With variable life insurance, the cash value portion of your policy is invested directly in securities in the insurer’s portfolio.[/caption]Traditional permanent life insurance policies provide death benefits and a savings feature. Other types of life insurance also do that, and more. When you buy permanent life, you are buying two types of financial protection. The...
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Life Insurance 101: What Happens When a Policy Matures?
When you’re playing Monopoly and you pull a card saying your life insurance policy has matured, you collect $100. In real life, if your policy matures, you’ll probably get a lot more. A permanent life insurance policy will remain in force for the insured’s whole life or until the policy’s maturity date, as long as...
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How to Locate a Missing Life Insurance Policy
Maybe you’ve been named executor of the estate of your very wealthy but very disorganized uncle. Or maybe your relative’s valuable papers have been destroyed or lost in a fire, flood or move. In either case, you know a life insurance policy exists somewhere but you can’t find it. What can you do? Life insurers...
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Term Life Insurance: A Bargain-Hunter’s Dream?
The average cost of term life insurance has been dropping over the last several years. If it’s been a while since you’ve updated your coverage, consider adding a term life insurance policy to your financial portfolio. Value Penguin, a provider of consumer information, recently released a study of average term insurance costs by age. For...
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Annuities vs Life Insurance
Most life insurance companies sell both life insurance policies and annuities. Both require you to be in good health to get the best rates. And both provide financial security. But they play very different roles in your financial portfolio. How They Work When you buy life insurance, you name a beneficiary (usually a person, but...
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Choosing Term or Permanent Life: A Simple Guide
You may have heard the phrase “Buy term and invest the difference.” That works if you have the discipline for a regular investment program. But for some, a permanent life insurance policy will provide more security and better returns. It also offers tax advantages that other investments lack. There are two categories of life insurance:...
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What are Viatical Settlements?
For many people, a chronic condition such as heart disease or cancer starts a downward spiral of declining health and rising bills. A life insurance policy can help you improve end-of-life quality—here’s how. In a viatical settlement, a terminally ill policyholder sells his/her life insurance policy to investors through a viatical broker. Once investors purchase...
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Cashing In Early on Life Insurance
Before negotiating either a viatical or life settlement or taking accelerated death benefits from a life insurance policy, consider the financial consequences carefully. The passage of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 made proceeds from viatical settlements or accelerated death benefits fully excludable from income under certain circumstances. First, a physician must...
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4 Ways To Use Life Insurance for Charitable Giving
Life insurance does more than protect families from the financial costs of a breadwinner’s untimely death. It can also help individuals make a substantial bequest to a favorite charitable organization and possibly enjoy a tax break as well. There are several ways life insurance can help you make a donation to a cause you believe...
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Six Advantages of Single-Premium Life Insurance
Single-premium life insurance offers individuals another option for tax-advantaged savings. Ordinarily, when you buy life insurance, you pay a premium every month, quarter or year for as long as you keep the policy in force. But single-premium life insurance works just like it sounds—you pay a premium just once. How does that work, and why...
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