According to a survey, more than half of all auto insurance applicants are giving false information in order to save a few bucks or lowering their premiums. Car insurance is expensive, this reason alone is the triggers why the applicants give false information. The false information usually about traffic tickets, accidents, the vehicle treatment or the drivers. If the applicants who give false information file a claim, insurance company will find out. Some insurance companies have their own investigators to verify the accuracy of the applications as well as investigate claims. Through the investigations, insurance companies are allowed to give civil fraud penalties and the have the rights to revoke or cancel the insurance policy.

To decide customer's insurance rate, insurance company uses basic information, driving record, credit history, the average number of miles and their vehicle's year, model and manufactured date. They also often ask about your vehicle treatment and where you park your vehicle, is it in the garage or not. The purpose of giving false information - to make an image that the applicant look like a better driver than the other applicant. This strategy is used to lower insurance premiums. All drivers have a chance of getting involved in accidents every year. Not only that, their vehicle might stolen or vandalized. Simply relied on luck is a gamble. You might wish that you don't have to involved in accident and don't have to file a claim. What if you have to file a claim while you give false information beforehand? What if the insurers found out that you lied?

For your information, auto insurers will not give leniency if they know you give false information no matter what excuse you give. You can say that you forgot to tell important information or made a mistake but insurers also have similar history with other applicants who lied before. Auto insurance company may label it as fraud. The consequences is policy cancellation, unable to get new coverage, fines, legal action (to pay back premiums) or even jail depending on how crucial your lies are. These are the typical lies which applicants often tell to auto insurance company:

People go to the gym for various purpose, but mostly they want to achieve body goal or simply want to be healthier. Other benefit from working out at gym is you can lower your insurance premiums. Actually, if you do not go to gym but doing exercise at home, jogging at park will work as well. Any kind of sports or exercises will do. The main purpose is a health benefit. Health is one of several qualifications for insurance company to determine insurance premium. So, if you are a smoker, drinker, overweight or have chronic disease, you can not lower your insurance premium. The insurance company even might encourage you to have healthier lifestyle. And the benefit will come to you, isn't it?

Life Insurance Health Program

It is rare for life insurance company to give discount for their customer. But there are few of them give discount with terms and conditions. One of the conditions is, the customer will be monitored, like 24/7. The insurance company will give monitoring device that tracks customer's physical activity. Customer will accumulate points through exercises they have done such as sit-ups, push-ups, running, jogging, etc. They will get discount based on their level. The higher the level, the bigger the discount. However, insurance company can cancel the discount if customer don't record any activity for a period of time. Basically, they will know if you are slacking off. 

Health Insurance Program

Several health insurers give incentive that lower insurance premiums if the participants show improvements on their health record. Health insurance company use their wellness program to encourage healthier lifestyle and get lower insurance premiums as bonus. They use tracking devices to measure body mass index, blood pressure and cholesterol level at different intervals. Then, the insurers assess overall wellness of the group as a whole and adjust the premiums when there's any improvement.

Company Wellness Program

Many companies offer wellness program and give financial incentive for their employees. The purpose is encourage their employees to exercise regularly and having healthier lifestyle. It gives some benefits to companies too, as they could save cost on health expenses and lower the group health insurance premiums. Beside, the employee will have fewer sick days and their productivity might improved as well. The financial incentives are varied among the companies based on the company's policy.

Make A Move!

Whether you have insurance or not, it will not hurt if you start to life healthier. Have a healthy life is not only give benefit to your body, but also some aspect in your life. Stop smoking and drinking, get healthier lifestyle. 

Many people didn't realize that they purchase insurances with same kind of coverage. Most of them didn't read the policies thoroughly so they end up having similar coverage. This similar coverage can be eliminated to save more money for savings. Here is the example coverage that have similar type. By reading your existed policy thoroughly, you can avoid waste money for similar coverage.

Individual and Group Life Insurance

Purchasing life insurance means protection for the survivor from financial loss when the family member (insured) die. Life insurance have several products such as term life, permanent coverage and universal life. Employers also offer life insurance for their employees in group term life insurance. Group insurance usually cheaper than individual life insurance, the employee also get premium subsidies as a benefit package from the employer. Group life policies typically don't need medical examination, so the employee get more benefit than buying life insurance individually. Group policy itself might be enough to protect a family from financial loss although group policies 

are relatively small and only pay two or three times employee's salary. If you think group policy is more than enough for your family, then you don't have to buy individual life insurance. But you also have freedom to combine group and individual life insurance if you need it. 

Rental Car

Rental car company usually offer a coverage when you rent a vehicle on vacation, so if there is damage to the vehicle, you will not responsible to pay the damage. However, the coverage is quite expensive and thus increasing the daily rental price. In addition, the rental car company seems to force the customer by giving warning about liability you will face if you don't purchase the coverage. If you have car insurance, whether it's collision or comprehensive type, you might be able to avoid purchasing rental car coverage. Rental car coverage might be included in your exist coverage. Before rent a vehicle, you need to read your policy again, it's better to examine it several days before. Or you can ask your agent and get explanation from them. After that, you can compare your coverage with the rental car company offered policy. The rental car company should have detailed information regarding damage and other options which you can search it on their website. 

Another option is credit card. When you use your credit card to rent a vehicle, you can get limited coverage on rental car damage. Though not all credit card company offer a coverage, but you can check with your credit card company. By doing so, you can avoid wasting money on vacation for something you might not need.

Warranty

When buying certain products, you are often offered, with pressure, an extended warranty by the retailers. This warranty will extend the manufacturer's standard warranty (90 or 180 days) and mostly expensive. If you purchase the product with your credit card, you don't need extended warranty. Because some credit card companies also offer extended warranties when customers purchase with their cards.

People may think health insurance is not that important for them who have good health record. However, for others, having no health insurance is quite risky and medical bills can be burdensome. There are several reason why people opt to not covered in health insurance. The biggest reason is health insurance is not cheap. Insurance company acknowledge this, therefore they provide some alternative health coverage in certain area like prescription drug or hospital bills. You can also find some health clinics with low-cost or even free healthcare services.

