Posted on Tue, Mar 30, 2010
It’s been the title of a bestselling book, the multi-digit dollar signs (and signage) behind a financial fund’s well-known TV commercials, and the bottom-line mission statement of the financial circuit’s cognoscenti who all espouse the same “arithmetic” advice. “Know your number!” they proclaim.
From the number of retirement dollars you will need to accumulate to live decently, if not comfortably, during your sunset years, to the number of life insurance dollars your family will need to protect their way of life as a safety net if you are no longer there to support them, to the numerical sum of your financial net worth, which is basically the simple calculation of what you own minus what you owe.
Author Lee Eisenberg prescribes in “The Number” that estimating your personal budget amount is a process that can shatter many of the myths that most of us harbor with regard to how we will live the last third (hopefully) of our lives and pay for that retirement experience.
Everyone’s number is different, Eisenberg says, and while his book is not meant as a how-to, the writer provides an illuminating profile of an aging generation’s retirement worries. Heartfelt discussions of goals, health and health care, “downshifting” to enjoy life while spending less money and the meaning of postretirement life pepper its pages. Financial planners are interviewed, partly to get information about savings and investment, but mostly to explore the meaning of the field and the type of people who practice it.
Efinancial offers numerous financial calculators to help you determine your number, and while you’re at it, some very useful ways to get the very best numbers from America’s top life insurance companies.
To get a
Term Life Insurance Quote or Research how to
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Efinancial.com
Posted on Thu, Mar 25, 2010
“Multiple Small Employer Plans” Could Provide Access to Retirement Plans for 78 Million Uncovered Workers
Nearly half of America’s workforce — some 78 million workers — lack access to a workplace-provided retirement savings plan. Now, Prudential, recently ranked No. 2 among FORTUNE® magazine’s ‘World’s Most Admired Companies’, is recommending that Congress support a simple yet effective new solution.
According to a white paper released this week by Prudential Financial, more than 30 million of those uncovered employees work for a business that has fewer than 100 employees. Prudential is advocating a new solution, the Multiple Small Employer Plan (MSEP), to meet the retirement savings needs of these workers by enabling small employers to join together to offer a single retirement program.
“We believe that all working Americans should have the opportunity to participate in a workplace-sponsored retirement plan. MSEPs would bring additional choice to the small business end of the market, allowing small businesses to choose the option that best meets their objectives and the needs of their workforce.”
Small businesses face significant barriers to providing their employees with workplace retirement plans, including administrative burdens, cost, and complex fiduciary responsibilities.
Prudential’s white paper, Leveraging Multiple Small Employer Plans to Close the Retirement Coverage Gap, an array of enhancements to today’s multiple employer plan (MEP), which could serve as the foundation for the MSEP. While MEPs enable groups of employers to join a single 401(k) plan sponsored by an affinity group or similar organization, the MSEP could further help workers build and achieve a secure retirement through the inclusion of automatic enrollment and contribution escalation, investment defaults, and investor education.
By allowing small employers to pool their resources, Prudential believes MSEPs would increase small employers’ purchasing power, reduce administrative burden, and provide a stepping stone on the path toward implementing a more comprehensive plan.
Prudential’s white paper highlights the components of the proposed MSEP, discusses their potential for improving retirement plan access for employees of small employers, and outlines the legislative and regulatory actions required to facilitate adoption of MSEPs.
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Posted on Mon, Mar 22, 2010
What does former rock star
Gene Simmons (of the band better known as
KISS), have to do with life insurance? Here’s a clue: rock stars, like professional athletes, entertainers and other celebrities, occupy the elevated station of “high net worth individuals.”
“All of those who have worked hard to become high worth individuals want to maximize our estates for our loved ones. It’s your responsibility to find out everything you can about your life insurance strategy,” said the lead singer.
Why is life insurance a smart strategy for the estate planning of those who want to pass their fortune onto their heirs?
Estate tax legislation is coming, said Simmons. “The president, who I voted into power, is within a year, going to be raising estate taxes [as high as] 55%,” said Simmons.
