Personal Finance and Investing

This is the word you see most often when insurance companies talk about the best way to get a reduction in your premium rates. All you have to do, the smooth voice says, is increase the deductible and we’ll give you a 10% discount. And, it’s a fact. It sounds like a good deal. So why are insurance companies so keen for you to increase the deductible? The answer could not be more simple. Whatever deductible you sign up for is the amount you pay if you are involved in a traffic accident or incur a liability of some kind connected with your ownership of a vehicle. That means you pay and not the insurance company. For insurer this is a cool idea. You insure yourself. All the premium pays for is cover in case your losses amount to more than the deductible. This is really great. The insurer collects a premium and you pay the first however many dollars of the claim. Since the majority of claims are for small amounts – fender benders rarely cost that much to repair – the insurer is on a winner. In fact, the bigger the deductible you sign up to accept, the better off the insurance company is. OK, the company does give you a discount, but it’s rarely an adequate amount.

Let’s see how it works out. Suppose you opt to pay the first $1,000 of every claim and the insurer gives you a 10% discount, are your savings $83 a month? If they are and you are unlucky enough to have an accident at the end of the year, you will have broken even. Your $1,000 in savings just got paid out as a lump sum at the end of the year. Except, of course, there’s a Parkinson’s Law of money in operation – spending wipes out money available. In other words, we usually spend what we have. This leaves you without savings and so that cash sum has to go on your credit card with interest until you can pay it off. In reality, most people end up out of pocket if they have to pay the deductible on one accident. Now imagine the case if your luck is really bad and you have two accidents in the same year. Do you really have $2,000 lying around on the off chance of two insurance claims?

Now before we get all depressed, there are a range of other ways in which you can save money on your premiums without increasing the deductible. Use the online search engine on this site to get auto insurance quotes from as many companies as possible. Explore the different options. If you have the cash or can borrow, think about changing to a make and model of car that’s cheaper to insure. If there’s no chance of trading to a less expensive vehicle, look at the options of driving less, building up a driving record with no moving traffic violations and no claims, bundling your home insurance with the same company, and so on. All the companies offer different discounts and savings. By getting multiple auto insurance quotes, you can judge which discounts will give you the best overall savings. You should only increase the deductible if you can genuinely afford to pay out that initial sum and you are feeling lucky. If there are no other discounts or savings, and you are desperate, then playing with the deductible will reduce your premium. Once committed, it’s all down to the power of prayer to keep you financially safe.

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It’s always better to start article with good news. This sets a positive tone to the piece and keeps people reading. So, let’s start with good news. The premiums for life insurance have been dropping! Yes, you can believe your eyes. It may not feel like it, but there has never been a cheaper time to buy a life policy. How come? Well, unlike other forms of insurance, the policy only pays out in the future when the life insured ends. If you go back to 1980, men lived to an average of 70 years, women to 77 years. In the latest figures released by the Center for Communicable Diseases, men now live to an average of 75.6, with women now into the 80s at 80.8 years. As an aside, the poor quality of the US healthcare service is highlighted by the life expectancy figures. The US ranks only 38th in the world. That said, since the obligation of having to pay out on a life policy is disappearing into the future, the cost of the benefits payable can be collected over more years. This makes premiums fall.

You will have noticed that women usually live longer than men. There are a number of explanations for this, but the reality is simple. Women have always had stronger levels of immunity to almost all diseases that strike down men. They are also more careful and less likely to die in any kind of accidents or while indulging in dangerous sports. This reflects the gender roles with women acting protectively over their children and, in later years, acting as the primary caregivers to older family members and relatives. This throws up the first major decision. If a woman is going to leave dependents behind her, there will be a need to leave a more substantial lump sum behind. Women multitask and buying in professional help to do all the work is expensive. Whereas it’s estimated that men should leave an average of seven times their average pay, women with dependents should aim for a multiple of not less than ten. The plan should be to provide a substantial lump sum that can be invested and generate an income to supplement the capital for those who remain.

With family responsibilities, the second decision is the type of policy to buy. If your budget is tight, there will be a temptation to buy the cheaper term insurance. But, with life expectancy extending, you are gambling you will not outlive the policy. Remember, there is no payment if you are still alive when the term ends. Although permanent insurance costs more, it gives a valuable safety net for your dependents. More importantly, a permanent policy has a cash value and this can give you access to money if expenses are threatening to overwhelm you. So when you start shopping around, always get life insurance quotes from the widest possible range of companies. Then check out that they are financially stable. You need your choice to be around in the decades to come. It’s also a good idea to find out whether the company offers an advice service to help older people manage their money. So don’t stop when you get a list of the life insurance quotes using the search engine. Talk to the companies before deciding which is going to offer you the best deal.

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The role of women in society has changed dramatically over the last fifty years. We have moved from an expectation that girls will marry young, stay home and bring up children to a new world in which women are financially independent and less dependent on the decision-making powers of their fathers and “husbands”. This has, in some ways, made life more difficult for women. They must now find a balance between developing a career and the biological drive to have children. Women have also retained their role as carers and are often expected to look after ageing parents. As a result, many neglect their own financial affairs. To protect their interests, the challenge for the modern woman is to make the claim of independence real. This means having a formal life plan. Because life expectancy is longer for women. they should establish goals and set out strategies for achieving them. Just drifting through life is a recipe for disaster.

In all this, proper life insurance is a must. The latest national statistics show that about a quarter of households across the US do not carry any insurance. Why should this change? If you leave debts behind you, the family may be forced to sell off assets to pay off what is owing. If you die young, will your children have enough money to go through college? Will your parents manage on their retirement savings? Having some insurance gives you peace of mind. You know there is an adequate sum of money for those you leave behind. What are the specifics?

If you are a single mom, you are the sole breadwinner. The family looks to you to provide for all their needs. With insurance, there will be enough to pay all the funeral and other expenses, pay off the mortgage on your home and leave some cash to meet future expenditure. Nothing can replace you as a person, but you can leave a lump sum representing your earning capacity behind.

If you and your partner are just starting to get a base together, life insurance cover on both of you gives the survivor a safety net. Otherwise, with young children and a new mortgage, it’s not going to be easy to cope.

As an older woman, having a long-running policy in hand gives you financial room to plan. If there’s a surrender value or an investment element, you can borrow or sell the policy for a lump sum. This gives you access to cash during retirement when all your other savings may be tied up or run down.

This puts the pressure on you to get the right coverage in place from an early age. Shop around and get as many life insurance quotes from different companies as possible. You need to get a feel for what the marketplace can offer. You should also take advice. The life insurance quotes are only useful to a point. An independent professional can tell you which policies make the best long-term investments. Remember, it’s cheaper when you start paying premiums early in your life. If you delay, the premiums will be significantly higher – a shorter working life if you have children to care for and a longer retirement period. Plan now for a long and successful life.

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