Posted on Wed, Jun 30, 2010
The Internet has been described as the greatest library of information the world has ever known, greater than the
Great Library of Alexandria in Egypt or the
U.S. Library of Congress. The only problem is the way the Internet is set up. All the volumes of information aren’t organized on book shelves where we can easily find them. They’re scattered all across the Web!
That is why search engines like Google, Yahoo, Ask, Wolfram Alpha and now Bing have become the “Table of Contents” for the Internet and the first stop for many Web surfers on the way to their “information destination.” Newcomer Bing has even decided to change its self-image from a Search Engine to a “Decision Engine.” Did you know that Bing’s new Entertainment “portal” lets you preview over 5 million songs and lyrics one time for free, plus more than 1500 TV shows and nearly 100 casual games that can be played online, without registration?
Where would we be today without search engines? Probably back in that Internet library buried in an avalanche of information without a a way of excavating it all.
When it comes to life insurance, Efinancial is the closest thing yet to an insurance search engine for finding the best rates and coverages by “querying” America’s top insurance companies and giving you back the most accurate “search results.” Depending on your parameters, Efinancial will apply its search savvy to :companies such as Transamerica Life Insurance Company, HSBC Insurance, MetLife, BannerLife, RBC Insurance, Genworth Financial, West Coast Life Insurance Company, ING, and Fidelity Life among others.
The advantages of a search engine, just like Efinancial’s search, is a huge savings in time. You find exactly what you need, quickly and efficiently, and without any pressure from third parties who want you to sell you a “favorite” product.
To start your search for a better financial future with Efinancial security behind you, you simply enter your age, height, weight and zip code into the Efinancial “search engine.” Then let Efinancial data miners put their technology to work for you and your family!
In just a few clicks, you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for!
To get a
Term Life Insurance Quote or Research how to
Buy Life Insurance Online visit
Efinancial.com
Posted on Mon, Jun 28, 2010
Life insurance associate Lynn Tramontano knows all about the sleepless nights spent by families caring for people with special needs.
“It’s a powerful feeling to help address a parent’s worries about what would happen if they were no longer there to care for their son,” she said. “I saw the mom and dad relax right before my eyes, knowing they were addressing some of their greatest concerns.”
“People with special needs often require care and financial support that may extend well beyond a parent’s or caregiver’s lifetime,” said Joan Cleveland, a senior vice president with Prudential Individual Life Insurance. “It’s critical to have all the pieces in place.”
Knowing how financial professionals and insurance specialists like Efinancial. can help special needs families is important. Here are several things to keep in mind:
– Understand how a special needs trust, a document prepared by an attorney with expertise in special needs law, protects an individual’s eligibility for government assistance such as Supplemental Security Income and/or Medicaid. Assets held by the trust for the benefit of someone with special needs should be used to supplement–not replace–government assistance.
– Select the proper insurance and financial products to help fund the special needs trust.
– Get started with a Letter of Intent, a non-binding document which states a family’s wishes for their loved one’s future with regard to health issues, educational goals, housing, etc., and the means to support those wishes.
– Establish ties with relevant support groups and non-profit associations.
– Find an attorney with expertise in special needs law.
To date, over 140 Prudential and independent financial professionals are participating in the Special Needs Solutions….For All Ages program. After completing a comprehensive three-day training course, participants stay up-to-date on current issues through ongoing discussions.
To get a
Term Life Insurance Quote or Research how to
Buy Life Insurance Online visit
Efinancial.com
Posted on Wed, Jun 23, 2010
“When you’re paying for life insurance, you’d like to know you’re getting a financial break for slogging away on the treadmill or kicking the smoking habit.”
The Wall Street Journal’s Jennifer Openshaw observes that every single person who takes out a life insurance policy is unique, and life insurance companies ought to treat him, or her, on their own terms.
“Just as insurance companies use new research findings to tweak key life-insurance policy rating factors like weight and cholesterol – thus affecting the price you pay – so too can you use your own common sense to possibly bring down your insurance costs,” she advises.
Are you a “pragmatic life insurance buyer?” Is your weight too high, or could it be too low? The mid-range is most often where you want to be, not so thin or frail that you can easily break a bone or take longer to recover from a surgery.
Another new concept in conducting a more “pragmatic” insurance self-evaluation is lnowing your “Vascular Age.” It’s the difference in the age of your arteries and your chronological age.
