Posted on Tue, May 26, 2009
The financial blog
“Your Money Relationship” is asking Netizens: “What financial decisions in your life would you change if given the chance?
Should you have started saving earlier? (Who wouldn’t have?) Would you have torn up your credit cards or shopped for a better rate? Wish you would have fully-funded your IRA every year since you opened the account so many years ago? You’re not alone.
For family breadwinners, now is the time to enter a “virtual time machine” and correct any deficiencies in your life insurance coverage you might “someday” wish you had when given the chance. After all, if you make a mistake with life insurance, it will be too late for a make-up wish once the insurance pays benefits to the loved-ones who outlive you. Make sure you’re in good shape right now with a
free life insurance quote from
America’s top life insurance companies at Efinancial!
What would you “do-over” if Efinancial gave you a “Genie in a Bottle”?To get a
Term Life Insurance Quote or Research how to
Buy Life Insurance Online visit
Efinancial.com
Posted on Wed, May 20, 2009
While the subject of death is probably lowest on the list of topics for polite dinner table conversation, it must be highest on the list for planning for your family’s financial future when you are no longer present. I don’t mean you need to discuss it in front of your children, the neighbors, or at a social gathering, but it’s essential to take the time to deal with what is the most certain of eventualities in the comfort and privacy of your home.
There are four things you must have in order to prepare for the day that you depart from this mortal coil.
Life Insurance. If you have children or a spouse who depends on your income to pay the mortgage and manage everyday living expenses, you must take the time to get an affordable life insurance policy that pays your family in the event of your death.
Whether it is a term life policy or a whole life policy with cash value, sufficient life insurance is critical to help keep your leaving from being an overwhelming financial burden for your family. A good life insurance policy pays out, upon your death, an amount that can be used in getting out of debt and fund future major expenses in life, such as college. You should have at least 2-3 times your income in your policy amount, but more is certainly not out of the question.
A Will. Preparing a will that instructs where you want your money and other items distributed is mandatory. When that fateful day comes, the incredible stress of not having a will forces those you care about the most to deal with the state bureaucracy when they try to obtain what you have left behind for them. The last thing that you want to do is to make life more difficult when you die. The funeral and all of the expenses thereof will be enough to handle.
Burial plot. This also comes along with having a will (although the two are separate items). Those who prepare for their death by having a burial plot picked out (or cremation orders set) and paid for are doing their families a favor. It is one less thing to have to worry about at a highly emotional time.
Finally, you must prepare to meet your maker. The religion question can be an important one for you and your loved ones. Being a religious person does not necessarily mean that you attend services every Sunday but that you have shared a spiritual sense of wonder and contemplation about life’s greater meaning with those who must someday see you having travelled to a different place. A spirital philosophy about God’s great plan can be a real comfort to those you leave behind!
What are your views on this sensitive subject? Perhaps a Blog like this is just the place to share your thoughts and stories.
To get a
Term Life Insurance Quote or Research how to
Buy Life Insurance Online visit
Efinancial.com
Posted on Fri, May 15, 2009
Have you done any Tweeting about your personal finances lately? We don’t mean chirping like a parakeet or cackling like a crow.
Twitteris a simple messaging service for friends, family, and even many businesses that makes it easy to communicate through the exchange of short messages of 140 characters or less.
Twitter is much more than just chatter. For many it is a revolutionary way to find the freshest, most relevant information on a particular topic. Don’t knock Twitter until you try it. And if you’d like to follow a flock of financial planning “Tweeple” or Tweeps, check out the list that one Twitterer (“Saving for Serenity“) calls The Ultimate List of Personal Finance Bloggers on Twitter.
General Personal Finance
@bripblap – Steve from Brip Blap
@budgetnerd – Nathon from Household Budget Nerd
@colourful_money – Bullseye and PlusEV from Colourful Money
@debtfree – Debt Free Hispanic
@FMFblog – FMF from Free Money Finance
@freefrombroke – Free From Broke
@FourPillars – Four Pillars
@jdroth – JD Roth from Get Rich Slowly
@JeremyVoh / @marubozo – Jeremy from Gen X Finance
@jnickles – Jeff from My Supercharged Life
@mainstr – Main Street
@MoneyNing – David from MoneyNing
@MoneyRelation – Adam from Your Money Relationship
@myfindependence – mfd from My Findependence Day
@MyLifeROI – My Life ROI
@MyMoneyMinute – Jason from My Money Minute
@ramit – Ramit from I Will Teach You To Be Rich
@SmartyPig – Collective from Smarty Pig
@SuburbanDollar – Kyle from Suburban Dollar
@ThatOneCaveman – That One Caveman
@TheHappyRock – Frank & John from The Happy Rock
@walletpopper – Beth from WalletPop
@wisebread – Collective from Wise Bread
College & Young Adult Finances
@alanschram – Alan from Saving For Serenity
@GE_Miller – G.E. Miller from 20somethingfinance
@Green_Panda – Green Panda from Green Panda Treehouse
Debt Reduction
@GoliathDebt – David from Goliath Debt
@paidtwice – paidtwice from I’ve Paid For This Twice Already
@ptmoney – Phil from Prime Time Money
@punchdebt – Debt Ninja from Punch Debt in the Face
@stephonee – Stephonee from Poorer Than You
Finances & Life
@cleverdude – Mike from Clever Dude
@centsiblelife – Kelly from The Centsible Life
@Finc_Confluence – Scott from The Confluence of our Finances
@remodelthislife – Emily from Remodeling This Life
Frugality
@EADFL – Engineer A Debt Free Life
@FrugalDad – Jason at Frugal Dad
@FrugalTrader – FrugalTrader from Million Dollar Journey
@MilkYourMoney – Ben & Frank from Milk Your Money
@Miss_Thrifty – Miss Thrifty from Miss Thrifty
@ncheapskate – Northern Cheapskate
@sensetosave – Kacie from Sense to Save
@trenttsd / @thesimpledollar – Trent from The Simple Dollar
Investing
@CCapitalist – Canadian Capitalist
@hand_MiB – Hank from My Investing Blog
@jeffrosecfp – Jeff from Good Financial Cents
@MoneyEnergy – Get Money Energy
@SunFinancial – The Sun Financial Diary
@ThePassiveDad – Scott from The Passive Dad
Got a suggestion for a Twitterer we missed? What do you think of the Twitter service and concept? Note: You can follow our Efinancial Tweets on Twitter by following us at http://www.twitter.com/Efinancialblog
To get a
Term Life Insurance Quote or Research how to
Buy Life Insurance Online visit
Efinancial.com
Posted on Mon, May 11, 2009
A friend recently related a story of how a man and his wife had bought and re-bought new life insurance policies several times over the past 5-10 years. As their income increased and their responsibilities grew, they had steadily outgrown their coverage. It’s a common occurrence and easy-to-understand.
