Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Five Steps To Cheap Life Insurance Premiums

Life insurance is all about calculating risk. When you take out a policy, you and your insurance company are both hoping that you'll never have to make a claim. Insurance companies are experts at assessing risk, and calculating how likely it is that a certain type of person will die at any given age.

People are classed in categories, such as low-risk and high-risk-depending on their age, health and lifestyle, and those high-risk people pay much higher insurance premiums, because they're more likely to die sooner rather than later. How can you make sure you're in the low-risk category? Try following one or more of these five suggestions.

Become a Vegetarian

Some insurance companies are beginning to include diet in their risk assessment when they calculate premiums. They know that a meatless diet is much healthier than one that includes large amounts of animal protein. No animal protein and much less saturated fat in the diet means vegetarians have a 40% lower risk of developing some cancers, and a 30% lower risk of developing heart disease.

Not all insurance companies take vegetarianism into account when calculating premiums, but if you're a vegetarian your arteries are going to be in better shape, you may have lower blood pressure and cholesterol, so those factors can help you get lower premiums with some providers.

Lose Weight

Obesity increases the risk of cancer, diabetes, hypertension and heart disease, and on average, obesity reduces life expectancy by nine years. Not surprisingly, insurance companies view obesity as a risk factor, and the higher your body max index, the higher your insurance premiums.

If you're overweight or obese, you're paying a much higher premium than you need to and, you're reducing your life expectancy as well. Losing weight will cut your insurance premiums and might just give you a new lease of life too.

Women: Get Covered Before Getting Pregnant

Insurance companies view pregnancy as a high-risk condition, due to illnesses that may affect pregnant women. For example, previously healthy women may develop diabetes or hypertension during pregnancy, literally without warning. If you are pregnant when you apply for life cover, you can expect much higher premium quotes than you'd get either before or after pregnancy. You'll typically pay at least 50% more for premiums if you apply while pregnant. To keep your premiums low, buy life cover before getting pregnant.

Give Up Extreme Sports

Also on the long list of things that insurance companies view as risky are extreme sports such as sky-diving, mountain-climbing and bungee-jumping. If these are your favorite sports, you're going to pay much more for your life cover.

However, even if you're not an extreme sports lover, it might pay to check your premium and find out how your favorite sports are classified. Some insurance companies put much safer sports such as horse-riding in the high-risk category, so you're better off finding an insurer with more favourable sporting classifications.

Give Up Smoking

The new emphasis on obesity doesn't make the risks of smoking any less. Insurance companies still charge smokers up to twice as much for their insurance premiums as they do non-smokers. If you're a smoker, kicking the habit will save more on your insurance than any other lifestyle change.

resource:http://www.ezinesarticle.com/Article/Five-Steps-To-Cheap-Life-Insurance-Premiums/128990

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Universal Life Insurance Policy - A Different Choice

Choosing a life insurance policy isn’t an easy task. There are several policies to choose from, each with elements that we want and need. The two most popular kinds of life insurance policies are term life insurance policies and whole life insurance policies.

If a term life insurance policy and a whole life insurance policy got married and had a child, the child would be a universal life insurance policy. Universal life insurance policies are a mix of term life insurance policies and whole life insurance policies. Just like all children do, universal life insurance policies have a few positive features and a few negative features of each parent, i.e., the term life insurance policy and the whole life insurance policy.

Like a whole life insurance policy, a universal life insurance policy offers an investment component; however, universal life insurance policies are generally less expensive than whole life insurance policies. This is a good thing for those of us who want the cash value accruement of a whole life policy but can not afford to purchase one. It should be noted, however, that earning a cash value isn’t guaranteed. Coverage can even end if your account gets low enough.

Like a term life insurance policy, a universal life insurance policy is usually not as expensive as a whole life insurance policy. However, even though an accumulation of cash value isn’t guaranteed with a universal life insurance policy, it is possible; it is not possible with a term life insurance policy.

If certain aspects of both a term life insurance policy and a whole life insurance policy appeal to you, consider purchasing a universal life insurance policy. Don’t purchase any life insurance policy, including a universal life insurance policy, without first speaking with an agent of the life insurance company. Your universal life insurance agent will be able to construct the life insurance policy that meets both your wants and needs.

resource:http://www.ezinearticles.com/?Universal-Life-Insurance-Policy---A-Different-Choice&id=229082

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

What Makes Life Insurance Premiums Rise?

