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!

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.

July and August have the highest percentage of births for any month in America. While new parents across the country are adjusting the air conditioning in baby’s new nursery, please allow your friends at Efinancial to offer some timely advice. First congratulations are in order for the proud new family.  As the old saying goes: “Children may be priceless but if we waited until we could afford them to raise a family, none of us might ever become parents.”

Truly, the best advice for new parents to be is to begin planning the baby budget as soon as possible. The first baby step?  Prepare a spreadsheet detailing the cash flow streaming or trickling into your household and what expenses you’ll likely face – in the short term and the long.

So just how much does it cost to raise a child?  According to USDA estimates, middle income families will spend between $11,650 and $13,530 a year while upper income households dig considerably deeper into their pockets, shelling out between $19,380 and $23,180 a year.

A baby born during the past year will cost a middle class family $286,050 by the time that child reaches age 18 and can easily range as high as $475,680 based on household demographics and when adjusted for inflation.

The reality is that most families will spend far more than these figures since there are child-related costs that aren’t included in the government’s statistics. First, it doesn’t take into account the cost of college or all the money that many parents start setting aside for education when their little ones are still in diapers.

The USDA expenditures also don’t include the cost of life insurance. Sure, buying term or whole life isn’t a requirement for parents. But many of us choose to purchase policies that could run several hundred or even thousands of dollars a year to help support our children should anything happen to us. We politely suggest that Efinancial can save you a  great deal in this budget category starting with a free rate quote at http://www.efinancial.com.

Is there a silver lining in the financially cloudy forecast?  Interestingly, a family’s biggest expenses — housing and food — were the same back in 1960 as they are today. Only, we now actually spend a smaller percent of our child-rearing expenditures (16% versus 24%) at the supermarket.

Clothing and transportation are also cheaper today. Families spend just 6% of their kid budgets on their children’s wardrobes today versus 11% back in 1960. And transportation costs account for just 13% rather than 16% of expenditures.

Where is all of the baby budget going? Blame child care and health care costs for the biggest spikes. Two income families in 2009 are handing over 17% of child-rearing expenses to caregivers and education expenses. The other big increase is in health care costs, which have doubled over the past 50 years. Families now spend 8% of their expenditures on it versus just 4% back in 1960.

Beginning this week, the nonprofit LIFE Foundation is inviting the public to cast its vote to help determine which of three college-age students is most deserving of one of the top scholarships in its LIFE Lessons Scholarship Program.

The LIFE Foundation awards scholarships to students who are struggling to pay for college because their parents died with little or no life insurance.

For many, grieving was compounded by their families’ struggles to make ends meet, pay funeral costs and other bills, or simply put food on their tables. Nearly six in 10 applicants said the deaths of their parents or guardians resulted in their families moving to less expensive housing; half said their surviving parents or guardians had to take on additional jobs or work longer hours; and 47 percent said their families had to turn to friends and family for financial help.

Life insurance associate Lynn Tramontano knows all about the sleepless nights spent by families caring for people with special needs.

“It’s a powerful feeling to help address a parent’s worries about what would happen if they were no longer there to care for their son,” she said. “I saw the mom and dad relax right before my eyes, knowing they were addressing some of their greatest concerns.”

“People with special needs often require care and financial support that may extend well beyond a parent’s or caregiver’s lifetime,” said Joan Cleveland, a senior vice president with Prudential Individual Life Insurance. “It’s critical to have all the pieces in place.”

Knowing how financial professionals and insurance specialists like Efinancial. can help special needs  families is important.  Here are several things to keep in mind:

– Understand how a special needs trust, a document prepared by an attorney with expertise in special needs law, protects an individual’s eligibility for government assistance such as Supplemental Security Income and/or Medicaid. Assets held by the trust for the benefit of someone with special needs should be used to supplement–not replace–government assistance.

– Select the proper insurance and financial products to help fund the special needs trust.

– Get started with a Letter of Intent, a non-binding document which states a family’s wishes for their loved one’s future with regard to health issues, educational goals, housing, etc., and the means to support those wishes.

– Establish ties with relevant support groups and non-profit associations.

– Find an attorney with expertise in special needs law.

