Taking out a life insurance policy is one of the very important, even essential aspects of long-term financial planning. Life insurance cover offers you protection against risks posed by unforeseen accidents and even death so that one’s family or dependents are not suddenly deprived of a source of income. In choosing the life insurance policy that works best for your specific needs, you would have to take life insurance quotes from a number of insurance agents. It is now also possible to obtain online life insurance quotes. Here are a few tips to identify the best life insurance policy and company for your specific requirement. While it would be hard to clearly identify anyone specific life insurance firm as the best, there are factors that you must weigh in order to arrive at your decision. Take into account the exact life insurance product that the company is offering, whether this product matched your current health status and long-term needs, what are the financials involved in you taking out the life insurance policy. Health rate categories depend on each individual, his/her lifestyle and health status. Life insurance policies come under two heads – mutual insurance and stock insurance. The former is owned by the policyholders while the latter is owned by the stockholders.

When it boils down to picking between an Agreed Value Policy or an Actual Cash. Value Policy for their boats, people are often left feeling confused. Both these insurance coverages are extremely different and come with their own set of advantages and disadvantages. Listed below are their differences to help you choose the most suitable policy for your boat. Agreed Value Policy This kind of a policy covers your boat in an event of a loss for the value agreed upon while buying the policy. If you need to claim only a partial loss, you will be paid on a “new for old” basis. Note that this does not cover all types of accidents and repairs. Hence, this is something you must discuss in detail with your insurance provider while making a claim. A lot of people prefer an Agreed Value Policy as they are aware beforehand as to how much cover they will receive, should something happen to their boat. Additionally, they can get back the total value of the boat when their claim is approved. The application process for an Agreed Value Policy is fairly simple and although it is more expensive in comparison, it offers more coverage.

As we grow older, moving into one’s sunset years, thoughts of how to plan financially for one’s last days are sure to come up, Senior life insurance is essentially a life insurance plan that covers the cost of funeral expenses and other possible expenditure when one passes away. As senior citizens, there are a few types of life insurance policies that are available for consideration. Term life insurance, as the very name implies are valid for a particular period of time, usually up to 20 years before the policy lapses. Term life insurance policies for seniors start around the US$50,000 mark and require the person applying for insurance coverage to undergo a full battery of tests to ascertain health status. Under the terms of such term life insurance policies for seniors, those who have a better health status may be required to pay out less as premium than those who have some pre-existing health issues. Whole life insurance policies are generally considered more viable, although they may require higher premiums than term life insurance. They do not have an expiry date and continue to remain valid as long as the premium payments are made. An added benefit to whole life insurance policies for seniors is that they may be treated as assets as they help to build cash value and may also be sold to an investor as a surety for borrowing money if a situation so warrants.

Health insurance is a risk management strategy that is important in terms of the coverage it provides for the insured for any surgery, hospitalization or medical expenses incurred but it is important to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of taking health insurance before choosing a policy. An indemnity health insurance plan will reimburse you either partially or fully depending on the type of plan you have chosen. Alternately, an indemnity health insurance plan may also cover medical or hospitalization expense up to a certain maximum number of days. Managed care plans give your access to doctors and medical care professionals who are part of a network and their consultation charges may be covered fully or partially under the terms of the policy. Health insurance coverage provides you access to state of the art medical services at the lowest possible costs. A sound health insurance policy is good to have in the event of any unforeseen medical emergency so that you do not have to worry about raising money for such expenses out of your pocket. While health insurance plans may not contribute significantly to an investment plan, they are very useful as a risk management strategy for long-term filial planning.

For those who treat their pets as members of their family and shower love and affection on them, pet insurance is an essential investment in their care for the animals. Pet owners are increasingly willing to spend enormous amounts of money intending to their pet’s health or providing them luxurious standards of living. Pet insurance, like insurance for people, pays partly or fully: for the treatment of sick or wounded pet animals upon the death of pets if the pet gets lost or is stolen. Originally started in the year 1890 for the care of livestock and horses, it has extended to include almost every kind of pet animal, even the exotic ones. Essentially, owners make payments for their pets’ treatment and then claim reimbursement from the insurance company against the policy they have taken. The lifetime and non-lifetime insurance policies for pets are the two kinds that owners of pets can opt for. While a lifetime insurance covers the cost of treating a pet for a health condition for its entire lifetime, a non-lifetime insurance covers the costs only for the period of the insurance. When the policy term ends, the condition that the insurance was claimed for will be excluded from coverage.

