Short and Simple Guide to Life Insurance

by Alan Lavine, Gail Liberman

Overview

"Originally published by John Wiley"--T.p. verso.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780595144488
Publisher:	iUniverse, Incorporated
Publication date:	10/20/2000
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.96(w) x 8.94(h) x 0.60(d)

Table of Contents

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