Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Life Insurance: Understanding the Basics

If you’re new to buying life insurance, here are the facts you need to know:
What is life insurance?
It’s an insurance policy that grants premium benefits to beneficiaries in the event of the insured’s death. This is usually chosen and customized to suit the lifestyle and income of the owner. It is designed to provide protection and benefits for a specific amount of time.
Why do you need it?
It’s the most legitimate way of ensuring that your family won’t lack for financial help on your demise. Whether it’s an untimely death or a prolonged illness, your family or beneficiaries will receive premium benefits still. Most insurance companies only exclude suicide for a legitimate cause.
Are there different types?
Term life insurance provides financial protection to beneficiaries only for a limited amount of years, say 10 or 20 years. The premium can be guaranteed for that period only, although some policies and insurance companies allow for continued coverage.
Universal life insurance is a permanent life insurance that provides lifetime coverage. The policies are more flexible and allow the owner to increase or decrease coverage amounts throughout one’s lifetime. This is ideal for the beneficiary’s intent on acquiring assets like real estate or the stock market. Basically, it intends to preserve the wealth or lifestyle of the beneficiaries.
Whole life insurance is another permanent life insurance in which policy premiums are fixed and have cash value. Most owners opt for this when they want to accumulate tax-deferred savings, which can also be used for estate planning and wealth pooling.

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