Customize Your Insurance – Part II

In Part I of this article we discussed Life Insurance and some of the things to look for when shopping for life insurance. In this next part I will discuss health insurance. For those who are forced to pay for health insurance out of their own pockets this can easily be the most expensive and painful type of insurance to own. More and more Americans these days are completely forgetting about health insurance and paying for illness, doctor’s visits and trips to the hospital out of their pockets, which is not recommended.

As mentioned before many people are going without health insurance in America these days, this is completely unacceptable. The purpose of any type of insurance is to prepare for the worst and to be sure you and your loved ones are taken care of in that worst case scenario. If your children got sick would you really want limits on the level of health care they can receive?

The best way to keep your monthly payments down in to search for health insurance plans is to sign up for a plan which has a high deductible. A higher deductible always results in a lower premium. Assuming you are a healthy person, taking the highest possible deductible which you can afford to pay. If money is a serious problem for you and any type of health insurance is a struggle it is suggest that you take a look at a minimum policy that offers at least “catastrophic coverage.” This way you can sleep sound knowing if anything unexpected does happen, you won’t be stuck with possibly tens of thousands of dollars in medical expenses.

How long can you afford to live if you are involved in an accident or a serious illness that prevents your from working? Exactly! Many employers offer coverage in their plans but it is a good idea to check out the exact details of what you are being offered. This is what you should look for: Coverage should cover at least 70% of your income to in order to allow you to continue living a comfortable life while dealing with the stresses you may be facing. It is also very important that your coverage is for “owner’s occupation.” This protects you should your illness or injury prevent you from returning to your pre-accident job. Avoid policies that only offer coverage if you can’t return to any type of occupation, also make sure your policy is “guaranteed renewable” so that’s your provider can’t cancel your policy on you. The final part to look for is the “elimination period.” This is the amount of time you must wait after your injury or illness before your policy starts making payments. 2-3 months is typical.

Customize Your Insurance – Part I

Insurance is a word that usually doesn’t sit well with people. Why? Well we all know of insurance as something that costs us money. There are no buts about it, insurance costs us money. Whether it’s home insurance, life insurance, car insurance or what have you, you will be spending money on it. Some people chose to avoid insurance just because they don’t want to deal with the costs. In my opinion this is not a good idea. So instead of telling you to avoid insurance altogether, I’ll be explaining to parts of insurance which you can avoid in order to save. I will cover 4 types of insurance: Life, health, auto and home. They will all appear in different “parts,” I, II, III and IV.

Please realize that insurance is a very important matter and is not one to be taken lightly. This article is meant merely as a guide to use when deciding what you may and may not need.

Life insurance is a great way to make sure your family members and loved ones are properly taken care of if anything tragic was to happen to you. A lot of people have a hard time deciding on a policy that fits them best without too much confusion or paying too much. First thing to do is to decide whether you actually need life insurance or not. Ask yourself this question “How many people depend completely on my income for their lives?” If you answer zero than continue reading as this will not help you.

When looking for life insurance chances are companies will spam you with dozens of different types, pay no attention to these, the only type of insurance you should be looking for is “term life insurance.” Everything else is a waste of time and money, don’t even bother. Now we look at another decision, how long of a term do you want your policy to last? It is suggested that you enroll in a term which will last until your youngest child is old enough to finish school and enter the workplace, 22-24 years of age is optimal.

How much should my policy be worth? Is the next question you should be asking. Well that’s up to you but a good figure to work with is from 10-20 times that of your annual income. This will give your beneficiaries not only plenty of money to live on, regardless of when you pass but also give them money to invest in bonds which can earn quality interest. This way on a $500,000 policy your beneficiaries can earn $25,000 per year off bond investments without even touching the principle money. Obviously they can earn even more if your policy is worth more.

Reputable companies are also a must when investing in a life insurance policy. The number of “fly by night” insurance companies is staggering, and what could be worse than leaving your loved ones with a false sense of financial security?

The economic growth in both India and China has been exploding over the past half a decade. Nearly 3 millions jobs in the manufacturing area in the United States have been lost to these two countries. Now one must ask, how will this affect our economy and our growth? Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

There is both an upside and a downside to the explosive economic growth in India and China. On the upside the American market has been and will continue to be flooded with inexpensive, quality goods and products which the average American consumer can afford and use. In addition to this those involved in U.S. export sectors will also benefit greatly in that it is expected China and India will be looking for “Western-style” goods and services as more money and wealth is pumped into their system. These goods and services include cosmetics, jet liners and banking/financial and investment services.

Now looking at the downside, its obvious how hard times can get if America doesn’t wake up and get back in the game. Those workers in the U.S. who are less skilled, which is the majority of workers it seems, are being put out of work and left with no options for income. Additionally even the more skilled workers in the U.S. including computer programmers and some financial analysts are having a hard time as well. The giant corporations of Asia are not stupid, and they see where the money is. Because they can offer labor and services at a cheaper rate than is available in the U.S. they are targeting the American market, putting thousands out of jobs.

The agricultural industry in America has been possibly the largest gainer from these recent economic changes. Because of China’s and India’s growth and move to a more industrial/technology related market, their demand for food products and produce has increased. Agricultural exports to China tripled between 2000 and 2004 and exports to India are also up. The owner and founder of Farmers International commented on Asian growth and had this to say: “This market is going to grow further because of the rising purchasing power in Asia.”

As mentioned before, it is only a matter of time before growing Asian countries start demanding goods from the U.S. and shift from an almost entirely export market to a mix of imports and exports. As China’s economy grows and wealth increases, there will be more of a demand for environmental care, health care and housing. These are all services which America is prepared to offer.

As of this point in time it is hard to tell what the future has in store for these 3 countries. All that can be done is sit back and wait. Right now China and India have the upper hand in economic growth, but this growth will bring changes and may turn the tides very quickly.

I have put together the following short reaction to the book The Cheating Culture by David Callahan for school. Please take a look if you have already read the book.

http://www.capitalistblogger.com/the-cheating-culture/

One thing most American’s have not thought about is the effect that Hurricane Katrina can, will and is having on the nation’s airline industry. The skyrocketing gas prices and extreme gas shortages aren’t helping the already struggling industry. Jet fuel, as automobile fuel, has hit a new all time high. Without cheap fuel, airlines are forcing to raise prices and add fuel surcharges onto their tickets, which consumers are not happy about.

Delta for example has been nearing its all-time lows dipping below the $1.00 mark briefly before Friday’s market close. Delta is the nation’s third largest airline carrier; if such an important company is getting hit so hard, imagine all of the others. Already prior to Hurricane Katrina Delta was fighting bankruptcy, no one just has to wonder if it’s a matter of time.

Another big carrier, Northwest Airlines, has already hit their pilots with a big pay cut and is negotiating another. Because of the rising fuel prices and looming pension payouts, Northwest Airlines is the closest it has ever been to filling for bankruptcy. Pilots are working hard to avoid the company needing to file for Chapter 11 – if this is done all of their pensions will die.

These 2 large airline companies are fighting a tough battle to avoid bankruptcy and Hurricane Katrina only made it harder for them. This is just another example of how devastating the hurricane has been on our nation and our economy.