Cheap Life Insurance in Houston

When To Consider Selling Your Life Insurance Policy?

A Life Insurance Policy is a personal property, like a house, car, antiques, old painting or stocks and bonds. You can sell your life insurance policy like you sell your other personal property items. Life insurance may now be viewed as a traditional asset that can be purchased or sold. Sale of Life insurance policy is called as Life insurance settlement, Life settlement or Senior settlement.

Millions of seniors are unaware of the flexible and liquefiable insurance policy, they can sell for cash. The flexibility of a Senior settlement or Life settlement permits policy owners to sell all or a portion of their life insurance policies.

When the life insurance policy owner sells own life insurance policy, he or she transfers all rights and obligations to a new owner. The purchaser of the policy will then become the new owner and the new beneficiary of the policy and is then responsible for making all of the future premium payments. The new owner now collects the full amount of the death benefit when the insured dies.

Life insurance settlements present a unique opportunity to the policy holder to extract the maximum possible value from an existing life insurance policy and repurpose those funds for whatever financial needs may exist. Many people choose this option because the cash value of a life settlement generally exceeds the surrender value that would have been paid by the life insurance policy.

Policies are sold for many different personal or business reasons. Below are some of possible reasons for considering a Life Insurance Settlement:

Personal:

1. The original purpose or need for the policy has changed or has diminished totally.

2. The Beneficiary of the policy is deceased.

3. Policy holder is chronically ill; selling current policy provides needed funds to cover financial burdens caused by illness. A Viatical settlement gives the ability to regain needed financial security.

4. Policy has not met the original illustrated values and premiums need to be increased to keep policy in force.

5. If policy holder is over the age of sixty-five, a Life settlement or Senior settlement maximizes the current assets by eliminating premiums and getting required funds that can be used today.

6. Insured person wishes to distribute the funds/ liquid assets as per his or her desire while living.

7. To make funds available for other investments like real-estate, stocks, bonds or to start a new business.

8. Divorce settlement has altered the need for life insurance.

9. Personal financial situation has gone bad and making premium payments is unaffordable.

10. Sale proceeds from Life settlements are needed to pay down loans or outstanding debt.

11. The policy owner’s current asset mix is weighed too heavily in life insurance.

12. A client wishes to invest in a more appropriate product, such as a lower cost survivor policy, single premium annuity for supplemental income, long term care insurance, long term care insurance or other asset protection tools.

13. A family trust has eliminated the need for personal life coverage.

14. Policy holder need to fund an alternative healthcare that present insurance does not cover.

15. Insured person has left an employer, so he or she needs to sell old group policy.

16. Policy was purchased to ensure the availability of funds to pay off a mortgage and the mortgage has been paid.

17. To take a long awaited vacation or to buy a luxury item that was never affordable.

18. When a policy is in danger of getting lapsed the policy holder can turn it into cash.

19. You can use life settlements to donate to your favorite charity or cause and feel much better about yourself knowing that you have done your part to make the world a brighter place.

Business:

1. Business owned policies those are performing below expectations.

2. Key person insurance policy is no longer required due to retirement or change in business structure.

3. A policy purchased to finance a buy/ sell agreement is no longer needed after the business has been sold.

4. Bankruptcy of business has caused liquidation of assets.

5. Deferred compensation programs in business have changed or not required.

6. If you are a corporation, selling corporate owned life insurance lets you regain back premiums paid on no longer needed policies.

Estate Planning:

1. A single life insurance policy is no longer appropriate- a survivorship policy meets the estate planning requirement and 1035 exchange is avoided.

2. If you are managing an estate, selling your current life insurance policy will help manage changes in estate size, eliminate premiums, and liquidate policies that are no longer needed.

3. A policy needs to be removed from an estate. The three year rule can be avoided by using the life settlement sales proceeds to repurchase a new policy out side the estate.

4. There is a significant reduction in size of estate due to loss of net worth and less insurance coverage is needed to fund the projected estate tax liability.

Charitable Organizations:

1. If charities can no more continue to pay premiums on gifted policies.

2. Proceeds of a Life insurance settlement could result in a larger gift to the charity organization than the policy itself.

Non-Profit Organizations:

1. If you are a non profit organization, selling a gifted life insurance policy provides funds that can be used now and also eliminates premiums.

Once a policy owner has absolutely determined that it no longer makes sense to continue holding a policy, Life insurance settlement or Life settlement may be economically advantageous relative to surrendering or letting the policy lapsed.

This innovative wealth and estate planning tool removes the burden of expensive insurance premium payments in addition to providing the lump sum cash settlement. This allows policy holders to get cash out of their life insurance policy, in an amount in excess of the cash value of policy(if any), while they are still alive. To get the highest life settlements is to improve the quality of life during your retirement years.

