Why Life Insurance is Critical for Your Family

 

One of the most important types of insurance policies you can invest in is life insurance. If you don’t have life insurance, here are a few reasons finding a policy should be bumped to the top of your to-do list.

 

 

You Can’t Predict the Future

Right now in the United States, 75 million families depend on life insurance payouts from a deceased loved one’s policy for financial support. If you ask any of these families if they thought they’d be living off life insurance money, most of them would say “no way.” Taking out a life insurance policy is the best way to protect your financial dependents from any unexpected twists of fate.

 

 

Funerals Cost a Lot of Money

Coffins alone cost anywhere from a few hundred dollars (for a wooden box) to even thousands of dollars (for unique designs). When you factor in all the other costs—flowers, mortuary services, embalming, grave markers, cemetery plots, and obituary listings—the price funeral price tag can be overwhelming. We’re talking between $6,000 and $10,000.

 

Even if your family can survive financially without your added income, they would certainly benefit from a life insurance policy to cover your funeral costs.

 

 

Debts Don’t Go Away After Death

If you suddenly pass away with a large amount of debt, your spouse may be held responsible for payments. If not, your assets will be sold to cover the debts, instead of going to your children or other heirs. A life insurance policy can cover those debts and allow your assets to go to your kids. Or, if you have no debt, a life insurance policy can be one of those assets that gets passed on after you pass away.

 

 

Money Problems Will Add to Grief

Imagine your home-maker husband or wife is waiting for you to return from work. The phone rings. An officer’s solemn voice informs your spouse that there has been an accident: you aren’t coming home. Your spouse’s world is shattered. As he or she goes through the next few days overwhelmed with grief, they realize they are now the sole bread-winner for the family.

 

As if grief from losing a significant other was not enough, now they have the financial future of the entire family resting on their shoulders. A life insurance policy will not erase grief from an unexpected death, but it will keep financial worries from adding to the burden.

 

 

Your Business Might Suffer Without You

If you own a business and use it to support your family, a life insurance policy can be used to protect the company.  The difference between a life insurance policy for your business and for your family is who you name as the beneficiary. If you want to protect both your family and your business, you can take out two different policies.

 

Guidelines for commercial insurance in Sherwood Park are different from insurance guidelines in Shenandoah, so talk to a company like Meyers Insurance Ltd. to find out what kind of life insurance policy you can use to protect your company.

 

 

The Money Won’t be Wasted if Nothing Bad Happens

Life insurance seems like a gamble—you pay a little money every month just in case something unexpected happens and keeps you from supporting your family. What if you reach retirement and never needed the policy? Depending on the type of policy you choose, that money can become part of your retirement fund.

 

Life insurance is a no-brainer. If you want peace of mind knowing your family will not struggle financially if anything happens to you, get to your nearest insurance agency and take out a life insurance policy today.

 

Categories: debts, funeral costs, life insurance, life insurance for business

Do You Understand Your Employee Benefits Package?

While the NHS covers a lot of wellness needs, that coverage will only get you so far. However, certain companies are taking care of their employees’ wellbeing, and including health benefits as part of their overall corporate wellness package. That said, you may not have taken the time to review your company’s benefit plans and may not be aware that what’s available and what you’ve selected could fall short of meeting your needs. So, does your benefit package really measure up?

 

According to a 2011 study by the ADP Research Institute, 40% of employees don’t understand their benefits, which means that there may be resources for retirement planning, health care and insurance available to you that you are underutilising. Sometimes, employers offer benefits that promise a good start toward financial protection, but that’s all it is; a start. You may not realise that you may have to chip in additional coverage to help fill in the gaps. Melissa Millan, senior vice president, Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual), explains, ‘When a household income earner is in good health and able to bring home the pay cheque every week, families often forget about those other benefits available from the company. Everyone should carefully review their benefits, and determine if any additional insurance protection might be needed to keep the family finances on an even keel if something should happen to affect that weekly pay cheque.’

 

Often, the benefit areas you leave untouched – or just plain don’t understand – are your life insurance and disability insurance. If your employer does offer you these benefits, it’s well worth considering how they can help you out financially. Let’s take a look at them both in a little more detail:

 

1. Life insurance: As part of their benefit package, many employers will offer group term life insurance with the option for you to purchase additional coverage on your own by having the additional premium payments deducted from your salary. You might want to consider purchasing additional coverage in this way because getting it through your employer means that you do not need to provide any health information or be pre-approved medically. Outside of the workplace, it’s likely that you would have to go through these procedures. Relying solely on group term life insurances is a risky move, as it’s offered as a benefit via your employer. Your company could decide to discontinue offering the benefit, or you could lose your coverage if you leave your company and there are no options to take the coverage with you.