Medicaid

Medicaid is a program provided by joint-federal state for citizens with low income. The government assessed the people eligible for aid based on their income, asset and another resource. This program can help pay the hospital bills, home care, doctor and other medical bills. For more information, you can visit medicare website http://www.medicare.gov/ and search for medicaid.

Membership Program

Some network of healthcare providers usually held membership program and attract their potential customer by giving discount when they apply for membership. For example, private hospital "A" offer membership program, their members can get discount for their services, such as vision, dental, pediatric, drugs, home care, child care and many more. The members will get membership card. Something you have to understand is this membership program is not an insurance, so it does not have deductibles and you have to pay the services with your pocket.

Free Health Clinics

These free health clinics provide health services for low income and homeless. They usually provide low-cost and/or free healthcare services. Like charity program, they open for donations to run the clinics. Middle-low income citizen also allowed to use the services, although the clinics might charge them with low bills.

Medical Services Program Sponsored by State

Each state in the U.S have their own medical assistance program to help their low-income resident to pay their medical expenses. Every state have their own resources and program, and it might vary between states. This program is designed for those who can't afford health insurance.

Health Saving Account

Health saving account is indeed involving health insurance. These savings are funded by deductible contributions to cover huge expenses. The withdrawn money is tax-free and can be used for almost all health-care services, even alternatives medicines. 

Some people say this, the others say that. "Don't do that!" but the someone else says that's fine. It's kind of frustrating to understanding all the rule in car insurance, in addition there are tons buzz about car insurers. Make sure you read this.

My car's color affect my premium

The fact is insurance company do care about your car model and type, year, body, engine and how you take care your car. Well, they care about your driving behavior the most. It doesn't matter what color your car is, but if you are speeding and driving recklessly, the insurance company will likely give high premiums to you.

Car insurance will cover personal belonging in my car

Nope, car insurance will not cover your personal belonging in your car even though it's expensive. If you have laptop, phone or designer bag in your and being stolen, you need to file a claim to your homeowner's coverage not car insurance. Also, if you put your golf clubs in the trunk and the car's rear got hit, the car insurance will not pay the golf club damage.

Someone else borrow and drive my car, if there's accident it's not my fault

Well it's true, it's not your fault but car insurance company register your car. You, as the car owner, are responsible for the damages with or without involving third party. 

I have no-fault insurance, so it's not my fault

Although you have no-fault insurance, if the insurance company determine that you are the one who caused the accident, you still have to repair and pay other damage. However, no-fault insurance varies on each states.

Insurance company can terminate my policy any time

Not really unless you did something like fraud or did not do the payment for several months. Insurance company can not cancel a policy in the middle of a term.

My credit scores has nothing to do with insurance rates

Credit score is one of their consideration when they determine client's premiums. Credit score is an overall view how you manage your financial state. 

My car insurance including comprehensive and collision coverage automatically

It's not true. If you are leasing or financing your car, then you are required to purchase both or just one. If you think your car is covered when stolen, vandalized or damage from natural disaster while you only have basic car insurance, you are wrong. You need to purchase additional coverage such as comprehensive and collision coverage. 

Insurance is a quite easy target of scams. Many insurance company become fraud victims with total amount up to billions dollars per year. With this condition, they make a preventive step by increasing premiums to cover "fraud cost". Increasing premium is not ultimate solution to prevent scams. Therefore, they have fraud detection departments which is in charge for preventing fraud and calculate money paid out for false claims. False claim and excessive risk which is not proportional with premiums are categories of insurance fraud. Both categories could make the insurance company collapse, however the excessive risk is the most dangerous for insurance company. If clients give false information when applying for an insurance, they will pay premium less than they have to pay. When they file claims, insurance company have to pay higher than they should be. Insurance companies have many ways to prevent fraud and collect data accurately.

Surveillance

In health insurance or disability insurance case, the insurance company can monitor their clients directly. When the client file a claim, they have to fill form, this form record the document about their activity after the illness or accident. Insurance company may install surveillance camera video, review the claims from it and compare with the client's form. If the clients falsify the illness or disability, the payouts will be stopped. 

Whistle Blowers

Insurance company can gather information from third parties. They usually provide the whistle-blowers number for anonymous calls. Whistle blowers are legal and protected by law. Individuals can call hotline numbers to report what they know about the potential insurance scams. Not only insurance, whistle blowers are commonly used in any areas. Government and general business use whistle blower to get information from society about certain issues. 

Claims History

The clients' claim history is one of useful tool for insurance company to examine potential fraud. Insurance company will terminate coverage contract if clients' surpass a certain number of claims. This step is taken to protect insurance company from huge losses. 

Investigating

Generally, insurance companies have insurance investigators to review and analyze any claims that seems particularly high. They will inspect the situation to gather more evidence in claims investigation.

Giving false information when file claims seems tempting, but fraud is a crime. Getting thousand dollars from insurance fraud are not worth with the consequences you can get. Giving false data when applying for an insurance is also a fraud and you might get penalty as well. 

Employers usually offer group term life insurance for their employee. The employers are required by law (while some state might not require) to provide a basic amount of life insurance in group without burdening their employees financial. They also offer their employee to purchase additional coverage for their spouse and/or children by reducing their salaries to pay the premium. 

The amount in group life insurance coverage plan varies and differ depends on employee's position. Managerial and executive employee have bigger benefits than lower level employee. It is always important to read the coverage document thoroughly to understand what amount and kinds of compensation are actually covered. Group plans usually only cover basic salary. The plans usually exclude other compensation that is reported as income like bonus, incentive, commission and so on. 

The premium rates also differ depends on employee's age and health. If the employees are young and healthy, the group coverage is generally cheaper than older employees. However, all eligible employees are automatically covered in a group plan aside from their health condition. The premium is also determined by the overall employees and the amounts are raise gradually within certain age, for example, 30, 35, 40 and so on. Since it's a group plan, an employee who have a good health could help to subsidize other employee who less healthy or ineligible employee.

