R&R Insurance Blog

Held each September, Life Insurance Awareness Month is an industry-wide effort that is coordinated by the nonprofit LIFE Foundation. The campaign was created in response to growing concern about the large number of Americans who lack adequate life insurance protection.

Roughly 70 million adult Americans have no life insurance, and 11 million households with children under 18 have not life insurance. To top that off, most of those who dohave life insurance have far less coverage than most financial experts recommend.

For more information on life insurance, visit LIFE’s website at www.lifehappens.org. In addition, they have a very cool mosaic going on with "Insure Your Love" that is worth a look!

Two main reasons for taking care of life insurance when you are younger:

1. You are just that - younger! Premiums are based on age and health - take advantage of your youth
2. You are healthier - again - take advantage of that

Most mid-life people I know really regret not taking care of their life insurance when they were younger. If they had, they would have saved themselves a lot of money!

For more information about life insurance, estate planning, business continuation and annuities, contact knowledgebroker Tom Driscoll.

If you died tomorrow, how would your loved ones fare financially? It’s not a pleasant scenario to think about your own death, but not doing so can have serious consequences.

If someone depends on you financially, you need life insurance. It’s that simple. Unfortunately, roughly 70 million adult Americans have no coverage at all, and most of those who do have far less coverage than financial experts recommend. Life insurance provides cash to your family after your death. Known as the death benefit, it can help your family pay for the funeral and other final expenses, eliminate credit-card balances and car loans, and provide loved ones with income to live on for a period of time. Whether a person needs life insurance depends on his or her particular situation and financial objectives. Coverage needs to be an important consideration for the following scenarios:

1. You’re Married. Married people share a life with one another, but also share financial obligations. If you died suddenly, would your surviving spouse have enough money to pay for your final expenses and buy time to adjust to a new way of life? Life insurance can help ensure that these financial goals will be met. Life insurance can be considered mortgage protection. Protect your spouse's ability to keep the home that you live in. Life insurance would offer the funds necessary to keep the home and the mortgage intact.
2. You’re Married With Kids. Having kids is the most obvious reason to own life insurance. If you and your income were suddenly gone, would your spouse and kids be okay financially? Life insurance helps replace lost income to help make sure those who depend on you will be provided for, no matter what life throws your way.
3. You’re a Single Parent. As a single parent, you're the caregiver, breadwinner, cook, chauffeur, and so much more. You need to make doubly sure that you have safeguarded your children’s future in case you are no longer there to care for them. Make sure you have enough life insurance and designate who will take care of your children in case the unthinkable were to happen.
4. You’re a Stay-at-Home Parent. Just because you don't bring home a paycheck doesn't mean you don't make contributions to your family that would be expensive to replace. If you were no longer there, could your spouse afford to pay someone to provide the childcare, transportation, cleaning, cooking and other household responsibilities that you handle every day?
5. You’re Approaching Retirement. The kids may be gone and the mortgage paid off, but that doesn't mean Social Security or your savings will necessarily take care of everything that lies ahead. If you died tomorrow, would your financial strategy, without insurance, enable your spouse to maintain the lifestyle that the two of you worked so hard to achieve?
6. You’re a Small Business Owner. Life insurance can help protect your business in a number of ways in the event you, your partner, or a key employee dies prematurely. A buy-sell agreement funded with life insurance allows surviving business owners to buy the company interests of a deceased business owner at a previously agreed-on price. Key-person insurance can provide business owners with the flexibility to hire a replacement when the key employee dies.

You can get a general sense of your life insurance needs by going to www.lifehappens.org/lifecalculator and using the online calculator offered by the LIFE Foundation, a nonprofit insurance education group. Or, you could contact me and we can have a quick discussion to help you determine the right coverage for you and your family or your business - products that fit your lifestyle and your budget.

If people depend on you financially, (i.e. mortgages, schooling, child or parental care) life insurance is an absolute must, and no one should pay more than they have to.

Over the past few years we have become accustomed to spending less and saving more, due to the economy. Even as the economy rebounds, many people continue to look for ways to keep their household budgets in check. Luckily, spending less doesn’t have to mean doing with less, especially when it comes to life insurance coverage. There are ways you can maintain your coverage, but pay less for it.

Life insurance is a financial safety net for your loved ones, so it’s critical to maintain that coverage especially with the uncertainty that remains in the economy. However, keeping that coverage doesn’t have to be a financial burden.

There are ways to save money on your existing coverage, and I’ve got some tips to help you do just that.

1. You’re healthier. If you have quit smoking, lost a substantial amount of weight or made significant improvements to your health, let your insurance company know. You may be able to qualify for a lower rate on your coverage.
2. Rates are near historic lows. Life insurance rates remain near historic lows. In fact, the cost of basic term life insurance has fallen by nearly 50 percent over the past decade. So if your family’s budget is tight and your health status hasn’t changed much since the time you last purchased coverage, you may want to apply for a new policy. If you do, make sure not to drop your current coverage until the new policy is in force.
3. Circumstances have changed. It is smart to review your policy every year to make sure it’s adequate and up to date. If the kids are out of the house, your mortgage is paid down, you’ve gotten divorced or family members no longer need your financial support, your need for life insurance coverage may have decreased. A smaller face amount policy will likely save you money.

