If you are considering purchasing life insurance, an overview of
the available types should prove helpful. This article will
briefly discuss the difference between whole and term life
insurance, as well as some variations on whole life insurance.

The easiest way to understand the difference between whole life
insurance and term life insurance is to look at what is meant by
their names. When you purchase whole life insurance, you are
covering your “whole” life - as long as you own the policy, it
will pay a benefit when you die. What that benefit is depends on
the value of the policy at the time of your death, but you own
the policy even if you are no longer making payments on it.
Whole life also accumulates a cash value on a tax-deferred
basis. In addition, whole life can pay dividends throughout the
life of the policy.

Term life insurance, on the other hand, is purchased for a
certain term, or period. As long as you die within that period,
term life insurance will pay an agreed upon amount to your
beneficiaries. It will not pay if you cease to make payments or
if you die after the term has expired. In addition, term life
insurance has no cash value.

Two other aspects of whole versus term life insurance should be
pointed out. The first aspect is that premiums for whole life
insurance are higher to begin with, but remain steady over time.
On the other hand, premiums for term life insurance are lower
near the beginning of the policy, but increase over time.
Another aspect is that you can borrow against the cash value of
a whole life insurance policy. This is not possible with term
life insurance, since it does not have a cash value. There are
two variations of whole life insurance that need to be
mentioned. The first is a more flexible form of whole life
called universal life insurance. With universal life insurance,
you can adjust (within certain limits) the premiums as well as
the benefit amount over time to suit your financial situation.
This is made possible by placing the premiums in a fund that
accumulates based on the interest rate. As with normal whole
life insurance, this type of policy has a cash value that can be
borrowed against.

The second variation on whole life insurance is called variable
life insurance. This type is similar to universal life
insurance, except that the premiums in the fund are tied to the
financial markets rather than to interest rates. While the
potential for growth is greater with this type of insurance, the
potential for loss is greater as well.

As you can see, there are some choices to be made when
considering the purchase of a life insurance policy. Now would
be a good time to use some of the other resources at this site
to help you decide on the life insurance policy that is right
for you and your family.

Automobile insurance is one of those things in the budget that is always going to be there. There are very few places in America that permit you to drive vehicles without insurance and so it behooves each and every one of us to get a better handle on our own auto insurance coverage. The industry is changing a bit because the competition is strong. There are new and creative auto policies on the market today. The trend that has gained the most momentum is the self-insuring concept. Higher deductibles is the weapon that the customer can use to lower rates significantly. Higher deductibles means that the policyholder has decided to take on more of the risk for the automobiles insured. The day of low collision deductibles is all but gone. Lower deductibles no longer warrant the high premiums. There is too much money to be saved with higher deductibles.

Lowering the Rates for Young Drivers

Young drivers on newer vehicles that have a lien holder’s interest will raise the auto rate significantly. The collision and comprehensive rates for drivers under 21 years of age are very high. A young driver on an older vehicle without the collision and comprehensive coverage will lower the rate significantly. There are discounts for young drivers who have completed a qualified drivers training course. Some companies have good student discounts on students with a grade point average of 3.0 or better. When the young driver reaches 21 the rates begin to drop for most companies.

Senior Citizen Discounts - Most companies have discounts for people age 55 and older who are retired or work less than 20 hours a week. There are mature driving courses that can also give the senior citizen a discount.

Multi-Policy Discount - This discount is available when you insure both your auto and home with the same insurance company.

Tort Options - Some companies offer discounts for a limited tort option. Tort is your ability to sue for pain and suffering. Limited tort rates in some states reduce the overall premium of the policy up to 30%. Ask your insurance company about the tort options in your state.

Online Health Insurance
Car Insurance Online
Home Owners Insurance

Many homeowners took out endowment policies expecting them to pay off their mortgages but have recently been alarmed to discover that this will not be the case. Your endowment could be thousands of pounds off target with no way of you finding this extra cash.

What Can I do?

This is where endowment compensation - or endowment redress - is used. But how much compensation could you receive?

The insurance companies aren’t paying compensation according to how much of a shortfall you are predicted. If your claim is upheld, the endowment company is likely to make you an offer for compensation and an offer to cash in the policy. Look at this carefully and speak to an independent advisor to find out what is best for you.