In order to be covered, employees need to meet the eligibility requirements although coverage in group plans for employees are automatic. There are various requirement, for example work hours and the duration the employee start working in the company. Employee can purchase additional coverage during open enrollment periods. Purchasing life insurance or health insurance, if any, through open enrollment periods have certain benefits. The underwriting process are way simpler and you might get a good price as well. The insurance carriers will decide whether you can be covered with additional coverage or not.

Take a note that group coverage is linked to employment. If someone quit their jobs or retire, the coverage will ends automatically. The insurer may offer you to convert your group coverage to individual policy. It may require new underwriting and usually have higher premium. 

If you are a college fresh graduate, unemployed, self employed, retired and so on, you might need a private health insurance. The reasons are:

Unexpected life events can happen anytime anywhere and if something happen, it will possibly ruin your financial state. Medical treatment can be really pricey without health insurance. Do not think that health insurance is expensive and unaffordable. You don't have to buy a complete package plan if you don't need it. First, learn every type of plan before deciding to purchase so you can figure out which one suit you the most. It doesn't matter if you only purchase a basic plan, it's better than have no coverage at all. 

Next stage is determine your deductible. The higher your deductible, the lower your premium. But you need to reflect on your cash flow, if your monthly cash flow is low, choose a higher deductible. After determine deductible, visit health insurance companies' site and check your deductible options. Their insurance plans will be vary by state or by zip code. The quotes on the site usually is the lowest available and assuming you are in good condition. When you decide to apply, they will check your medical record and determine your premium. 

Since health insurance company offer different plan from each other, sometimes it will be difficult to compare one after another. You can limit the companies and choose the plan according to your budget because you need to pay the premium monthly. Also, you have to consider your needs. If you want family plan or employer plan, you also need to consider other' needs as well.

There are a lot of things to consider on purchasing health insurance beside type, budget and needs. You have to pay attention to every detail the insurance company offered. You might want to know about prescription drug coverage, insurance company sometimes only cover the generic ones or specific brand names. In addition professional services like surgery or lab test, hospital stay, emergency room, dental, and so on. 

Health insurance is one of the most important insurance type a person should have. It is really important decision since it involves health issues and money saving, possibly. Enough said, these are things you should avoid when you are about to purchase health insurance.

Give Too Much Attention to Premium And Deductible

If you are planning to purchase health insurance, please pay attention to additional coverage and cost. Do not stuck on premium and deductible only. It is understandable if you only look on premium and deductible to arrange your budget, but you also need to consider other cost and possible situations as well. 

Get Over Insured

Something that attached with word "over" is not good or even worst. Over insured is not good for your financial's health. Sure you will get the best and complete coverage, but you don't need pay too much when not needed. If you rarely seeing doctor, purchase health insurance with lower premium. 

Not Reading The Policy's Print Thoroughly

Insurance contract usually printed in multi-page and people usually did not read it thoroughly. You need to read it carefully to avoid coverage miscalculations. 

Overconfident on Good Health Record

Why I have to waste my money for paying health insurance premiums while I have good health, strong immunity, never visiting doctor and so on? Get rid this mindset. It is still important to be covered to avoid unexpected life events. Who would know that maybe someday (I hope not) you are injured in an accident. You can not be sure that you will be absolutely healthy for the rest of your life. If paying premium is a huge burden for you, buy a most basic plan. It's better to prevent than sorry.

Purchase From A Provider Without Comparing

People often purchase health insurance from the very first provider they meet which comply their needs. This is not exactly wrong, but you will get the best coverage with best price if you comparing multiple insurance companies. They offer different coverage and prices from each other. You don't have to visit their office one by one. You can get quotes online from their site without buying their coverage and start comparing from those quotes. Unless you want specific explanations, then you need to visit their office or contact their agent. 

Not everyone has health insurance, especially in the United States. Although the number of uninsured has dropped since the implementation of Affordable Care Act (ACA) which giving subsidies on healthcare plan, many Americans still choose not to apply or having healthcare plan. Many citizens are not qualified for healthcare subsidies, although many others are qualified, they opt to not participate in government healthcare plan. Moreover, some employers change their benefit program which cause financial difficulties for their employees. In the end, many people did not think health insurance as their needs. 

There are many reasons why they did not have health insurance, such as:

There is indeed a risk (or more) for not having health insurance. The obvious risk is financial difficulties once the uninsured need medical assistance with expensive cost. Another risks are unable to have some types of medical services and have to pay tax penalties.Having health coverage give advantage for people who want to access preventive care for free. Since ACA requires many preventive services to be covered in insurance policies. Preventives care is important to detect illness early before it can develop into critical problem. It also increases the success treatment probability. 

If you have no health insurance coverage, you need to pay your medical expenses with you own pocket. Sure you assume you will not require medical assistance for years, but what if you need to be hospitalized because of accident or sudden ill? The medical expenses is no joke. Having no health coverage can make you fall in debt or even bankruptcy. In addition, you will get tax penalty, assuming you relatively healthy. You might have to pay penalty as high as health insurance premium. 

When your insured car is damaged from an accident, the insurance company will pay the car's value, in other words the will pay their own "estimated value". Although you are free to use the money, whether using it purchase a new one or paid the car's installment, most people find it frustrating that insurance company usually underestimate your car value. They often lower the car's value than you expected, moreover the amount is not enough to purchase an equal replacement. For several person, the amount is not even enough to pay the car's installment. We all know that car repair cost is expensive let alone buying a new car.

Most of car insurance customers have no idea how the insurance companies value their cars. The insurance companies use esoteric method, refer to abstract data, and it's absolutely secret. They will be careful as possible not to reveal their method. Since they are not non-profit company, it is understandable. However, all insurance companies use a basic method to appraise your vehicle, you can use this for your consideration to negotiate with the insurance company.

The Valuation Process

Insurance company will send an adjuster to inspect the damage when you report a claim over car accident. What is an adjuster? Adjuster is an agent of insurance claims who will evaluating the insurance claim to determine the insurance company's liability under the terms of an owner's policy. The adjuster will determine whether the vehicle classify as "beyond repair". Even the vehicle can be fixed, the insurance company might consider it as wreck, if the repair cost is more than 60 to 70% of its value. Then, the adjuster perform an value appraisal but the damage will not be considered. The appraisal will be used to determine the estimate cash to offer for the vehicle. 