Life insurance is cheap for those with good health and low risk lifestyles. But if you don't fall into either of those categories, you can expect to pay anywhere from a few pence to many pounds more per monthly for your premiums. Several factors contribute to the amount you pay-some are factors you can control, and some are not.

The Falling Cost of Life Cover

According to analysis by Life Search, the costs of term assurance have been cut by as much as 50% over the past ten years. For £100,000 worth of life cover, a 35 year old male non-smoker can expect to pay around £8 per month, while a female will pay just £7 per month.

The falling cost of life insurance is due in part to the increased life expectancy of both men and women, with women's higher life expectancies giving them access to slightly lower premiums.

So Why Do Some People Pay More?

General population trends such as the tendency to live longer affect insurance premiums across the board. For individuals, much more specific factors affect the monthly cost of life cover, and even though the cost has decreased in general, certain lifestyle and health factors can increase the costs considerably.

For life insurance companies, determining your premium is about assessing your level of risk and assigning a monthly premium cost to match it. In very general terms, the more likely the insurance company believes you are to die while the policy is in effect, the more they will charge you for insurance. Your age, health and lifestyle all affect how much your premiums cost.

Age and Sex

Men pay slightly more than women due to their lower life expectancy. Life insurance premiums also increase with age so the sooner you get your life cover sorted the less it will cost you.

Health & Medical History

Factors such as hypertension, high cholesterol, obesity, diabetes and smoking all influence how much you pay for life cover. In all cases these conditions translate into a higher level of risk for the insurance company because these conditions reduce life expectancy.

Obesity and smoking in particular are expensive in insurance terms. A 35 year old male smoker will pay around £13-£15 per month for £100,000 worth of life cover, and obese people can expect to pay around 50% more for their life insurance.

Your family's medical history, as well as your own health, will play a part in determining your premium costs. If conditions such as heart disease, cancer or diabetes are prevalent in your family your insurance costs will rise, even if you yourself have not developed these diseases.

Occupation and Hobbies

The price of your life cover will be higher if your occupation is risky, or if you have any high-risk hobbies such as mountaineering or motor racing.

Overall

Your unique combination of health and lifestyle factors will determine the price you pay for life insurance premiums. If your lifestyle and occupation are low-risk, your health will be the most important factor that determines how much you pay.

Finally, note that being thoroughly honest about your health and lifestyle is crucial when applying for insurance. While factors such as smoking or a family history of diabetes will increase your costs, false information will invalidate your policy.

resource:http://www.ezinesarticle.com/Article/What-Makes-Life-Insurance-Premiums-Rise-/124824

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Texas Whole Life Insurance

Before you decide to buy whole life insurance over its counterpart, Term Life Insurance, it is crucial for you to understand the basics about Whole Life Insurance in Texas.

The first type of whole life insurance is non-par or non-participating, whereas the second type is participating. The major difference between these two types of whole life insurance policies is that you cannot change them. In terms of a participating type of whole life insurance, the insurance firm will share the dividends with you.

While term life insurance only offers death benefits, whole life insurance creates money value and therefore, offers benefits while you are still alive. Usually, it takes around 10 years or more for whole life insurance to create a money value (also referred to as cash value) for the insurance buyer.

Another advantage of whole life insurance is that, you can lock the price of premiums, thereby paying the same for the coverage annually. Like term life insurance, you have a death benefit which will be given to your beneficiaries in the event of your death. However, with whole life, your cash value increases with time and can barrowed, barrowed against, or withdrawn for your retirement.

Further, depending on the type of whole life insurance that you select, your insurance premium may be able to be paid out of the monthly earnings of the cash value account attached to the whole life insurance policy.

Whole life insurance has higher premiums and offers higher pay out. Premiums are paid for the entire duration for which the person holds the insurance. However, there are certain types of whole life insurances that offer a set amount of payments, whereas the insurance continues for a lifetime, but the premium does not.

The best place to start is a life insurance agent who can explain in detail the differences between whole life insurance and term life insurance. It’s also helpful to have an agent in Texas that is a phone call away and locally positioned to answer your questions after you purchase the policy.

resource:http://www.ezinesarticle.com/Article/Texas-Whole-Life-Insurance/137760

Monday, March 31, 2008

How to get the best child life insurance quotes

Getting child life insurance quotes on the net can be convenient, but are you sure that you are seeing the big picture?

You can see life insurance information child policies, but the words can be cryptic. The child life insurance coverage information could be well-hidden online too! Because child life insurance costs money, it's important to know precisely what life insurance coverage you can get. It may be best to talk to an authorized life insurance agent.