While a standard rule of thumb is to lock in a term policy for 8x or 10x your annual salary, the actual coverage amount that is right for your family depends entirely on your personal situation. If you want your life insurance policy to provide support for your family for an extended period of time, you’ll obviously need more coverage. If you’re comfortable with your insurance policy being a short-term stopgap, you can get away with less.
Efinancial offers an online life insurance calculator that allows you to enter data on anticipated one-time expenses, ongoing living expenses, years of need, and any special savings goals you may have. Just a few seconds is all it takes to “crunch the numbers” and give you a cushion to fall back on. In addition, Efinancial also offers Insurance Calculators to determine your Net Worth, estimate the Cost of Raising Children, or calcuating an Annuity. Just scroll down the Efinancial home page to find these handy and informative Insurance Calculator choices.
While you’re visiting, did you know Efinancial has set up an extensive Life Insurance E-Learning Center? Efinancial is one of the few companies in the insurance industry to put a complete, A-Z Insurance Education Center right at your fingertips. We bet there’s not a single life insurance question you want to know about that’s not covered in this online library. But if there is, please let us know!
When estimating the amount of life insurance your family will need, there are a few things you don’t want to forget. Consider whether or not yo uhave coverage from work. But keep in mind, if you lose you your job this benefit could be expendable.
Another important point to consider is whether or not you have a non-working spouse. Are you relatively early in your career path? Do you plan on expanding your family? Do you anticipate any other major changes in the future? If so, then it’s likely that your life insurance needs will change (perhaps dramatically) in the years ahead.
To get a
Term Life Insurance Quote or Research how to
Buy Life Insurance Online visit
Efinancial.com
Posted on Wed, May 06, 2009
A new book,
organized as a type of ‘frugal encyclopedia’, based on articles written by the editors of Wisebread.com, offers up a smorgasbord of tips on how to live large on a small budget.
Speaking of smorgasbords, the pointers range from “8 Tips for Getting the Most from All-You-Can-Eat Buffets” to “7 Ways to Score Free Food,” and “14 Tips to Have a Frugal Vacation and Still Treat Yourself,” to “15 Ways to Make Your Clothes Last Longer,” “10 Beauty Products You Can Make at Home,” and “8 Affordable Romantic Dates.”
You’ll also find “50 Ways to Get More Out Of Health Care,” “6 Ways to Avoid Tricky Supermarket Traps,” “10 Ways to Go Green and Save Money,” and “6 Steps to Eliminating Your Debt Painlessly.”
What are your tips for living large on a small budget?
Kimberly Palmer, Senior Editor for U.S. News and World Report had this to say:
“This book is just what we need right now – a reminder that tough economic times don’t mean we have to stop living well.”
You can pick up a copy of “10,001 Ways to Live Large on a Small Budget“ at Amazon.com for around 10 bucks.
To get a
Term Life Insurance Quote or Research how to
Buy Life Insurance Online visit
Efinancial.com
Posted on Sat, May 02, 2009
At the end of National Poetry Month, “The Motley Fool” has put together some amusing financial haikus, short three-line poems of only 17-syllables. We excerpt a few as examples. Read the complete lineup at
http://tinyurl.com/d7f5c3 .
The Swine Flew
Confidence is king
Banks’ balance sheets are just fine
Oh, look, pigs can fly
The Goldman Sachs Shimmy
Goldman Sachs defies
Trading destroyed estimates
How do I sign up?
Who isn’t to blame?
Populism reigns
Frenzied public soon will blame
Tim Geithner’s mother
U.S. Treasury Bonds
Why would you invest
In things that Warren Buffett
Warned were big bubbles?
Portfolio Meltdown
Stupid recession
Killing my portfolio.
Please go away. Soon.
To get a
Term Life Insurance Quote or Research how to
Buy Life Insurance Online visit
Efinancial.com