Brian Gruss Licensed Insurance Planner

Soon-To-Be Parents Need to Review Their Life Insurance Coverage

When you’re expecting to add a child to your family, you need to make important decisions about how to best protect that child’s well-being. One of those decisions involves the adequacy of your current life insurance coverage.

Soon-to-be parents should evaluate their existing life insurance policies to determine if these policies will meet the needs of their growing family. Three core areas of life insurance merit examination:

• Type of insurance-If you currently have term life insurance policies, you may want to evaluate if they still offer enough coverage. These policies provide life insurance protection for a specific period of time, but without an accumulating cash value. Permanent life insurance policies can provide protection for an individual’s entire life so long as the premiums are paid, and they accumulate cash value over time. With the addition of a child, cash value, which can be borrowed against to pay for expenses like college tuition, may be a valuable asset. Also keep in mind that your age, health status and the type of coverage influence what life insurance will be available to you, along with its cost. Therefore, it’s a good idea to buy life insurance while you are young and healthy so as to get the best coverage at the best rate.

• Amount of coverage-The birth or adoption of child brings to the forefront the issue of what would happen in the event a wage earner dies. Each parent should have enough life insurance to ensure that the family would be able to carry on financially in the event that something happened to the other parent. Many people mistakenly believe that a stay-at-home spouse doesn’t need to be insured. However, if that person were to die, all of the tasks he or she performs, such as childcare, would still have to be done. Life insurance enables the surviving spouse to continue to work to support the family, by hiring someone to perform these tasks.

• Beneficiary-New parents should update their beneficiary designations after the birth or adoption of a child. Choose both a primary and a contingent beneficiary. This way, you will ensure that, in the event of your death, funds will be available immediately to care for your child. Without designated beneficiaries, the funds will become part of your estate.

Expectant parents should talk to Brian Gruss about their life insurance needs before their child arrives. Knowing that your family will be financially protected even if you aren’t around is one more way you can be sure that you have protected your child’s future welfare.

Tags: Adequacy, Adoption Of Child, Age Health, Buy Insurance, College Tuition, Core Areas, Forefront, Growing Family, Health Status, Important Decisions, Life Insurance Coverage, Life Insurance Policies, Life Insurance Protection, Period Of Time, Permanent Life Insurance, Premiums, Stay At Home, Term Insurance, Term Life Insurance, Wage Earner

Life Insurance Remains More Important Than Ever

Times are tough, jobs are scarce and families across the nation are struggling financially. Recent trends show that consumers are focusing on saving more, spending less and paying down their debts. In such in a tumultuous economy, you would assume people would start cutting out the “unnecessary” expenses like life insurance. However, that’s absolutely not the case.

Americans are beefing up life insurance

In these difficult times, Americans recognize that life insurance is more important than ever. As a matter of fact, 56 percent of Americans say the economic downturn has made life insurance more critical, according to 2009 survey released by the nonprofit LIFE Foundation.

Based on the survey, a mere 9 percent believe the need for life insurance has diminished. And recent trends support these survey results: over the past year, it seems that more people have added to their life insurance coverage rather than cutting back or dropping their coverage.

The LIFE survey also found that 71 percent of Americans with life insurance made no changes to their coverage over the last year. Of those who did make changes, 39 percent increased their coverage. Another 28 percent bought life insurance for the first time in the past year.

So, why did these people decide to purchase life insurance or give their coverage a boost? Two of the reasons survey participants gave were a need to keep up with their growing family’s needs and a desire for extra protection because they feel more financially vulnerable.

A historical trend

This nationwide boost of life insurance is certainly not a modern phenomenon. Historically, the U.S. life insurance industry has seen a hike in sales during economic downturns. Why? Many experts believe that consumers already feel defenseless in tough economic times, and they want to better protect their family’s financial well-being.