The insurance company also hire a third-party appraiser to determine their own estimate value of the vehicle. The purpose of hiring third-party is to minimize the errors and double-checking the estimated value by using different valuation methodology. At last, the insurance company considers its own appraisal and the third-party's appraisal before making the offer for its customers.

Actual Cash Value and Replacement Cost

One thing that people have to know is a big gap between insurance company's estimated value of vehicle and the amount of purchasing equal replacement. The insurance company use the actual cash value as their reference in giving offer. Assuming the accident did not happen, the company determines customers will pay for the car. The cash value include depreciation, mechanical problems, supply and demand in your area, and so on. Therefore, the actual cash value will be lower than the customer paid even the car is new and driven a year before the accident. The amount of actual cash value offer is also less than the replacement cost. Policyholder can purchasing car insurance that pays replacement cost. The monthly premium surely will be higher than the common car insurance.

Whole life insurance is a type of permanent life insurance that includes insurance and investment component. Like the universal life insurance, the investment component in whole life insurance will be accumulated into cash value so the policyholder can borrow or withdraw it. The cash values are also tax-free. If the insured dies, the death benefit will be reduced by any outstanding loans. The premiums usually paid in single lump sum or monthly payment. 

Whole life insurance can be used for individuals with any kinds of situation. For example, for family members whose income dependent on one person; pay down debts or mortgage; liquid cash for beneficiaries; and so on. The insurance's purpose is not limited only for death benefit. Since whole life insurance include the investment component, the policyholder are free to withdraw or take loans from its savings with note their death benefit will be reduced if they do not repaid the loans.

If you wonder which one is better between whole life and term life, I'm gonna say whole life. Term life is a temporary insurance and simply offer death benefit only. Term life insurance has fixed period of time and the premium remains level, whereas whole life insurance offers entire life coverage for the policyholder. Sometimes, term life insurance premiums increases each year so the policyholder opt to nullify the policy since they can afford to pay the increasing premium.

There are several types of whole life insurance which listed below:

Universal life insurance is a flexible permanent life insurance that offer low-cost protection of term-life insurance and savings element. The low-cost protection and the savings element are invested to provide a cash value. The policyholders can use the interest from their accumulated savings to pay premiums over time. The insurance company could change the customer's policy by reviewing the death benefit, savings component and premiums.

Compare to whole life insurance, universal life insurance have more flexibility even though both types are created under the umbrella of permanent life insurance. The policyholder pays premium which will be divided by the insurance company into the insurance cost and cash value as the customer's saving component. The component that must to be covered is the insurance cost so the policy can continue to run, however premiums might be switched from time to time depends on the policyholder's needs. If the policyholder pay their premium over the minimum amount of insurance cost, it will be accumulated into the cash value in their policy. The cash value can be used to pay premiums, if the policyholder want it. As long as the minimum insurance cost is covered, they can use the cash value and their policy is guaranteed.

The obvious thing that differentiates whole life insurance and universal life insurance is the way cash value accumulates. Within universal life insurance contract, the insurance company issuing the policy which created a minimum interest rate. The minimum interest rate can determine the portfolio of the insurance company. If the portfolio outperform the minimum interest rate, the surplus earnings might be applied to policy's cash value. This potential differentiates universal life insurance from whole life insurance.

The policyholders can access a portion of the cash value balance without affecting the death benefit as the cash value accumulated from time to time. In addition, the policyholders do not have to pay the tax if they take loans from life insurance policy. One thing to remember, if policyholders do not repay the loans from their policy loan to the extent they affect the balance, it may reduce the total death benefit for their beneficiaries. Lastly, the policyholders can be charged for tax if they withdraw the cash value.

Having insurance means having protection in our life, especially financial protection, since there are many unexpected things happen in life. Insurance has many type of policies, it would be difficult to choose what you really need. Before making a plan on your insurance, you should consider the factors around you, such as your family, age, health, lifestyle and so on. After that, you can search on the internet or asking a financial expert to get insurance recommendation. Generally, financial experts recommend these types: health, life, auto and long-term disability. 

Life Insurance

Basically, life insurance give financial protection for those who left behind due to death. If a family only have single income and dependent on one person, then having life insurance is a good option. An expert suggest that life insurance policy should cover ten times yearly income. Therefore, if something happen to you, the death benefit will cover existing expenses, funeral expenses, and financial protection. Your family can use the financial protection for any purpose, such as get income by establishing small venture. When you estimate the amount of life insurance coverage, you should remember another factor like if you still have mortgage payments, loans, credit card, taxes and also child care or future college tuition. 

Health Insurance

No one want to get sick or being hospitalized. Being sick or hospitalized, mild sickness or serious illness, both can drain your pocket. That's what make health insurance become important. Health insurance is expensive and finding affordable health insurance without employer program is difficult. However, rising co-payments, yearly deductibles and dropped coverage make health insurance become more affordable. It is better to have minimal policy than having no coverage. Even it is minimal coverage, it can provide some benefit for your hospital stay.

Long-Term Disability

You might think we need this coverage the least, as you assume no one will be disabled. Let's say someone get an accidents in her/his workplace and become disabled, her/his health insurance will cover the hospitalization and medical bills. But nothing will cover daily expenses if they can not return to work anymore. Companies usually offer short-term and long-term disability coverage as part of their benefit package. If the company you worked in don't offer it, you might need to see private insurer. Disability insurance will cover you income when you can't work both in short or long period.

Auto Insurance

If you drive without any types of auto insurance and have accident, brace your self to pay fines, car repair, and medical bills, if you are injured. In addition when the accident involved third party or property. You will pay those damages on your own. Even if you have huge savings, paying those expenses will be burdensome. Therefore, having auto insurance is important as well. 

