Category: General Articles

The Three Main Types of Annuity Insurance – Fixed, Variable, and Equity Indexed

If you want to choose annuity as a means to invest your financial assets, you may find it really grueling to deal with as there will be many schemes and patterns than what you assume or imagine. The fixed annuities, indexed annuities, and variable annuities are some of the major types of annuities, of which one may find immediate annuities and deferred annuities. If at all you go deeper, then you will find a wide range of annuity products from a variety of companies.

Every annuity has some characteristics in common. Tax deferred escalation or growth is such a particular feature. As with any benefit provision from government, there is also certain disadvantage associated with it. If you withdraw any cash from the annuity before 59 years then you have to pay taxes as well as 10% penalty for the escalation. Since the annuity financial allotments tag on LIFO rules, enter first, exit last, IRS gives primary importance to interest.

The easiest way to narrow down the selection is to decide exactly what you want in your product. Fixed annuities are probably the easiest to understand. These products are often compared to CDs. The fixed annuity pays a fixed rate of return, there’s no risk to the principle because of market fluctuations and like a CD, and after a specific period you can remove the cash value penalty free.

Annuities provide the advantage of withdrawal before the surrender date which is not present in a CD. Both the CDs and the annuities provide the advantage of taking out the interest part every year, the fixed annuities provide you the access to utilize the principal amount and some of them permit the use of 10 percent of the contract value. If you keep it unused, it will be added in the following year.

Variable annuities have mutual funds as their funding vehicle, although many also have a fixed fund on the interior. Unlike the fixed annuity, the principle fluctuates. Some variable annuity contracts offer riders that guarantee either a specific percentage of return each year or at the minimum, a return of premium regardless of market conditions. These riders of course, cost the owner of the contract a small amount every year but are well worth the cost in fluctuating or dropping market conditions.

The clients could switch on to other families of investments unlike the schemes outside the variable annuity contracts without any payment each time. The tax deferred mode does not trigger any revenues while moving from one fund to another.

The third type of anuity, an indexed annuity, is a hybrid between the fixed annuity and the variable. Like the fixed annuity there is a guaranteed interest rate. However, the interest rate is slightly lower than most fixed annuities. It’s lower because there’s also a potential for a much higher growth. The annuity is tied to a specific index. It might be the S&P 500 …

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How to Get Inexpensive Health Insurance Fast

Health insurance can be a tricky thing. If you do not have it, and you have an accident or another medical expense, you can find yourself paying off some extremely expensive bills. If you do have health insurance, you might be paying a monthly premium, but you will be covered if anything might happen. Almost all people feel that it is the right decision to have insurance, but how to you get inexpensive health insurance. Here are a few tips that you can use.

First off, you can not make the mistake of confusing inexpensive health insurance, with cheap insurance plans. You do not want to sacrifice coverage for price. If you do have an accident, and have to pay for medical bills, you will greatly regret getting a cheap plan. But you can get an inexpensive plan that still has some decent coverage.

The first thing you need to do is decide what type of coverage you need. If you are only paying for yourself, and you are good health, you might decide to only get accident coverage. This means that if you have an unexpected injury, you will be covered. If you are a person who goes for normal doctors visit often, you probably need a little bit more expansive coverage.

Another way to save money on your plan is by checking all of your options. If you are currently employed, you might be able to get a plan through your company. Even if this is the case, you need to make sure that you have the coverage you need. If not, you might have to supplement it with another plan. Students, and the elderly, can also get discounted plans.

You should also use comparison websites to make sure you get the best price. There are hundreds of companies out there that wont to get you covered. Using a comparison site will help to compare all of their plans and prices.…

Secure Your Future Today With Life Insurance

Life insurance is essential if you want to make sure your family is well catered for after you pass away. It is essential to safe their future while you are still alive. The policy you get out will make positive they are able to cater for all their costs specially if they are too young to work. The major purpose of finding one is to let your household to continue with the lifestyle they currently have. Some of the policies in the market also allow you to select a customized bundle that will suit the certain desires the loved ones has.

Life insurance replaces the revenue lost in circumstance you die and there is nobody else to offer for the loved ones. If there are any debts like mortgage loan, the policy can effectively cater for them. The rewards can also be utilized to pay out off consumer and credit card debts.

For these who have young children, it will guarantee that their schooling is provided for. High quality schooling does not come inexpensive and it is even more difficult when the family provider is not all around.

Funeral expenses are very costly and the advantages you get from the life policy can be utilized to cater for them. This will decrease the burden on your family members members.