What Else Does An Endowment Policy Cover?

One important point to remember is that part of your endowment payments have included a payment for life insurance. If you cash in your endowment, then you will need to arrange a new policy to replace the endowment.

Also, looking back over the period when you have been paying for the endowment, some of the payments have been used to pay a life insurance.

How Will The Insurance Calculate Compensation?

So how much compensation could you receive? The insurance company will look at the monthly payments you have made into your endowment policy. From this they will make an allowance to account for the life insurance aspect.

Then they will also look at how much interest you have been paying each month to keep the mortgage level. From these complicated figures, they will work out if you had instead been sold a repayment mortgage, how much would you have paid off. Then they compare this to how much your endowment is worth now if it was cashed in.

In short, if by paying the monthly payments you could have paid off more of your mortgage than your endowment has earned, then the difference is the compensation you are entitled to.

Was My Offer Correct?

So how do you know whether your offer of compensation is correct? That’s where a specialist solicitor helps you. Not only will they deal with the paperwork and any appeals for you, they will also check you are given the maximum compensation. After all, they are being paid a percentage of the compensation (not including the cash in value) so the more compensation you receive, the more they receive.

Where Now?

To find out whether you can claim, or to speak to a solicitor without any obligation, leave your contact details or take the 60 second test. It only takes a minute to find out the answer or you can just leave your contact details and someone will call you back.

Keith Lunt runs several financial sites including http://www.endowment-claim.org.uk
You are welcome to reprint this article as long as all links are included and work.

As the water began to drain from New Orleans in 2005, we learned that most of the homeowners in New Orleans did not have flood insurance, since they were supposedly in “low risk” areas. The over 60% of homeowners will need to depend upon their own savings, and limited federal assistance, to rebuild New Orleans – at an uncalculated cost for homeowners and taxpayers.

Could that level of disaster, especially that level of uninsured disaster, happen in California? Less than 15% of California homeowners currently carry earthquake insurance, due to its high cost, the “can’t happen to me or my house” factor, and mortgage providers not requiring coverage. The next big quake will result in billions of uninsured damage – but is earthquake insurance really worth the high cost?

How Did We Get Here?

The state of California requires that all homeowner’s insurance providers to at least offer earthquake insurance (albeit, at a high cost). Until 1994, it was widely available – but the high damage costs of the Northridge earthquake resulted in 97% of homeowner’s insurance providers pulling out of the state the California. In response, the California Earthquake Authority was formed by the California legislator to provide earthquake insurance.

What Is the California Earthquake Authority, and How Does It Work?

The California Earthquake Authority provides two-thirds of the earthquake policies in California, sold through their member providers, like Allstate and State Farm. A homeowner purchases the policy through their regular insurance agent, but the policy is actually a CEA policy.

The CEA currently has about $7.2 billion to pay claims, which it states is enough to pay foreseeable damages (Loma Prieta in 1989 had $6 billion in total damages). If the damage claims are more than $7.2 billion, then each claim would be paid a prorated portion of their losses – unlike a regular insurance company, which promises to pay the actual damages under the insurance policy. The state of California cannot help pay the claims out of general funds.

The policies also have a high deductible – usually 15% of the value of the dwelling. In other words, your home must be damaged more than 15% of its value before the insurance starts paying. So, this insurance is not for cracks in the driveway – it is for significant structural damage to your home. The policy also pays for limited contents (starting at $5K) and loss of use (starting at $1500).

Why Is Earthquake Insurance So Expensive?

Insurance policy premiums are calculated based on probabilities – the probability that a house like yours in a neighborhood like yours will catch fire, or a driver like you will have an accident. With data from millions of homes, these probabilities can be calculated with reasonable accuracy. But, no one can reliably predict the probability that there will be an earthquake strong enough to damage your home.

And, as you can imagine, damages from an earthquake, flood, or hurricane, are widespread, over potentially thousands of square miles – instead of one or a few dozen homes, as in a fire. As such, the insurer would have to pay either zero claims, or billions of dollars of claims – too much variance to reasonably plan for or price accurately.

Are We Really At Risk Here in San Jose?

