The Advantages of Whole Life Insurance versus Term Life Insurance

December 23rd, 2006

Life insurance comes in a number of varieties. We hear terms such as whole life insurance, term life insurance, variable life insurance, etc., and it can be very easy to become overwhelmed quickly. One very popular life insurance choice is whole life insurance, which provides coverage for a lifetime, assuming continued premium payments. There are a number of advantages of whole life insurance over term and variable life insurance, some of which will be outlined in this article.

Whole life insurance features level premiums, which means that the amount you must pay for your whole life insurance policy is better the younger you are. Therefore, if you are relatively young, buying whole life insurance can be a great investment. This pricing policy makes sense as insurance companies offer lower premiums if they incur lower risk. The chances are good that they will not have to pay a claim on a healthy and young individual for many decades which means that they are likely to profit on the policy. If the individual stops paying for the policy for any reason during his or her life, the total amount paid in premiums becomes pure profit.

Another real advantage of whole life insurance policies is that there is the potential to earn dividends. This surprising benefit occurs when the amount that the company has to pay to administer the policy turns out to be less than what was anticipated. Of course, dividends are never guaranteed, but are a very nice plus when they do occur.

Another aspect of whole life insurance policies is that they carry actually cash value. You can choose to cash in your insurance policy for that cash value, and it is also possible to take out loans against the cash value in your whole life insurance policy.

The Challenges of Finding the Best Self Employed Health Insurance for You

December 19th, 2006

Health insurance is not cheap, and with premiums continuing to skyrocket alongside the price of health care, the outlook is not bright. For the self employed, the issue of health insurance is one that hits right in the wallet. Since self employed individuals are unable to qualify for group discounts offered to large companies, then the cost of self employed health insurance becomes of foremost concern. Deciding on what type of self employed health insurance to choose depends a great deal on the current state of your business and how you expect it to grow in the next few years.

If your business is run solely by yourself (i.e. no partners or employees) then you are certainly in the toughest self employed insurance situation. That is because the most expensive insurance rates occur for policies that are granted to only a single person. There are two reasons for this. First of all, small groups or individuals are not able to collectively bargain with the insurance agency. Insurance agencies are more likely to offer favorable rates to those who are willing to bring in many policy holders at once. Another reason is that the more people who are insured by a single policy, the more the risk is spread amongst all policy holders. This lowers the risk for the insurance agency and allows them to offer more favorable rates for coverage.

If you expect your company to grow in the near future to include employees or partners, it is probably a good idea to consider purchasing temporary health insurance. Temporary policies are not as robust as permanent coverage, but they can get you through until the time comes that you can qualify for a group discount.

Fortunately, Congress has noted the plight of self employed individuals. Now, most of the costs of self employed health insurance are tax deductible, and other legislation is pending that should ease the burden further.

The Advantages of Whole Life Insurance versus Term Life Insurance

December 16th, 2006

Life insurance comes in a number of varieties. We hear terms such as whole life insurance, term life insurance, variable life insurance, etc., and it can be very easy to become overwhelmed quickly. One very popular life insurance choice is whole life insurance, which provides coverage for a lifetime, assuming continued premium payments. There are a number of advantages of whole life insurance over term and variable life insurance, some of which will be outlined in this article.

Whole life insurance features level premiums, which means that the amount you must pay for your whole life insurance policy is better the younger you are. Therefore, if you are relatively young, buying whole life insurance can be a great investment. This pricing policy makes sense as insurance companies offer lower premiums if they incur lower risk. The chances are good that they will not have to pay a claim on a healthy and young individual for many decades which means that they are likely to profit on the policy. If the individual stops paying for the policy for any reason during his or her life, the total amount paid in premiums becomes pure profit.

Another real advantage of whole life insurance policies is that there is the potential to earn dividends. This surprising benefit occurs when the amount that the company has to pay to administer the policy turns out to be less than what was anticipated. Of course, dividends are never guaranteed, but are a very nice plus when they do occur.

Another aspect of whole life insurance policies is that they carry actually cash value. You can choose to cash in your insurance policy for that cash value, and it is also possible to take out loans against the cash value in your whole life insurance policy.