If you are married and have children, you must get a policy for about 10 times the sum of money that you make in a year. For those who have a huge mortgage and a great deal of youngsters, you could require much more money. A more substantial policy is also essential if one particular of your household members is disabled.

There are numerous options to choose from and they include whole, expression, universal and variable. The whole policy will provide a particular sum when you die. The phrase policy is one of the most popular ones simply because it is reasonably priced and it ensures you a specific volume if you die within a specific time. The variable policy presents you a lot more handle when it comes to how your money is invested. The most versatile alternative amongst them is the universal policy. This policy enables you to use the cash to cater for any bills that will come up in long term even if you do not die.

Securing the potential of your companion and youngsters is crucial and therefore you should select the appropriate policy.…

Finding Florida Condo Insurance

Prior to 1992, finding insurance to meet the needs of a condo owner was not much trouble. However, after Hurricane Andrew slammed the Florida coast in 1992, causing homeowners and insurers alike millions of dollars, finding adequate insurance for a Florida condo started to get harder. Finding condo insurance in Florida has only gotten more difficult as more hurricanes destroyed property across Florida in 2004 and 2005.

The extensive damage to condos caused by these violent forces of nature and the subsequent expense to insurance companies was enough to drive many insurance out of the condo insurance business altogether. Those who remained drastically raised the cost of coverage. As a result, it has become increasingly difficult to get even the very basic insurance you need to meet the requirements of the law and of your condo association as a Florida condo owner.

The Florida Condo Insurance Crises

Condo owners in Florida are coming up against some very substantial obstacles in meeting the insurance requirements for their Florida condos. It has become very difficult to even find a company that wants to cover a condo in Florida. Every year more and more insurance companies in Florida drop their coverage options for Florida condos. Those that do still offer Florida condo insurance only extend coverage to condos that were built to the higher building code standards of post-Hurricane Andrew Florida. At this time, there are only an average of 10 private insurance companies offering condo insurance in any given Florida county.

The Citizens Option

Because Florida owners are required by law to carry insurance on their condo, many are finding that they are forced to settle for getting their mandatory insurance through Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. While having Citizens insurance coverage may be better than having no coverage at all, the state run insurance company has shown itself to be hindered by many of the inherent problems of a government bureaucratic organization.

Because Customers of Citizens Property Insurance Corporation covers so many condo owners in Florida, customers often find that they have to wait a very long time to receive payment on their insurance claims. When your property is damaged, you need it replace quickly. Citizens simply cannot achieve the rapid response that Florida condo owners need and expect.

Even worse, Citizens is currently underfunded to pay out the numerous claims that are continually being filed. This leads to even longer wait times to get the money you need to replace your possessions or repair damage to your Florida condo. Couple this with all around sub-par customer service and many Citizens customers find their insurance experience completely unsatisfactory.

Finding a Private Insurer

Many Florida owners find that, even though Citizens Property Insurance Corporation isn’t a preferable option, it’s the only one they have. As more and more private insurers drop out of the condo insurance game, there simply aren’t enough private insurers to provide coverage for the large number of Florida condo owners. However, if you own a …

Points To Consider While Buying Private Hire Insurance

What is the liability factor of the private hire business?

Private hire insurance is mandatory for companies that run private hire service. However, the requirements vary for every company. Since the insurance policy is subject to our liability and risk factor, you should evaluate your risks before buying the policy. The risks that should be considered are the risks of accidents, vandalism, fire and theft. If your vehicle has a safe parking place as in a garage or within your own company, then you can cut down the risk due to vandalism and violence. Further, since the taxi is outdoors only if there is a booking, the amount of time spent on the road will also be less. You can consider the skill of your driver. If he is skilled and experienced and had no accident record, then you can negotiate your insurance amount further. Hence, by studying the risks that you are exposed to is the basic factor to consider while buying private taxi insurance.

Are you eligible for the discounts that the private hire insurance company offers?

Insurance companies dish out discounts based on the performance of your company. For example, if you have a clean taxi driving record and have not made claims for a long period, then you are eligible for a “no-claims” bonus. When you contact the insurance company for insurance, ask for the available discounts. Discounts are also offered if the owner of the taxi is also its driver. You can also get a discount if you insure your whole fleet under one policy.

Does the policy provide cover if your driver is at fault?

Many insurance companies back out of providing cover if accidents occur due to the fault of the driver. Make sure that such clauses do not exist in your contract. These kinds of clauses are loopholes, which give scope for the insurance company to back out when accidents occur. Irrespective of whether the driver is at fault, insurance should cover driver, passengers, third party and damage to vehicle.