About The Author
Paul Sherman is a Cash Flow Consultant. He offers free, professional and independent advice to Individuals, Business owners and Seniors. To secure a Life Insurance Settlement or Structured Settlement funding please visit http://www.Financial-ease.com.

Term life insurance can be a good choice for young families with children. You may only need coverage until the children are old enough and financially able to provide for themselves. There are several aspects to term life insurance and some common features of most term life policies include the following.

Convertibility.
You can exchange the policy for permanent life insurance of equal value without taking a medical exam or any further underwriting. For example, you could transfer a $100,000 convertible term policy into a $100,000 cash value policy without having to answer questions about your health or medical history. However, your premium will probably increase because cash value coverage typically costs more than term life. Convertibility can be an important feature if your health declines and you become unable to qualify for a permanent policy through a separate application. Converting to a cash value policy can also allow you to begin using your policy to build savings. Insurers typically only allow policyholders to convert term life policies before age 65.

Renewability.
You can extend the policy for additional terms, regardless of your health and without having to pass a medical exam. This can be another advantage of term life coverage as you age or if you become ill. Even if you no longer meet an insurer’s underwriting criteria, the company still must renew. Terms can renew at 20, 10, or five years, or even annually. Premiums generally increase at each renewal term. Annually renewable premiums can be extremely high for policyholders past middle age. If you’re paying high annually renewable premiums, you may want to convert to some other type of coverage.

Term life insurance typically comes in one of three common policy variations:

Level term coverage pays a death benefit that remains constant over the term. For example, a 20-year level term policy with a $100,000 death benefit will always pay that amount, whether the insured dies in the fifth or 15th year. Depending on the policy, your premium for level term coverage will either remain constant or increase at a scheduled rate.

Decreasing term coverage pays a death benefit that decreases over the term at a scheduled rate. For example, a 20-year decreasing term policy may begin with a $100,000 death benefit that decreases by $5,000 per year. If you die in the 11th year, the policy pays $50,000. Decreasing term coverage can be a good option to provide for children in the event of a parent’s early death since the need for coverage typically decreases as they near adulthood. A disadvantage of decreasing term coverage is that its convertibility value also decreases each year. Premiums typically remain constant over the term.

Increasing term coverage pays a death benefit that increases over the term at a scheduled rate, which is often pegged to inflation. For example, a 20-year increasing term policy may begin with a $100,000 death benefit that increases by 5 percent of the face value per year. If you die in the 12th year, the policy would pay about $155,000. Premiums typically increase each year for increasing term policies relative to the benefit increase.

Get free life insurance quotes from the top-rated companies in your city with just one click from: www.GetLifeInsuranceNow.com.

Cash value life policies provide both a death benefit and a way to accumulate funds over time. However, the primary purpose of cash value coverage is to provide permanent life insurance protection, not to serve as a retirement or savings plan.

Initial premiums for cash value insurance are typically higher than for term life insurance because you’re also purchasing the savings feature. However, cash value premiums generally increase at a slower rate. If you buy a cash value policy at a young age and continue the policy into middle age, your premium will likely be lower than they would for a term life policy with a comparable death benefit.

A portion of each cash value premium is placed into an account that accumulates over time. This is the policy’s “cash value.” The amount may grow at a fixed interest rate, be tied to indexed interest rates, or increase according to the performance of stocks, bonds, or other securities in which the account is invested, depending on the policy type.

A policy may allow you to withdraw from the cash value, use it as collateral for a loan, or use it to make future premium payments, depending on the terms. Withdrawing all of the cash value cancels the policy and ends coverage, however.

When you die, beneficiaries may receive only the policy’s stated death benefit or the benefit plus any remaining cash value, depending on the policy terms. Premiums will be higher for the second option.

It typically takes at least three to five years for a policy to build significant cash value. Moreover, if you withdraw some or all of the money before a specified time period, you will likely incur a substantial “surrender charge,” which can be as high as 10 percent or more. You may also be liable for income taxes on the money. If you purchase a cash value policy, try to keep it for at least 15 to 20 years. About half of the people who purchase these policies cash them in within five years, which is often a financial mistake.

Get free life insurance quotes from the top-rated companies in your city with just one click from: www.GetLifeInsuranceNow.com.

Long-term care refers to the type of personal care services you may need if you become unable to care for yourself because of a loss of functional capacity or cognitive impairment. Long-term care is different from traditional medical care. Traditional medical care treats physical problems directly in an attempt to permanently cure or control them. Looking for life insurance can be tricky.

Long-term care services help you maintain your ability to perform normal daily activities. These services could include personal assistance or custodial care and skilled care provided in your home, an adult day care center, a nursing home, or an assisted living facility. The cost of a nursing home stay could be $70,000 or more per year. Depending on the services you need and the costs in your area, average rates might be $200 a day or more.

The cost of home care is harder to estimate because of the wide range of skilled and personal assistance services it includes. Skilled services such as nursing or physical therapy generally cost more than homemaker or personal care services. Home care services, including skilled services, are normally less expensive than services provided in a nursing facility.