To date, over 140 Prudential and independent financial professionals are participating in the Special Needs Solutions….For All Ages program. After completing a comprehensive three-day training course, participants stay up-to-date on current issues through ongoing discussions.

A bill  introduced in the Senate, the Medical Debt Relief Act, would prohibit credit bureaus from using paid off or settled medical debt collections in assessing a consumer’s credit worthiness.

Once a past due medical bill is paid off or settled, the bill would require the creditor or credit rating agency to expunge the medical debt from the consumer’s record within 45 days, or as soon as 30 days in the version of the bill proposed by the House of Representatives.

The alarming fact is that medical debt can wreck a credit record.  For instance. many whose credit has been compromised by a derogatory medical reference are unable to qualify for home loans.  With spiralling health costs, it’s no surprise that more adults are struggling to pay medical bills and are accumulating medical debt.

That’s the diagnosis. Now for the cure.

According to the Commonwealth Fund, an independent health care research group, the number of people reporting problems paying medical bills or having accumulated medical debts has been growing rapidly. Between 2005 and 2007, that number grew by 23 percent to 27 million adults, it reports.

“It’s already incredibly difficult for families to pay off the high cost of medical treatments for serious injuries and diseases,” said Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., one of several senators who introduced the Senate bill. “To add insult to injury, after families pay off their exorbitant medical debt, they continue to take a hit on their credit scores. This bill will give families a fair deal and ensure that their future financial transactions won’t be negatively affected by a bad credit score just because of past medical debt.”

Experts say that even one negative medical collection mark can drop a consumer’s credit score, potentially costing that consumer thousands of dollars in higher interest rates on home and automobile loans, credit cards and other revolving lines of credit.

Because many medical bills are submitted first to insurance companies, consumers often don’t learn that they’re responsible for a medical bill until they hear from a collection agency, by which time their credit score has already suffered.

As reported in the Dallas Morning News, the three national credit bureaus – Experian, TransUnion and Equifax – make no distinction between unpaid medical bills and any other delinquent bill. In their models for determining a person’s credit score, medical debt is treated like all other consumer debt.

That’s unfair because medical debt is unlike other debt. It’s often beyond the control of consumers. It’s not caused by poor money management and therefore doesn’t reflect a person’s creditworthiness. You don’t ask for a heart attack or to get into a serious accident.

The Dallas Morning News concludes that “no expenditure can hurl you toward financial ruin as quickly as medical bills. If you’ve paid off or settled your medical debt, your credit record should promptly reflect that, and it shouldn’t be used to portray you in the same unfavorable light as if you were a wild spender. Congress still needs to pass the legislation.”  What’s your opinion?

Buying life insurance is challenging for even the most motivated, according to MetLife, the largest U.S. life insurer. Of those people who say they will buy life insurance, research shows that more than 80% will fail in their attempt.

To steer clear of confusion, MetLife has come up with 10 simple tips that provide straight, sensible answers to common questions. So no matter where you end up buying, you’ll be prepared to make the best decision for your needs.

1.  Got Kids? You Need It! If you have children or people who depend on the money you earn, you need life insurance. Its primary purpose is to protect your income. Life insurance helps those you care about keep on living as they would if you were still earning a paycheck.

2. Replaces Your Paycheck. Basically, life insurance replaces your paycheck if you aren’t there to earn it. 60% of annual income times years to retirement is a quick way to estimate how much money that means over your working life.

3. Some is Better than None. Some life insurance is better than no life insurance. A good starting place is coverage equal to outstanding debt + 5 years of salary. Outstanding debt could include mortgage, car payments and student loans.

4.  Costs Less Than You Think. Life insurance is less expensive than you think. A healthy 35-year-old can pay as little as $30 a month for $500,000 of term coverage. Since life insurance does get more expensive as you get older, it may make sense to buy as much coverage you need while you’re young and healthy.

5. A Smart Move. Life insurance is a smart financial move. Spending 1% of your annual salary protects years of income. To get the amount of coverage MetLife recommends, you can expect to pay about 1% of your annual salary on the annual cost of term life insurance.