Any types of insurance is indeed not cheap, but going on without any insurance will ruin your financial status either. Another way to seek economical coverage is checking your employer whether they offer coverage. If they don't, you can always get quotes from multiple insurance provider to get the best offer. Remember to read the copy of policy before purchase and consult with their agents about the coverage you really need.

Buying a life insurance policy is a good move. It means you are preparing for your family's financial state in case of a death in the future. Although it is a good decision, do not forget that you might make mistakes and ruin the life insurance you already bought as listed below.

Postponing Life Insurance Purchase

When you feel like you need a life insurance policy, you need to take action immediately. Since life insurance rates increase as people's health decline and/or getting old, it is important to purchase the policy before. In fact, many insurance company will not approve your purchase if you have health problems at the same time you purchase the life insurance. Even if the insurance company gives approval, the premiums will be skyrocketed. 

Saving More Money by Purchasing Cheapest Policy

Many insurance companies offer cheap life insurance policy to attract customer. As the customer, you need to learn about their policy features and benefits. It might be a complicated process, but it will be an utter mess if you buy insurance with lowest price without investigate the policy. You may hear about convertible term policies. Convertible term policies means they can be exchanged into a 

permanent life insurance later no matter how your future health is. All you need to do is understanding of how long the conversion option is available. In addition, you have to find out the restrictions, if any, on the type of policy for purchase under the conversion privilege. 

Late Payments

A late payment can affect your policy benefits, especially if you have a universal life policy with secondary guarantees. Universal life insurance is a special permanent policy which has long term guaranteed protection at the lowest possible rate. It focuses on maximizing the amount of insurance per dollar of premium. You should make a note that some policies can be sensitive to premium payments timing. Try to not miss your monthly payment or late do the payment, more than a month or so. In case you need to postpone your payment, discuss it with your insurance company so they will take notice about the delay, usually insurance company will give 30 to 60 days late payments, 

and will not change your policy's guarantee.

Did Not Treat Insurance As an Investment

If you want investment from life insurance, consider to buy a variable life insurance policy. Variable life insurance policy is a permanent type of policy that provides life insurance protection with cash value. Your premium will be divided into two parts. One part will goes to the life insurance itself, the other part will goes to cash value. You can choose the type of cash value investment. People often consider this type of life insurance as supplement for their retirement income. To maximize the cash value growth, you need to make sufficient premium payments, while paying less than planned will affect the cash value availability. 

Borrowing From Your Policy

It is true that you can use the cash value of permanent policy for any purpose, plus it has interesting feature, such as tax-free withdrawals and loans. But remember, you have to be careful when using the cash value. If you run out of money due to "too much taking money" and you suffered loss on your policy , your withdrawals will be taxable. 

Life insurance has many advantage for the policyholders, such as guaranteed cash value, tax deferred growth, tax-free death benefit, and tax-free access to the cash. Some people say that life insurance is not a good investment because its high premium and low cash return. The others say life insurance is a smart investment depends on their own goals.

Life insurance could be use as a strategy to maximize your pension income. When you receive pension, you will offered a different options, like single-life option and joint-life option. The single-life option gives you the highest monthly income, but there will be no income for your spouse when you die. Meanwhile, the joint-life option will give an income to your spouse, but your monthly payout will be reduced. For example, your single-life payout is $5,000 per month at age 65 and your joint-life option is $4,000 per month, you should choose the higher single-life option. Then apply the $1,000 monthly difference to a life insurance policy. The death benefit will have to be big enough to replace the lower payout option ($4,000 per month). Death benefit proceeds are tax-free, so your spouse will benefit form higher after-tax income.

If you want to use pension maximization strategy, you need to consider several factors. Age, projected life expectancy, health, and tax bracket are the several samples of factor you should consider. It will be really complicated to calculate the strategy on your own, therefore you need qualified life insurance professional assistance. 

In case of the estate taxes, you can use life insurance as capital to pay estate settlement cost. You might need to work with estate planning attorney who will make the arrangement. To own life insurance, you might need to create irrevocable life insurance trust. It will removes the value of life insurance from the estate so it is not included for tax purposes. 

If someone has individual retirement asset, you can turn it into a tax-advantaged legacy by taking distributions and use them to purchase a life insurance policy. You need to pay taxes on the distribution. Upon the death, the beneficiaries will receive tax-free income from death benefit and the remaining balance of the individual retirement asset. 

Basically people can purchase life insuring right after birth, I mean parents could buy life insurance for their newborn. Life insurance is age-banded, as year passes a policy becomes more expensive. The premiums between newborn and elderly will be completely different. The question is, "are the newborn babies already need life insurance?"

For infant or minor, parents can purchase prepaid life insurance policy with lump sum, so when the child turns 18 policy ownership can be transferred. It can be funded or cashed in. The cash values of life insurance is tax deferred. Cash values can be used as a down payment for a first home purchase. The accumulations even may become supplement retirement income. The primary functions of personal life insurance are income and debt.

Income

40% of Americans do not own life insurance. More than half of them found cellphones, cable and internet services are more important than having life insurance. For U.S residents 25 years old or older, despite having dual-income in a household, they prefer having retirement savings than monthly life premiums. Even though life insurance exist to protect households from the breadwinner's death.

Debt

A graduate often rely on credit card to fund relocation or housing costs. Most individuals under 25 are more concerned to pay current bills than acquiring additional bills like purchasing life insurance. In fact, 57% of U.S citizen who own life insurance, more than half of the policyholders are 45 or older. In addition to marital rates decreasing, people delay their life insurance purchase for their young child. Whereas buying life insurance at a younger age have more advantages than buying at an older age.

Having life insurance is like having investment with no certainty. Of course it does not mean that we want someone we love die so that we can get the benefit from their life insurance. But the waiting cost make people think twice before attempting to purchase life insurance. In addition, people use their income for alternative fund like retirement or paying current bills. It is understandable. However, life insurance meant to provide a protection for the beneficiaries when the breadwinner die so that will help their household's financial a little bit.

