Everybody knows that smoking can damage your health, and with the increasing cost of cigarettes, everyone knows it will also damage your wealth, but the financial cost when it comes to taking out life insurance may not be truly understood.

Over 2 months ago the smoking ban came into effect for all public places in Scotland, with similar plans for the rest of the UK, and along with the ban the sales of nicotine patches and gum have rocketed.

A standard life insurance policy through one of the high street insurers such as Barclays insurance reveals that smokers are liable to be paying almost twice as much as an identical non-smoker. For example, a 20 a day male smoker, aged 35 next birthday, taking out

Tags: ex smoker insurance, Health Insurance, insurance, life insurance, money, Moneynet, smoking insuranceex smoker insurance, Health Insurance, insurance, life insurance, money, Moneynet, smoking insurance

Share This

With a new baby on its way undoubtedly all focus is on the birth of your new child with little thought as to much else that is going on. In the excitement it can be all too easy to lose site of the basics with health and life insurance being among them.

Your vision is of that perfect new life with your newborn baby in your arms with no thought as to what other challenges might lay ahead. In most cases your newborn brings you nothing but pleasure and apart from the sleepless nights and endless nappies all is well with the world but there are some things that need to be in place just in case something goes wrong, health and life insurance being among them. There are endless articles, websites and books covering what you need to do to prepare for your baby’s arrival but few consider essential insurance cover.

I don’t want to put a dampener on things but I am one to cover all the shots, someone gets the raw end of the deal and it’s easy to think it won’t be you but it could be. You might have already thought of insurance and have all the cover you need but if you haven’t, check it out now before you forget.
What if one of you gets run over by a bus leaving the other as carer and earner or what if your partner has an accident or falls ill even before your baby is born do you really want you and your unborn child to struggle through those early years of their life. Don’t risk it, if you don’t have life insurance get it now and if you want cheap and cheerful look at term life insurance, it’s not a lot of money to secure your baby’s future!

Then there is illness and accidents, even baby’s can fall ill, especially if they are preterm or if you have pregnancy complications and accidents can happen. It’s easier and cheaper to put off the inevitable family health insurance but is it wise?

Even babies can suffer from things like appendicitis, blood infections, chicken pox, diabetes, measles and pneumonia, the list is endless and then there’s the simple things like bee stings, burns or ear infections or what about the odd accident that could happen to anyone, wrong place, wrong time. Don’t try and wing it, don’t think it will never happen to you or that you’ll sort it out in a few month’s, it could happen to you and a few months might be too late.

Make sure you put essential insurances such as life and family health insurance on the to do list alongside all those other things that need to sorted such as your hospital bag, decorating the nursery and choosing your baby’s name.

Terry Ross is the author for and the creator of: 1st-4-Baby

Tags: family health insurance, life insurance, term life insurancefamily health insurance, life insurance, term life insurance

Share This

Protection & Security products form the foundation of a sound financial plan. These products should protect you from common risks we all need to think about and plan for:

Losing your job
Becoming sick or disabled
Living too long
Dying too soon

In its simplest form, the base of the financial planning pyramid consists of emergency savings and insurance. Here are some things to consider as you build the foundation of your financial plan:

Emergency Savings - Most financial professionals will tell you that it’s a good idea to always have enough money on hand to pay your everyday living expenses for a period of three to six months.

This money could tide you over if you lose your job, or if you get sick or injured and need to cover expenses before your disability insurance kicks in. Consider your personal and family situation, job security, and other factors in determining how much to set aside.

Ideally, your emergency savings should be in vehicles like savings, checking and money market accounts where you’ll have access to your money penalty-free.

Insurance - Insurance forms the underpinning of your financial plan. If your home gets seriously damaged, where would you find the tens of thousands of dollars it might cost to pay for the repairs? How would your family make ends meet if you became too sick or injured to work for an extended period of time? And what if the worst happened and you died? Would the money be there to keep the family home, pay everyday living expenses, and fund college and retirement savings plans for your survivors?

Insurance provides a financial safety net to make sure your family’s financial situation won’t fall apart if the unexpected strikes. Here are some of the main kinds of insurance you may want to consider as part of the foundation of your financial plan:

Life insurance - Life insurance helps protect your family and loved ones against financial difficulties in the event of your premature death. If someone you know depends on you financially, chances are you need life insurance. How much and what kind you need can best be determined by having an insurance professional help you conduct a thorough insurance needs analysis.

Many employers provide their employees with life insurance coverage, but it’s often not enough to ensure the financial security of your loved ones. And if you leave your job or change jobs, you usually can’t take the coverage with you.

For more information about life insurance, see the Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education (LIFE).

Disability insurance - Disability insurance replaces lost income in the event that you become ill or disabled and can’t work. Short-term policies typically provide coverage from 13 weeks to one year, while long-term policies may provide benefits up to age 65 or even for life.

Keep in mind that some policies pay benefits if you are unable to perform the duties of your customary job, while others pay only if you are unable to engage in any gainful employment at all.

Again, many employers provide some form of disability coverage, but it may not be sufficient to help your family make ends meet in the event of disabling illness or accident. That’s why you should at least consider whether an individually purchased policy might be right for you.

For more information about disability insurance, see the Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education (LIFE).

Health insurance - Helps pay for the ever-increasing costs of medical care. Choosing the type of health insurance coverage that’s right for you requires careful consideration of the tradeoffs between flexibility and affordability.

At one end are Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs), which are generally the most affordable option but usually require members to obtain care only from within a given plan’s network of providers.

At the other end are indemnity plans, which allow for virtually unlimited choice of providers but are often the priciest option.

In between are Point-of-Service plans, which operate like HMOs but members can pay extra to see out-of-network providers, and Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs), which function like indemnity plans but provide more favorable reimbursement rates when care is sought in-network.

For more information about health insurance, see the Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education (LIFE).

Long-Term Care Insurance - Goes beyond medical care to include all of the assistance you could need if a chronic illness or disability leaves you unable to care for yourself for an extended period of time.

When most people think of long-term care, they think of nursing home care. But most policies will also provide coverage for care provided at home, in assisted living facilities or even in adult day care centers.

Since there’s a 50/50 chance a person will need long-term care at some point in their life, it’s an important consideration for most people.

There are two exceptions. Medicaid will typically pay for care for people with less than $2,000 in assets. So if you have modest assets, purchasing long-term care insurance might deplete your assets before care is needed. Conversely, if you have substantial assets and can afford to pay for care without significantly affecting your net worth, long-term care insurance is usually not recommended.

There are lots of different factors to evaluate when considering a long-term care insurance purchase (e.g., daily benefit, maximum benefit, elimination period, inflation protection, etc.). For more information about these and other key considerations regarding long-term care insurance, see the Association of Health Insurance Advisors (AHIA).

Matt McWilliams is one of the co-founders of HometownQuotes.Com, an online insurance quotes web site. He is originally from Pinebluff, NC and attended Middle Tennessee State University. He is considered an expert in the field of online insurance shopping and finding new ways to help consumers save money on their insurance. For more information visit http://www.hometownquotes.com

Tags: disability insurance, Health Insurance, life insurance, Long Term Care Insurance, long term insurancedisability insurance, Health Insurance, life insurance, Long Term Care Insurance, long term insurance

Share This