Cool Springs Life has been created to help individuals minimize estate taxes and provide greater financial security for their family by financing a disbursement amount secured by their insurance policy. The amount would be sufficient to fund all their life insurance premiums and all interest payments and other costs associated with this transaction at extremely low interest rates
“Our substantially lower borrowing costs allows this crossover event and release of your collateral to occur years earlier than traditional financing plans currently offered anywhere,” offers the CoolSprings Web site at Coolsprings.com.
This could be our freshest recollection of a rock icon expressing the sentiment, “Life Insurance…You rock!”
Efinancial offers special Life Insurance Estate Planning account services in this area. Just ask us!
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Term Life Insurance Quote or Research how to
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Posted on Thu, Mar 18, 2010
Protecting your financial security is what we’re all about at
Efinancialblog, whether it’s safeguarding your family’s future through
free insurance rate quotes on
low cost life insuranceor watchdogging your identity against ID theft.
The FTC estimates that 9 million Americans have their identities stolen each year, 26% through credit card fraud, 18% through utilities fraud, 17% through bank fraud and 12% through employment fraud. 1.6 million households were victimized through fraud not related to credit cards (i,e, their bank accounts or debit cards were compromised). Households with incomes higher than $70,000 were twice as likely to experience identity theft than those with salaries below $50,000.
How can Identity Theft happen to you?
Dumpster divers can rummage through your trash looking for bills with account numbers and other personal information on it. Skimming is the unlawful act of stealing credit or debit card numbers by using a special storage device when processing your card. Phishing is the diabolical act of pretending to be your financial institution or creditor and sending spam or pop-up messages to get you to reveal personal access information. Other illicit tactics include changing your address by diverting your billing statements to a third-party location. Old-fashioned stealing of a purse or wallet is another way to acquire personal details and account information. Some thieves go further by raiding unwatched mailboxes for pre-approved credit card offers, new checks or tax information.
How to Keep Your Identity Safe
The Shredder: Shred any financial documents and paperwork you decide NOT to save BEFORE discarding them.
Don’t Carry All Your Cards: Leave your Social Security Card at home and only give the number out if absolutely necessary. Ask to use an alternate method of ID for validation purposes.
Don’t Click On Links In Unknown Email: Never click on links sent in unsolicited emails. Instead, type in the Web address you know. Use firewall and anti-spyware/anti-virus software to protect your home computer.
Play it Safe and Smart. Keep your personal information in a secure place at home, especially if you have roommates, employ outside help or are having work done in your house. And keep your password less obvious than your mother’s maiden name or your birth date,
The Identity Theft Chart in this link provides an “at a glance” visual overview of the ID Theft epidemic and some tips for the vaccine. People, let’s be careful out there!
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Term Life Insurance Quote or Research how to
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Efinancial.com
Posted on Sun, Mar 14, 2010
You ‘eat local.’ You ‘buy local.’ Is it time to bank local as well?
Unhappy with the culture on Wall Street? Angered by the behavior of the banking giants? The Minneaplis-St. Paul Star Tribune asks the essential question: Why not move your money to a community bank or credit union? That’s the message behind Move Your Money, a campaign that’s gone viral since it launched late last year.
The Website known as www.moveyourmoney.info, suggests individuals voice their displeasure with the huge, growing chasm between the fortunes of Wall Street banks and Main Street banks, by putting their money where the mind is, and moving their deposits.
The dilemma: While the financial crisis might prompt some individuals to reconsider their banking relationship, it’s not showing up in the numbers. Big banks actually captured more market share in the aftermath of the financial crisis.
When asked about the movement, the Financial Services Roundtable, a lobbying group whose members are large financial institutions, responded: “A customer should place their money with the financial institution that best serves their individual needs. If a consumer is not happy with their current institution’s level of service or product offerings, they should contact them or find another institution that fits their needs better.”
As for your money’s safety, unless you’re somebody who is going to be exceeding the FDIC limits [of at least $250,000] as far as deposits go, your money is safe whether or not you chose a large bank or small bank.
To assist you in your search, Move Your Money has partnered with a risk analyst who grades the health and safety of community banks. You can search for one near you by ZIP code.