According to the USGS, there is a 62% probability that there will be an earthquake of 6.7 or greater (like the Northridge quake) in the Bay Area in the next 30 years. In my zip code (San Jose 95126), USGS calculates a 80% chance of a 6.0 earthquake and a 20% chance of a 7.0, in the next 30 years. Whether you consider that to be a high risk depends on your risk tolerance for earthquakes – I consider that a high risk of a moderate earthquake and a somewhat low risk of a terrible earthquake, over the next 30 years.

But like any issue involving real estate – it is all local. Where your home is actually located significantly affects your risk – bedrock, reclaimed land from the bay, soil type, nearby streams, actual distance from the epicenter – all can affect potential damage.

But of course, many earthquakes occur where the USGS was not even aware of a fault line – and we never know when or where it will happen, until it happens.

Should I Obtain Earthquake Insurance?

Factors to Consider:

• Could you afford to pay for the rebuilding your home from your own savings & investments?
• Can you afford to pay the high cost of insurance, indefinitely?
• Could make payments on your current mortgage and on a new loan to rebuild?
• Can you mitigate your potential losses by bolting your roof to the walls and the walls to the foundation, for example?
• What is your tolerance for the risk of an earthquake?
• What is the risks of your current home construction (type, age, foundation)?
• What are the risks of your specific location (soil type, distance to known faults)?

Are the Costs Worth It?

Let’s assume that you have a home that would cost $250K to rebuild, you will own the home for the next 30 years, and your earthquake premiums are $1200 per year. Over the next 30 years, that would be a total of $36,000 in premiums (assuming your premiums do not increase, to simplify calculations).

Instead of purchasing insurance, you invest the premiums in a diversified mutual fund. With an 8% annual return, you would have $135,000 (pre-tax) in year 30.* But of course, you only have that total in year 30, not in year one – meaning that if the earthquake happens tomorrow, you don’t have the money.

The deductible is another big turn off for many homeowners. The insurance pays only for large structural damage, not broken dishes or cracked driveways – meaning that it is less likely you will use it. However, be aware that you will not need to come up with the cash for the deductible – you may either opt to not undertake those repair or rebuilding costs, or you can apply for an SBA loan to pay for the deductible (assuming a federal disaster area is declared).

Why Not Just Get Federal Aid, or “Walk Away” and Let the Bank Have the Property?

The federal government would probably provide access to SBA loans, if the area is declared a federal disaster area (no small business required). However, the $200K maximum SBA loan may not be enough to rebuild your home – and, it is a loan that you need to pay back (in addition to your current mortgage).

If you have refinanced your mortgage, you have a recourse mortgage – which means that not only can the bank foreclose on the property in case of non-payment, the bank can also come after your personal assets and future income in case of non-payment. So you cannot just walk away, especially if you have a good income and some personal assets. The bank may help out by deferring payments for a few months, but you still must pay back the loan.

Last Thoughts

We have earthquake insurance on our home. Our home was not yet built in the 1906 earthquake (so who knows if it would stand), it is 75+ years old and is not bolted to the foundation, and we have a refinanced mortgage. For my family, the insurance premiums are worth peace of mind in case of a major earthquake disaster. That’s exactly what insurance is for – the “you never know.”

*calculations ignore inflation

Elizabeth Potts Weinstein, JD, a licensed attorney and Registered Investment Advisor, is the founder of Potts Weinstein Financial Consulting, a financial and estate planning firm, headquartered in San Jose, California. The firm specializes in providing fee-only, hourly financial planning, estate planning, and investment advice for people from all walks of life and income brackets. For more information about Potts Weinstein Financial Consulting, or to subscribe to our monthly eZine ‘Prosper!’, please visit http://www.pottsweinstein.com

What do PPOs, HMOs, and POS plans have in common? They are all forms of managed health plans, and you need to be familiar with them when you shop for health insurance. PPO means preferred provider organization; HMO means health maintanence organization, and POS means point of service.

In general, managed care plans provide their members with health care from within a network of providers. In other words, members can only go to certain doctors and hospitals that belong to or agree to participate with a particular network. Managed care plans also take care of claims processing that result from a medical service.

A health maintenance organization generally provides the least expensive medical care. HMOs offer medical services in exchange for a fixed monthly premium. However, HMO clients have no freedom to choose their own doctors and hospitals and can only use providers in the HMO network. Doctors belonging to a particular HMO normally refer patients to other HMO doctor members, and a referral from an HMO primary care doctor is needed in order to see a specialist.