For more information about life insurance, estate planning, business continuation and annuities, contact knowledgebroker Tom Driscoll.

Voluntary benefits enable employers to offer their employees the ability to choose from a menu of benefits that meet the employee’s needs, even if the employees pay the full cost of those benefits. Offering voluntary benefits for your employees through a group purchase platform can be better for both you and the employee.

Here are 7 great reasons to add voluntary products to your benefits strategy:

1. Voluntary benefits are not just for large accounts.
   Today carriers are much more eager to offer opportunities to smaller or medium sized businesses, and third party administrators can be used to relieve any burden on the employer’s human resources department. (Historically, carriers were only interested in selling these plans to large employers, and only big employers had the resources to administer multiple benefit streams.)
2. Voluntary benefits work well for both fully funded and self-insured clients.
   In either scenario, voluntary benefits are a way to fill in the coverage gaps for employees who want supplemental benefits that are not provided within the plan. Voluntary benefits can also help in the negotiation process utilizing the voluntary products that reinsurers offer. Sometimes bundling can help seal the deal or sweeten the offer for your plan negotiations.
3. Voluntary benefits are ideal for clients moving to defined contribution plans.
   In a defined contribution model, employees receive a set amount of funding to purchase the benefits that best fit their needs. For this approach to succeed, employers need to offer a wide variety of voluntary benefits that extend beyond the primary health care coverage. These could include dental plans, vision coverage, life insurance, accident insurance, critical illness insurance and even lifestyle products such as pet insurance, gym membership, ID theft protection or legal advice. These options will make the transition from full health care coverage to defined contribution benefits much easier for employees.
4. Voluntary Benefits can offer higher guarantee issue limits.
   A guaranteed issue limit is the maximum amount for which an insurance company will insure an individual without receiving information concerning their insurability, i.e. a medical exam. Any time you can get higher limits without proving insurability - that's a good thing!
5. Voluntary benefits offer fewer underwriting hassles.
   Guaranteed issue limits which don't require proof of insurability reduces the paperwork and underwriting headaches associated with processing applications that require underwriting scrutiny. Therefore - faster enrollment and quicker turn-around for HR administration. With everything else on the HR plate - less is certainly more!
6. Voluntary benefits usually offer lower premiums than can be obtained through individual policies.
   Voluntary benefits purchased in bulk - or in group packages will offer group discounts or often times better products from which employees can choose. If employees where to purchase, for instance, dental coverage on their own, the pricing for an individual policy would be prohibitive. Offering affordable voluntary benefits for employees that won't break their budget, but yet give them the coverage they need, is a terrific benefit for employers to consider.
7. BONUS: many of these benefits can be paid with pre-tax dollars, which is a plus for both the employee and the employer.

Change always brings opportunities, and smart companies are adapting by using different strategies to continue to improve their benefit plans, and attract and retain the talent they need to succeed. Voluntary benefits are one more tool that can help them succeed.

Related articles:

Voluntary Benefits to the Rescue

The "fiscal cliff" of 2012 relates only to tax aspects meaning many additional topics are still up for debate. Below is a brief explanation of what the American Taxpayer Relief Act does and does not do:

What the Act does:

• Increases tax rates for high-income taxpayers
• Increases top estate, gift, and GST tax rates
• Makes other estate, gift, and GST tax provisions permanent
• Extends / implements certain retirement planning options
• Addresses other expiring tax and health care provisions

What the Act does not do:

• Many tax issues were not discussed and remain of concern to the taxpayer: expiration of the payroll tax cut, health care taxes having significant impact, and transfer tax issues may remain.

Summary of Income Tax Provisions

Where do we go from here? Tax preparation and analysis will be more crucial than ever. For questions and help with tax planning strategy, please contact me.

Surveys tell us that half of all American households have no life insurance other than a group policy at work. Most people say they know they need more life insurance protection for their loved ones, but haven’t done anything about it. Here are the leading reasons people give for not having life insurance. Does this sound familiar?

1. Don’t know what I need to buy.
   There are no dumb questions when it comes to providing protection for your loved ones. R&R Insurance offers free advice, no obligation.
2. Don’t think I can afford it.
   High price is a common misconception about life insurance. As average life span continues to get longer, life insurance rates continue to decline. A 25-year-old male can get $250,000 of term life insurance for as little as $17 per month. Term life for a healthy 45-year-old would cost about $31 per month. A 65-year-old male could get $10,000 of final expense coverage for $49 per month. Female rates are generally even lower.
3. Haven’t gotten around to checking into it.
   Time will cost you money. Every birthday that you have without putting a policy in place will raise your rates. Basically, the younger you are, the more affordable your policies will be.
4. I am immortal!
   Really! We hear it all the time - but reality is that none of us are. Our staff hears startling examples of totally unexpected and untimely deaths all too frequently. The best time to buy life insurance is when you are healthy, while coverage is affordable.

Some of our companies, like Auto-Owners Insurance Company, offer substantial multi-policy discounts on your homeowners and auto policy when you have your life insurance with the same company. These savings can go a long way toward paying the cost of your life insurance.

Remember, life insurance is for the ones you love. Wisconsin residents contact knowledgebroker, Dan Wolfgram today for more information or a quick life insurance quote!