Question You Should Ask About Your Child Life Insurance

Is child life insurance really worth the premiums? Many question the importance of child life insurance. After all, if anyone needs to get insured, shouldn't it be the working parents? While this is indeed a valid argument, there are advantages to getting child life insurance.

It's not so much the benefits as it is about future eligibility. Child life insurance is especially important if your family has a history of medical illness. You see, if you get child life insurance, your child can automatically get any type of life insurance later on.

Most types of child life insurance are actually term life insurance. Child life insurance often does not build cash value and has small premiums. In order to be competitive, some life insurance agencies are providing child life insurance some features similar to whole life insurance. However, child life insurance ends when your child matures, so the cash value benefits are very minimal.

As a general rule, parents should first get themselves insurance, before their children. Because the main purpose of child life insurance is future eligibility, parents will do well to just get the cheapest child life insurance package.

Beyond everything else, they must make sure that the child life insurance will allow their children to have immediate access to life insurance later on.

resource:www.articlesnatch.com

Monday, March 24, 2008

Some Facts About The Types Of Life Insurance That You Can Get

When people feel that they need to leave tangible evidence of their life behind them generally you will find that people look at different life insurance policies. As these policies all have various differences it is best to know some facts about the types of life insurance that you can get. There are about 4 to 5 different major types of life insurance that most insurance companies can provide you details of.

There is an important fact that you should keep in mind about these types of life insurance policies. This fact is that each insurance company has different ideas about what these types of life insurance policies will cover. And you will also find that these same companies will also have various ways of looking at the policy depending on the state you are in.

However before you start panicking you might still want to get a rough idea of these types of life insurance policies. This way you will be prepared to look for the terms which identify the policy for ones that are recognizable to you. Well before we look any further you should know what these life insurance policies are in general called. You have Term Life insurance, Universal Variable Life Insurance, Whole Life Insurance, Variable Life Insurance and you also have Universal Life Insurance.

In each of these life insurance policies you will find that there are differences. These differences can be seen as you examine each policy. For instance you will find that each of these policies has a different insurance policy rates. Of these many policies you will notice that you can arrange matters so that your dependents will be able to claim a good deal.

Now in the types of life insurance you should look more carefully at how the policy will work for you. For instance in whole life insurance policies you will discover that the premiums are set for the entire period of your life. Universal life insurance is considered as being a very flexible life insurance policy. The term life insurance is known to be one of the simplest and yet the least expensive policies that you can find.

This is just a small glimpse into the different types of life insurance policies which you can get. For this reason you may want to see what sort of brochures and other documentation you can get. These should ideally concentrate on details that matter for the clients.

resource:www.free-articles-zone.com

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Life Insurance Policy -- How Do I Make Massive Savings Without Putting My Family At Risk

If you are one of those wondering how they can pay a lot less for a life insurance policy without putting their families at risk, this is for you: Time-tested ways to pay a lot less...

1. Understanding the Cost Index will help you shop better. And you know that shopping better means you can easily get better rates. What is Cost Index? It is a system developed by the insurance industry to make comparison shopping a lot easier. With it you can easily compare similar life insurance plans to determine which is a better bargain for you. The lower the cost index number the better the deal. Ask your agent for the Cost Index before you pay for a policy.

2. Lose weight and your life insurance premium will drop. An insured's Body Mass Index (BMI) is an important factor that determines what you pay as life insurance rate.

The higher an individual's BMI rating, the higher their life insurance premium will be. The more extra weight you have for your height and sex the higher your Body Mass Index rating will be. Now don't wait until when you can lose thirty pounds because dropping as little as five pounds can drop you into a lower BMI rating which leads to more affordable life insurance rates.

3. Do your utmost to maintain an outstanding credit rating. Having a poor credit rating is simply making hard for yourself apart from the fact that your premium will be much higher. This is because insurers regard individuals who miss payments as reckless and a bigger risk to them. Once you are seen as bad risk you'll get more expensive life insurance rates.

4. If you take part in high risk or extreme sports you'll attract expensive life insurance rates. It's therefore compulsory to quit such high risk sports if you need lower life insurance rates.

5. You can realize savings of over $2,000 on life insurance policy by obtaining and comparing quotes. Using a minimum of five quotes sites increase the chances that you would get more quotes. This offers you a broader basis for doing more extensive comparisons thus increasing your chances of getting cheaper rates.

resource: www.ezinearticles.com