Monday, December 31, 2007

Aegon Acquires New York-Based Merrill Lynch Life Insurance Co.

Dutch life insurance and pension group Aegon NV and the New York-based Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. announced on Monday that they have decided upon a strategic business agreement on Monday.

As a part of a deal Aegon USA will acquire Merrill Lynch Life Insurance Company and ML Life Insurance Co. of New York for $1.25 billion in cash.

The New York-based Merrill Lynch said in a statement that after the latest move it expects an increase in the sale of the insurance units during the fourth quarter of 2007.

"This transaction will allow Merrill Lynch to redeploy approximately US$800 million in equity capital to other parts of our business," Robert J. McCann, President of Merrill Lynch's Global Wealth Management business, said in the statement.

Aegon is reportedly one of the largest life insurance and pension groups along with some investment products.
source:http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7009580360

Take advantage of life insurance price war

Customers are being urged to take advantage of a price war that has ensued among life insurance companies in recent times.

Lifesearch has highlighted the slashing of life insurance prices, with the cost of cover having fallen over 40 per cent in the last five years.

Further figures show that life insurance rates fell by up to 9 per cent between March and September 2007.

Matt Morris, a Lifesearch policy advisor, explained: “There are a number of actions that customers can take in the new year to freshen up their finances and save a bit of money.

"Don’t wait until New Year’s Day 2009 comes round before you start thinking about this again.

"However, it is important to remember that price should not be the only consideration when choosing a protection product and customers should look at the policy that offers the best value for money."

Those who have given up smoking for 12 months have also been reminded that they could potentially save hundreds of pounds by re-brokering their policies.
source:http://www.thriftyscot.co.uk/news/122007/take-advantage-of-life-insurance-price-war.html

Saturday, December 8, 2007

How To Get Cheap Term Insurance

Buying insurance has become a necessity in today’s world. But a good insurance policy doesn’t come cheap. The premiums you pay will increase as you extend the duration of the policy. Hence whole life policies are more expensive than term insurance. This is because a whole life policy covers you for the entire life while a term insurance policy will offer cover only for the term decided while signing up for the policy. A term insurance policy is a cheaper and simpler way to insure your partner’s and your family’s financial future if you die. Here are some useful tips on buying the cheapest term insurance policy.

Why should I buy life insurance?

You should buy term life insurance if you have a mortgage or dependants. In the unfortunate event of death, the insurance will pay off the mortgage, thus providing shelter to your family, who in other circumstances would have been left homeless.

What should the term of my term life insurance be?

The duration of your term insurance should equate the duration of the mortgage. This ensures that if you die, it will clear off your debts so that your family has a roof over its head.

Why should I buy term insurance?

With plenty of insurance policies flooding the market, it becomes confusing for a layman to find out the right policy meeting your needs. Besides, buying complex policies will force you to pay higher premium. Term insurance is a simple and cheap policy that pays a certain amount entirely on your death. As there is no investment factor included in the policy, you do not get anything if you are alive when the policy expires. This means the insurer cannot charge you heavily for this policy, making it the cheapest policy in the market.

How should I buy a term insurance?

Due to progress made in medical science, the quality of our life has increased. This has brought down the cost of insurance premium by 40%. If you are paying the premium at the old rate, negotiate with your insurer or look around for a new one. Get quotes from various insurers before committing yourself. This is because there is a vast amount of difference between various policies. Though you can buy a policy from a physical entity like bank or an insurance broker, internet offers the fastest and simplest way to get the insurance. You can get online quote instantly and understand the premium you will have to pay. Quotes are just an estimation of the premium you will pay. The actual premium will be decided once you have submitted the application form. Insurer will consider various factors like height, weight, age, sex, smoking, presence of diseases and other factors before deciding the premium. If you are unhappy with the premium, you can terminate the policy.

Source:http://www.bestsyndication.com/?q=120307_term_life_insurance.htm

The Complete Guide To Online Life Insurance Quotes

Today, people can easily access to online life insurance quotes from various online life insurance companies. The requested quotes are often for the amount ranging from USD 50,000 to 5000,000. The amount that is requested by the customer often signifies that they have not taken time to properly calculate the amount on which they want to make a policy. It will be better for you and your coming generation to take these decisions properly as you request for several online life insurance quotes. If you wish to establish a purchase, it will be very helpful to determine the real needs.

Basic Needs – First of all you must know the real amount you need to purchase for the insurance policy.

1) Final expenses: You will have to spend this amount for your daily needs. So put it in your calculator.