A preferred provider organization, or PPO, allows its members greater lattitude in choosing which doctors they can see. Physicians within a PPO make referrals, but the members can refer themselves to doctors and specialists including those outside of the plan. However,though members have the freedom to go outside of the PPO and will still receive coverage, they will pay more for seeing providers out side of the PPO network.

In a point of service plan (POS), Primary care doctors refer members to other doctors, usually within the plan, but members can refer themselves outside of the plan, though they will pay more. If POS doctors refer a patient outside of the plan, the POS usually pays most of the fee. Participants in these plans choose their own doctors and hospitals, and can refer themselves to whatever doctor or specialist they choose.

It is also important to understand fee-for-service, or FFS, plans. These are not really managed care plans in the sense that there is a pre-existing network of providers in place. Fee For Service plans are often much more expensive in comparison to HMOs and PPOs. However, FFS plans allow participants greater lattitude in who they can see. FFS beneficiaries can choose what doctors, and specialists they prefer to see and what hospitals they can go to. In an FFS, what determines what provider members use is whether or not the provider accepts the insurance. Normally, FFS plans require much more in out-of-pocket expenses and require members to pay in full up front and then file for reimbursement.

The plan you ultimately choose will depend on personal needs, whether or not you are single, married, married with children, whether or not the insurance is available in your geographical area, and of course, the amount of income available for health insurance. One very important point to remember is that health insurance, as all insurance, is protection. The better you understand the kind of protection you need, the better your choice will suit your needs.

Evan C. Davis works in Medicare customer service and is the owner and webmaster of Instant Health Insurance. Find cheap health insurance quotes online and low cost health insurance at http://www.find-health-insurance-online.com

My father died when I was nine. He left behind my mother and four children aged between seventeen years and nine and no money. Sure I missed him but at nine I didn’t really have much idea about death or loss. I know it sounds selfish but what I really missed was our old lifestyle. We had to move house because we lived in a company house and couldn’t stay there anymore. We had to give up our car because that was provided by the company too. All we could afford was a run down council house. It was small and cramped and didn’t have much in the way of fences so we felt we had neighbours right on top of us. This was all salt to the wound of our grief, all these niggly things that had now become our life. I don’t know why my father didn’t take out life insurance, all I know is that he didn’t and we bore the consequences of that decision for a long time.

It has made me wonder why so many people roll their eyes when the words ‘life insurance’ are uttered out loud. Sure I can understand not wanting to contemplate a scenario that would require you or your family to actually need it but that is no excuse for ignoring it altogether and not planning ahead. Imagine, just for a moment, your family’s life if the worst was to happen and you didn’t have life insurance?

The purpose of life insurance is to guarantee an income to your spouse and children if you were no longer able to contribute to their welfare like you do now. Think about it, if something were to happen to you, could your family afford to live in your current home? Would there be enough money to maintain their current lifestyle? Would the cost of a funeral become a burden? Would your spouse be able to support your family easily? Or would the stress and grief and financial burden of loosing you cause unendurable hardship for them?

Maybe you think that because you have saved and invested wisely and setup a solid foundation that despite missing you, your family would be OK financially. The reality is that it is unlikely. This is particularly true for families with young children. This is often a time where families are still struggling to become established and often debts are high, savings low, caring for children is costly and income may not be at its peak or perhaps one partner is out of the workforce to care for the children. Of course, it is this time when funds are often stretched that life insurance is most needed but often that very fact puts families off from the regular commitment of insurance premiums.

But the good news is that it makes you a good candidate for term life insurance because it is the most inexpensive form of life insurance around. The premiums for term life insurance are worked out based on your age and health and is usually purchased in terms of a specific number of years – 1, 5, 10, 20 or whatever period you would prefer. The upshot is that term life insurance has the highest coverage for the lowest premiums.

While term insurance is not ideal for older individuals as prices go up substantially with age, it is the a great solution for younger couples or families who have high debts including mortgages, life expenses and dependants. The insurance can cover you while your children grow and the mortgage is paid off. By the time the policy expires you will more than likely have invested, paid off your major debts and no longer have dependants.

