In 2003 I went on a business trip to California. Two other employees, Debbie and Sherry, went with me to work at a manufacturing company to sell Universal Life Insurance. We had checked on-line for an affordable hotel, but their rates were too high for our expense budget, so we opted for a furnished apartment. Under the contract of the apartments short term lease, we had to purchase a Renters Insurance policy. The Renters Insurance policy would not only cover our property and the contents for theft, but would also provide liability in case we caused any damage.

Apartment renters insurance was available through a few companies, so we got quotes from; Geico, Nationwide and State Farm. Nationwide was the cheapest, so we bought a policy and only paid for one month.

During our stay, Debbie accidentally broke the vacuum cleaner that was provided with the apartment. Under the liability section of the renters insurance contract the vacuum cleaner was covered without a deductible. Liability Coverage: Your policy will provide coverage for bodily injury or property damage which you or an insured under the policy are legally obligated to pay.

But you wouldn’t believe what else happened….since we travel a lot we liked the chance to stay somewhere different, and the best thing about this apartment was the waterbeds. The very next day, Sherry was using a knife to peel an apple and accidentally stabs the waterbed causing a small leak. Fortunately, we had purchased the endorsement for waterbeds for an additional premium. Not only did we have a repair bill, we also had some water damage. The waterbed endorsment states; Optional Endorsments you may request for your policy.

Extension of Liability Coverage Endorsement-Waterbeds

The optional coverage pays for damage to property of others that results from sudden and accidental discharge of water from a waterbed. It does not pay for structural damage which may result from the weight or slow, gradual leakage or damage to the waterbed itself.

We were so glad that we had looked over the Renters Insurance policy before we got it. Other coverages included, but subject to a deductible are:

Personal Property Coverage:

Your policy will cover loss or damage to your property when caused by the following perils:

1. Fire or Lightning 2. Windstorm or Hail 3. Explosion 4. Riot or Civil Commotion 5. Aircraft 6. Vehicles 7. Smoke 8. Vandalism or malicious mischief 9. Burglary 10. Falling objects 11. Weight of ice, snow or sleet 12. Accidental discharge or overflow of water or steam from within a plumbing, heating, air conditioning, or automatic fire protective sprinkler or from within a household appliance 13. Sudden and accidental tearing apart, cracking, burning, or bulging of a steam or hot water heating system, and air conditioning system, or an appliance for heating water. 14. Freezing of plumbing, heating, and air conditioning systems or automatic fire protective sprinkler system or of a household appliance. 15. Sudden and accidental damage from artificially generated electrical current 16. Volcanic eruption

But always remember to add the Replacement cost endorsement to your renters policy:

Personal Property Replacement Cost Endorsement;

The Declarations Page will state that under “Additional Coverages” your policy has Replacement Value coverage.

If you do not purchase this endorsment, you will be paid Actual Cash Value (ACV) for a covered loss to your personal property. ACV means the cost to replace an item with another item of similar kind and quality less an allowance for depreciation.

Replacement Cost (RC) coverage will pay for the loss at full cost to repair or replace the damaged item. RC is only paid when you purchase the replacement item within 180 days after the loss.

Loss of Use;

If you cannot live in your home as a result of a covered loss and you must temporarily live elsewhere, this coverage pays, for a specified period, for reasonable and necessary extra living expenses you incur over what you would have normally spent to maintain your standard of living if no loss had occurred.

Your Renters Insurance policy will have exclusions, along with other optional endorsements. Please read or review your policy with your insurance agent. We were glad we did. I couldn’t imagine our boss getting the repair bills with our expense reports. Our Renters Insurance policy probably saved our jobs.

You may be someone who hasnt considered their financial arrangements when you passon, such as your funeral costs and money to be left for the financial stability of your family. Thus you should consider taking out and investing in a cheap whole life insurance policy, which will grow in value over time and ensure that your family are looked after financially.

This will be one key way that you will be able to make sure that your family will not be in a financial bind, struggling to pay the bills and the expenses that you left them with. You may be an individual who doesnt think that funeral expenses are that expensive nowadays, but if six thousand dollars sounds expensive then it is.

Having something like a whole life insurance policy in place will make sure that the relevant creditors are paid off and all debt that you left will be settled. If your family want to see you buried then they will need some capital to do this and so will pay for any funeral services with the money paid out. There should also be some left over for your family to invest in their future financial stability.