In today’s day and age, appliances are the most basic need of each household. We have appliances all around our houses which we cannot do without, be it the refrigerator, washing machine, mixer grinder or anything else. All these appliances are used in our daily lives and form a big part of it. Needless to say, it is important to ensure its proper working. When any of them break down or do not work properly, it interrupts our daily functions and causes unnecessary hindrance. The only options we have are to either get them repaired or to buy a new one, both of which mean big spending! However, there is a third option and that is to get your appliances insured. But are they really effective and do you really need them? What is appliance insurance? As the name suggests, appliance insurance is an insurance that covers costs incurred when the insured appliance suffers damage. The home appliance insurance provides cover for a number of appliances including kitchen appliances (white goods) and even audio-visual appliances (brown goods). It provides insurance when you buy an appliance and even for appliances that you already own. Another option is that while buying an appliance, you may be offered an extended warranty which can be renewed from time to time.

When you are skeptical or undecided about investing in a term life insurance policy, understand what it entails and list out its advantages to help you make a wise decision. For a term life insurance to be profitable, the insured person must be dead before the end of the term of the policy, so the beneficiaries can receive the policy amount or the death benefit. If the insured person lives through the specified term of the insurance policy, then no payment is made out by the insurer. Also, the insurance policy terminates automatically at the end of the term mentioned in the policy document. If you want to renew it, you must make an effort to change the term or convert it into a permanent life insurance policy. For both short term and long term needs of the family of the insured, term life insurance is very helpful. College fees or mortgage payments, for example, are short-term expenses that could be met with the payout from the term life policy in the event something happens to the primary earner during the term of the policy period. And, being affordable and uncomplicated, it is a feasible option as a temporary life insurance policy.

Homeowners insurance is a form of property insurance that covers the exterior structure of the house and the interior assets of the house. Buying a home or constructing requires you to spend your hard-earned money. For most of us, this happens only once in a lifetime. It is primarily why financially insuring the house of your dreams should be your top priority. In case you are setting up a business and need money, you can set up the mortgage on the house, and you will get a good value if you have comprehensive insurance that covers almost every aspect of the house. You can either get property insurance by a lending bank or of your own choice from a known agent. If you are getting a private insurance, then you can compare all the offers available in the market and crack the best deal from the insurer. You should first check the policies that are best covering every asset in your home and giving you low premium costs in return. As mentioned earlier, the insurance company gives you protection on both interior assets and the exterior structure of the house including the staircase to the basement and much more. However, they do not cover the home for damages that may arise out of a flood and other natural calamities.

Alzheimer’s disease has become a frighteningly common disease among people who have crossed the age of 65. Its treatment involves expenses such as daycare for the patient, bathing, dressing, and other daily activities, which becomes an expensive affair. There are several nursing homes for dementia patients, but many people also prefer to keep a caregiver at home instead of shifting the patient to a facility. Insurance policies usually cover normal illnesses but families with dementia patients face a difficult situation while choosing the correct insurance policy because not all types of expenses involved in Alzheimer’s disease are always fully covered. Therefore, if an insurance policy has to be taken specifically for Alzheimer’s disease, then the fine print needs to be read and understood well so that the policy actually serves its purpose when needed. Things related to insurance coverage of Alzheimer’s disease Let us understand a few things related to insurance policies that will adequately cover the expenses incurred in homes for Alzheimer’s patients. Custodial care The biggest issue with such insurance policies is that they usually do not completely cover the prohibitive costs associated with custodial care. They only cover the medical, surgical (if any), and diagnostic expenses. The alternative is to go for home care, but the registered and licensed caregivers should provide that, otherwise the complete coverage would not be provided by the policy.

We usually have insurance policies for most of our assets and assume that in case of a loss, each of our assets is duly covered and that we are safe. But there are many situations in which the individual policy to cover a specific asset is not enough to cover each of those assets. For such situations, a cheap and convenient solution is to buy an umbrella insurance policy that would cover all those assets. In case the liability goes beyond the covered amount, the additional loss can be covered by the umbrella policy. The underlying policies must be in force and valid for the umbrella policy to cover it. The policy kicks in when a given policy is not enough to cover a loss or liability. We will come to the details of three of the major types of policies in a while. The good thing about this kind of policy is that the umbrella cost is much lower than the sum of all the separate policies on top of which it would lie. You might wonder that if you are anyway paying premiums separately for different assets that you want to protect, what is the use of buying another umbrella policy?

When you walk out of your house to travel, there are some risks that come with the process. Even when you visit a foreign country with the idea of exploring the place or reinventing yourself with your loved ones, you can be bogged down by some issues that might arise in due course. In such situations, a comprehensive travel insurance plan can come to your rescue. According to a study, one-fourth of Americans end up canceling their trips owing to unforeseen reasons, and in such events, a good travel insurance plan can cover your expenses. It may cost you a little more than your usual trip charges if you lock it in 24 hours within your trip time, but if you buy it early, the fees can drop to as low as three percent of the total cost of the trip. In case of an untoward event like a family member’s demise or sickness, a natural calamity that renders your destination inaccessible, or being laid off from work, travel insurance companies reimburse your money. They also refund the equivalent cost in case your bag is lost or stolen on a trip. All you need is a proof of a police report stating someone stole your luggage on tour.