Insurance Center

In addition to providing a benefit upon the death of the insured, a Cash Value Life insurance policy, which is a long term life insurance policy, also accumulates cash value over time. This cash can then be used to pay future premiums or it can serve as a form of savings.

The benefit of having a cash value life insurance policy is that you can borrow against your cash value or draw it out by surrendering your policy if you really need cash.

Insurance companies often discount car insurance rates in order to encourage good driving practices and the use of safety and security precautions. You may be able to lower your rates from 5 to 35 percent depending on your car insurance company.

Car insurance companies generally offer discounts for:
Safety Features, such as anti-lock brakes, air bags and automatic seat belts.
Defensive Driving, meaning a clean violation record, driver's-ed courses for teenagers and defensive driving or accident prevention courses for adults.

If you have full car insurance on your own vehicle, including collision and comprehensive coverage, and you go and rent a vehicle for pleasure only, e.g. on vacation, you do not need to buy extra car insurance from the rental company.

In fact, in most states your basic rental fee will include liability coverage for damage or injury to others. But different rules apply when you rent a car for business purposes, so check with your agent for details.

There are 2 types of Joint Life Insurance:

Joint life insurance
This is life insurance of two or more persons with the death benefit payable upon the first death. Premiums are significantly higher for joint life insurance policies than for individual life insurance policies, because the probability of having to pay a death claim is higher, increasing the chances for an early payout of the benefits.

January 14, 2009

Chicago — The New York Times has reported that elderly drivers ages 70 and over are holding on to their licenses for longer periods of time but at the same time, they are proving to be safer drivers than in previous generations. On the one hand, this may be seen as a positive thing for those aging baby boomers who are looking ahead at retirement and hoping to remain more active, but on the other hand, the trend has led some to speculate that this will ultimately result in an added risk of increasing car accidents.

COLUMBIA, S.C., Jan. 12

In a survey employees that are covered under their employer's health insurance plan, it was found that fully half don't have a clear understanding of what their health insurance coverage with regard to cancer related medical expenses treatment is. This is include in the findings of a recent nationwide survey of 1,067 full-time employees who have health insurance coverage. The survey was conducted online by Harris Interactive under contract with the Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company.

A recent nationwide survey of employees of firms that include healthcare benefits for their employees reveals somewhat shockingly that most employees don't have an accurate understanding of what their benefits will cover. For example, with regard to cancer benefits, over half indicate no knowledge of their plan's coverage in this area. This is of importance since statistics show that more than half of cancer treatment costs are not covered by health insurance, according to Colonial Life's senior vice president of marketing and branding, Tom Gilligan, of the firm that contracted the study.

January 14, 2009

A new Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study reports that regardless of the fact that growing numbers of older drivers are entering the road, during the period of 1997-2006, fewer older drivers were killed in crashes while fewer were involved in fatal collisions than in previous years.

A recent study reveals that there is a purported decline in crashes among those over 70 as compared with the experience of younger drivers. Overall the results indicate that declines per licensed driver increased with age. This results in the most dramatic results for those drivers 80 and older who had the most dramatic decreases. If from 1997 to 2006, older drivers had experienced the same rates regarding fatal crash involvement as those reflected in the trend for younger drivers, then close to 7,000 additional older drivers would have been in fatal crashes.

1. On September 13th of 2008, following having caused extensive damages throughout the Caribbean during the prior week, Hurricane Ike made its U.S. landfall at Galveston, Texas. When the U.S. insured estimated damages were included with the onshore and offshore property damages, they came to as high as $21 billion. This made Hurricane Ike, the third-costliest hurricane in U.S. history.