When you are looking for an insurance policy, you should be aware that there are many different types of whole life insurance policies, there is a variable version as well as a number of other different types. When you are looking and choosing, you should bare in mind that you will need to select a policy that is right for both you and your family and that you will need to have a policy that you can ensure will cover their financial well being.

Once you have been convinced that a whole life insurance policy is for you, you should look at the current market and what offers are available. Whilst you may be tempted to go with your current provider of your car or home insurance, sometimes this will work out more expensive for you, as they will be sub-letting the policy from a life insurance policy company who specializes in whole life insurance policies.

A better deal is something to look into when you are talking about a whole life insurance policy because you very well could be looking at saving a few thousand dollars over the course of a couple years. With money being so tight for some people, this is a great reason to make sure that the cheap whole life insurance premium for a cheap whole life insurance policy is found.

If you have current car and home insurance policies with other companies then they may be able to offer you a cheaper deal on your whole life insurance policy. You could also write down the information that they give you when you apply for a quote from them, as they will often be able to supply you with a quote that takes into account the other insurance policies that you have with them.

It will not take you all that much time to find the cheap whole life insurance that is the best and the most affordable for your particular situation.

Just like when you are shopping around for any other type of insurance, when you are looking for low cost term life insurance quotes, you will want to look at the market and not just select any old life insurance company, as you will find that you may end up being ripped off and have a policy that is worthless.

When you are doing your research on the different insurance companies you should make sure that you keep note of the different things that are on offer from each financial institution as many with vary from one to another. You will need to keep in mind that most of them will be very competitive in price and some will offer exactly the same across all of their term life insurance policies.

Once you have finished looking at the various number of companies offering cheap term life insurance policies you will be able to get a clear picture of which companies can get to your shortlist. You will need to make sure the low term life insurance quote is right for you and should make sure that the options that you want on the policy are present.

All life insurance quotes that you do receive will not be the same and you will need to be aware that you may need to decipher between the different ones the one that will be right for you if you are looking to get the life insurance quotes that will be within the amount you want to pay. The rates that you will see can even vary anywhere from a few dollars to over a few hundred dollars, and is dependent on the different cover and options that you want from a cheap term life insurance quotes.

Where can You Get Term Life Insurance Quotes? There are a number of different places where you can get a low cost term life issuance quote, such as the local phone book and then phoning the local company or broker up to find out information. Also, you will be able to ask friends for recommendations as well as talk to a rep that could call at your house and discuss the different parts of the policy together with the different levels of cover that the company provide you. They will also be able to pass on to you the different price levels that respond top the added options, so you will be able to get a policy that suits you as well as your budget.

The fact that a sales rep comes to your house will mean that they will be giving you a sales pitch for the company and the life insurance policy - something that many people do not like. You might be able to hammer down the premium price though as these sales reps are usually able to lower the price of the premium and get you a great deal on your low cost term life insurance quote.

Some individuals dont want to waste their time with this and consider it quite annoying, and so would most happily look for a low cost term life insurance quote online. Using the Internet to search for information and quotes on life insurance is rather quick and easy to do. You can go onto the different companies’ websites that are offering term life insurance and use the quote tool to see how much it will cost you to take out a premium. Within just a few minutes (after filling out some of your information) the site will be able to provide you with an online quote to make sure that you have the lowest price that they have on offer.

Some of these company’s websites will even allow you to send them information across their online form so that they can contact you and a real live person can discuss your needs and requirements. With this simple stage of going online and looking at the different easy to use sites it means that you will have a low cost term life insurance quote in no time.

There are too many people who decide to go along in life without investing in any whole life insurance policies plan. While they may say it is because of the cost, the actual whole life insurance rate that is paid out is a lot cheaper then what your loved ones will be faced with paying because of your funeral expense and any and all bills and debts that you leave behind.

You should think about the possibility of the worst happening and so, you should look to take out a whole life insurance policy and be able to be confident that your family will be looked after if anything happens to you.

One kind of insurance to really take a good look at is that of the variable whole life insurance policies as this is a kind of plan or policy that will build cash value over time. The variable whole life insurance policies is something that a lot of people tend to like because it is something that can benefit them later down the road if they ever need the help along with leaving money for their loved ones to use to cover expenses after they pass away.

The variable whole life insurance policies monthly or yearly premium will vary though depending on the company that you go with. There are only some of the companies in the market that offer this so you should be aware before you approach people.

You should always shop smart when you go out on the market. It doesn’t matter if you are going to an office or whether you are going to shop online for a variable whole life policy. The main thing that you need to be concerned with is that you are seeing the number of additional benefits that can be gained from having this type of policy.

