What about life insurance?
139827
Wow, some really dangerous opinions in here!\n\nLife insurance proceeds are there to provide protection for your dependents in three basic areas:\n\n1) Funds made available to pay final costs (burial, medical bills, etc.) and debts (mortgage, credit cards. etc)\n\n2) Funds to make up the difference between the household income before your death and what it would be following your death.\n\n3) Funds to invest to meet the savings goals you would have been saving for had you not died. (Think children's education)\n\nNot everyone has needs in all three areas and like Lady Death alludes to in her answer, you can accumulate assets to offset these needs. This is referred to as Self-Insuring. In an ideal world, we would all quickly accumulate wealth sufficient to fully protect our families while not accumulating enough wealth to fall afoul of estate taxes. In reality this is not always the case, hence the continued need for life insurance.\n\nWhen you first apply for a policy, you go through an intense process called underwriting. This is when the insurance companies underwriters tak a very indepth look at you health (through blood and urine tests, questioning you, questioning your doctors and requesting information on you from the Medical Information Bureau [Think of the MIB as a Credit Bureau that tracks your health]) and your financial situation to determine IF you are insurable and how much your premiums are going to be.\n\nWhen people say you should only buy term insurance, be skeptical. It is a very unobjective thing to say when they know NOTHING of your situation. Term insurance is an easier sale and some salespeople follow the path of least resistance rather than providing the best objective advice to their clients. Buy Term and Invest the Difference- this assumes that you have the discipline to invest the difference rather than spend it, that you accumulate enough assets to self insure before the term period runs out, and that you don't accumulate too much with respect to estate taxes. Otherwose, you find yourself in the unenviable situation of having to go through underwriting again to put another term policy in force, with premiums based on your then current age, of course. This is particularly bad if your health has deteriorated in some way, jeapoardizing your ability to get coverage. Some may say you could convert the policy to permanent insurance at that point but that negates the tenents of the startegy and why put a permanent policy in place then, having given up all those years when you could have been funding it?!?\n\nMy best advice is to consult a financial planner (AVOID anyone who tells you what type of insurance to get without asking any questions of you and run away from anyone who uses a "multiple of salary" approach to determining your need) and have a survivorship analysis completed. Your planner will educate you on the different types of insurance and develop an insurance portfolio to meet your individual situation. It may be that term insurance is the right thing for you right now; maybe not. For anyone to say it is without the facts is not very intelligent nor prudent.\nGood Luck.
192747
max newyork life insurance\nor\nmetlife
516955
I guess you don't want to read the life policy. Thats ok, most people don't like to read it either. So I'll help you sum it up:\n\n1) You may surrender the policy anytime\n2) You may change or add the beneficiary anytime (unless it is irrevocable)\n3) You may change the coverage amount that fits your needs.\n4) If there is a savings or cash-value in the policy, you may BORROW it anytime and MUST PAY BACK with INTEREST. If you decide to surrender your policy to get the cash value, there may be a surrender charge.
104121
Risk is the exposure to uncertainty.  An insurance policy is an exchange of a certain loss (the premium) to have another party (the insurer) absorb all or part of the negative consequence of being exposed to that uncertainty.\n\nFor example, you have virtually no risk of dying in an airplane crash if you do not get in an airplane.  You are not exposed, other than that a plane could fall on you.  Likewise, if you jump out of an airplane without a parachute, there is no risk.  You have all the exposure in the world, but it is certain that you will be killed.  There may be some trivial risk that you live but it is so small that it can be ignored.\n\nYou need two things, uncertainty and exposure.  Life insurance is a good example, you know for certain that you will die, you do not know when.  The insurer covers you against premature death.  Its reverse, the immediate annuity, covers you against living too long and running out of investment resources.
755688
There are three types of insurance policies.\nTerm - No investment (hence very cheap premium and good life cover)\nEndowment - Investment in traditional markets ( you get 6-7% return per year and bonuses)\nUnit Linked - They invest in stocks and hence can give higher or lower return depending on market conditon..\n\n\nIf you are married & have children, then look at insurance as protection and look more at the Sum INsurred then at the returns.\n\nIf you are bachelor and live alone, why invest in insurance.. the whole world of mutual funds, stocks is for you:)
88412
Probably the best benefit of life insurance is burials are expensive, and with life insurance, when you expire (die), your family will have enough money to bury you, pay off your bills, etc. (Depending on how much of a policy you get.) You can get life insurance policies through several different companies. Most of the time employers offer it with their health insurance policies. The best policy will vary with your individual needs. If you consult an insurance agent, they can better assist you with your particular needs. To check into it, visit these websites:\n\nwww.aigtermlife.com\nwww.insureapp.com\nwww.1stquote.com/company-list.htm\nwww.accuquote.com
236191
What kind of insurance are you looking for?