What are the terms and conditions of the policy?

Terms and conditions are the most important factor to consider while buying private hire insurance policy. Examine the terms related to releasing claim amounts like how much time the company takes to dispatch claim amount and what are the situations under which claims are rejected. If possible, find out the history of the company and collect statistics relating to the number of claims made by customers against the number of claims sanctioned. Look for hidden costs in the contract before signing the deal.

Are all your requirements covered under the policy?

Private hire insurance will not be of much use to you if you do not receive all the covers that you require. Therefore, go through the policy documents to check for all the covers and see if they are up to your needs. If you find covers that you do not require or if …

No More Excessive Damage Settlement

Quite a great movement is going around in the air travel insurance branch lately. You should be familiar with some changes like an initiative to limit airline’s responsibility to personal damage suits for overseas crashes, liability coverage for baggage loss due to theft has been expanded and the so called cancellation insurance for passengers who have large investment for charter flights has gained fine print exclusions to the claims. Foremost, let us see the intent to put a ceiling to the large damage claims that comes after an overseas crash.

The code of the Warsaw Agreement created some years ago recently placed the guiding principles regarding travelers toward international destination and it conveys that damage claims are technically limited to $75,000. There are reports coming from attorneys who are airline accident specialists that there are actually settlements that have exceeded the $75,000 greatly. A claiming family of a 30 year old man, who received $875,000 in an out of court agreement, is one recent case.

But there are motions to change these already. On the aspect of making the Warsaw Agreement Limit of $75,000 to #117,000 and beyond higher, the US government and the airlines will impose an absolute limit of $317,000 for damage claims. Moving up the technical limit from $75,000 to $117,000 is appealing to everybody. The United States, however, wants a supporting coverage to append an additional $200,000 on top of the current $117,000.

If this continues, any settlement for more than $317,000 will be impossible. As an overload to the ticket for the privilege, an amount of $2 should be paid by each passenger bound abroad. So far, the move has been thwarted in Congress where it must be approved.

For local flights, there is really not much to worry about because the damage claims are unlimited. The evidence to prove the amount of money loss is never waived, however, both for domestic and overseas crashes. To compute a loss for a father and husband who is killed in monetary terms for example, is computing for his future wages and the contributions he is yet to give as a parent. The beneficiaries of a more senior person with no dependents will receive less than the beneficiaries of a younger one with a better income and several dependents. For a family going through bereavement or has a family member involved in an injury brought by a crash, the following are dos and don’ts coming from a lawyer who is adept in airline accident scenarios.

Have every document checked by your lawyer before signing them. Do not delay inquiry from a lawyer, particularly one seasoned in plane crash cases. The airline accountability coverage for the baggage on domestic flights have been higher at $750 dollars from $500 per bag previously. Get a higher insurance at 10 cents for every added value of $100. On international flights, your liability coverage tagged as excess valuation remains to be limited to $9.07 per pound but you …

How the Economic Crisis is Affecting Our Holiday Plans

It is no real surprise that the so-called economic crisis is causing us to think twice about going abroad in the summer, as well as having a knock-on affect on the travel industry as a whole. Yet, the consequences on what we need to consider before booking flights and choosing hotels are somewhat surprising. So how is the economic crisis affecting our holiday plans?

Car Hire

Perhaps the most recent news from the travel money sector concerns car hire whilst abroad. Recently, The Telegraph reported of a company’s futile attempt to hire a car at Easter: ‘booking very hotel had a room available, and there were seats on suitable flights. But when the company tried to book a car, it was told by its usual commercial partner that they were sold out. The customer couldn’t travel, and the tour operator, the airline and the hotel lost a booking.’ The reason for the lack of service was the need for hire companies to offer a cheaper service and so making their fleets smaller – a trend that is said to be happening in Spain, Sardinia, and Italy.

Transaction Fees

Similarly, banks and other institutions are changing their methods in order to retain profit in the wake of the credit crunch. As has been reported in The Independent during April, Nationwide and even Thomas Cook Financial have imposed transaction fees every time their credit or debit cards are used abroad. As a consequence of this, holidaymakers either have to make do with fees ranging from 0.81 to 2.99 percent on each purchase, carry around more cash, or acquire a travel money card especially for their trip.