So Who Needs to be Covered with a Life Insurance Policy? Given that insurance is really about income protection – providing funds when you can’t – you would normally cover whoever is contributing to the family finances. So first up, make sure the primary income earner is covered. If this income disappeared then you want to make sure the ongoing family needs are covered.

But don’t stop there. If your spouse looks after the children full-time and something were to happen to them, how would you fund childcare? Insurance could cover that additional cost. So if any secondary income is relied on to cover expenses either through income or an unpaid contribution then that person should also have an insurance policy.

Do you need to get life insurance for your children? Generally, this is only advised if you can’t afford funeral expenses (generally about $5000). Otherwise, there is no reason for children to be insured as they do not contribute to the family income.

Having life insurance not only gives you peace of mind knowing your family will be taken care of after you or your spouse has gone, it may well be one of the best financial decisions your family could make.

Specialist term life insurance advice is crucial for anyone contemplating taking out a life insurance policy. Get the information you need so that you can be confident you are choosing the right policy for you and your family. Get the latest Life Insurance Policy information.

In America today, most of us depend on health insurance to cover the majority of our fees for health care from our specified providers. We get insurance coverage through our employers and on an individual basis.

The questions are:

How good is my coverage?

Why is my doctor not on my plan?

Why are there limits on the types of services I can receive?

Unfortunately, insurance carriers limit their provider rosters and therefore not all medical providers are “in network” on all insurance plans. It appears that the insurance carriers develop an exclusive “club” letting some join and others not. Additionally, the carrier’s rosters are not always up to date and therefore perpetrate an illusion of their insurance provider participation as “full”, when in fact, some providers have retire, moved or even expired!

Our experience, that even when notified of incorrect information in Provider Directories that are posted on the internet, insurance carriers do nothing to correct the mis-information. It would make sense as one provider leaves an area that another provider replaces that provider and this does not happen.

Another thought: As new doctors graduate form medical school and open their practices, how are they going to be able to accept insurance to treat patients if they are not on these plans? And how will they get on these plans that have already turned away thousands of others?

OK, you take that stroll down to the mailbox excitedly as you do everyday hoping to find the catalogue with all that neat stuff you want to buy or to find that magazine you love to read or to find that big check Uncle Bob sent! Come on, you know you love getting mail and really look forward to this daily ritual. You know that Mr. Postman has brought you something fun along with those pesky bills.

However, sometimes you get mail that scares you. You know this because it’s very official looking. The contents must be very important but the thought of what is in there frightens you. What is in there? What have I done? What am I going to have to do? Why me? Your heart starts to rapidly beat. You set aside all of the other fun mail you received and you rip this one open first.

Lo and behold, it’s a notice from your insurance company. Your eyes immediately focus on the word “cancellation”. Before you get any further along in the letter your mind is going a mile a minute. You are confused, frustrated and maybe even angry. You are many things that you were not just moments earlier. Again, you begin to think: What have I done? What am I going to have to do? Why me? Let’s stop here.

Consider yourself lucky. “Lucky”, you say to yourself. Why am I lucky? Well, you are lucky because you could very well have received a “non-renewal” notice instead. Have I confused you yet? Great, I was hoping that I had so that I could explain the differences to you. A ‘cancellation notice’ is very different from a ‘non-renewal notice’.

A ‘non-renewal notice’ is like the kiss of death. It is the ultimate low blow you can receive. It is rejection in a big way. It hurts. Go ahead and cry; let it out. There, doesn’t that feel much better? I thought so. OK, moving on: When you receive a ‘non-renewal’ notice from the insurance company they are telling you that they no longer wish to insure you at the end of your policy term. Don’t take it personally, there may be many reasons they have chosen this option.

The reasons can range from something simple such as the fact that they no longer offer your program or have chosen not to do business in your state to something not so simple such as your horrendous driving record. In any event, they don’t want you anymore. In most cases, you have the right to appeal this decision but good luck. Once they have made up their mind it’s going to be tough to make them change it. After wallowing in your misery for a short while, you will have to consider your options.

Your options include being uninsured. This would not be advisable for obvious reasons. Your other options include meeting any conditions imposed by the insurance company to make your risk acceptable. And of course you have the option to find another insurance company. One that likes you just the way you are.

