13 Lucky Tips to Save on Life Insurance

Let’s be honest: we all hate life insurance. We hate thinking about it. Hearing about it. And especially trying to buy it.

But it’s an important part of protecting your family from financial ruin and your assets from disappearing. So, it’s a pretty good idea to get it.

OK, so how do you go about that without getting ripped off? Well, lucky for you, I have some tips
on what to look for and how to save some real money. As well as your sanity.

1. Don’t rely on your employer to provide you with life insurance
If your company gives you life insurance, that’s great. But don’t count on it. First of all, if you get canned or quit, you’ll probably lose it. Plus, it’s probably not as much insurance as you really need. So, look into getting your own policy that can protect your family - and your wealth - properly.

2. Term, Term, Term
Life insurance comes in a variety of types - Whole, Universal and Term are the 3 most popular. Cut to the chase and stick with Term Life Insurance. I know that agents will tell you that Whole and Universal give you a “cash value” over time, but I haven’t found one agent who can tell me how much that “cash value” will be. I also read that it takes 13 years after signing a Whole or Universal policy for the “cash value” to be take hold. I don’t know if that’s true, but it just put one more question in my mind about these policies in relation to Term. With Term, you know how much you’re paying over a set period of time - say 10, 20 or 30 years. Read more

Financial Planner - Yes or No?

The idea of having a Financial Planner really appeals to me. But each of the 4 times that I met with a Financial Planner over the years, I walked away feeling that someone was just looking at me as a “Commission Generator”.

One time, a “Planner” turned out to be just an Insurance Salesman who tried to sell me a Whole Life Policy as the sole investment in the retirement part of my “Plan”. This might’ve been a smart option if I were 25 and could really take advantage of my premiums building up over the years. But I was 48 at the time. And that didn’t leave too many years for the premiums to build up.

But today, I read a great article by Terry Savage on The Street.com about How to Choose a Financial Planner. And it really got me thinking . Could I use one? Probably. Could I trust one? That’s a tougher question to answer right now. But who knows? I might interview a few and find one that I can really work with. How about you? What’s your take on Financial Planners?