In many cases in the United States, homeowners are forced to carry property insurance by law or mortgage contract. Some U.S state laws require their citizens to carry property insurance and some form of liability insurance especially for cars. Let's say you own a house without carrying insurance. You pay your property taxes, so you have every right to use that house for as long as you like. You can rent it out, leave it vacant, live there or sell it. But if storm damage your house or a giant tree falls on your house causing severe damage, you are the one who have to cover the cost of house repair with your own money. 

Many homeowners often have misguided views of what their insurance covers. The causes of property destruction that are not covered are:

The cause must be sudden and accidental. It can not be something slow and accumulated damage over months, or else it will not be covered by insurance. Damage from old age also will not be covered, unless it from storm damage. The typical cause which are covered:

Liability coverage is not well known to homeowners, automobiles owners are more familiar with it. In homeowners case, liability insurance will cover claims which involved third party around your property. For example, your neighbor's house catches fire because you left charcoal grill, the insurance company will pay for the claim. Or you have a guest who is hurt and need medical care while on your property. Another example, if your property is stolen, like a diamond ring, you can ask for reimbursement by providing owner certificate and police report to the insurance company.

You need to know that if you have home business, it will not be covered. Home business like workshop or gallery are typically not covered. You will need separate business policy and its related liability. If you left your house in vacant for 60 days, your property insurance will be canceled by the insurance company. The reason is vacant house have much higher risk of perils like fire or theft. You can purchase an add-on to your policy. If you have expensive jewelry or art that you want to covered, you may need a floater.

Black box insurance, also known as Telematics Insurance, is an insurance program that offers premiums based on driving behavior instead of historical performance. Insurance companies use telematics technology to create black box by fusing data from telecommunications and informatics applied in wireless devices like cell phones and GPS. Financial industry always try to create new ways for its customers to access financial products at minimal cost possible and the rise of technology give the opportunity. Insurance sectors also implemented technology in their process not only to improve their services for the customers but also giving reassurance for themselves. The technology typically have function to monitor driving behavior.

Most black box are physically installed in the car, but it can be installed on the smartphone as an app. The installed black box will measures speed, location, distance traveled, driving frequency, and time of day the car is on the road. Furthermore, insurance company will measures how hard brakes are applied, how sharp a corner is taken, and acceleration level. These activities will provides information about the customers' driving performance. The insurance company will use the information to personalized the premiums. The higher the score a driver get, the lower premium rate they will get. 

Some insurance company use black box installment to create "Pay As You Drive" insurance or PAYD. The car drivers only pay for their driving mileage as recorded by the black box device or app. While in standard insurance customers get charged a fixed premium given the number of miles allowed per year. Insurance companies give various reward for their customers who consistently performing safe driving. Some insurers offer refund to drivers, some offer bonus mileage allowance or giving lower rate for renewal. 

Since insurance companies constantly collect data from the black box, data privacy issues become a concern. Invasion of privacy may happen when personal data is shared with third parties like bank or law enforcement agencies. Therefore, laws of data privacy protect customers and creating usage law on how data is used, shared, and stored.

Remember, drivers who makes long commutes frequently, works late night shifts, or often drive over the speed limit  will end up paying more premium  if they choose black box insurance than a standard auto insurance.

The basic of auto insurance is auto insurance company make money when the insured don't involved in accidents and/or don't file claims, but if the opposite happens, they will lose money. Therefore, auto insurance company have to calculate and predict driver risk factor accurately. The insurers will charge you raised premium to avoid increased payout.

New Car

New car is an asset which worth more money than older model, so it will cost more to replace. If you lease a new car purchase, most lenders require you to carry full coverage at a stated level. Keep in mind that not only flashy sports car or other high-priced model which will increase your premiums. Certain car model like Honda Civic could spike your premiums as well because it most stolen models in the United States.

Increasing Commute

Long commutes can boost your auto insurance premiums. It's not only cost you time and fuel, but also risk to get into accidents during rush hour. Especially if you have a profession with frequent driving, the risk of an accident is big. So, auto insurance company will likely increase your rates.

Residency

City residents have more accidents statistically which people who live in those area charged with higher premium than driver who live in rural areas. Of course actual risk is calculated by the zip code you live in. 

Marital Status and Age

If you are under 26, male, you will pay more. People who unmarried and/or without children also part of higher-risk category than married couples with kids.

Traffic Record

Most insurance company checking your traffic record and traffic violations (if any) periodically, applied for their new and existing customer. If you have a traffic violation and your insurer examine it, expect to pay higher auto insurance rates next year. It is important note, that having no accidents or tickets will lower your auto insurance premiums.

Skipping Auto Insurance

If you have a thought to skip auto insurance in order to save your money, don't do that. Not having auto insurance, even for just 30 days, will make your premiums jump higher.

Most people tend to purchase several types of insurance at different insurance company. For example, I bought life insurance from company A, car insurance from company B and homeowners insurance from carrier C. The reason is price. Insurance companies give different quote and after comparing, I end up buying several insurances from different carriers. Paying bills to separate insurance carriers every month is exhausting and complicated. If the premiums combined, I possibly have higher premiums than it should be. Maybe bundling my insurances can save money after all.

Bundling Benefit

A strategy that many of big insurance companies do to attract consumer is making their insurance rates price attractive. They combine major insurance type with special price so their customer do not have to waste time and energy to search insurance from another company. It is not only an offer to benefit their customer but also make their customer stay loyal with the insurance company. Giving best deal is one of their strategy to attract potential segment who need to insure all three main lines of insurance.

Many companies offer "multiple line discounts" for their customers who need more than one insurance. They will offer cheaper rate to insure your car and house, for example. Even cheaper than you insured each one of them separately at different companies. The companies will give you "extra discount" if you insured second car or taking their life insurance products.

How Much I will Pay If I Purchase in Bundle?

Let's say I take auto, home and life insurance package, I will pay between $3,000 - $5,000 or more, per year. However, the rates will be vary depends on your residents, vehicle and house value, and so on.

