Term Insurance
Universal Life
Permanent Whole Life
Families With Special Needs

Term Insurance

Term life insurance is perhaps the most basic form of life insurance. It provides the most amount of coverage for the least amount of premium for a specified limited period of time. If the insured should die while the policy is in force, the face amount is paid to the named beneficiary. At the end of the premium guarantee period, the insured can renew the coverage at a substantially higher premium if they can still qualify medically.

At first glance, term insurance appears to the best deal in town...but is it really?  What is the real cost?   If you paid $2,000 a year for twenty years and was lucky enough to still be alive, you paid $40,000 for your life insurance that you'll never see again. You also lost the opportunity to invest the $40,000. If you had invested the money and earned an after tax rate of return of 6% you would have earned $73,571. Which means your inexpensive term cost you $73,571! But wait a minute...you're still alive aren't you. You lost the death benefit as well.

Universal Life

Universal Life offers flexible premium payments, an adjustable death benefit that can go up or down depending on interest rates and cash values that are sensitive to current interest rates. Most projected interest rates are subject to change and are not guaranteed over the life of the policy. However, there are a few new policies available today that do offer a guaranteed level premium and death benefit with zero to minimum cash values.

Permanent Whole Life

Permanent Whole Life in contrast to term, provides for a tax free build-up in cash. Whole Life insurance also solves the problem and uncertainty of escalating term costs by providing a level premium that will not increase. The face amount of the policy will however increase over time. While the premium for Whole Life is generally greater than term in the early years, it is lower than term in the later years.

This cash value benefit, combined with a level premium, means the death benefit and living benefit will be available for an unlimited period of time. In addition, because of the policy guarantees, the death benefit will never be less than what you purchased. Over time the death benefit will grow.

The cash value in a Whole Life policy can be used for living benefits such as college education funding, retirement, investment opportunities, collateral and more.

Families With Special Needs

Most often, the parents of a child with a disability are his or her primary caregiver's. Proper estate planning is critical if the child's needs are to be met.

Families that include a member with a disability have special needs to consider when organizing their financial and estate planning. How to provide for a child with a disability after a primary caregiver has died is just one problem. Rising health costs, decreasing government services and continuing economic uncertainty may leave a family concerned about its ability to provide adequate care for a member with a disability on a long-term basis.

If you're a parent, you're concerned about your child's emotional well-being, physical health, and financial security. When you're the parent of a child with special needs, these concerns are magnified. Of course, physical and mental disabilities can strike at any age, and the person with special needs may not be a child. But the goals for the families of any person with a disability are similar: to create a more certain future for that person, as well as for the entire family.

It's important to consider four main channels of assistance when you're trying to protect and care for a person with a disability: life insurance, the family, state, and federal government, and charitable organizations. These sources of support should work together to make the person with special needs and those immediately involved in that person's care feel more secure.

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