2) Mortgage Balance – Sum up your entire mortgage balance and add to final expenses.

3) Short Term Debt – Add complete credit card balances and installment loan to your mortgage balance and final expense totals.

Now you are ready to purchase a life insurance policy.

You are recommended to purchase a life insurance policy for your children’s education to meet future educational needs. You should estimate higher education costs and multiply by the number of children you have.

After you are ready with all your details you can request for a life insurance quote online.

You should be careful regarding the two types of life insurance.

1) Term life insurance: If you are young and living with your family, then term insurance will suit you the best. If death occurs then the beneficiary will get the amount.

2) Permanent or whole life: If your age is more than 30 then, whole life insurance is best for you because it pays money to your family whenever you die. For requesting quotes you should have all information regarding whole life insurance rates and the policies.

Source:http://www.bestsyndication.com/?q=120707_online_guide_to_life_insurance.htm

Why Life Insurance Agents Should Own Up to Mistakes

We all make mistakes in our business from time to time… We may miss a deadline, delete an important file or foul up a project…or whatever.

The question is how we handle them when they happen. And just for the record, life insurance agents are NOT supposed to lie!

Inevitably, to cover up the mess instead of owning up to it is usually far more expensive in the long run. Lies will follow you like your shadow…Sooner or later you pay…and sometimes with a steep interest rate.

If you think I’m over reacting, ask Martha Stewart…She would have avoided criminal conviction and financial disaster if it weren’t for lying. The judge determined that the charge of fraud wasn’t a crime in which she could be convicted of. The fraud charge was actually dismissed. The only charge that remained was the perjury.

There are many examples throughout history where the cost of the cover up was far greater than if the truth was confronted from the get go:

- Nixon could have possibly survived impeachment or avoided it all together if he had fessed up immediately.

- Same goes for Clinton…the whole Monica scandal probably wouldn’t have been in the headlines for a decade if he hadn’t drawn it out for so long.

- Maybe Newt Gingrich would have been our standing president if he stood his ground and told the truth. Who knows?

I know I’ve had my fair share of poor decisions, bonehead moves and miscalculations in my lifetime…And it almost always ends up costing me dearly.

In the life insurance business it is vital to keep your integrity and be truthful always, PERIOD. If you give your client a quote, (for instance), that you know is way off base, just to get a commitment, most often that will come back to bite you in more ways than you will ever realize.

If you want the trust of your client and community, then you must be trustworthy. If you want to have credibility with your clients and community, you must be credible.

It is no easy task to regulate our own personal behaviors…But our reputation and credibility is far more valuable than any gain we may accomplish by leading people on with lies. If you lose their trust, you lose their business, their family’s business and potentially the business of everyone they know.

Source:http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=44908

Why Life Insurance Agents Should Own Up to Mistakes

We all make mistakes in our business from time to time… We may miss a deadline, delete an important file or foul up a project…or whatever.

The question is how we handle them when they happen. And just for the record, life insurance agents are NOT supposed to lie!

Inevitably, to cover up the mess instead of owning up to it is usually far more expensive in the long run. Lies will follow you like your shadow…Sooner or later you pay…and sometimes with a steep interest rate.

If you think I’m over reacting, ask Martha Stewart…She would have avoided criminal conviction and financial disaster if it weren’t for lying. The judge determined that the charge of fraud wasn’t a crime in which she could be convicted of. The fraud charge was actually dismissed. The only charge that remained was the perjury.

There are many examples throughout history where the cost of the cover up was far greater than if the truth was confronted from the get go:

- Nixon could have possibly survived impeachment or avoided it all together if he had fessed up immediately.

- Same goes for Clinton…the whole Monica scandal probably wouldn’t have been in the headlines for a decade if he hadn’t drawn it out for so long.

- Maybe Newt Gingrich would have been our standing president if he stood his ground and told the truth. Who knows?

I know I’ve had my fair share of poor decisions, bonehead moves and miscalculations in my lifetime…And it almost always ends up costing me dearly.

In the life insurance business it is vital to keep your integrity and be truthful always, PERIOD. If you give your client a quote, (for instance), that you know is way off base, just to get a commitment, most often that will come back to bite you in more ways than you will ever realize.

If you want the trust of your client and community, then you must be trustworthy. If you want to have credibility with your clients and community, you must be credible.

It is no easy task to regulate our own personal behaviors…But our reputation and credibility is far more valuable than any gain we may accomplish by leading people on with lies. If you lose their trust, you lose their business, their family’s business and potentially the business of everyone they know.