For example, a smoker could have the arteries of a 70-year-old while someone at 50 who exercises could have the arteries of a 30-year old. The Hartford insurance company says that while vascular tests are not required in the underwriting process, they will consider your vascular age to possibly upgrade your status to “Preferred.” You can measure your vascular age, or the amount of calcium in your arteries, through a CT angiogram.
Is there other pertinent information that will make a personal case for your policy during the underwriting process? Have you taken medical tests or had procedures like an angiogram or a colonoscopy?
Not all insurance policies are created equal, not when different people have different medical conditions. So if you’ve got evidence that you are in good or improving health, let the insurance company know.
Better yet, make it the first thing you mention when you contact Efinancial for a free life insurance rate quote!
To get a
Term Life Insurance Quote or Research how to
Buy Life Insurance Online visit
Efinancial.com
Posted on Sun, Jun 20, 2010
As oil keeps flowing from an uncapped well alongside the sunken hulk of the Deepwater Horizon and the cost of the disaster looms upward of an estimated $10 billion, the insurance industry is preparing to cover its clients’ shares of of the damages.
How much of the catastrophe was insured by the oil companies themselves?
At first, the focus was on the exploding oil rig. Transocean Ltd. its owner, has $560 million of insurance covering total loss and wreck removal. Several insurance industry executives have estimated this could be at least an $800 million to $900 million event.
But a much bigger hit could come from liability claims stemming from the oil spill. That’s especially true if lots of oil pollutes the shorelines of Florida and other states around the Gulf of Mexico.
BP, which is the operator on the lease with a 65% stake, insured itself, rather than buying coverage from insurance companies.
That means the company is responsible for funding clean-up operations in the Gulf of Mexico, according to rating agency Fitch Ratings. The cost of that could reach $2 billion to $3 billion depending on how much oil eventually reaches the shore, the agency estimated this week.
People may claim against BP or others, but they might try to claim on their own policies for such losses.
An oil industry analyst at Bernstein Research estimated that the final cleanup bill could be $7 billion, according to media reports.
Compensation will also have to be paid to other businesses hit by the slick. The cost to the fishing industry in Louisiana could be $2.5 billion, while the Florida tourism industry could lose $3 billion, Bernstein predicted.
Compensation in the billions of dollars may also have to be paid to the families of the 11 rig workers who likely died when the structure exploded and sank.
It’s not clear who will be responsible for these costs.
Rig owner Transocean carries $700 million of environmental liability insurance. Cameron, which made the so-called blowout preventer that was fitted to the rig, has a $500 million liability policy.
“It’s a lot of issues as to is the owner responsible or the operator, and how those contracts go,” Dinos Iordanou, chief executive of insurance and reinsurance company Arch Capital Group, stated.
After the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the Oil Pollution Act was passed in 1990. The Act put a $75 million cap on the liability of oil companies for economic damage stemming from a spill.
Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J. and Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., introduced legislation this week to raise the cap to $10 billion.
“BP says it’ll pay for this mess. Baloney,” said Nelson. “They’re not going to want to pay any more than what the law says they have to, which is why we can’t let them off the hook.”
BP has said it will pay all necessary and appropriate cleanup costs, along with “legitimate and objectively verifiable claims for other loss and damage caused by the spill.”
On Wednesday, the company said it made $25 million grants to Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida to help them contain the oil spill.
“It is also vital that we work together with government and potentially impacted communities to protect the shoreline from any impact of the spill,” BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward said in a statement. “We hope these grants will support the effective deployment of pre-prepared response plans in each state.”
To get a
Term Life Insurance Quote or Research how to
Buy Life Insurance Online visit
Efinancial.com
Posted on Wed, Jun 16, 2010
A study of life insurance industry websites by the international research firm known as
The Customer Respect Group has rated how life insurance companies treat their online customers. The study, entitled
Online Customer Respect Study of the Life Insurance Industry. examined the availability and quality of self-service tools, engaging content, ease of Website navigation, instant help such as telephone
contact availability, and more
Today’s consumer has demonstrated a growing desire to research products and services online. Of particular interest is the cost of life insurance, according to the report. While consumers are more comfortable researching online, there remains an occasional preference by some to buy in consultation with a salesperson or agent. But those attitudes are quickly changing.
