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Using Life Insurance for Estate Planning Purposes

There are many different ways that people do their estate planning. Generally speaking, estate planning is how a person plans to pass on their accumulated wealth to family and heirs after they die. A significant amount of wealth can be passed along by naming beneficiaries to their investment accounts, 401(k)s and IRAs, by writing a well, as well as holding homes and other real property jointly with whomever the property should pass to. Another important way of estate planning, although it’s often overlooked, is using a life insurance policy for estate planning purposes. Some types of life insurance policies even...

What is Medicare Advantage?

The Medicare program was added to the Social Security program in 1965 to ensure that older Americans receive adequate health care services, regardless of whether they are insurable or can even afford their own private insurance. Since the Medicare program came into being there have been a number of different changes and modifications to its scope. One relatively recent change is the Medicare Advantage program, which became part of the Medicare program in 2003. A prior version of Medicare Advantage, previously known as “Medicare+Choice,” actually came into being in 1997. Here’s a basic overview of the terms of the Current Medicare...

Insurance Advice on Understanding a Home Insurance Policy

We have a great deal of freedom to choose our own financial paths. We can decide how to invest or save – or even whether we invest or save – and how we spend the money we earn. But there are some areas of personal finance in which we are effectively required to participate or to buy certain services. Homeowners insurance is one of those areas. For those of us who have an outstanding mortgage on our homes, our mortgage lenders require us to have adequate homeowners insurance as a condition of borrowing. Since buying insurance in those circumstances...

Should You Keep Your Life Insurance Once You Are Retired?

We usually purchase our first life insurance policies when we get married or when we start to have or adopt children. The main reason for getting life insurance, of course, is to ensure that the dependents of the insured person will have continued financial security after the insured individual passes away. But does that mean that once the insured person retires, and the kids have moved out of the house, that there’s no longer any need for life insurance? The answer to that question isn’t quite as straightforward as you might think. Instead of assuming that life insurance is no...

What is an HSA – Health Savings Account?

One interesting component of the new health care landscape that’s developed over the past decade is the level of choice individuals now have. Rather than simply take the comprehensive coverage insurance provided by our employers, as we would have done in years past, we can now choose from literally dozens of options. But it might not always feel like having so many choices is a good thing; in fact, sometimes too many choices can feel a little overwhelming. One of these choices – the Health Savings Account – is sufficiently unique that it bears a closer look by many individuals....

5 Ways to Save on Auto Insurance

Regardless of the type of car you drive, whether it’s old or new, or expensive or affordable, there’s one constant – you’ll need car insurance. Even if your car spends most of the time in your garage, you are legally required to have auto insurance before you can drive it on the road. Because auto insurance is one of those expenses that’s impossible to escape (at least while you own a car), it’s important to make sure that you purchase an appropriate amount of coverage and pay insurance premiums that fit within your budget. Here is some information and advice...

Do You Have Enough Homeowners Insurance To Handle What Mother Nature Does Next?

Regardless of whether or not believe in the phenomenon of “global warming,” it’s impossible to ignore the recent increase in significant weather events. All across the country, the past several years have seen weather related destruction in many different forms. Hurricanes have battered the east coast, droughts and wildfires have destroyed millions of acres in the southwest and west, and extreme flooding has occurred in many places throughout the country. Apart from loss of life, the most significant damage from this crazy weather is damage to homes. It’s therefore vitally important for you to make sure you have enough homeowners...

Advice on How to Shop for Life Insurance Online

Online shopping has become the preferred method for many people looking to buy different kinds of products and services. It’s difficult to deny, for example, the effect that the Internet has had on the purchasing habits of consumers of books and music. But you can also shop for plenty of other products and services online. Perhaps surprisingly, life insurance is one of the things that you can now shop for online. But like buying just about anything else, you need to make sure that you sufficiently educate yourself about the buying process, and what you need to look for. Here is...

Why Health Insurance Costs Continue to Rise

Even as we hear the news reports of inflation numbers being relatively low, most of us are seeing the prices of many things continue to rise. Over the last year, one of the most noticeable increases has been the cost of individual and family health insurance. In just the past year, the annual health insurance premium cost has risen approximately 8-9%. This puts the average total premium cost for family coverage over the $15,000 mark. This year’s increase continues a trend that we’ve been seeing for quite a while, even if the increases of the few years prior were much...

Advice on How to Research and Compare Insurance Policies Online

Of all the expenses in your budget, one that sometimes seems the most opaque is your cost of insurance. Chances are you pay for insurance to cover your home and car, as well as health insurance and life insurance. There are a variety of options for each type of coverage, so it’s important to make sure that you have the right kind of coverage, and that you aren’t paying too much for it. Not surprisingly, the best way to research and compare your different insurance policy options is using the Internet. There are many sites and resources available to you...

Advice on What to Expect When You Apply for Life Insurance

Life insurance is something that too many of us do not have enough of. Some have no coverage whatsoever, while others have only small policies that might barely cover their final expenses. You need enough life insurance to pay funeral expenses, pay off debts, and make sure your dependents are taken care of when you’re gone. If you don’t have enough coverage to take care of these things, it’s time to apply for it. Don’t worry, it’s not as difficult or unpleasant as you might think. Here’s some information and advice on what you can expect when applying for a...