1 | Understanding and Using Life Insurance | 1 |
| Who Buys Life Insurance? | 2 |
| How Life Insurance Works: The Risk Factor | 3 |
| Assessing the Risk | 6 |
| Types of Insurance Policies | 10 |
| Who Qualifies for Life Insurance? | 11 |
| Types of Insurance Companies | 13 |
| Different Kinds of Policies Serve Different Purposes | 16 |
| Special Policies | 21 |
| Special Policy Riders and Clauses | 22 |
2 | How Much Life Insurance Do You Need? | 27 |
| Take Your Financial Temperature | 27 |
| Reclaim Wasteful Spending | 30 |
| The Time Value of Money | 32 |
| How Much Insurance Do You Need? | 32 |
3 | Find an Insurance Agent--And a Sound Insurance Company | 41 |
| Let the Buyer Beware | 41 |
| What You Can Expect a Financial Planner or Insurance Agent to Do for You | 42 |
| Check Their Credentials | 43 |
| Get Referrals | 45 |
| More Ways to Tell the Good from the Bad | 45 |
| Selecting a "Solid Gold" Insurance Company | 47 |
| High Yields Mean Big Risks | 47 |
| How Healthy Is the Industry? | 49 |
| Where You Can Get Information | 54 |
| Putting It Together | 56 |
| Dropping Down in Class Can Be Profitable | 58 |
| Firms That Pay the Most Dividends at the Lowest Cost | 59 |
| The Top 30 | 59 |
4 | How Much Should You Pay? | 64 |
| How Can You Tell Whether You Are Getting a Good Deal? | 65 |
| What You Should Pay for Term Insurance | 66 |
| A Word about No-Load Life Insurance | 67 |
| Several Indexes | 69 |
5 | A Picture of Your Insurance | 75 |
| Sample Illustration--Term Insurance | 76 |
| Whole Life Hypothetical Example | 81 |
| Features of Universal Life | 85 |
| Variable Life Illustration | 90 |
| There's No Free Lunch | 97 |
6 | Term Insurance | 99 |
| Why Buy Term Insurance? | 100 |
| Yearly Renewable Term versus Five-Year Renewable Term | 103 |
| Short-Term Protection | 103 |
| You Are Someone Special When You Buy a New Policy | 105 |
| Are You a Convert? | 105 |
| Tricky Conversion Features | 106 |
| Other Kinds of Term Insurance | 109 |
7 | Whole Life Insurance | 115 |
| Straight Life | 115 |
| Payment Options | 118 |
| Now You See It, Now You Don't | 118 |
| Interest-Sensitive Whole Life | 120 |
| Life Insurance as a Source of Low-Cost Loans | 122 |
| Should You Buy Term Insurance and Invest the Difference? | 123 |
8 | Universal Life Insurance | 130 |
| The Flexible Way to Buy | 130 |
| Two Flavors of Universal Life | 131 |
| A Life Cycle Insurance Policy | 133 |
| What You See Is What You Get When You Purchase Universal | 135 |
| There Are Drawbacks | 136 |
| Tax-Free Pension Money | 141 |
9 | Variable Life Insurance | 144 |
| How Variable Life Insurance Works | 145 |
| Not All Mutual Funds Are Alike | 149 |
10 | Annuities | 159 |
| What Is an Annuity? | 159 |
| Different Kinds of Annuities | 160 |
| The Downside | 162 |
| The Pros and Cons of Different Types of Annuities | 162 |
| Taking Payments from Your Annuity | 165 |
| Finding a Low-Cost Variable Annuity | 166 |
| Combination Annuities | 168 |
| Be Leery of Death Benefit Guarantees | 169 |
| CD Annuities | 170 |
| High Yields That Are Safe and Tax-Free | 170 |
| Fixed-Rate Annuities versus Municipal Bonds | 171 |
| Annuity Tax Benefits | 173 |
11 | Diversifying Your Variable Life and Annuity Mutual Fund Portfolios | 176 |
| Advantages and Disadvantages of Variable Annuities | 177 |
| What Mutual Funds Do for You | 178 |
| Types of Mutual Funds: A Fund for All Seasons | 179 |
| You Need a Bridge over Troubled Waters | 184 |
| Diversification Saved Money during the 1987 Crash | 185 |
| The 1990 Stock Market Correction | 186 |
| Over Ten Years, Diversification Worked | 187 |
| Your Risks and Mix of Mutual Funds | 187 |
| Review Your Investments | 191 |
| Conclusion | 191 |
12 | How You or Your Beneficiaries Get Paid | 193 |
| Cash Settlement | 193 |
| Collect Just the Interest | 194 |
| Get Money for a Fixed Period | 194 |
| Life Income Option | 195 |
| Life Income with a Cash Refund or Period Certain | 196 |
| The Joint Survivor and Life Income Option | 197 |
13 | Creative Uses of Life Insurance | 201 |
| Borrowing against the Cash Value | 201 |
| An Extra Source of Retirement Income | 202 |
| You Create an Estate | 203 |
| Avoiding the Pension Trap | 204 |
| Estate Tax Planning | 207 |
| Immediate Annuities for Extra Income | 208 |
| Glossary | 211 |
| Index | 225 |