6. Double Check Your Work Coverage To Be Sure. Make sure you know how much life insurance you get at work. Buy additional coverage — through work or with a personal policy — to meet your unique needs.

7. Time Marches On. Life insurance needs change over time because of life events such as a new family member, a new job, a move or even a pay raise at work. Review your coverage annually.

8.  Term Is Easy. If you don’t have life insurance, term insurance is an easy and inexpensive way to get started. Because term life insurance runs out at the end of the term, use it to protect needs that you can anticipate such as paying off a mortgage or funding college for your children. Permanent life insurance may also be an appropriate component of your lifetime financial plan.

9.  Who You Buy From Matters. Life insurance is a guarantee. The financial strength and reputation of the company you buy it from matters. Ask around and do some research before you buy.

10. Get Good Advice. There is no substitute for good advice. The more you know about life insurance basics, the more control you have over deciding what’s right for you. To find out how much life insurance is right for you if you want death benefit protection and living benefits, or to leave a financial legacy, you need to talk to a professional like the friendly people at Efinancial.

We like that last piece of advice the best! Place a call or a click to Efinancial for a free life insurance rate quote today

One of the basic laws of economics is that there are price savings to be found when you buy in bulk. The same rule applies when there are a large number of people who combine their purchasing power to order a particular item at a “group rate.”   In the world of brick and mortar, it takes a warehouse membership store or a retailer the size of WalMart to stock items in sufficient quantity to keep prices low. But on the Net, where shelf space is virtually unlimited, all it takes is a crowd.

So far, most of the birds of the group-bargain-hunting feather have been flocking to sites like Groupon, LivingSocial, BuyWithMe, and SocialBuy. It’s hard to know which group buying site to check first for the best deals.

So the founders of LowerMyBills and Daily Strength have launched The DailyD to pull together the best group buying deals of the day for your city all in once place. In effect, Daily D is grouping the groupers of group buying specials. DailyD plans to make its money by geting an affiliate fee or commission for every person it refers who joins in a group buy. The site also plans to add on personalization and other features over time.

DailyD seeks to fill an organizing role in a highly fragmented market. Who ever thought so many people could become so excited over digital coupons? We guess everybody loves a good deal.

“Too many Americans assume they cannot purchase life insurance if they have been treated for a serious illness,” says Dr. Robert Pokorski, an internationally renowned medical underwriting expert, and Chief Medical Strategist for The Hartford Life Insurance Division. “But that assumption is often outdated and simply wrong. For example, many people who have been successfully treated for cancer and heart attacks have the same life expectancy as people their age who have been given a clean bill of health by their doctor.”

The Hartford itself became the first in the insurance industry to offer life insurance at standard rates to qualified women who have recovered from certain kinds of breast cancer and qualified men who have been successfully treated for prostate cancer.

Most insurers follow guidelines from the National Cancer Institute’s “Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results” (SEER) database. It provides reports on nearly three million cancer patients. Oncologists, doctors and medical researchers across the United States submit reports to the database, in which nameless patients are assigned a number. Insurance companies then access the information for underwriting purposes. Insurers can review patient demographics, morphology, diagnosis stages, first-course treatments, tumor locations and follow-up procedures.

In a number of cases, depending on your type of cancer, the life insurer may want to add a surcharge, also called a temporary flat extra. For example, American General sometimes charges temporary flat extras for two to five years depending on the applicant’s cancer and treatment.

The good news is that although these extra premiums cost more, they will automatically disappear after a set period of time.

To find out where you stand on life insurance after a bout with a serious illness, contact Efinancial for a free life insurance quote from America’s top life insurance companies.

According to LIFE, The Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education, we go to great lengths for our loved ones. We work hard to provide them with a life filled with happiness, comfort and opportunity. In fact, there’s almost nothing we wouldn’t do for our loved ones.

That’s where life insurance comes in. It can’t put your family’s life back to how it was, but it can keep your loved ones in the world they’ve always known. So if you think you need life insurance (or more than you currently have), now is the time to do something about it.

Watch these Cupid-on-the Street interviews on Love and Life Insurance.Then get a life insurance rate you will love at Efinancial by choosing the best life insurance rates from America’ top insurance companies