Source:http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=44908

Top Tips For Buying Life Insurance

If there are people in your life who depend on you financially, then life insurance is arguably your top financial priority. Forget pensions, savings and investments for a moment. If your family relies on your income, how will they manage financially should the worst happen to you?

Taking out life cover which provides a lump sum on death during the policy term is pretty straightforward but making sure you've got a suitable plan and sufficient protection is a little trickier. Here are my top ten tips to consider before you apply:

1. Decide carefully how much cover you need It's easy not to take out enough cover for our families. Perhaps the majority is earmarked for repaying the mortgage, but what about other debts, household expenses and so on?

Use our life assurance calculator to give you an idea of how much cover you'll need. Once you know that, shop around for a competitive quote. Remember while it's important not to be under-insured, equally don't be over-insured either. If you don't have any financial dependants you won't need life cover.

2. Decide how long you need cover in place - Ensure the term of your life policy is long enough to meet your needs. Typically your policy could run until your children leave home, your outstanding debts are repaid or perhaps until your retirement.

3. Take care to complete your application form accurately Failure to give all the information you're asked for can have devastating consequences. Life assurance companies call this non-disclosure and they can use it as a reason to reject your claim.

4. Set your policy up in trust A trust is a way of putting an asset aside to benefit others. This can include the value of your life policy. The trust ensures the pay out from your policy goes to the people you want when you die. Crucially if your policy isn't written in trust it automatically becomes part of your estate, which could increase your inheritance tax liability. Don't forget to complete the simple trust form which should be included in your application pack.

5. Don't pay more than you can afford This sounds almost too simple to mention but the cost of life cover can be high if a life assurance company decides insuring you represents a greater than average risk.

The most widely used policy is Level Term Assurance (LTA) where the sum you're insured for remains the same for the duration of the term, but there are cheaper alternatives. If you need life cover for a reducing liability such as repayment mortgage you could use Decreasing Term Assurance (DTA). This is less expensive because cover reduces over the term in line with your outstanding mortgage debt.

6. Review your level of protection when your circumstances change Moving to a larger home or the arrival of a baby are typical events where additional cover is sensible. Many of us tend to forget that as our circumstances adapt, our financial liabilities and therefore our need for life protection often increases.

7. If you already have a life policy shop around if you've had your plan for some time, you may find that you can switch to cheaper policy now. It's worth shopping around to find out.

But be careful before you cancel anything. Make sure you don't lose out on any valuable benefits that aren't available on the new policy. If your health has deteriorated or there has been any other change in your circumstances since you took out your original policy, you may find a new plan is considerably more expensive. In that case, stay put.

So there you have it. My top tips to help you find the right life insurance policy for you and your family.

Source:http://www.fool.co.uk/news/your-money/insurance/2007/11/26/top-tips-for-buying-life-insurance.aspx

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

5 Steps That Will Guarantee The Best Quote

Are you one of those who are really looking for life insurance that won't break the bank? There's really a way out. An understanding of what to do and the process are all you need. I will give a few steps that will help you save much.

1. The younger you are when you apply for a life insurance policy, the cheaper it will be for you. A 60 year old is more likely to die earlier than a 50 year old. And, the more likely it is that a person will die soon, the higher their life insurance rates.

2. Get your term life insurance coverage from companies that have a good reputation. For term life insurance you need to see how an insurer handles claims. It's how they'll likely handle yours if the need ever arises. Check their ratings across different independent research companies.

3. Smoking and other tobacco use increase the chances of an earlier death. That means more risk to your insurer. They handle that higher risk by slamming you with much higher rates. You'll help yourself if you quit smoking.

4. Avoid dangerous sports. If you can't help yourself then you'd have to live the astronomical rates that go with your passion.

5. The most vital key to massive savings in life insurance is comparison shopping -- That's if you do it well. The difference in quotes returned for a profile could range from several hundred dollars to well over a thousand.

You can simply choose the lowest quote now once you get them. That should be the case if you're simply after the lowest price. However, if you're after the best price/value then you'd have to look at the details of the lowest offers. Given the same policy, the features and extent of coverage provided by default for each policy could differ from slightly to a great deal.

This makes it imperative that you find out if you're really getting the coverage you desire for the offer. Life insurance involves your life so do ensure you are satisfied with the details of an insurer's policy coverage before paying. Remember, they are free and no obligation quotes. That's how to give your loved ones the best protection at the lowest price. You, too, can do it.

Source:http://ezinearticles.com/?5-Steps-That-Will-Guarantee-The-Best-Quote-(Term-Life-Insurance-Rate)&id=822587

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