Key Findings
The study shows there has been a large increase in the number of interactive tools such as the interactive life insurance calculator, especially for term life insurance. Two-thirds of the companies reviewed provide life insurance calculators, such as Efinancial, to estimate the recommended amount of insurance. One in four companies provides help in choosing the type of insurance and 43% offer cost estimators.
While a telephone call remains the preferred ‘next-step’ for the website consumer, there has been an increase in immediate help options. Of note, is how Efinancial offers both an E-Learning Life Insurance Education Center and a large call-in center staffed by knowledgable, service-oriented professionals to address customers’ questions quickly and efficiently.
Mobile access is not yet a major factor with only limited traffic originating from mobile devices but that could change in the near future.
Among the market leaders, interactive tools that allow customers to get instant online quotes with a range of dialogue options to get their questions answered immediately is key. Efinanical is proud to report on the study as we feel the Efinaincal Website is exemplary of the “best practices” in letting consumers evaluate life insurance products online with no pressure or “sales pitch.” See if you agree at http://www.Efinancial.com.
To get a
Term Life Insurance Quote or Research how to
Buy Life Insurance Online visit
Efinancial.com
Posted on Sat, Jun 12, 2010
SmartPhones are taking the world by storm, and we don’t just mean the Blackberry, the newest iPhone 4.0 from Apple or the bumper crop of Android phones running on Google’s mobile software. These feature-rich, handheld devices are smart. Very smart.
A staggering fact: There are more people with mobile phones worldwide than have access to running water. More mobile phone subscribers on the planet than use a toothbrush! The mobile revolution has spread so rapidly that there was a mobile phone for two thirds of the planet at the start of this year, and will be 75% of planet Earth’s population by the end of the fourth quarter. Since most people even leave their cell phones on while they sleep, using ringtones as wake-up calls, the ubiquitous phones are also a lifeline to a wide range of personal services
Here are 10 great apps that SmartPhone users can download that will put smart financial computing power at your fingertips.
1. Quicken If you already use Quicken to manage your personal or business finances, this App is a natural step to portability and fingertip access. Even newbies will find Quicken’s easy to read screens an ideal way to look in on the checking balance and check financial accounts on the go. Quicken lets you track your financial goals, monitor account activity and even find an ATM.
Cost: Free
2. BillMinder One of the most popular bill tracking solutions out there, this App is simple, sleek and easy to use. Besides computing in the cloud, you can back up your data and export your numbers via e-mail for added peace of mind. Set up “push” reminders to make sure you never miss a due date.
Cost: $1.99
Shopping
3. Coupon Sherpa Coupon Sherpa offers both in-store coupons (just show the entry at checkout) as well as exclusive deals just for users. You can search by category or store name, locate merchants closest to you, and even e-mail coupons to your friends.
Also check out Yowza!! Mobile Coupons and Coupon Cabin.
Cost: Free
4. Grocery Gadget Shopping List Scribbling grocery lists is so yesterday. This digital version lets you upload and share lists with other family members while offering additional frugal options like price comparisons and coupons.
Cost: $4.99
Food and Drink
Here are savings you can sink your teeth into and follow up with a thirst-quenching beverage, Bon appetit!
5. AllRecipes.com Dinner Spinner. A gourmet feast for foodies. here is instant quick access to thousands of recipes complete with directions, photos and user reviews. Can’t decide what’s for dinner? Try the “spinner” and discover something new!
Cost: Free
6. Mixology Mixology features 7900+ recipes and a virtual “liquor cabinet” to manage your whole inventory.
Cost: Free
Travel
Getting from point A to point B was never so economical. Here are two apps to help you get where you’re going…more cost-efficiently.
7. Maps A native Google app, you’ll find the closest, fastest, and cheapest routes whether you choose public transportation or your own vehicle. Maps Integrates driving directions, schedules, traffic monitoring and nearly everything besides the air in your tires.
Cost: Free
8. Gas Buddy With the price of petrol today, gas pumps are beginning to feel like ATM machgines. Prices can vary between stations by as much as 20% (even in the same city) sop it [ays to stay informed. Your “Gas Buddy” will tell you the distance to the gas station with the best deal, how to find them and the drive time. Get the lead out!
Cost: $2.99
Communications
With all the amazing features of today’s SmartPhones, it’s easy to forget that the portable brain is, well, a telephone after all. Reaching out in new ways to communicate with others also has some innovative new wrinkles, like these alternatives.
