Decoding Life Insurance Quotes: 4 Tips

Life insurance is (or should be) an important part of nearly every household's financial plan. If it's not part of your family's financial base, it may be that you find life insurance too confusing or complex or maybe you're just adverse to the idea of considering the topic of your own or your spouse's demise. These are not uncommon reasons for avoiding the subject of life insurance.

Who Needs Life Insurance?

Simply stated, life insurance is an obligation for anyone on whom someone else is dependent for financial support. Whether this dependent is a spouse, a child, a parent, a sibling or a partner, if your death would mean a significant financial loss for another person, you need to have life insurance. If you're retired with a secure income or independent financially and no one would suffer financially at your sudden death, then you probably don't really need life insurance.

Two Types From Which To Choose

Life insurance is divided into two types – whole-life (permanent) and term-life. Term life is the least expensive and simplest form. With term life, the insurer sets the cost of the policy according their perceived risk of your dying within the term, which is typically 10, 20 or 30 years. If you die within the term of the policy the stated death benefit is paid to your named beneficiary.

Permanent insurance uses the same “risk of death” assessment for helping determine premium cost but also features a savings component, referred to as the cash value. You'll find three types of permanent life insurance – whole life, universal life and variable life. What differentiates these from one another is the way the cash value funds are handled.

Decoding Life Insurance Quotes

Here are four tips for decoding life insurance quotes:

1.     Use an independent broker with access to multiple life insurance companies to get multiple quotes side-by-side.

2.     Life insurance costs are determined by your age and health. This is a competitive business and most life insurance companies offer about the same policy costs.

3.     Insurance costs are the same whether you buy online, from an independent agent or straight from an insurer. There may be differences, however, in service quality. An independent broker can help you find the best companies.

4.     If you have a particular health issue, your broker can steer you toward an insurer that may be more lenient to individuals with your condition.

Are Pets Covered by Renter's Insurance?

A question we often hear when talking about renter's insurance is, “What type of provisions does a renter's insurance policy include regarding pets?” This is a good question, and the answer applies equally to both renter's and homeowner's insurance.

Renter's Insurance Coverage

Renter's insurance typically provides three types of financial protection. These include:

• Personal Property Protection – covers your rental home's contents and your personal belongings against loss/damage resulting from specific named perils.
• Liability Protection – covers you and your family members living in your rental home from financial loss resulting from liability lawsuits or medical expenses stemming from a visitor to your home becoming injured.
• Additional Living Expenses Protection – if your rental home becomes unlivable as the result of a peril covered in your policy, this benefit will reimburse you for expenses incurred while temporarily being forced to live outside of your residence, within stated policy limits.

Pets Are Not Considered Personal Property

Of the three protections listed above, the only one that applies as a form of pet insurance is the second, liability protection. Personal property protection doesn't apply because insurance companies don't consider pets as personal property. Dedicated pet insurance is available from various insurance companies for financial protection should your pet become ill or injured, just as your medical insurance covers you in the event that you become ill or injured. Renter's insurance, however, is not applicable regarding your pet's illness or injury.

How Liability Factors In

The liability coverage contained in your renter's insurance policy could be looked at as a type of pet insurance in that it provides you with financial protection should your pet either cause damage to your rental home or inflict an injury to a third person, whether inside or outside of your actual residence.

The liability coverage in your renter's insurance won't cover all pet-related damage nor will it apply to all pets. Some breeds of dog, for example, may be excluded by your insurer. Typically, this includes breeds known to be aggressive. The most common pet-related liability claims made against renter's insurance policies are dog bites. Certain exotic pets such as monkeys or reptiles may also be excluded.

Damage caused by your pet to your rental home will likely be covered, however, this doesn't extend to damage to your own personal property. If your dog gets loose and tears up your neighbor's garden, this would likely be covered.

Homeowner's Insurance Costs: Newer Versus Older Homes

Buying an older home can bring with it some up-front costs you might not experience when buying a newer home, depending on how much damage or deterioration the older home has seen in its life. As a general rule, older homes also present a higher risk factor to insurance companies, so another up-front cost you likely will have to deal with is a higher premium rate on your homeowner's insurance coverage.

Though this higher premium rate for your particular older home may not necessarily be the case, since all homes and homeowner's insurance policies are different, it's true more often than not. Here's why:

-  Certain systems within an older home may be outdated and require replacement in order to bring it up to codes and current safety standards. This may include the plumbing and electrical systems, which would both be expensive to update to today's standards.