802439
There actually is insurance with a 'savings plan'.\nIt's called any number of things...\n\nwhole life insurance\npermanent insurance\nuniversal life insurance\n\nAll these combine life insurance with savings vehicles.\n\nHowever, almost all are a bad deal for most people when you consider you are paying a large amount of your money out in fees, commissions and profits when you can buy other kinds of insurance (like term insurance) cheaper and use the savings to invest on your own.\n\nDepending on how you invest the cash portion of your permanent life insurance, it may or may not be 'insured'.
245377
Whole Life Insurance - Life insurance that is kept in force for a person's whole life as long as the scheduled premiums are maintained. All Whole Life policies build up cash values. Most Whole Life policies are guaranteed as long as the scheduled premiums are maintained. The variable in a Whole life Policy is the dividend which could vary depending on how well the insurance is doing. If the company is doing well and the policies are not experiencing a higher mortality than projected, premiums are paid back to the policy holder in the form of dividends. Policyholders can use the cash from dividends in many ways. The three main uses are: it can be used to lower or vanish premiums, it can be used to purchase more insurance or it can be used to pay for term insurance. \n\nTerm Life Insurance - Protection during limited number of years; expiring without value if the insured survives the stated period, which may be one or more years but usually is five to twenty years, because such periods usually cover the needs for temporary protection.\n\nDisability Insurance - Insurance policy that pays benefits in the event that the policyholder becomes incapable of working.
681516
Estate is something you own. If you die and you don't name any beneficiaries on your life insurance policy, all death benefits will be paid to your estate. From that point on, the money will stay there until someone in your family claims it (of course this usually result in a family feud and all settlements will have to be settled in court).\n\nSo what I suggest if this person owns life insurance and has no named beneficiary, he/she better name one as soon as possible.\n\nAnother way to look at it is that you have a savings account in heaven and only people who can touch it is your family and your relatives. The government has no access to it. :-D
925306
My condolences about your friend and her loved one.\n\nI’ve linked to articles describing how to choose a life insurance and how to calculate how much life insurance you need. I’ve also linked to online calculators to help you figure it out. Deciding how much life insurance is enough is a very personal decision – what’s right for you might not be right for someone else.  I’ve also linked to an article about what to look for in renewable term life insurance.\n\nYour concentration on the life insurance company is a good idea, since your life or disability policy will only be as solid as the financial strength of the insurance company you choose. After you read the articles below and get a firm idea of what kind of policy you’re looking for, try visiting MostChoice.com. You can compare insurance policies online quickly and speak to multiple insurance agents working in your community – all without any obligation. It’s a quick and simple way to swiftly survey the local insurance market, and MostChoice provides information on more than 140 companies with A+ or better financial ratings.\n\nYou can find MostChoice here:\nhttp://www.mostchoice.com/life-insurance.cfm\n\nHope this helps,\nBarnes@MostChoice
506351
Term: Known as "pure" type of insurance such as car insurance. It offers maximum coverage available for low amount of premium. People buying term know that they do not need life insurance forever because they have less financial obligations to pay off (like mortgages, kids) as they get older. People should consider investing in mutual funds when purchasing term.\n\nCash value: A savings plan attached to a life insurance policy. Also known as whole life, universal life, or variable life. A portion of your premium is going into your cash value and the rest into your insurance. When you decide to use it, you have to borrow it and pay back with interest (keep in mind, interest is kept by the company.. it is not applied to the cash value). Cash value are not good investment vehicles for retirement or for education because they earn an average rate of return of less than 3%.\n\nFinancial experts say you should keep investments separate from insurance because it is less expensive that way and you have better control of your finances.