9. TextFree Unlimited Texting has become a preferred choice of messaging, especially for younger users. While some billing plans place limits on text messages, or even institute per message charge, you can eliminate a portion of that monthly phone bill with TextFree. Be aware, this app must be open in order to receive a text, and certain features from native versions may be unavailable. For light text users, though, this could be a money-saving alternative.
Cost: $5.99
10. Skype Skype is a well-knowm computer-based telephony software program that has finally arrived as an iPhone and Android app. All calls between Skype users are free, and it costs just pocket change to “Skype out” to landlines or cell phones. If you have friends and family in other countries, Skype could save you a bundle on international calling.
Cost: Free
To get a
Term Life Insurance Quote or Research how to
Buy Life Insurance Online visit
Efinancial.com
Posted on Wed, Jun 09, 2010
What are the financial costs and effects of the BP Oil Spill? How is the California budget holding up vs. the rest of the world? How much does the average American spend on entertainment?
Those are just a few of the questions that are asked (in words) and answered (in visuals) on VisualEconomics.com, a Website that attempts to put into graphics what is difficult to convey with words and numbers alone!
Consider these Oil Spill Facts when translated into hard numbers…
Since the April 20 explosion, 210,000 gallons of oil (estimated) have been gushing into the ocean. A barrel of oil costs $86. That’s $430,000 a day floating away in the ocean (and killing birds in the meantime)!
It’s estimated that it will cost $300 million to plug the spill (not including cleanup).
That would buy enough gasoline to drive a gas-guzzling SUV around the circumference of the earth 60,237 times!
Now see for yourself how the numbers take shape at VisualEconomics.com
infographics page. A picture is worth a thousand words, and, we can only hope, will help clean up more than a thousand gallons!
What does the BP Oil Spill mean to you and your family when you look at the big picture?
To get a
Term Life Insurance Quote or Research how to
Buy Life Insurance Online visit
Efinancial.com
Posted on Mon, Jun 07, 2010
A bill introduced in the Senate, the
Medical Debt Relief Act, would prohibit credit bureaus from using paid off or settled medical debt collections in assessing a consumer’s credit worthiness.
Once a past due medical bill is paid off or settled, the bill would require the creditor or credit rating agency to expunge the medical debt from the consumer’s record within 45 days, or as soon as 30 days in the version of the bill proposed by the House of Representatives.
The alarming fact is that medical debt can wreck a credit record. For instance. many whose credit has been compromised by a derogatory medical reference are unable to qualify for home loans. With spiralling health costs, it’s no surprise that more adults are struggling to pay medical bills and are accumulating medical debt.
That’s the diagnosis. Now for the cure.
According to the Commonwealth Fund, an independent health care research group, the number of people reporting problems paying medical bills or having accumulated medical debts has been growing rapidly. Between 2005 and 2007, that number grew by 23 percent to 27 million adults, it reports.
“It’s already incredibly difficult for families to pay off the high cost of medical treatments for serious injuries and diseases,” said Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., one of several senators who introduced the Senate bill. “To add insult to injury, after families pay off their exorbitant medical debt, they continue to take a hit on their credit scores. This bill will give families a fair deal and ensure that their future financial transactions won’t be negatively affected by a bad credit score just because of past medical debt.”
Experts say that even one negative medical collection mark can drop a consumer’s credit score, potentially costing that consumer thousands of dollars in higher interest rates on home and automobile loans, credit cards and other revolving lines of credit.
Because many medical bills are submitted first to insurance companies, consumers often don’t learn that they’re responsible for a medical bill until they hear from a collection agency, by which time their credit score has already suffered.
As reported in the Dallas Morning News, the three national credit bureaus – Experian, TransUnion and Equifax – make no distinction between unpaid medical bills and any other delinquent bill. In their models for determining a person’s credit score, medical debt is treated like all other consumer debt.
That’s unfair because medical debt is unlike other debt. It’s often beyond the control of consumers. It’s not caused by poor money management and therefore doesn’t reflect a person’s creditworthiness. You don’t ask for a heart attack or to get into a serious accident.
The Dallas Morning News concludes that “no expenditure can hurl you toward financial ruin as quickly as medical bills. If you’ve paid off or settled your medical debt, your credit record should promptly reflect that, and it shouldn’t be used to portray you in the same unfavorable light as if you were a wild spender. Congress still needs to pass the legislation.” What’s your opinion?
