than others for different conditions and investigate and negotiate the market for you. (Even individuals with so-called “uninsurable” conditions can often obtain life insurance coverage with what is called guaranteed issue life insurance or simplified issued life insurance policies. These policies may have limited benefits for a number of years and then full benefits come in at some point.)

What can happen, when there’s a medical problem, is that insurance is issued that may be rated or “rated up” which means that the policy is issued with a higher rate than “standard” rates for life insurance. The overall name for this topic for this type of life insurance is called “sub-standard” life insurance which just means less than or not standard rates or cost.

The recommended step to take would be to go to experts with experience in helping many clients over many years. That describes the experts at LifeInsure.com. To have us look into your situation regarding obtaining life insurance with a medical problem, contact us to have a no obligation conversation.

I hope that you’ve found this blog helpful and I’ll continue to add information that makes life insurance more understandable for you.

On another, unrelated subject, I wanted to chime in on the Tom Cruise discussion. I think he’s been unfairly targeted by some of the media. It may be time that we did have a discussion about the over-medicating of our kids and also adults and the massive PR machine and advertising budgets of the big pharmaceutical companies that is influencing how we all look at ourselves and life.

I remember reading Huxley’s Brave New World as a young adult and getting thoroughly scared about a society that was totalitarian and fully medicated with soma. Around this same time I read Orwell’s 1984.

Now, that’s a scary one-two punch. Now with millions of people being marketed to and directed to medicate for “peace of mind”, have we entered similarities to these novels? My opinion is it’s time for dialogue. Here is a link to an editorial in the Washington Times and also to a website with an interesting view of medication and the controversy about psychiatry.

The first requirement to getting life insurance is caring about someone else. It has been said that life insurance is an unselfish act. One sends money to a life insurance company and does it so that in the event or his or her death someone they care about will be taken care of. Doing this shows responsibility and love. It is an admirable act.

The proceeds of the life insurance by definition will never be seen by the person insured. It also can have personal benefit. There is personal satisfaction from knowing that financial affairs will be taken care of and that loved ones (or a business in the case of business life insurance) will be financially secure to continue their lives and pursue their dreams.

Having life insurance can also have personal financial benefit as well. Life insurance policies that develop cash value can be used to assist in retirement and build personal wealth while living. If you’ve read this, you’re on the first step. The next step is to make sure you have enough life insurance. Visit us at www.lifeinsure.com. We’ve been at this for a long time and will help you with understanding and making good choices in this area.

We’re often asked how can an insurance company guarantee to give you back all the money you paid for the policy at the end of the term period (15, 20 0r 30 years) on a return of premium life insurance policy?

Here’s how it’s done: The premium for a return of premium term life policy is higher than the amount you’d pay for just term life insurance for the same period of time. Because the life insurance company has charged more than they need to pay for claims and expenses the balance can be invested by the insurance company.

The insurance company actuary (an insurance accountant) takes into consideration the amount of interest that the company can make during the period on the excess premium. Also, some people, because of circumstances, may not keep their policies and will therefore not get the refund. Their excess payments go back to the company. Because they don’t keep their policy and you do, that helps lower what the insurance company charges. It’s interesting that the refund you receive at the end of the term is tax free since it’s equal to what you put in.

One piece of advice I’d give on return of premium is similar to advice on whole life insurance: Don’t get it unless you’re very confident that you’ll be able to keep the policy until the term period is up. If you’re not that sure, then go with a traditional term life insurance policy.

If you’re looking for term life insurance on the web, follow this link to a great new article on about.com that can help you wade through the massive overload of information on this subject.

The article explains the difference among all the types of sites that market term life insurance and give term life insurance quotes. Follow this link to the article: term life insurance article