People who have life insurance usually do not switch insurance carriers due to difficulty of changing policies. The difficulty factors are medical issues, age, the need for further medical exams and another factors. Therefore, people rarely change their life insurance company. Big insurance companies consider life insurance as their critical product. The reason companies give discounts is companies find it expensive to underwriting new customers. It does not mean that companies do not want new customer, but companies prefer to have customers with multiple lines of insurance and keep their policies for years. Rather than having multiple customers with single line of insurance but in the end the customers will left for another cheaper carriers. It can diversifies the company's risk as well, they have more money to work with and can justify your premiums.  

There are many ways to lower your car insurance premiums, such as taking defensive driving class or daytime driving lights. In fact, there are several simple tricks to get discount for your premium.

1. Check insurance rates before buying a new car

Insurance rates are depending on the car type. The more expensive the vehicles, the higher the annual premiums. If you are planning to buy a new car, you should check the insurance rates with an agent so you can get ideas how much the annual premiums cost when you buy specific brand and model.

2. Add safety features on your car

Did you know that installing safety features can reduce the cost of your car insurance? Safety features are not only to protect you, your family and your vehicle but also convincing insurance company that you are cautious driver. Before get a quote, tell the agent that your car have safety feature. You can install safety feature like anti-theft alarm, air bags, anti-lock brakes and so on, to get discount from the insurance company.

3. Managing credit score

If you always pay your bills on time, the insurance company will lower your insurance premium. They assume that you are a responsible person, so you are less likely to file claims. Insurance company will indeed checking your credit score before giving quote for their applicants. Therefore, if you want to lower your premiums, you better manage your credit score.

4. Considering to purchase older car

Collision and comprehensive coverage are the most expensive types or coverage. With older car, you can get lower comprehensive and/or collision coverage. You can also increase your deductible so you can get lower premiums. 

5. Considering to purchase an eco-friendly car

Some insurers may offer discount if you own hybrid or alternative fuel car. 

It will always better to discuss with your insurer for lowering your car insurance premiums. Ask them to review your coverage and deductible especially if you own five year old car or above. Inform them about the safety feature on your car. 

When you rent a car, you will be offered additional coverage by the rental car company. It may be their last attempt to get more money from you. They may or not offer real rental car insurance. If you rent a car frequently, you already know how to say no. But if you rent a car for the first time, you better knowing what kind of coverage which they offer.

It May Not Be an Insurance

In some states, the coverage serve as an agreement between you as the renter and the rental car company. The agreement says that you will not responsible if you make damages to the car. It will protect you when you are involved in an accident. This coverage is called collision damage waiver. In case you get into an accident with your rental car, the coverage will pay the repair cost. In addition, it will covers the cost of not being able to rent out the car due to repair. Moreover, it also cover if your rental car is stolen. When you are offered the collision damage waiver, ask the rental car company about it, what will be covered and what amount of dollar it will cover up to. Despite the coverage may sound like rental car insurance, it may not technically be a car insurance.

Between Your Car and the Rental Car

Your insurance company will cover you when you are driving a rental car, of course it depends on your plan. However, the extent of coverage will be different when compared with driving your own car. Your insurance company will pay for all damage to the rental car if you're involved in an accident, but you will pay the loss since the rental car company can not rent out the car. Your insurance company typically will not cover for these kind of costs. 

Remember, your car insurance's rates may go higher if you are in an accident with the rental car using your insurance plan. You have to pay higher deductible before your insurance company pay their share, since the insurance company may not cover the rented car with the same deductible as your own car. If you choose the collision damage waiver, your rates may not increase but the company may not have to make any payments. 

Get Additional Coverage

How to get additional coverage if you don't want to purchase rental car insurance? Renting a car with your credit card. Several credit card companies have extension rental car insurance coverage in your policy. It will be different from what your insurance company offer, so you need to find out what your credit card covers. 

If you travel abroad, don't be surprised if several countries require you to buy the additional coverage. Some of them even require you to purchase theft coverage. Before your travel, it will be better to consult your insurance company about the collision damage waiver regarding your rental car. With those information, you might save some extra money for your trip.

Travel insurance premiums are based on type of the coverage, age, and trip's cost, about 5% up to 7% of the cost. Destination, safety and weather (prone area) also affect the premium cost. Before deciding on buying travel insurance, it will better if you check out the reputation of the company you want to purchase from. This action is necessary to avoid overpriced policies. You can check on the U.S Travel Insurance Association to get advice on choosing travel insurance. There are three type of travel insurance:

1. Per-trip Coverage

This coverage providing protection for a single trip, thus suitable for people who travel occasionally. Per-trip coverage is the most common coverage.

2. Multi-trip Coverage

Multi-trip coverage gives protection for multiple trip in a year, but the trip itself can not exceed 30 days. 

3. Annual Coverage

Annual Coverage gives a full year protection and reserved for frequent travelers.

Consider your actual needs before buying travel package. It may offers good protection but sometimes several policies have duplicate coverage that you already have or providing coverage for refundable cost. In addition, you need to fully understand which reason for trip cancelation are covered and they match your needs and concern. Most policies may cover trip cancelation due to illness or injury. However, if you are concerned about the trip destination or any other reason like work, you may need "cancel for any reason" policy.

In trip cancelation case, figure out how much money is actually at risk to help you decide if you need coverage. For example, you pay $2,500 for tour package and in the tour's cancelation policy you will get reimbursement except for $200 if you cancel, you need to insure that $200. If you purchase a refundable airline ticket, you don't need to insure it. You have to make sure insuring the un-recoverable cost.

If you already have life insurance policy, buying accidental death may not be necessary. Consider a Hazardous Activity rider that provides additional coverage if your death caused by sport or un-covered activity. Most health insurance companies will pay customary and reasonable hospital costs if you become sick or injured during traveling, but only a very few will pay for medical evacuation. Medicare does not cover medical expenses outside the U.S. So purchasing emergency medical may or not waste. 

The most common problem for travelers is lost, stolen or damaged baggage and personal belongings. Keep in mind that you might not need some of the minor coverage. Airlines and cruise lines are responsible for loss and damage to your baggage. Your credit card may also provide automatic protection if you make deposit or charge other trip related expenses. 

