This Labor Day, You Be the Boss!
by Efin Advisor | September 3, 2010
On a holiday that celebrates labor unions and the eight-hour work day, many Americans are feeling like their hard work isn’t paying off the way it used to.
Even with national health care set to be phased in in future months, other on the job benefits have been cut back. One of the important new questions facing employees is whether to settle for an employer-sponsored life insurance plan at work or take the cash equivalent of the benefit instead and shop for a life insurance policy on the open market. Should the employment come to an end, a private personal policy will remain in force whereas the future of the employer option can be less than certain.
If your employer offers basic life insurance coverage for free or at highly subsidized rates, it makes sense to take advantage of the coverage. But by purchasing an individual life insurance policy on your own, you not only control your own coverage and costs, but you lock in your monthly premium and remain covered for the term of the policy regardless of your employment status or benefits package.”
These days, it pays to think of yourself as the “Boss” when you are managing your employee benefits, and give yourself a personal “perk” that won’t leave you should you leave your place of work. That’s an idea that could work out a whole lot better for you and your family! Happy Labor Day from Efinancial!
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America’s Life Insurance Policies in Dwindling, Short Supply
by Efin Advisor | August 31, 2010
Despite the fact that most American families have less to fall back on financially than when the economic downturn began, about 35 million U.S. households neither own their own life-insurance policies nor are covered under employer-sponsored plans, according to a study by LIMRA, an insurance industry research firm.
The Trends in Life Insurance Ownership study, conducted every six years by LIMRA, found that only 44 percent of U.S. households presently have individual life insurance. While the need to protect their families against the devastating threat of financial disaster is increasing, the number of U.S. households that have no life insurance whatsoever is growing. Today, 30 percent of households (35 million) have no life insurance coverage, compared to 22 percent of households in 2004. Among households with children under age 18, which arguably have the greatest need for life insurance, 11 million have no coverage.
“With so many families continuing to struggle financially, there has never been a more critical time for people to own an adequate amount of life insurance,” said Marvin H. Feldman, CLU, ChFC, president and CEO of the LIFE Foundation. “This study shows that Americans place great value on the need for protection and half of all families recognize that they need more life insurance than they have, and that’s good news. Now they need to take the next step, and get the coverage they lack before it’s too late.”
Where to Turn for Help? Start Here >>>
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Mint.com is Worth Its Weight in Goals!
by Efin Advisor | August 27, 2010
It took a relative newcomer, a fledgling startup from outside the hallowed halls of the banking industry, the personal finance field or the investment community to show the financial world how personal money management could be done online. Mint.com was acquired by Intuit, a veritable household name in financial software, just one short year ago. Now, Intuit will officially shut down its flagship Quicken Online Website and direct its users to Mint.com.
What Mint.com does better than practically anybody else these days is give you a global snapshot of your financial picture at a glance. It manages to do that by logging into each of your personal checking, savings, credit card and loan accounts, using your encrypted login and password information to do so, and compiling that information into a personal dashboard of figures and pie-charts, all with fingertip controls.
Want to monitor each of your accounts with just one simple login. Mint.com will save you that time, and its round-the-clock reporting and budget alerts will mint you freshly saved money. And, as they say, that is just the tip of the iceberg.
Start Minting Your Own Financial Control and Convenience. Read On! >>>
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Back-to-School Savings that Make the Varsity Cut
by Efin Advisor | August 24, 2010
It’s time to hit the school books again for America’s youth. Only this September, there’s a tougher economics lesson on the chalk board: How to manage the tighter budgets of today’s chilly financial climate. Between pens and notebooks, backpacks and electronics and back-to-school clothing, the average family is expected to spend $606 per student this year according to the National Retail Federation. That’s a higher number compared to last year’s average of $549, even though the economic indicators have flat-lined.
This year’s economics homework is all about supply and demand. So here’s your Answer Guide for how to supply your students with the gear they’ll need and demand more for every dollar.
The Three R’s of Cyber-Coupons: Reductions, Rollbacks and Rebates
To leverage more buying power from national brand names, this year’s coupons are cut out to save you “scholar dollars.” No actual scissors are necessary for these cost-cutters. Just print and go!
Savings.com offers discounts across the (vulletin) board. Start your savings at their Back-to-School page link.
Educationalwarehouse.com is where the teachers shop for its learning tools and games—everything from puzzles and puppets to software and stickers. Classroomdirect.com has great prices on over 10,000 products and a clearance corner offering even deeper discounts.
RetailMeNot combines one of the Web’s top destinations for “coupon codes” you can when checking out, to a community of savvy shoppers to advise you on tips and greater deal info from other sites. You also can have the week’s most-popular coupons e-mailed to you. We link direct to the back-to-school section.
CouponWinner.com has nearly 20,000 coupons from about 9,000 retailers. The site’s Coupon Scout tool lets you compare coupons from up to five retailers. Click on a category, such as women’s apparel, and the Coupon Scout tool will compare your savings.
