It seems like every day we hear about the mortgage crash and how hundreds of thousands of people around the nation are losing their homes because they can not pay their mortgages. There are two options which can help you from becoming one of the unfortunate many: Mortgage Life Insurance and Unemployment Mortgage Insurance. Either of these options can secure your mortgage payments so you and your family will not have to worry about meeting these payments in the event that something happens to you or your main income source.

The Difference between Mortgage Life Insurance and Unemployment Mortgage Insurance

Both if these types of insurance have many of the same components, and similar policies and plans which are available to you. They are, however, different in what they cover. Mortgage Life Insurance is a coverage which protects your family from losing their home in the event of your death; while Unemployment Mortgage Insurance covers your mortgage should you lose your job when you are not to blame. For example: if you should be laid of from work because your employer is downsizing, you could qualify for Unemployment Mortgage Insurance.

Benefits of Mortgage Life Insurance

One of the benefits of this type of insurance is you are not required to take a medical examination to qualify for the coverage, which is unlike other life insurance policies. Also, it is a cheaper alternative to your standard life insurance policy. There is also an option called a Return of Premium.

As its name suggests, this optional insurance will return all the premiums you paid back to you if you are still alive when your mortgage is all paid for. Also this coverage may be used as your primary life insurance or as a secondary life insurance. There are other options which can be added to the main policy including: sickness, injury, and loss of work.

Benefits of Unemployment Mortgage Insurance

Unemployment Mortgage Insurance is sometimes referred to as layoff protection, namely because you do not have to own a house to receive any benefits. The conditions for collecting any benefits are similar to that of the state unemployment coverage. But since the state coverage is less than $400 per week, most people need a little extra to help them make ends meet.

One of the optional additions to a Job Loss Protection Insurance policy is accident, sickness, and unemployment coverage. This comprehensive coverage will cover almost anything that could happen to you so that your mortgage payments could still be met.

Mortgage Life Insurance is a component of Unemployed Mortgage Insurance; you can get it as an addition to your unemployed coverage. With this option you can have both of these protective coverages on your house at the same time without having to get two different policies. It is easy to get an insurance policy that is designed to cover your mortgage payments. Now that the economy is unstable and jobs are harder to find and keep, it is the perfect time to protect yourself and your family.

With regards to one of the current hottest topic in the financial industry is “Insurance” vs “Investment”. If you were to ask me, in my opinion and being in this industry, I would say that Insurance is never an Investment. It is totally two different things.

So, I cannot believe how my peers in this industry actually go out there, acting as an Investment Professional, hard-selling products as Investment Product towards clients. In my very own opinion, I would say that this practise can be regarded as mis-selling.

Why? Why is a question you would ask me? We are professionals to design and cater for the assurance needs of the client and not investment needs. Although we have an option for clients which are called “Invesment-Linked Policies”, our priority is to cater for the client’s assurance or protection needs, investment needs is secondary.

So, what is my flow when I meet my clients?

Simple, my very first question to them will be, “What is your motive in owning insurance? Protection or Capital Accumulation?”. From here, I will then do the proper fact finding to design and cater a solution for the client’s specific needs. Whatever policies that the client is about to own will be based on their needs.

I am sad to say that most of the agents out there do not practise this but instead, hard-selling and product pushing is practised. Sad? It is far worst than sad if you can see how it turned out to be for the client. I have a number of transferred cases to me with the request coming from the clients and oh boy, how shocked am I to see the type of policies that are owned by them. Not only I am shocked, they are too when I presented it and did a policy review with them.

I have one transferred case client that wishes to be covered on Accidental Dismemberment but instead she was told by her previous agent to own an Investment-Linked Policy with Accidental Dismemberment rider attached which requires her to input a premium of SG$150/month while the Stand-Alone Accidental Dismemberment policy only requires SG$17/month. Oh boy was she shocked when I presented it to her because the agent did not even bother to show her the difference between the two policies and she solely thought that the policy she owns is only for Accidental Dismemberment. Angry? Yes she is, to the point that she requested to surrender the policy with losses even after I explained and advised her not to. She still insisted on surrendering it and moved on with owning the Stand-Alone Accidental Dismemberment policy that she originally wishes to own with my assistance.

Sometimes, people choose to be blinded by agents that are specially gifted to have the ability to have a smooth and sweet talking style whose only priority is their own sales quota and company incentives instead of choosing the ones who can come out with facts and figures for logic. Now, who is to blame?

Now, getting back to the point of Insurance will always stay as Insurance. Anything that comes out from an Insurance/Assurance Company will always be Insurance. This applies to all types of policies including Investment-Linked Policies.

What’s the difference? The only difference in Investment-Linked Policies is that, instead of the company investing the premiums from you for the non-guaranteed returns on top of the sum assured, you now have the power of allocating the premiums in any of the available funds and have full control of the non-guaranteed returns.

Now, when the term “Non-Guaranteed” is mentioned, everyone gets afraid? Why? First understand why the term is used in the first place. It is because, the interest for the returns are always fluctuating. Hence, the term “Non-Guaranteed” is used. Even your savings account gives you a “Non-Guaranteed” interest rate. So why should you be afraid of the term?

A quote from Warren Buffett, “The only risk in life, is when you do not know what you are doing.”

A strong quote but a lot of people do not adhere to it. They own something without knowing what it is all about. They purchase an investment product and not knowing the architecture of it. They listen to their “trusted” agent / broker and not knowing what it is all about. When the bubble has burst, who is to blame?