-  Older homes may have certain physical hazards due to their old age such as foundation problems or the need for roof replacement. They may also be plagued with health hazards such as lead paint, asbestos and mold.

-  Certain older features like hardwood floors and plaster walls may be difficult and expensive to replace. If your older home is included within the National Historic Register, this will almost certainly increase the cost of your homeowner's insurance.

Two Important Tips for Buying Homeowner's Insurance

The number one rule for those shopping for insurance, any kind of insurance, is to get multiple quotes that will allow you to comparison shop. Using an independent broker with access to numerous insurance providers is an easy way to do this, allowing the broker to do the groundwork and present you with multiple options from which to choose.

Always look for discounts. Sometimes, you'll have to ask about available discounts to find out about them. Often, insurers have lots of discounts they can provide to qualified prospective customers.

Special Tips When Insuring an Older Home

Some things that may be standard in most modern homes could be missing in older homes and should be considered in order to upgrade the home and lower your home insurance rates. Consider the following:

Installing smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors can sometimes lower insurance costs by as much as 10%.

Dead-bolt locks, sprinkler systems and monitored burglar alarms may all help lower insurance rates on older homes.

What Is Usage-Based Car Insurance?

Usage-based car insurance is known by a number of different names, including:

• Pay-as-you-drive (PAYD) insurance
• Pay-per-mile insurance
• Behavior-based insurance
• Telematics

These forms of usage-based car insurance are ones where your insurer calculates your insurance premium rates based on your car usage and how you actually drive your car rather than the way they think you'll drive your car based on their statistical data used during the underwriting process.

Traditionally, car insurance premium rates are determined by using lots of data that are meant to tell the insurance company what type of risk you represent to them.  This is done by trying to figure out how other drivers displaying your characteristics and driving habits are most likely to drive. There are also lots of other factors used to determine what level of risk you represent to your insurer. These may include:

• Age
• Gender
• Zip code
• Occupation
• Marital status
• Driving record
• Credit rating
• and other factors, depending on the insurer

How Usage-Based Car Insurance is Different

With usage-based car insurance, your policy premiums are based on how and how much you actually drive your car. As a safe driver, you should look forward to saving some money. Conversely, as a riskier driver, your premiums will be higher than your peers who are considered safer.

This type of insurance is relatively new and has been fairly slow to catch on with the public. One reason for this is the fact that people may feel it an invasion of privacy to allow their insurance company to track their driving.

 

 Different Types of Usage-Based Coverage

Some usage-based policies figure premium costs strictly on the number of miles you drive during the policy period. Even as a risky driver, you won't see a premium penalty unless a claim is filed against you.

Other policies are behavior based, meaning premium rates are determined by how and when you drive. Using a mobile app that works in conjunction with your smart phone, data can be sent to your insurer to tell them not only where and how many miles you drive, but also any risky actions you take. These may include:

• Talking on your phone while driving
• Fast accelerations
• Hard braking
• Speeding

As an alternative to the mobile app, some companies use a dongle that plugs into your car's on-board diagnostics port.

Not all insurers offer usage-based car insurance, but some of the best, such as Progressive, do.

Renter's Insurance: How Much Is My Stuff Worth?

If you're out there shopping for a Greensboro Renters Insurance policy, you're to be commended. You're in the minority in an area where making the right decision can have a huge financial impact on your life.

Homeowner's vs. Renter's Insurance

According to the Insurance Information Institute (III), approximately 97% of homeowners in the U.S. carry homeowner's insurance while less than 40% of renters carry renter's insurance. There may be several reasons that so many renters remain without coverage:

1. Some may feel that the personal property they have doesn't have a high enough value to warrant insuring it.
2. Some may feel the cost of renter's insurance is too high to justify this ongoing expense.
3. Some may not realize the benefits that come with a renter's insurance policy.

Is It Worth It?

Bringing clarity to the three above-listed concerns may be just what you need to justify your taking out Greensboro Renters Insurance coverage.

As far as total value of your possessions goes, you likely have much more in value than you think. Once you factor in all of your clothing, all of your furniture, all of your electronics, your books, dishes, kitchenware, etc., you likely have thousands more than you've considered. A typical renters insurance policy with a personal possessions limit of $30,000 would probably cover you adequately, but once you start adding everything up you might even want more protection.