Now, on the other hand, or in the other envelope, is a ‘cancellation notice’. Many of us have seen these and know what they are. They are nasty- grams from the insurance company telling us that at a specific time on a specific date at a specific place you will no longer have insurance coverage provided by them. The reasons for these notices vary as well.

You may have overlooked your payment or you may have neglected to provide the required or requested information. In any event, it’s not too late. You can save this policy by simply doing what you did not do. Make that payment or provide that information.

When all is said and done, just remember that you have options regarding both notices. In any event, you will soon have no insurance. You will have to take some action either way. Now that you are armed with this information go ahead stroll out to your mailbox. Look for that favorite magazine in there or even that previously scary insurance notice, you now know what it means and what you can do about it.

Visit http://www.carinsurance.com for Auto Insurance Ratings.

Jason Horowitz is a representative of CarInsurance.com. You can visit CarInsurance.com at http://www.carinsurance.com or contact them at 1-877-327-8728.

CarInsurance.com’s online insurance marketplace gives an opportunity to consumers and to insurance companies. We offer the ability to shop for car insurance online.

Consumers can receive quotes from many insurance companies, in some states you are able to purchase your insurance instantly, online. You don’t have to drive your car to buy car insurance. Buy online… anytime!

What is the value of an expert’s advice? I have found through experience that it is difficult to put a price on advice that comes from an expert. It is actually invaluable when you consider the cost not only in money, but also what your personal time is worth and what your stress level and lack of distraction from your important day-to-day tasks are worth. Informed decisions based on knowledge that are generally offered at no charge can save time, stress and a great deal of hassle. As an example: Hiring a plumber if you don’t know how to plumb. I tried to do my own plumbing once. I found out rather quickly, that I am not a plumber. I ended up not only ruining the faucet components I was trying to fix, but also causing water damage to my residence. When I finally did get an expert plumber to do the job, and fix the mess I had created, it cost me much more than it would have if I had hired him in the first place.

Another example is utilizing a lawyer’s advice to avoid legal chaos. When I ended my marriage a dozen years ago, I made the mistake of thinking I could get a divorce by using a “divorce kit”. This strategy may work for some, but in my case it didn’t turn out very well. Even though I did a ton of research, followed a strict time-line and meticulously dotted every “I” and crossed every “T” on the petition, I paid the price for not seeking an expert’s advice. Although I felt confident on the day of the hearing, I found myself encompassed into a war of words that made my head spin. As a result I was ordered to pay exorbitant support. Years later, when my children reached the age of maturation, and my ex-wife had remarried; it was time to file for some relief. This time I hired a lawyer. My expert’s advice was not only to end the excessive support going out, but in all fairness, to get back some of what I had been strong-armed into paying out under duress. The court agreed, and I found that I had needlessly suffered a lack of funds for many years.

Lastly, a good example is finding insurance professionals to avoid inadequate coverage or huge hassles when the time comes to cash in on a policy. Years ago, I decided to buy renters insurance to guard my home’s contents. Trying to be thrifty, I searched on the Web for the best deals. I found a Website offering the insurance at a “cut rate”, so I submitted my personal information and received an “automatic quote”. It came up on the screen rather quickly and it looked fairly generic, so I called the toll-free number provided. I wanted to find out if I should serialize, or mark my possessions in any way so they could later be identified, and also find out if I should submit a list of my personal items and the value I would place on them. The “automated insurance agent” on the other end of the line wasn’t much help, and I finally got frustrated with trying to get an actual human being to talk with. Foolishly, I signed up for the insurance and started paying the premiums, automatically withdrawn from my checking account, of course. I never actually talked to an insurance agent, although I tried several more times to do so. When my house was robbed and I turned in a claim, I found that I would only be paid pennies on the dollar and that my future premiums would be more expensive. Again, not seeking an expert’s advice proved to be costly.