The StarTriibune poses some important questions to ask yourself:
• What do you want from the institution that holds your money?
• Does it have free ATMs in convenient locations?
• Does it have branches close to you?
• Does it offer free checking and other products? Consider not only your current needs, but your needs five years from now, Peters suggests.
• If you bank online, is the website up to snuff?
• If you use a personal financial management tool such as www.mint.com, is the bank or credit union compatible?
• Does it offer financial education for you and your kids?
And when it comes to life insurance, let a free insurance rate quote from Efinancial help you take a stand with your money by finding the life insurer who will stand behind you with the greatest financial value and most personal financial service.
To get a
Term Life Insurance Quote or Research how to
Buy Life Insurance Online visit
Efinancial.com
Posted on Wed, Mar 10, 2010
What do love and life insurance have in common? More than you might realize. The motivation behind purchasing life insurance is love: We buy it because we love people and want to protect them financially.
According to LIFE, The Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education, we go to great lengths for our loved ones. We work hard to provide them with a life filled with happiness, comfort and opportunity. In fact, there’s almost nothing we wouldn’t do for our loved ones.
But what if you died tomorrow and were no longer around to provide for your family? Without your income and all the other things you do for your loved ones, would they be able to maintain their current lifestyle and keep future plans on track?
That’s where life insurance comes in. It can’t put your family’s life back to how it was, but it can keep your loved ones in the world they’ve always known. So if you think you need life insurance (or more than you currently have), now is the time to do something about it.
Watch these Cupid-on-the Street interviews on Love and Life Insurance.Then get a life insurance rate you will love at Efinancial by choosing the best life insurance rates from America’ top insurance companies
To get a
Term Life Insurance Quote or Research how to
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Efinancial.com
Posted on Fri, Mar 05, 2010
In what is the insurance industry’s biggest acquisition in history, Prudential is buying American International Assurance’s Asia organization in the deal of the decade, a bet on the soaring demand in Asia for personal financial services.
The beleaguered American International Group Inc. will give up a cornerstone of its business, the part of it that represents the whole of the Asian insurance marketplace, in a government-approved deal worth a shattering $35.5 billion. The sale could reduce by nearly one-fifth the amount of federal bailout money still invested in struggling AIG.
The cash proceeds of the sale would allow AIG to pay back nearly 20 percent of the almost $130 billion in bailout funds that are outstanding. Together with an anticipated sale of American Life Insurance Co., or Alico, to MetLife Inc., the sale could net enough to eventually cover the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s $47.9 billion investment in AIG.
With the purchase, Prudential is giving investors a chance to profit from Asian consumers’ growing use of financial services. As the region’s economic growth continues, so will the need for Prudential’s business.
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Term Life Insurance Quote or Research how to
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Efinancial.com
Posted on Wed, Mar 03, 2010
Life insurance providers in the US may not be using genetic information to make underwriting decisions right now, but the lobbying efforts of a Maryland-based interest group to limit legal restrictions in this area suggest that the industry’s unofficial moratorium on the use of genetic information may eventually come to an end. So reports the latest edition of
Genomeweb.com’s Pharmacogenomics Reporter.
The passage of the Genetics Information Non-discrimination Act in 2008 appeared to have quelled fears of genetic discrimination in the US — at least regarding health insurance and the workplace. However, life insurance companies are exempt from GINA and most states do not restrict the use of genetic information in life insurance underwriting.
A Maryland-based interest group for life insurers is lobbying the state legislature not to pass laws restricting the use of genetic information — an effort that underscores the prevailing view of payors that genetic data is no different than other clinical factors in making underwriting decisions.
“We use these genetic test results in underwriting exactly as we use all medical information: with care and based on sound scientific basis or clinical or actuarial relevance,” the League of Life and Health Insurers of Maryland said in a statement to the Maryland Insurance Administration’s Genetic Testing Workgroup last September. “We know of no problem of misuse of genetic information or tests in the underwriting of life, disability income, or longterm-care insurance.”
Where do you stand on the issue of using genetic information for insurance underwriting purposes?
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Term Life Insurance Quote or Research how to
Buy Life Insurance Online visit
Efinancial.com