In general, avoid buying travel insurance from travel agency or cruise line because they might sell policy for high commission. It's better to purchase travel insurance through online broker which offers insurance from various carriers. Make sure to read sample copy of the policy to check 

all the protections you need.

If you book online airplane ticket or planning a trip with online travel, you often find travel insurance term. What is travel insurance and what is the benefit we get from travel insurance? Travel insurance is an insurance product that cover losses from unexpected events during travel. Travel insurance often added as additional service and apply for both domestic and abroad travel. Travel insurance policies cover damage to personal property, rented equipment (rental cars, etc.) or paying ransom in kidnapping case. It's purchased as a package that includes several different types of coverage. In U.S, travel insurance include emergency travel services like replacing lost passports, canceled flight re-booking, and cash wire. 

1. Trip Cancellation

In case you cancel your trip, trip cancellation insurance will return your money for prepaid or nonrefundable travel expenses due to illness, death in the family, or another unexpected occurrence which forced you and/or your traveling companion return home earlier before the trip ended. This insurance also reimburse you if your preference airline, cruise line or travel agency go out of business. The policy pays the difference amount between refund from vendor and the actual amount you paid for the planned trip. Trip cancellation insurance typically cover cancellation for these

following reasons:

- Weather-related issues

- Visa or passport process delayed

- Change of mind

- Illness or injury

- Sudden business conflicts

- Jury duty*

- An accident*

- Terrorism*

* may include as additional coverage

Cancellation for any reason will be charged for additional cost, often offered by some companies. 

2. Baggage Insurance

If your baggage or belongings are lost, stolen or damaged during your trip as well as while travel to and from your destination, this type of insurance will cover your loss.

3. Medical and Major Medical

This type of insurance will help you  cover your medical cost, locate doctors, healthcare facilities and foreign-language services. It also help you cover these conditions:

- If you need to be airlifted to medical facility due to accident or sudden illness

- If you are sick or injured so that you have to extend your treatment in foreign hospital abroad

- If you need to be flown home to receive further medical care (medical evacuation)

You can choose to buy one of these insurance's type, travel medical insurance or major medical insurance. Travel medical insurance usually provides short-term medical coverage with duration five days up to one year. While major medical insurance reserved for six month, one year or longer trips. 

In the U.S, the government recommend their citizens to consult their medical insurance company before traveling abroad to make sure if their policy applies overseas. You also need to register your travel plans with the State Department in case something urgent happen to you while you trip abroad, the nearest embassy or consulate will contact you.

4. Accidental Death and Flight Accident

This insurance will pays benefits to surviving beneficiaries in the event of an accident resulting death, disability, or serious injury to the traveler or traveler's companion.

One of most common types in automobile insurance is third-party automobile insurance. Third-party insurance is a policy that protects the policyholder against actions (damages claim) of another party, typically by a-not-insured driver. The driver who cause the damages is the third party. To be specific, the first party is insured, the second party is the insurer and the third party is someone who will probably claim. The first party is responsible for its own damages or losses, no matter how they were caused. Third party insurance is a form of liability insurance. There are two kinds of third-party liability coverage: bodily injury liability and property damage liability. Bodily injury liability covers cost related to people, including medical expenses, lost income and others. Property damage liability covers expenses in regard to property or tangible objects.

Most states, exception of a few states, require anyone who drives have to carry at least minimal amount of liability coverage, both of those types. Every states have their own minimum requirement for each type. Liability coverage is essential, even in no-fault states. The purpose of no-fault laws is to clear courtrooms filled with ordinary injury lawsuit attached by low-dollar price as well as all claims fro pain and suffering. No-fault laws do not protect the insured from million dollar injury lawsuit from seriously injured third party. If someone has substantial assets to protect, the more important third-party insurance for them. If they have more money and assets, they will have higher limit for each type of liability coverage.

There are another types of third party liability insurance, for instance public liability insurance and product liability insurance. Public liability insurance covers industries or businesses that their activities involved or will affected third parties, like subcontractors, visitors or common public. They take this kind of insurance to protect them from property damage or personal injury. Meanwhile, product liability insurance covers all major product classes and types, including chemicals, agricultural products and recreational equipment. This insurance will protects companies from lawsuits over product that cause damage or injury. Product liability insurance usually mandated by legislation.

Buying health insurance can be very complicated and confusing since there are many type of health insurance offered by insurance companies. Especially when you have always been covered under your parents' health plan, spouse's health plan, or workplace. These little tips might help you before purchasing your own health insurance.

1. Checking insurance plans with your insurance provider

Each person must have their preferred primary care physician or specialist, so the first thing you have to do is checking whether your insurance provider accepted your preferred doctor or not. You need to check their other plan and future plan as well. You also have to notice upcoming network change by asking their up-to-date network list. It will be waste if you decide to purchase an insurance which your doctor is on the list but since you are not aware of their change, your doctor in fact no longer in the network. Not all of your current providers accept the same insurance. You might have to replace with different providers or pay for out-of-network rates. And you also need to make sure about prescription drugs (if you take it on regular basis). If you are in this situation, you can always ask and consult with your insurance provider. 

2. Look out the exchange

You can purchase health insurance from two markets: the government market and the private market. Comparing both market can give your best coverage in affordable price. If your household income is low, you may ask for a subsidy to help pay your insurance premiums. However, you need to meet the qualification to get subsidy. You can also check the exchange which run annually. In the exchange, you can get exchange-based plan. 

3. Comparing Choices in Private Market

Use comparison shopping sites or search directly in health insurance company websites. You need to provide your basic information such as your gender, date of birth, household income, household size and zip code. The sites will provide list of plan choices and important details about each plan, such as premium, co-pay, deductible, out-of-pocket maximum and covered prescription drugs. You must buy marketplace plan through the marketplace to be eligible for a subsidy. 

4. Considering using insurance broker

Getting insurance broker can save your time and energy. If you think it is exhausting and take a lot of time, contact an insurance broker. They work independently from many different companies and the most important thing is using them won't cost you any penny. They will get commission from the insurance company whose plan you buy.