Sep 28

Life insurance is often considered as an investment that one makes to secure his future and that of his family. There are two common types of life insurance, the term and whole life insurance. Term insurance insures’ an individual for a specific period of time like 20 or 30 years. This has little if any benefit since the sum insured is only payable after the event of death of the insured within the insured period. However, the whole life insurance policy covers the insured for his lifetime and in case death occurs then his beneficiaries receive the sum assured by the insurer.

Payment of Premiums

Whole life insurance is a good way of securing your family’s future in the event of your death. The amount of premiums to be paid varies depending on factors such as age. A young person taking a whole life insurance policy will be required to pay a less amount for his premiums while a one who is in his old age will be required more for his premiums.

Another factor determining amount is the health of the insured. A healthy person will be required to pay fewer premiums compared to a person with unstable health condition. The amount of premiums paid will also vary from one insurance company to another depending on their rates and interests. One with a high income earning can also choose to increase the value of his premiums hence the amount assured after maturity of the policy will be higher.

Why Invest in Whole Life Insurance

There are many benefits that come with taking a whole life insurance policy. Although most of these will not directly benefit you as the policy holder, they will be of great importance to your family or the beneficiaries after your death. Here are some benefits of whole life insurance.

o It offers financial security to your family. In case of death, one is assured that their spouse and children will continue living a comfortable life afterwards. This is usually the main reason people take this policy and is quite reasonable.

o It can be used for a loan. A life insurance policy holder can take a loan out against the cash value. In this case the money taken belongs to him therefore he will not be required any interest or pay back the amount taken.

o It offers tax benefits to beneficiaries. The insured amount in most cases is free from income tax to your named beneficiaries.

o The amount assured can be used to pay off mortgage loan in the case of death of the insured party.

o A whole life insurance policy can be used to cover expenses after death of the insured. These include funeral costs or family expenses such as the children’s college funding.

Having a life insurance is with no doubt a good investment strategy not only to your benefit but also to those you leave behind. It saves you the worry of wondering what will happen to your family and loved ones once the time of your death comes.

Article courtesy of auto insurance.

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Nov 26

If insurance costs play a role in your decision of which vehicle model to buy, then you must have a look at this report of cars with the least cost of insurance.

According to Edmunds.com, the least expensive to insure coupes,are the Kia Forte, Honda Civic and Chevrolet Cobalt. Among sedans, the Volkswagen Jetta, Chevrolet Aveo and Suzuki SX4 were the cheapest to insure.

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Oct 25

A reverse mortgage is a loan available to senior citizens above age 62. What happens is that the equity in a home is used to give a loan. The loan provides the borrower with an income stream. The loan amount paid out in a steady stream of payments or in a lump sum like an annuity.

What happens is that the Senior citizen gets an income to live on in his sunset years while the bank now owns the home. The reality of the situation will come clear when the borrower dies. The beneficiaries of the deceased estate will only be entitled to any equity that is left after all of the cash from the deceased’s estate has been used to pay off the mortgage. Sounds scary!

Risk & Disadvantage Of Reverse Mortgage

  1. Reverse mortgage is expensive because a borrower has to pay high upfront costs e.g. origination fees, mortgage insurance, appraisal fees & attorney fees.
  2. The borrower loses full ownership of their home.
  3. The family is left with a mess to deal with when the borrower dies.

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Sep 21

The key to selecting a good financial advisor or financial planner around Las Vegas area is to go by the reviews and recommendation of others. People who have used the services of a certain financial advisor are likely to give you an honest opinion.

There are several places online where Las Vegas financial advisors / Las Vegas financial planners are reviewed.

Barron Ranking of Las Vegas Financial Advisors.

Barron has an annual ranking of top financial advisors. The following las vegas financial advisors were ranked in top 5 among top Nevada Financial advisors.

1 Randy Garcia of The Investment Counsel Company

2 Brian Buckley of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney

3 Deborah Danielson Danielson Financial

Another place to find Las Vegas Financial Advisors / Las Vegas Financial planners is at Yelp. The good thing about Yelp is that the site is reviewed by users like you.Some of financial advisor from Las Vegas at Yelp Financial Services are:

Leornard Bensons Company

Hiey Insurance Agency.

Another online resource for Las Vegas financial advisors is the Yellow pages. Although these are purely Ads, the one advantage is that they have a large resource of listed Las Vegas financial advisors and Financial planners. See Yellow Pages

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Jul 30

Choosing a checking account is part of good personal finance management. It is important to check what every bank in your area is promising. Checking accounts should be evaluated in the following criteria.