Cost for a typical renters insurance policy is surprisingly low. According to the III, here in North Carolina the average cost for renter's insurance runs about $157 per year, which is only about $13 a month.

Considering what you get for that $13 per month premium payment is also to be seriously taken into account. Not only are your personal possessions covered against numerous threats such as fire, smoke, explosion, theft and other perils, you also have significant liability protection. This means if someone becomes injured while on your rental property and you end up getting sued for damages or medical costs, you have a certain amount of liability coverage. Limits for liability coverage are typically around $100,000, and this can go toward court costs, legal fees and any judgments you face.

For a few dollars more, you can increase policy limits by quite a bit. This may be the lowest cost, highest value insurance you can buy. One time use could pay back a lifetime of premium dollars!

Life Insurance Medical Exam: What to Expect

A life insurance medical exam is a way for your proposed life insurance provider to confirm the information you supplied to them on your life insurance application and to delve a little further into your medical history. A life insurance medical exam is typically conducted by a qualified medical professional such as a nurse, and need not be done at a hospital or clinic. In many cases, the exam will take place at your home.

Two Stages

There are usually two parts to a life insurance medical exam:

1. A verbal question and answer period with the examiner.
2. Standard measurements such as height, weight, blood pressure and heart rate (pulse). You will also likely be asked to give a blood and urine sample. The blood sample is to check things such as cholesterol, blood sugar, protein and HIV. The urine sample is to check for protein, glucose, HIV, creatinine and drug use.

The information derived from this two-stage medical examination will be compiled with the information from your insurance application and the statistical longevity information used by the insurer. All this will then be used to determine whether or not the insurer feels that you're qualified to be accepted as one of their insureds and, if so, your annual policy premium rate.

What's the Time Factor for the Test?

The examiner who comes to your location to perform your life insurance medical exam will bring everything they need to complete the session. The verbal medical history portion should take about twenty minutes, give or take, and obtaining the urine and blood samples should take just a few minutes more.

Why a Medical Exam is Required

There are several reasons insurers often require medical exams be undertaken by their prospective insureds. They include:

• As a verification for the information originally submitted on your application
• To get a full medical history. The exam questions go deeper into not only your personal medical history but also into your family medical history. If, from the information gathered, it's determined that you may statistically die earlier in life, higher premiums will have to be collected during the early years of the policy. Conversely, if it's estimated you'll live longer, early year premium payments will likely be lower.
• The exam may help uncover any underlying medical conditions of which you're not aware or that you may have not declared. It may also uncover any drug or nicotine use.

Homeowners Insurance: Taking an Inventory of Your Personal Belongings

If you're of a mind to get the most value out of your Greensboro homeowners insurance policy, you need to take care of an often overlooked detail. That's the creation of a comprehensive home inventory list of your family's personal belongings. You may have thought about doing this at some time in the past, but have neglected getting out your pen and paper and writing down the details. As an alternative, you could pull out your smart phone or video camera and make a complete documentary of what possessions you have in your home.

If you fall victim to a disaster such as a house fire that destroys your home and your personal possessions, a detailed inventory listing of everything that's been lost will be invaluable when making a claim on your Greensboro homeowners insurance policy. Having a detailed, up-to-date inventory list of your personal possessions can help in several ways:

1. Your insurance claim can be settled more quickly and more easily.
2. An inventory list can help you to verify losses you'll need to report on your income tax return.
3. Itemizing your personal possessions can help you in making sure you purchase and maintain the correct amount of homeowners insurance.

Where Do You Start?

Everyone knows that taking an inventory and documenting a list of your personal possessions is a good idea, but we also know it's easy to let a good idea slip by without taking the needed action to make it happen. Creating a complete possessions inventory can seem a daunting task, but it doesn't have to be. The trick is to START NOW!

You can start small, with just one room, and don't worry if you don't complete the inventory all in one sitting. A good plan can be to just do one room in your house per day, every day, until you've finished. Don't get overwhelmed. Even a partial inventory list is better than none.

Here are a few tips to consider:

• Record basic info on items such as where and when it was purchased, make/model, purchase price and serial number (if applicable).
• Record clothing by category, such as five suits, four pairs of jeans, 10 pairs of shoes, etc.
• Make special note of very expensive items (jewelry, artwork, furs, etc.) and make sure your policy covers them fully. If not, 
• add a floater.
• Store your completed inventory list in a safe, off-premises location.