It goes without saying, that you should always look at the different rates that are in the current market and shop around to secure the best deal for the best terms that you can get for a policy.

When you go out to the market and complete your research for the different companies that are offering variable whole life insurance policies, you will notice that a number of companies will be selling their policies at a considerably higher rate than others. This means that there will be much competition, but more importantly, there will be a number of different added extras to the differing policies.

It is your responsibility to conduct proper research into the different companies offering variable whole life insurance, as you will need to ensure that the companies you are researching are offering a good deal for you. Recognizing where a good deal is actually a good deal will come once you have looked at the different policies and prices in the market.

The expense of funeral and other bills left behind is a good reason to acquire a Dallas Life Insurance policy. Your loved ones left to handle you estate will have the resources to do so.

There seems to always be unexpected expenses at the time of a loved ones demise. So to settle your estate quickly and easily you need a Dallas Life Insurance policy. Nothing is worse than have to settle a loved ones estate when there isn’t any resources to use.

Here’s another reason to consider. When you buy a Dallas life insurance policy it can be used as a way of leaving something of value to your heirs. All you have to do is name as beneficiaries the individuals you choose to inherit your policy.

Or, instead of naming individuals as beneficiaries of your life insurance policy, you could choose a charity as the beneficiary.

Purchasing a Dallas Life Insurance policy just make good sense for everyone.

The necessity of life insurance today is based around the idea of a family with one or both spouses working outside of the home, and that if one of them dies, the other will be left with financial obligations that will not be able to be met. Most advisers agree that life insurance is supposed to fill that gap.

However, financial professionals often disagree about how much and what type of insurance one should carry. The perception is that term insurance is always the easiest and most cost effective. To this end, many advisers and financial “gurus” like Suze Orman and Dave Ramsey often suggest that their audience forget about cash value insurance and instead focus on good-sounding investments. In short…they hate whole life insurance.

Life insurance agents of course love cash value insurance. The investment industry does a pretty good job of putting down the insurance industry. So…who’s right?

It is sometimes surprising that the financial industry is charged with the responsibility of informing and educating the rest of society about saving and investing principles, and yet many of the advisors that represent the industry seem to be less concerned about truth and honesty, and more concerned about injecting their own personal agenda.

I say that in light of the fact that on both sides of the debate, neither is doing a very good job of defending their position. Many financial professionals are simply leaving out critical information, or appear to not have a very good grasp of how life insurance really works.

Their reasons for lying can be many. Now, there’s nothing wrong with pointing out the shortcomings in a financial product. In the case of life insurance; however, the attacks being made are completely baseless. This is especially disheartening because most, if not all, of these attacks are originating from well known financial “gurus”. Here are a few of the lies being spread around:

Lie Number One:

Don’t waste your money on cash value insurance. It is a complete waste of money because the insurance company collects premiums from you for 20 years and then when you die you only get the death benefit. They keep all of your cash and your family gets ripped off. Besides, you could make more money by buying term and investing the difference.

Fact: Term insurance can be the best type of insurance if all you are considering is the cost. But it is generally the worst type of insurance you can buy to insure your life if you want it to pay off, at least statistically speaking. To understand this, we need to understand how life insurance companies position their product line, and how they make money.

Insurance uses something called the Law of Large Numbers. Basically this is how it works: the larger the group of people you are insuring, the more certain you can be about the number of losses you will sustain.

If I started a life insurance company and I only had one customer, I would be taking on an incredible risk because of the nature of life insurance, if that one person dies, I could be out of business very quickly. If, however, I have thousands or millions of customers, then I can manage the risk. Since no one can predict when a specific individual will die (i.e. no one can predict when I will die), I need a large number of people to study to formulate a statistic. With a large enough number of people, I can make surprisingly accurate predictions about the number of individuals within a particular group that will die in any given year. So…what do the statistics say?

Term insurance just doesn’t pay, at least not for policy owners. That’s because most people live to age 65. Term is expensive long-term. Permanent is a good deal long-term. A few critics will still say “no Dave, term is cheaper - always cheaper”. Oh yeah? Watch this:

A male (let’s use Jim again), age 25 and in good health with a wife and a child finds that he needs life insurance. Jim is looking for $250,000 in coverage. A typical 30-year term policy - a policy that has level premium payments for 30 years - should cost Jim around $370 per year until he reaches age fifty-five. At that point, the premiums jump up significantly (as all term insurance premiums do) to a tad over $4,700 per year.