“The American people are smart and understand the importance of protecting their loved ones with life insurance, especially in these uncertain financial times,” said Marvin H. Feldman, president and CEO of LIFE, in a press release. “Americans realize that life insurance can be the safety net that catches their family when tragedy strikes, and we’re pleased to see that so many appear to be holding onto their coverage, even as they’re scaling back other parts of the family budget to make ends meet.”

Is life insurance really necessary?

Any capable financial expert will tell you that life insurance is absolutely necessary-especially if you have loved ones who depend on your income. If you were to die today, what would happen to your family? Would they have enough money to pay the bills and maintain their current standard of living? Would your spouse need to search for work in this dried up job market? Would there be enough money left to send your child to college?

An effective life insurance plan will ensure that all your family’s financial needs will be covered-from the monthly mortgage and utility bills to your child’s college education. In these economically uncertain times, this is more important than ever.

Let’s say your children are grown and out of the house. Certainly, you can cancel that life insurance policy now, right? Not so fast. Life insurance coverage can be used for much more than supporting your surviving children.

For example, the payout from your life insurance policy could be used to cover your final expenses, including medical bills, estate taxes and funeral expenses. Without life insurance coverage, your family will be expected to foot these bills. Considering the average funeral costs $10,000 or more, do you want to leave this heavy financial burden on your loved ones’ shoulders? Do they really have that much cash on-hand in these difficult times? Probably not.

You can also use your life insurance policy to leave a legacy. For example, the payout from your policy could fund your grandchild’s college education or go to your favorite charitable organization.

Make room in your budget

If you don’t think you can afford to pay for life insurance right now, keep this in mind:  some life insurance coverage is better than none. There are many affordable term life insurance options available for families with tight budgets. For example, if you are a healthy 35-year-old, you could purchase a 10-year $250,000 term policy for around $180 a year. That breaks down to less than 50 cents a day.

If you’re struggling to make room for life insurance in your budget, talk to an expert. Brian Gruss can help you determine how much and what kind of life insurance you need-and what you can realistically afford.

Tags: Consumers, Debts, Desire, Difficult Times, Economic Downturn, Economic Downturns, Economic Times, Economy, Growing Family, Insurance Life, Life Foundation, Life Insurance Coverage, Life Insurance Industry, Life Survey, Matter Of Fact, Nationwide Insurance, Phenomenon, Survey Also Found That, Survey Participants, Survey Results

The Facts of Term Life Insurance

Term life has no cash value, so you can?t borrow against it or cash surrender it. If you stop paying for it, you lose it. Term life insurance provides coverage for a limited period of time, the relevant term. After that period, you may drop the policy or pay annually increasing premiums to continue the coverage. Term life policies do not have a cash value feature. This means that the coverage pays the face value of the policy during the specified term of the policy, which can be from one to thirty years.

Term life is best for those who need temporary coverage; for example, you may need to protect a business, cover a mortgage, or provide for a growing family in the event of your death. You may also be building some retirement assets which could make life insurance unnecessary once your family is grown and your bills are paid. Term life insurance is, quite simply, insurance that protects you for a specific period of time, or “term”. You pay your premium and if you die during the period of time that you’re covered, the insurance company will pay benefits to your loved ones.

Term life insurance is simple to understand, and allows for personal choice. You pay a (low) monthly premium based on the term length and amount of coverage you choose. Term life insurance lasts for a certain period of time normally 1 to 30 years. Ten years and 20 years are the most common terms.

Contact Brian Gruss today for a free Term Life Insurance Quote by calling toll free 800-240-3390 or by filling out the form below

Tags: Face Value, Free Term Life, Free Term Life Insurance, Free Term Life Insurance Quote, Growing Family, Gruss, Insurance, Insurance Company, Insurance Coverage, Insurance Life, Insurance Term Life, Life Insurance Quote, Limited, Mortgage, Period Of Time, Personal Choice, Premiums, Relevant Term, Retirement Assets, Term Insurance, Term Life Insurance, Term Life Insurance Quote, Term Life Policies, Thirty Years, Value Feature