Travel Insurance Hikes

Last but by no means least, the travel insurance sector has also been under scrutiny – by comparison sites at least. The informative site, , recently reported that certain companies (but by no means all) have been found to push up the price of travel insurance prices “overnight” when customers age from 65 to 66. In some respects, it is understandable why this is happening, yet it is when one acknowledges the cost of those increases – an average of 106 percent – that the hikes are regarded with such scorn by the press.

Interestingly, the economic climate and its affects on the travel industry are not causing people to cancel their holiday plans outright. For instance, many are seeing additional value and security with travel money cards, and are planning to use public transport as a means of getting around. However, it does seem that this summer will see more time spent planning our trips than in the cheaper, simpler past.…

Best Auto Insurance Companies

In this competitive age every one of us wants the best thing available in the market, and here the best thing is not only in the terms of quality but also in the terms of money. Whichever company provides a product or service of best quality and a reasonable price is known to be the best. But just quality and money is not the end point, the best company has to maintain a good relationship with its customers and stakeholders. Servicing the customer is more important in case of services. Insurance which is a purely tangible service is to be converted into best then many criteria are to be fulfilled.

There are many insurance company which claim to be the best in the market but judgment of the customer is the final, now to make this judgment the customer need to know what are the critical key areas which are to be looked into while deciding the best insurance company. But for everyone the criteria are not the same it depends on the priority of the consumer. Like for the old generation people who are not so internet savvy, the online availability is a minimum factor which is to be considered but for young generation who are always running out of time the online availability can be the main factor for the evaluation.

Like the internet facility the other factors could be how well they manage the coverage and how much coverage they give with minimum number of preconditions. Along with the coverage condition how well they respond to customer and how quickly they solve their problem are the other variables which are evaluated to get the best insurance company. Paying bills should also be a easy process and getting the quotes when an individual is looking forward to invest should also be there to be the best company.

Every customer is different from the other so the company which satisfies the maximum amount of customer takes the best award. And once a company takes the best award it automatically make itself eligible for the word of mouth and as we know word of mouth is one of the best promotion toll available. And for insurance like service which is very crucial, word of mouth works a lot because people when suggest there relatives and friends about the company, they genuinely go and look for those companies. So it is better to be in the good books of the customers.…

The financial district of Singapore is a busy one, and having to take time out of your day to trade stocks can be highly inconvenient. Luckily for you, there are now apps that allow you to carry out stock trading transactions from the palms of your hands. The following list comprises some of today’s best available apps on the market, such as Saxo Bank (#1).

Saxo Bank

Saxo Bank has been one of the leaders in online services for over two decades now, and its mobile app is no different. With a brilliant user interface, simplified navigation, plus powerful features such as price alerts, it’s perfect for both newbie and experienced traders alike. The layout design allows you to monitor your portfolio effortlessly or find profitable trades, so you don’t have to worry about any complicated procedures at all!

TDAmeritrade Mobile

You can set up mobile alerts for stocks or exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by setting price points, volume thresholds, technical triggers, and time alerts. It also allows advanced charting capabilities with multiple technical studies and boasts real-time quotes, sector information, fund news & research, watchlists and more. Moreover, it has social networking functions and research and education tools, as well as a variety of third-party apps

Etrade Mobile

This app features real-time quotes, alerts, watchlists and customizable charts. You can also use it for integrated account access, market reports and data, and bank feeds such as Zacks Investment Research, among others. It also allows you to scan stocks through its screener function, track an individual position, initiate stock trades quickly on the go, etc.

Firstrade Mobile

This app provides real-time streaming stock quotes across all major US exchanges. Apart from that, you get access to live charting with over 200 technical studies along with a wide range of third-party developed apps available via a link. You can find out all the information you need about your investments and open accounts on the go.

Tradestation Mobile

This app allows users to carry out a variety of trades from anywhere, anytime. You can trade stocks, options, mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). In addition to that, you get advanced charting capabilities with eight different studies and technical alerts and news plus market research tools such as earnings calendars, among others.

TD Ameritrade Android

This app is compatible with Android devices running OS 4 or later versions of the operating system. It features real-time streaming data for stocks & ETFs along with living charts, a watchlist tracker, and a customizable interface that includes various third-party apps.

TradeKing Mobile

This app is intuitive and easy to use for beginners and seasoned traders alike. It allows trading through the stock, options and mutual fund markets and a range of customizable alerts. In addition to that, it has a market scanner that you can use for charting/research purposes and real-time streaming data from all major US exchanges. Furthermore, the watchlist function allows you to keep track of individual positions along with price targets & stop losses …