At age 65, he will have spent $58,780 on policy premiums. Keep in mind that this is money that the insurance company collected but never had to pay back. Since there’s no cash value in a pure insurance (term) plan, the insurance contract pays off only when Jim dies.

What would have happened if Jim had just purchased the same amount of death benefit but used a universal life insurance policy instead? His premiums would have been higher - about $145 per month or $1739 per year. At age 65, Jim has paid $69,560 ($1739 x 40) in premiums. That’s a little more than the term insurance, but he also has $157,000 of cash value inside the policy.

That money can be used on a tax-free basis to supplement his retirement or left alone to continue growing. This is an example of one of many living benefits that permanent insurance has (didn’t your adviser tell you about that?). Some permanent policies also offer an option to spend down up to 100% of the death benefit for any reason in the event of a critical, chronic, or terminal illness. This can be especially useful if you haven’t been able to accumulate a lot of money and something tragic happens to you…and you live!

Lie number two:

Cash value life insurance is overpriced. You can never tell how much money you are spending on death benefit and how much money is actually going into the cash value of the policy. With term insurance, the costs are clear.

Fact: Whole life insurance is not very transparent. So it is difficult to determine how much the death benefit is costing you. That bothers some people. That’s OK. Just don’t buy whole life insurance. Universal life insurance, on the other hand, is very transparent. That’s because UL policies are a term policy with a separate savings account. You can easily determine the cost per thousand dollars of insurance, how much is going to pay the death benefit, and how much is going into the cash value of the policy. Cash value insurance seems expensive in comparison to term insurance (at least initially) because insurance contracts are front loaded as far as fees are concerned. That’s a good thing…because the contract becomes cheaper over time. Unfortunately, the initial cost is really driven home by the anti-cash value life insurance crowd.

Be thankful that you pay some of the fees that you do. It makes saving and investing money a lot easier. In regard to life insurance, you have a choice: the contract can be set up to maximize the death benefit (maximizing the cost of the contract), or it can be set up to focus on cash accumulation (minimizing expense charges). All of the expenses associated with permanent life insurance can be made just as efficient and in some cases more efficient than an investment product. But why compare insurance to an investment?

You will usually get all of your money back that you put into a permanent policy plus interest (depending on how you structured the contract). Additionally, the policy can give you a substantial tax-free income at retirement. The only exception to this is variable life, which typically has no guarantee on cash values

Lie number three:

If you are smart with your money, pay off your mortgage and other loans, and put money into retirement plans you won’t need insurance 30 years from now to protect your family.

Fact: You may not need life insurance in 30 years to protect your children from financial ruin when you die. But you may need it to protect your beneficiaries (whoever they may be) from taxes. And, even if you are “smart” with your money, you can’t predict the investment returns in a mutual fund (or a stock for that matter) inside of a 401(k) or IRA unless you are very good at researching stocks (hint: 99% of the general population is not). It takes years of practice, and even some of the best stock brokers and financial analysts don’t always get it right. The stock market ebbs and flows, and goes through cycles of boom and bust. If your investments take a hit right before you are ready to retire, it doesn’t matter how “smart” you were with your money.

Is life insurance is necessary as you get older? You will be shocked at the costs of even a modest funeral these days. What does the average funeral cost in your home town? Ask a funeral director. What is the inflation effect in the funeral industry. If it costs $12,000 today, what will it cost in 10 years? 20 years? 30 years? Ask any beneficiary who has been left any amount of money what they paid in taxes and if it was financially disruptive to them personally.

That cash value life insurance policy that your financial guru told you to ditch could have bypassed probate, provided an income tax free death benefit and, inside of a life insurance trust, completely avoided the estate tax thereby giving your heirs what they deserve.

Although many so-called experts try to compare life insurance to an investment, don’t be fooled. Yes, life insurance, if properly structured, can build very strong cash values that rival investment products (my guess as to why the investment folks are upset). They try to tell you what a lousy investment cash value life insurance is. But comparing this type of insurance to investing is nonsensical. It’s like asking “how many walkmans does it take to equal an Ipod?”…cash value insurance serves a different purpose from an investment. Each has their own different objectives.

Before you make any decision on whether to buy term or cash value life insurance, think about what you are trying to accomplish. If you want to invest your money, then learn about investing. Learn how to value corporations and buy stocks, bonds, no load mutual funds. If you want a long-term savings, then find an adviser that can maximize your savings through cash value life insurance.