To get a
Term Life Insurance Quote or Research how to
Buy Life Insurance Online visit
Efinancial.com
Posted on Thu, Jun 03, 2010
It’s the 2010 Life Insurance World’s Fair and you are about to enter the New Technology Pavilion. Please keep your hands, arms and legs inside of the moving vehicle at all times and open your mind to the following:
Mobile phones, miniature “Netbook” computers and tablet PCs are on the rise. How will the sweeping changes in technology that are unfolding all around us have an impact – positively and negatively — on your life insurance?
The 10 technologies that will have the greatest impact on the insurance industry include:
Web Services: More life insurers are using Web services to become more flexible and agile, enabling them to better respond to changing market conditions.
Business Intelligence: More powerful analysis capabilities can aid life insurers in improved underwriting, better customer intelligence (including customer segmentation, life stage analysis and profitability metrics), and more-accurate management.
BPM Solutions: Life insurers have been using tools to help manage business processes for several years. Today, companies are focused on the improved automation of tasks, such as underwriting and case management. Business process management (BPM) holds promise for insurance, because it enables companies to model, analyze and test business processes with greater efficiency.
CRM Solutions: Customer relationship management (CRM) has been a growing priority among life insurers during the past 10 years. By employing CRM, life insurers can improve the relationships with their customers, enhance operational efficiency and improve customer experiences. Web 2.0 and Social-Networking Technology Social networking will have a powerful impact on the industry as it increasingly becomes a trusted source of advice among consumers.
New Product Development: New product configurations will help drive down product development cost but, more importantly, will allow insurers to get products to market faster than their peers that continue to rely on legacy systems.
Customer Information Management Solutions: Including Customer Analytics Customer information management is critical to understand the breadth of relationships with customers, the value of customers, and customer needs and preferences. Without having this, insurers are crippled, not being able to make accurate decisions on how to treat customers, ensure customer value, improve marketing and sales effectiveness, ensure positive customer experiences, and protect their customer base from churn. Customer intelligence must be in place, and will be a strategic asset for companies that complete customer data integration and apply customer analytics to their customer data.
Portal and Internet Technologies: As consumers increasingly use the Internet for communication and interaction, life insurers have had to take a more aggressive approach to e-business. The results are being seen in cost savings, and attracting online shoppers wanting to buy new products/
Mobile Devices/Technologies: Mobile devices have become commonplace in the consumer lifestyle. Using these devices to communicate and interact with employees, agents/brokers and customers will increasingly become a key imperative in the life insurance business.
To get a
Term Life Insurance Quote or Research how to
Buy Life Insurance Online visit
Efinancial.com
Posted on Tue, Jun 01, 2010
If
life came with an owner’s manual, it would likely be written by the wizards of
O’Reilly Publishing, the group best known as the first and last word in making complex subjects, like computer hardware and software, easier to understand.
In place of dense instruction manuals, O’Reilly created the friendly “Missing Manual” series, a line of easy-to-follow guide books that should have come in the box in the first place. O’Reilly is also famous for creating the “FOO-Camp” training seminars ( FOO stands for “Friends of O’Reilly”) as well as coining the term “Web 2.0.” How can the gurus of high techdom help with your personal financial needs?
O’Reilly has stepped outside of the tech circle and squarely into money matters with Personal Investing: The Missing Manual and two other books—including Your Money: The Missing Manual and Buying a Home: The Missing Manual — aimed at helping readers make sound financial decisions.
The straightforward investment handbook provides step-by-step instructions to setting up a low-maintenance investment portfolio for any financial goal. Readers will find boatloads of helpful tips, like how to divvy up retirement money when investment choices are limited (like many 401ks) or how to save for college for more than one child. Personal Investing: The Missing Manual offers real-world examples of why investing is crucial to your financial goals, explains how to evaluate four types of investments so you make the right decisions, shines a light on lesser-known, low-cost investments and illustrates how to find an investment plan that’s right for you—whether you’re a conservative investor or a go-for-broke risk-taker.
If there’s anything missing from your financial planning, O’Reilly’s Missing Manual series could be “found money.”
To get a
Term Life Insurance Quote or Research how to
Buy Life Insurance Online visit
Efinancial.com