Insurance, whether for life, health, home or your automobile, is considered a daunting subject by many. Most people avoid it and carry only what they are forced to have. For example, mortgage insurance because their home is financed and it’s a requirement. The very word “insurance” has a reputation and conjures up images of hours of research or sitting at the kitchen table with an agent being overwhelmed by the choices. I have found that I have a lot of apprehension towards discussing my own demise, as well as considering the need for insurance protection that benefits my loved ones upon my departure. When I was twenty-something, I laughed when someone mentioned life insurance. I saw no need for it, as I had a long way to go before I had to think about those things. If I had been smart, I would have sought an expert’s advice while I was young. I could have purchased a lifetime policy for a small amount. There is much value to advice offered to young people on this topic. I have personally found that there is a trend in the insurance industry that has taken customer service full circle, back to face-to-face and personal one-on-one attention. This valuable service, combined with the expediency of the modern age and the Internet, works very well to simplify and increase my understanding of insurance. There are good, reputable companies in which first contact on the Web leads immediately to a personal phone call from a knowledgeable and professional insurance expert that specializes in helping one understand in simple, straightforward terms, an expert’s advice.

This article was written by www.mostchoice.com/life-insurance.cfm. MostChoice is a free national service which speeds up and simplifies the process of finding insurance, real estate, and financial products by connecting consumers with expert agents and brokers in their local area. We are dedicated to providing impartial information and free quotes from multiple sources to help consumers get the appropriate policy for their needs at the best price. Reproductions of this article are encouraged but must include a link back to www.mostchoice.com/life-insurance.cfm.

HOME EQUITY PLANNING TM

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next Home Equity Planning Seminar

The Missed Fortune concept can seem daunting at first glance,
but the idea is simple. It is based on a few facts that most
people are unaware of.

Equity is not liquid.

Let’s create a hypothetical situation where a person has
$200,000 of equity built up in their house. Everything is fine
until this person gets in an automobile accident and can’t work
for at least 6 months. The disability checks are not enough to
cover the mortgage and the car payment, not to mention put food
on the table. The first thing this person might try to do is
take out a home equity line of credit. Without a job, however,
the chances getting that credit from the bank are next to
nothing. Now the only option is to sell the house. This is not a
good predicament to be in.

Equity is not safe.

As illustrated in the above example, keeping money locked up in
the form of equity is not a safe investment. At the very least,
housing prices can drop and your equity does with it. Worst
case, you need the money. Banks are rarely in the business of
lending money to people who really need it. The only way to have
a chance of getting that money is to sell the house. It sits on
the market for too long and the bank, which is fully aware of
the amount of equity that has built up, swoops in and
repossesses it.

Equity has no rate of return.

Worst cases aside let’s take a look at equity from an investment
standpoint. The point of investing is to make money. To make
money on an investment there needs to be a positive rate of
return. With a negative rate of return you lose money, and with
no rate of return your money just sits there. Equity has no rate
of return. There is no interest rate that is compounding and
causing it to grow. The only way that equity changes is with the
unpredictable fluctuations in the real estate market. In a
falling market the equity that is locked up in a house can
shrink significantly.

The basic premise of the Missed Fortune concept, based on
those three facts, is this:

If equity is cashed out and invested in a safe and predictable
arena, where there are compounded interest rates causing it to
grow in a tax free environment, such as a Universal Life policy,
then the money can grow unaffected by market fluctuations. In
this situation the money is liquid. It can be accessed, also
free from income tax. Your equity, properly managed, now becomes
a viable retirement plan, far above and beyond taxable 401(k)’s
and IRA’s, which is another area in which this concept can be
put to use. Furthermore, when it is all said and done, by
investing in a Universal Life product you leave a sizable death
benefit to your heirs, all from money that would otherwise be
sitting in some mythical land where it is called equity, earning
nothing.

In February, two unrelated LifePro associates and a Mortgage
Broker brought me copies of a newly released personal finance
book, “Missed Fortune 101″. Each one of them suggested that I
read it. In March, they collectively produced over $400,000 in
new life target premium using concepts outlined in the book.
That got my attention and in April I flew to Utah twice to meet
and visit with the author, Douglas Andrew. As of today we’ve
submitted over 2 million in new life target premium!

-Bill Zimmerman, LifePro President HEP Resources and
Solutions:

Indianapolis Life

F&G Life

Allianz

AIG

Do you have clients in mind that could benefit from this?

The possible client base for this concept is huge!

Today is the day to realize the potential that you can reach. We
hope you will allow us to create the “Family Bank” for you and
your clients.

www.LifePro.com