 

The wisest course might therefore be to consider balancing the benefit offered through your employer with an individual life insurance policy. As you are the owner of your individual life insurance policy, you can get the coverage you need and take it with you if and when you decide to leave the company. Make sure that you understand your ability to keep the coverage, regardless of your employment relationship, whether you purchase additional insurance at work or outside of work.

 

2. Disability Insurance: If you suffer an illness or injury that prevents you from working for an extended period of time, your employer may provide group long-term disability plans that replace a portion of your income. However, there may be a larger gap between the amount of salary replaced by the group insurance and your pre-disability income than you realise. It’s quite likely that your group plan only replaces a portion of your total salary. On average, group plans cover about 50 to 60% of what you earn. Moreover, if you earn commissions or income from bonuses, your group disability plan probably won’t cover this. Therefore, having an individual disability income insurance policy can help reduce the income gap.

Categories: additional coverage, additional insurance, Benefits, disability insurance, group term, individual life, insurance policy, life insurance, pay cheque, term life

The Cost of Surviving: Life Insurance

With an increase in cancer survival rates, the prospect of living a full life is a promising one. With medical science serving as the balm to the life-threatening illness that claims the lives of thousands, the chances of dying from it now are becoming significantly less. The survival rates are only climbing upwards.

Cancer is one of many illnesses that presents individuals with the value of life. Teetering between hope and loss, families and their diagnosed loved ones go through a rickety road where the uncertainty is ever-present in the scope of recovery.

As such, finances are probably the last thing on everyone’s mind however, financial protection ensures that no matter what happens, a debt is not left hanging over the heads of the ill. Life insurance is one such example of financial cover, where surviving cancer does not have to tow a resulting debt.

According to the Telegraph, Tom Baigrie, chief executive of LifeSearch, an online financial protection adviser, said: “While many people are living longer they are doing so having previously survived a serious illness. However, the financial impacts of living in poor health after an illness can often be very difficult if there wasn’t any critical illness insurance in place.

“Living longer with cancer is a lot better than the alternative, but not so much so if you can’t maintain your standard of living. So having an element of critical illness cover, which pays out on life threatening cancers is simple common sense.”

What tends to make individuals flinch is the concept, naturally, of cost. It is understandable to flinch away from the prospect that you have to shell out thousands to protect everyone’s interests – but it doesn’t have to be a “money or your kneecaps” scheme. It isn’t limited to cancer, but to all life-threatening ailments, such as heart attacks.

A life-cover is a protective film that serves to lessen the stress that you are already presented with. Nobody deserves to have an extra weight in their life when it is already under threat by another. By maintaining a safety net over the threat of debt, you can keep you and your loved ones secure by paying just under £30 a month.

The Cost of Surviving: Life Insurance

Categories: cancer, critical illness, financial, financial protection, heart health, life, life insurance, life threatening, living, living longer, money, survival rates

The Cost of Surviving: Life Insurance

With an increase in cancer survival rates, the prospect of living a full life is a promising one. With medical science serving as the balm to the life-threatening illness that claims the lives of thousands, the chances of dying from it now are becoming significantly less. The survival rates are only climbing upwards.

Cancer is one of many illnesses that presents individuals with the value of life. Teetering between hope and loss, families and their diagnosed loved ones go through a rickety road where the uncertainty is ever-present in the scope of recovery.

As such, finances are probably the last thing on everyone’s mind however, financial protection ensures that no matter what happens, a debt is not left hanging over the heads of the ill. Life insurance is one such example of financial cover, where surviving cancer does not have to tow a resulting debt.

According to the Telegraph, Tom Baigrie, chief executive of LifeSearch, an online financial protection adviser, said: “While many people are living longer they are doing so having previously survived a serious illness. However, the financial impacts of living in poor health after an illness can often be very difficult if there wasn’t any critical illness insurance in place.

“Living longer with cancer is a lot better than the alternative, but not so much so if you can’t maintain your standard of living. So having an element of critical illness cover, which pays out on life threatening cancers is simple common sense.”

What tends to make individuals flinch is the concept, naturally, of cost. It is understandable to flinch away from the prospect that you have to shell out thousands to protect everyone’s interests – but it doesn’t have to be a “money or your kneecaps” scheme. It isn’t limited to cancer, but to all life-threatening ailments, such as heart attacks.

A life-cover is a protective film that serves to lessen the stress that you are already presented with. Nobody deserves to have an extra weight in their life when it is already under threat by another. By maintaining a safety net over the threat of debt, you can keep you and your loved ones secure by paying just under £30 a month.

The Cost of Surviving: Life Insurance

Categories: cancer, critical illness, financial, financial protection, heart health, life, life insurance, life threatening, living, living longer, money, survival rates