Thursday, March 25, 2010

Car Accident Effects On Insurance- Be Careful

The insurance premium that the person pays depends on many factors such as one's previous driving records, age, type of vehicle, distance traveled per year, and other risk factors. The insurance premium depends directly upon the risk factor. So, to avoid this one should be aware of the car accident effects on insurance. Following are the factors which can provide benefit and help you paying less insurance premium
The first one is "driving violations and accidents". Insurance companies always verify your past driving records. If there are visible number of accidents and negligence, then the insurance companies can punish you for many years with bad records of driving. Hence, the more you were involved in accidents previously, the higher will be the insurance premium. Second is "the type of vehicle". Owners having expensive car get insurance with better coverage than that of the inexpensive models. Third is "Occupation. Don't worry; they don't check your salary. The insurance premium depends on the involvement of the vehicle in your job. For example, if you are a salesman, then your vehicle will cover more distance and hence you'll have to give higher insurance price.Fourth one is "credit rating". Your credit rate should be better. This will help you rescue from the higher insurance premiums. It is because people with poor credit ratings are mistrusted. Fourth one is "geography". Living in a crowded area makes it accident prone and hence increases the risk factor thereby increasing the premium. Thefts and crime rate in the city also affects the car insurance. Education also plays important role in lowering of premiums. Owners with higher qualifications are charged less insurance rates.Drivers below the age of 25 are charged higher premiums because they are prone to higher risk factors. Female drivers are considered to be safer than the male drivers and hence they get lower insurance rates. The factors like age, marital status, gender can't be changed. These also surely affect the car insurance prices. Car accident effects on insurance are negative. So, drive safely. Also remember that there are different insurance companies providing different offers. You have to choose the best one.

The Difference Between Life Insurance And Family Income Benefit

Life insurance is a basic insurance product that provides family financial protection should the policyholder pass away. With life cover the amount insured is payable as a lump sum when the policyholder passes away. The funds provided by the policy are usually paid directly to the family of the policyholder (a process that is speeded up if they are named as beneficiaries) and can be used for whatever the family decide, such as living expenses, funeral costs or debt repayment.
Family income benefit is a type of life insurance, much like term insurance, decreasing term insurance and whole of life insurance are types of life cover. The key difference is that the benefit payable is not in the form of a lump sum but in the form of a monthly income. For example, instead of insuring a lump sum amount that is payable all in one go upon the death of the policyholder a monthly amount is insured and is paid in monthly instalments upon the death of the policyholder.There are some distinct advantages of family income benefit over normal life insurance (or term insurance more specifically). The first advantage is that the method of monthly payments ensures financial prudence on behalf of the deceased’s family. With this type of policy the policyholder can rest assured that his or her family have a stable amount of incoming funds to provide for themselves. In other words, the risk of the family spending too much of the payout in the early years resulting in poverty in the latter years is much reduced. The second big advantage of this type of cover is that the rates charged are far lower because the insurer does not have to payout the full sum all in one payment. The insurer can therefore use those funds to earn interest thus allowing them to charge a lower rate on the cover provided.Although family income benefit has some distinct advantages it also has some potential drawbacks. Given that the policy has a finite term there is the risk (in financial planning terms) that the policyholder dies a few years before the policy ends. In this case, instead of the family getting a significant lump sum they would only have a few years of monthly payouts before the policy ends, which could leave them in financial hardship in later years. The second major risk is that the deceased leaves unpaid debts that their family have to undertake and payoff themselves (or must be paid out of the deceased’s personal estate, thus reducing any inheritance). The family will also have to incur any associated funeral expenses which can amount up to a significant sum, especially for lower income groups. Thus, in these cases a monthly income would not be sufficient to ensure financial stability and a lump-sum payment would be far more appropriate to cover up-front lump-sum costs associated with the policyholder’s death.Given the positives (lower rates and a stable monthly benefit) and the negatives (lack of funds for lump-sum expenses and the risk of a suboptimal cumulative payout) it is important to assess whether a family income benefit policy is appropriate on an individual basis. For anyone who is unsure of the right policy choice it is best to seek life insurance advice from a broker or financial advisor. If the cover is required to protect a mortgage loan then family income benefit should be fine but this type of cover may not be right for family protection purposes.