45277
Term insurance is temporary insurance.  Over long periods of time it is very expensive, over very short periods of time it is very cheap.  I will explain why in a minute.\n\nWhole life insurance is permanent insurance, it covers you for your whole life (hence the name).  It ranges from single payment whole life insurance, where you pay once and you are covered for life, to payments spread out over your entire lifetime.  It's premium can be level, but some start with a low initial premium that jumps after five to twenty years depending on the contract.  It is really declining term with the difference invested.\n\nFinally, there is universal life.  It is a hybrid of the two.  They give you an estimated premium amount, you can pay whatever you wish, subject to certain contractual minimum payments.  Like whole life, it has cash buildup so you are buying declining term and investing the difference, unlike whole life you can be at risk if your payments work out to be insuffficient.  The difference is the premium is flexable.\n\nTerm insurance over long periods of time (basically to advanced old age) will cost you about 6 times the amount you are insuring, whole life will cost you a fraction of the face amount and usually becomes self funding in 10 to 20 years depending on the contract.\n\nIn term insurance, you provide a small payment equal to your expected risk of dying plus insurance company costs minus expected earnings on the premium by the insurance company in terms of its investments.\n\nIn whole life, and to a lesser extent universal life, you provide a larger payment.  Over decades, the payment is split between cash value, company expenses, insurance costs and earnings by your policy credited to your account.\n\nTo illustrate, imagine you have a $100,000 policy and you buy term at a young age.  You send in premiums each year, and each year the premiums increase.  If you die, your beneficiaries get $100,000.\n\nThe counter example is a whole life policy.  You buy it at the same age.  Each year the premiums stay the same.  After ten years of paying, the cash value equals the amount of premiums you already paid in.  You break even.  To make the calculation simple, lets assume the premium is $1000 per year.  In year 10, if you die, your beneficiary is paid $100,000.  Of that $100,000, $90,000 was money that was money that the insurance company covered and $10,000 was money you had covered.  You shared the risk with the insurer so over time your premiums are lower.  Imagine another ten years go by and you call up your insurance agent about cancelling the policy.  You have been paying all these years and you would like to stop.  He checks on your policy and the earnings are sufficient that it will pay for itself.  You can keep the policy, never pay tax on the gain and have access to the cash value if you need it.  Your twin with the term is simply out of insurance.  If they invested the difference, they paid taxes on the gain every year.\n\nPermanent insurance (whole and universal) also come in two flavors, variable and traditional.  In variable, the cash value varies with the stock and bond markets and you have a small family of mutual funds to invest the cash value with.  In traditional, the company invests the money for you and credits you with your prorata share of the earnings.\n\nThere is one other flavoring, participating and non-participating.  In participating, usually sold by fraternals and mutuals, you own part of the insurance company, any profits you participate in.  In non-participating, you have no claim on the underlying company any profits are kept by them.
1146730
Do you want a term policy or a lifetime policy?\nHow much love do you want insured?  The rates vary depending on whether it is puppy love, carnal love, a simple crush, unrequited love, romantic love, familial love or eternal love.  God's love is free and insured by heaven, so we don't cover that.  Is the love you are insuring going to cover just yourself, or another person as well?  Do you want injury protection in case of broken heart?  Do you need medical coverage for injury incurred during love making?  Do you want full coverage or depreciation over time?  I need all these things answered before I can help you.
1048438
A term life insurance policy is a contract between you and the insurance company where if you die during the contract term they will pay your beneficiary the amount specified in the contract.  This is pure insurance and there is no account or cash value.\n\nFor example: If you purchase a 30 year TERM policy for 1 Million dollars then the insurance company will pay your beneficiary $1 Million dollars, tax free if you die in the next 30 years.  Some term policies offer conversion options without underwriting should you want to extend your insurance beyond the original term.  You would be converting into one of the policies I mention below.\n\nTerm insurance is the cheapest option and the shorter the term the lower the premium.  You may have heard the people say "buy term and invest the difference".\n\nSome term policies offer a "return of premium" rider.  This option usually increases the premium 30-40% (ballpark).  If you survive the term of the policy they will refund the premium you paid.  These policies do accumulate a small account value.\n\nUniversal and Whole Life Insurance Policies are the ones that accumulate a cash value.  Whole life policies are the most expensive because they are guaranteed to be in force until age 100.  Universal policies may or may not be in force until age 100.  If it doesn't say guaranteed to age 100 then it isn't guaranteed.\n\nThe account value of these policies grows over time and you can then either withdraw cash or borrow against it.  if you take the money out it may be subject to taxes.  If you borrow it there are no tax implications as long as you don't lapse the policy.\n\nLife insurance policies are not the best investment vehicles, but because of the tax benefits they can be a good alternative depending on your tax bracket.\n\nAgents will most often try to sell you a Universal Life policy.  This is because the premiums are higher than term and the commission is that much better.\n\nI tend to recommend guaranteed level premium 20-30 year term policies with convertibility options (just in case).  You should only consider companies rated A- or better.  I find the best rates come from American General, First Colony, Genworth, Met-Life, West Coast Life,  and Prudential.\n\n"A wife doesn't know the value of a life insurance policy...but a widow does."
797676
If you are talking about unit linked plans almost all the life insurerers have such a scheme. contact any one of them.
879468
Most life insurance can benefit a third party as long as the third party has "insurable interest".  For example.  business partners will often use life insurance to protect each other from the risk associated losing a partner.    The key is that the third party has risks to protect and would be financially harmed due to the loss of the insured.  It is up the individuals involved to prove insurable interest to the insurance company. \n\nTerm insurance works well. You can choose the length of time you want coverage.  The costs are typically lower with term life.  \n\nUniversal Life or whole life will typically be more in cost.  But, generally will not expire like term life.  Also,  they have cash value that can be returned to the owner in the future when the insurance is no longer needed.