So people, listen! Be it if you happen to receive a cold-call, someone comes knocking on your door or even you meet someone at a road-show. Listen, find-out, be informed and do not own insurance blindly. Ask every single detail on what it is all about before signing on the doted lines.

To end this off, again I will say that Insurance will always stay as Insurance because for the matter of fact that I can assure you, Insurance will never make you rich but it does guarantee that you will not be poor when you are old or critically ill.

I do not sell insurance and will never sell. My job is to assist my clients to own it, if there is a need.

Yours Sincerely,
Ash Ariffin
Email: pru.101@insurer.com
Web: http://pru101.blogspot.com

During the Obama / McCain town hall debate Health Insurance was a big issue. Barak Obama stated that no family should go Bankrupt based on a catastrophic illness and spend there time battling with the insurance companies while they are trying to deal with their illness.

That goal can be achieved today for over 70% of the American work force with a simple change in insurance coverage. Companies that currently offer blanket medical coverage offer the following
Policies:

Medical Insurance
Group Life Insurance
Shot Term Disability
Long Term Disability
Dental
Vision
401K

An employee that is provided with these types of benefits was considered to be fully insured and covered. Based on a Harvard Bankruptcy Study illness to either spouse will cause such a financial strain it will send the family into Bankruptcy within weeks.

The solution is to simply realign the money spent on insurance to protect the income of the employees through supplemental insurance. Using the same dollar amount the insurance package can be re-allocated to the following:

Medical Insurance
Group Life Insurance
Short Term Disability
Long Term Disability
Supplemental Income Protection
401K

Using this model of replacing the Dental and Vision insurance with Supplemental Income Protection the employee is now financially ready to face catastrophic illnesses. Employers do not spend extra money to implement these plans as they are employee contribution plans and the Employer saves on Pay roll Taxes.

The payroll deduction Companies gain can be used to defray the costs to the company of supplying medical insurance to the employees. By realigning these costs it would increase health care coverage and protect individuals from financial disaster based on Catastrophic Illness to themselves, a spouse or children.

The basic coverage for personal liability in standard homeowners, rental, and auto insurance policies often will not cover high losses of court awarded damages. Additional personal liability insurance will add a higher level of protection. This additional policy forms an umbrella because it covers protection above and beyond standard homeowners and auto policies.

Additional costs will vary with insurance companies, but usually average from $200 to $300 a year for additional protection of 1 million dollars. This coverage may insure automobiles, boats, homeowners, and renters insurance. Most insurance companies require basic insurance of $100,000.

The insured should ask the following questions:

1. How much do I have to lose? 2. What is the monetary total of my assets? 3. How much would legal fees cost me? 4. Are umbrella personal liability policies which cover one million dollars or more worth the extra premiums? Most insurance advisors recommend that they are.

Rate yourself and your family:

Are you careless? Do you own a pool or an active recreation room? Do other people work in your home? Have accidents occurred in your home? Add to this list of possible personal hazards.

If you answered yes to any question, you need additional protection of the umbrella liability insurance policy. Don’t forget to buy additional auto insurance.

Study liability insurance on the internet or consult your insurance needs with a reliable agent. The internet has many clear, illustrated paragraphs of available types of policies. Individuals may study thousands of agents and companies, have questions answered, and purchase all types of insurance policies online from the leading insurance companies of the world.

Do not risk future financial disaster because you failed to act by saying, “It can’t happen to me. I don’t need extra coverage.” The coffee table in your living room that you gingerly step around could cause a house guest to topple over. Another friend on an overnight stay slips on the staircase as she is on the way to the kitchen to get a cup of warm milk. These people might not be injured, but it is possible.

If anyone has an accident in your home or on your grounds, they could be severely injured. That is when you are in dire need of a personal umbrella policy. The insured needs to evaluate all possible situations that could lead to a major loss.

Remember personal liability insurance does not cover any business whether it is operated in the home or at an independent location. They are separate entities. The insured needs business insurance to cover any losses. Umbrella policies are available to cover the insured’s business.

If you still have doubts, get assistance from a certified public accountant who does not make a commission on insurance sales, but charges for the office visit and the advice. Also, and very important, take the time to read every word of your policy, and if you don’t understand it: ASK QUESTIONS.

Pennsylvania holds the distinction of being the state where forty percent of all mobile homes in the northeast section of the United States are located. People in Pennsylvania are obviously drawn to the charm of these humble dwellings. A manufactured home is a wonderful choice for anyone whether it’s a young family buying their first house or a retired couple who want to move out of their larger home into something more manageable.

Regardless of why the person purchased their mobile home they need to all consider one important thing. That is that buying homeowner’s insurance for a mobile home in Pennsylvania should be at the top of their list of things to do. If the home is a relatively new one and the individual had to mortgage it, the lien holder is likely going to require that mobile home owner insurance be purchased so they can protect their investment.

Beyond the scope of buying the insurance to satisfy the requirements of a mortgage, every homeowner must weigh the risk of forgoing insurance. Even though most people luckily never have to face the consequences of a fire or a theft, those things do occur and for someone without insurance, any loss they suffer will become their sole responsibility. This means that if a person purchases a mobile home, fills it with expensive electronics and furnishings and then opts not to buy insurance in an effort to cut corners financially, they risk losing everything if a fire occurs or if they are in the path of a devastating storm.

Saving money on mobile home insurance is possible and typically involves being careful not to make unwarranted claims and also to pay the premiums less often. If the insurance company offers a monthly payment plan, this can seem very tempting to someone who would rather shell out a small amount per month as opposed to a larger amount once a year. It’s not a good approach though as most monthly payment plans come complete with hefty service fees.