Checking Account Fees.

Know every fee that you are going to incur during normal usage of the account. Stay away from banks that charge maintenance fees, they are an absolute no-no, as they’ll eat all interest you might earn.

Free Online Banking

In this day and age their is no point in visiting your bank to make simple transactions. It  saves time and money.Some banks charge for online transaction so look for banks that offer free online banking.

Customer Service

A good bank should provide support in form of email, telephone and chat. Even in this age a good bank should be able to provide a customer with an opportunity for a face to face chat with a customer advisor at a local branch. The best way to evaluate a banks customer service is ask current customers.

FDIC Insurance

Just make sure that your account is FDIC insured before putting your money in.

Interest Rates

A good checking account should provide a competitive interest rate. Be wary of banks with high interest rates because most of them have hidden fees that eats up the interest earn. Read the paper work slowly and mindfully.

Whatever checking account you choose, choose wisely and carefully and do your own thorough research.

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Jul 10

Mortgage owners who cant keep up with monthly payments are making a drastic decision by walking away from their mortgages. Mortgage companies refer to it as strategic default.

Walking away from a mortgage can be in your own best financial interest, after all big real estate companies do this every day. But before you make that decision make sure you are familiar with your states rules on mortgage defaults. Some states are pro borrowers while others are pro lenders.

Some Risks and Cost associated with walking away from a mortgage

  1. In certain states, a borrower can be sued and personal assets can be subject to a deficiency judgment.
  2. Once a mortgage goes into default, a borrower’s credit rating is severely tarnished, making it more expensive, if not impossible, to qualify for any new form of credit.
  3. anything that involves a credit review, such as obtaining auto insurance or getting a new job, can be complicated.

Before you make the decision to walk away from your mortgage consider the above cost. Everything in life has risk

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Jul 08

If you live in Miami and you need a financial advisor you may look at the list of top 100 financial advisors in Florida by Barron Online.

On that Barron list the following financial advisors were ranked among the top 100.

1. Patrick Dwyer of Merrill Lynch was ranked no 1 on the list

2. Michael Wilson of Merrill Lynch was ranked no 31 on the list

3. Alexander Fernandez  of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney was ranked no. 32

4. Matias Cavalieri of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney was ranked at No. 47

If you are not interested in the highstreet financial advisory firms you may look at independent financial advisors around Miami.

  1. Ashley A. O’Kurley of John Hancock Financial Services
  2. Luisa M. Bravo of L. M. Bravo & Associates
  3. Richard G. King of Richard G. King Insurance Agency, Inc
  4. Jorge E. Mercado, of Jorge Mercado & Associates, Inc
  5. Donald Allan Brown, of Brown & Associates

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Jun 25

Let’s say your current home is valued at $400,000. You likely will need (conservatively) about 1% of that sum each year for property taxes on average ($4,000), about 1% for repairs and maintenance (again, $4,000), and about $500 for homeowners insurance. Annual bill: $8,500.

A relatively safe rate of withdrawal in retirement is 4%. So you would need $212,500 in savings ($212,500 x 4% = $8,500) just to support your home.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: , , ,

Nov 03

In a tough economy other people may be looking for “alternative” sources of money. This alternatives may be suing others.

The fact is that anyone can find themselves a target of an overblown lawsuit. If you have a house, cash or investments – heck, if you just have a job – you could be seen as a cash cow by someone else . . . someone who could “slip” on your sidewalk or “fall down” your steps.

There are affordable ways to protect yourself. Your home insurance provides liability protection up to certain amount (sometimes $300,000). But that’s not enough to protect your assets if someone gets greedy or can prove that they suffered a substantial injury that’s your fault. Personal umbrella coverage, which gives you liability insurance above and beyond your home and car insurance, is relatively inexpensive and is a vital part of fortifying your finances.

According to the Insurance Information Institute, you can buy a $1 million umbrella policy for about $150 to $300 a year. The next million will cost about $75, and about $50 for every million after that.

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Jul 13

Litigations have become a fact of modern life. When people are facing litigation with a potential of hefty fine they tend to ask whether asset protection can work when one is facing litigation.

According to some lawyers. In some cases, yes, although asset planning options are ordinarily narrowed under such circumstances. Asset Protection is a vaccine, however, not a cure, and it is best viewed as preventive medicine. It is very difficult to purchase fire insurance once the fire has started. It is advisable to have the legal restructuring completed before litigation is even on the horizon. It can, however, be very helpful during and after litigation, as well.

So, consult with your lawyer for the best cause of direction.

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