Medicaid pays most long-term care expenses. Medicaid is a state and federal assistance program for eligible individuals with low incomes.

To qualify for Medicaid, you must meet state and federal guidelines for income and assets. Many people pay for long-term care out of their own pockets until they become eligible for Medicaid. To learn more about Medicaid eligibility in your area, call your local Area Agency on Aging or your state’s Health and Human Services Commission office.

Medicare may pay some long-term care costs. Medicare is a federal program that pays for health care for people over age 65 and for people under age 65 with disabilities. It covers the cost of some skilled care in approved nursing homes or in your home in certain situations. Medicare also might cover some custodial care in your home, if you are receiving skilled care.

If you don’t qualify for Medicaid or Medicare, you’ll either have to pay your long-term care expenses out of pocket, with a long-term care insurance policy, or by some alternative means. Life insurance rates have been dropping.

Get free life insurance quotes from the top-rated companies in your city with just one click from: www.GetLifeInsuranceNow.com.

Many people have asked me lately about life insurance for their children or grandchildren.

Let me PREFACE this message by stating that kids DON’T NEED life insurance SINCE nobody is depending upon their income to make ends meet, unless perhaps they are a child TV or movie star. And this is certainly not a subject to dwell on…

But here are a couple of reasons why many parents like to have life insurance on their children that may be worth considering.

I’ll also give you some general QUOTES HERE on various children’s policies and different ideas to consider.

One reason some parents are interested in insuring the lives of their children is to protect against the HIGH cost of final expenses. Many couples, especially those just starting out, could not afford to pay these costs from savings.

But more importantly, most parents couldn’t afford to take the weeks off from work for a natural grieving period. Insurance could allow time for this from a financial perspective. As a parent myself, I couldn’t imagine going right back to work, but without life insurance proceeds, one may have to.

Another reason many parents and especially grandparents insure children, is to guarantee at least some future insurability if there is ever an adverse change of health.

Since life insurance on children isn’t exactly necessary, you have to admit it is PRICED right. Here are a few painless ways to handle it.

One plan is available for children ages 1 month through 20 years old. It is a fixed $20,000 death benefit (no more or less).

The cost for a policy like this might be just $72 per year per child (or $6/month) and covers them through no older than age 25.

IF DESIRED, the policy can be continued for the rest of the child’s life at a cost of $232/year ($21/month) and the policy will begin to accumulate cash value.

Another idea: there are some term insurance policies that a parent can buy on themselves ALONG with a RIDER which can insure ALL children in the household (15 days to age 19).

A “rider” is just an optional add-on to a policy. Most life insurance policies have at least one or more riders that are available that make the life insurance policy better in some way.

Once bought, the kid’s rider (coverage) will terminate at age 25 or date of marriage — whichever occurs first. So the children would be covered through that time.

The price of this rider for ALL kids COMBINED (again as part of a parents policy) costs about $6 per year for each $1,000 of coverage. For example, if you wanted $10,000 on each of your kids and you had two children, the total cost would be $60 per year (10 times $6). It would cost exactly the same if you had six children.

The parent must buy a policy on themselves covering as little as $5,000 with a whole life policy, or $100,000 on a term policy, in order to get the kid’s rider. Each insurance company may have a similar option — or may not.

The children’s rider cost (above) is simply added to the parent’s policy.

A third alternative is just buying a permanent (cash value) life policy on the child. Policies can be issued from age 1 month through 25 for as little as $5,000 coverage up to $100,000.

For example, a $50,000 policy on 10 year old might cost $279/ year to guarantee that death benefit to age 100 and build an equal cash value at that time.

However, one could also “turbo-charge” that idea.

When properly set up, a cash value insurance policy could act as a “bank” for the child as they grow up.

When structured to build cash value, instead of providing a death benefit, a properly designed life insurance policy can be a great place for tax-free savings.

The growing cash inside of the policy could be “borrowed” to pay for college, provide a down payment for a first home. In effect the child would be “borrowing” from themselves.

Or the right policy design could even give the child a source of tax-free retirement income. That’s right. Think of it as a ROTH IRA on steroids.

But that is a topic for another article.

By the way, all of the quotes above are from A+ carriers (rated by AM Best where A++ is the only higher rating attainable) and are only included to serve as a guideline. Life insurance quotes are based on many factors, so help from a professional independent agent is important.

So in summation, I hope that the idea of insuring a child’s life is no longer repulsive. There ARE valid reasons to do so. although it would hardly be a financial planning priority.

About The Author
Since 1997, Mark J. Orr, a Certified Financial Planner, has helped hundreds plan for more financial success through powerful strategies and advice. To get 101 FREE Financial Planning Tips and to Register for his complementary e-newsletter, simply go to: http://www.SmartFinancialTips.com
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