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Back-to-School Insurance? Tuition Coverage Now Available Nationwide
by Efin Advisor | August 20, 2010
For many families preparing to send their sons and daughters to college this September, the cost of tuition is an investment that is second in size only to a home mortgage. A four-year undergraduate program now averages between $15,213 and $35,636 for one year.
And yet, according to a 2009 study by Student Monitor, 27 percent of students (or someone they know) had to withdraw from college mid-semester due to health issues or a death in the family. Until now, tuition insurance was typically available only at select private colleges and universities.
A first-ever national group policy from GradGuard ™, a service of Next Generation Insurance (NGI) Group, LLC. marks the first time that tuition insurance is available to any student enrolled in an accredited higher education institution across the country.
Parents may mistakenly believe that colleges refund tuition in the case of unexpected illness, injury or even death. In fact, the organization known as College Parents of America reports that most colleges and universities do not provide a full refund if a student is forced to withdraw from school for medical reasons. Through GradGuard, all parents and students now have the opportunity to protect their investment in education.
The GradGuard plan is available to students nationwide and covers verifiable losses connected to the cost of attendance. This includes not only the loss of non-refunded tuition payments, but also academic fees, room and board, books and travel to and from the academic program.
Send a student back to school? GradGuard also offers a Student Protection Plan ™, a bundle of insurance and lifestyle benefits designed to protect college students including emergency medical evacuation insurance, identity theft protection and resolution services, and protection for their personal computers.
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Like a Made-for-TV Detective Show, Fake Funerals Staged in Life Insurance Fraud
by Efin Advisor | August 17, 2010
Is this an episode of Monk, or Murder She Wrote, or maybe Law and Order, Insurance Division? A Los Angeles fraud ring sought to cash in on life insurance policies for individuals who were still living, according to an FBI investigation. The group prepared death certificates and staged a funeral where they buried an empty casket!
Tired of funny business when it comes to something as serious as life insurance? Get a real deal and the best life insurance rates with Efinancial.
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Want to see how fast you can get Life Insurance with Efinancial? Want to see it again?
by Efin Advisor | August 13, 2010
Need a term life insurance rate quote fast? How about term life insurance coverage with no medical exam? Or maybe you’d like to quickly compare the most competitive term life insurance rates among America’s top insurance companies? You simply won’t fly any faster than when you do your shopping online with Efinancial and tap the power of your personal computer or smartphone to get the ball rolling…in a split-second!
Efinancial can furnish you with competitive life insurance rate information in mere nanoseconds after processing only a small amount of data — your zip code, height, weight, and gender. (Just like the box on the right!) That includes options to get life insurance with no medical exam.
If we have your pulse racing with the technical details of speedy Internet transmission, you may find this fascnating. The global average Internet connection speed is on the rise, after a temporary plateau in the second quarter. The average global connection speed is now 1.7 Mbps. If you happened to apply for life insurance in South Korea, you’d travel the fastest yet. That country maintained its position as having the highest average connection speed worldwide, and was joined by Ireland as one of two countries in the top 10 posting quarterly gains of greater than 25%. The United States saw a small quarterly gain in average connection speeds, increasing to 3.9 Mbps, from a year-over-year perspective.
If you live in Delaware, Massachusetts, the District of Columbia or Utah you can also be quite pleased with your region’s Internet speed performance as those regions each increased upwards of 15% in average connection speed in the last quarter according to Acamai’s State of the Internet report.
Good news travels fast. And the good news is that wherever you live, you are only a few nanoseconds away from a free life insurance quote for your family. Accelerate your thinking today, and make sure your family is protected in the nick of time!
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Life Insurance M.I.A.? Service helps Locate a Missing Life Insurance Policy!
by Efin Advisor | August 8, 2010
A life insurance policy can be of enormous help in the event a loved one dies. But what if you can’t find the life insurance policy, or don’t know any details about it – not even what company the insurance was with?
A special Policy Locator Service, created by the Medical Information Bureau or MIB for short, may be your best resource. MIB’s fraud detection services are used by most life insurance companies to help underwrite insurance applications. The MIB Policy Locator Service taps into the data base of the MIB Retail Division to scour 170 million records and investigate whether the deceased had applied for a life insurance policy at any time after December of 1996.
It’s not difficult to lose track of life insurance coverage for a loved one. Policyholders may fail to inform beneficiaries of the policy’s existence because they subject is too unpleasant to to discuss. On other occasions, survivors are aware that a policy existed but don’t know the name of the insurance company. Depending on the life of the policy, an Insurance company may have changed its name or been acaquired out by by another company, deepening the mystery even further.
The detective work can be all- important. While insurance companies would like to pay out what is rightfully due, the responsibility to claim benefits lies with the beneficiaries. If you suspect that a life insurance policy may have been applied for since after December 1996, MIB may be able to help.
How to locate a Missing Insurance policy that is MIA with MIB! >>>
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