Providing Comprehensive Insurance Policies

Having the right life insurance is pivotal in planning for the future of you and your loved ones. Life insurance can help you fulfill promises you’ve made your family when you are gone.  Not only can life insurance provide assurance for your family after you are gone, but many life insurance options also offer other benefits and investment opportunities you can take advantage of while you are living.

Don’t leave the future of you and your loved ones to chance. Northeast Benefit Solutions can help you find the right life insurance coverage for you and help ensure that your policy continually meets your needs.

Life Changes. So Should Your Policy

For each of our neighbors in New England, the right life insurance will be unique and dependent on personal and financial needs. As your life changes, your life insurance coverage may need to change to adapt to your current needs. Some life transformations that may require a policy “tune-up” include:

• You recently married or divorced
• You have a new child or grandchild
• You have opened or expanded a business
• Your health or your spouse’s health has deteriorated
• You are providing care or financial assistance to a parent
• Your child or grandchild requires assistance or long-term care
• You recently purchased a new home
• You are planning for a child or grandchild’s education
• You are concerned about retirement income
• You have refinanced your home mortgage in the past six months
• You or your spouse recently received an inheritance
• You have a sizable estate

What You Need to Know

Northeast Benefit Solutions can help you select the best life insurance coverage for your needs. There are several different types of life insurance products available – the most common terms and policies include:

Life Insurance Death Benefit – When you pass away, your life insurance provides income (tax-free) to your named beneficiary or beneficiaries that can be used to pay funeral expenses, debt, tuition, estate taxes, or virtually any financial need. Your policy can help provide security for your business as well, by enabling partners to buy out the interests of a deceased partner and prevent a forced liquidation.

Living Benefits – The cash value growth of a permanent (whole) life insurance policy is tax-deferred, meaning you do not pay taxes on the growth of cash value, unless money is withdrawn. Loans or withdrawals can be taken against the cash value of a permanent life insurance policy to help with expenses, such as college tuition or the down payment on a home.

Term Life Insurance

Term life insurance provides protection for a specified period. If you do not currently have life insurance, term can be a good place to start. It’s generally less expensive than permanent (whole) life insurance and is available in varying time periods with fixed premiums from a one-year (annual renewable term) to 30-year (level term) period.

Furthermore, term life insurance is sometimes convertible to permanent coverage, providing you with flexibility as your needs change.

Whole Life Insurance

Whole life insurance is a form of permanent life insurance that remains in force for your entire lifetime, provided premiums are paid as specified in the policy. Whole life insurance can be an investment opportunity, as many whole life insurance policies also build cash value over time.

Universal Life Insurance

Universal life insurance offers lifelong coverage, provides flexibility when it comes to paying premiums and choices for how the policy’s cash value is invested. A standard universal life insurance policy’s cash value grows according to the performance of the insurer’s portfolio and can be used to pay premiums.

Variable Life Insurance

Variable life insurance is a type of permanent life insurance policy., meaning coverage will remain in place for your lifetime so long as premiums are paid.

Every variable life insurance policy has three primary components:

• Death benefit
• Cash value
• Premium

A death benefit is what is left to your beneficiaries. Every time you make a premium payment, a portion of it goes towards the cost of insurance and insurer’s fees, which keep the death benefit in place. The remainder of the premium goes towards the policy’s cash value, which is similar in structure to a brokerage account. The cash value can be invested in certain securities (often called sub-accounts) which resemble mutual funds.

If the cash value performs well, it can be used to increase the death benefit, withdrawn as cash or used as collateral for a loan.

The cash value is also the amount of money you would receive if you decided to give up your coverage to the insurer or surrender it.

 

Juvenile Life Insurance

Like a life insurance policy for an adult, a life insurance policy for a child is a contract with an insurance company. Premiums are paid (typically monthly or annually) in return for the promise that the insurance company will pay a death benefit if the child dies.

With an insurance policy for an adult, the policyholder typically is the insured person-the one who is covered by the policy. With a policy for a child, the child is insured, but a parent, grandparent or legal guardian is the policyholder. The policyholder also can be the beneficiary who receives a payout if the insured child dies.

Life insurance policies for children typically are whole life insurance policies, which means they will provide lifelong coverage as long as premiums are paid. Premiums tend to be guaranteed, so they won’t increase over time. Plus, a portion of the premium goes toward building cash value, which can be accessed while the child is alive for any reason.

When to choose term life?

Most people choosing term life have a strategy for long term net worth. They need specific coverage for a period of their lives to protect debt, loved ones, and children. For a homeowner with children, it might make sense to have a term life policy to cover the mortgage and living needs until their children are old enough to provide for themselves – in this case the term would expire around the time your children move out.

 

When to choose whole life?

Whole life can be used in the retirement years as cash assets. It can provide equity for loans and have fixed payments that do not increase with time. Many times, whole life policies will pay dividends – although not always.