America’s Life Insurance Policies in Dwindling, Short Supply
byx 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 >>>
Back-to-School Savings that Make the Varsity Cut
byx 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.
Life Insurance M.I.A.? Service helps Locate a Missing Life Insurance Policy!
byx 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! >>>
Busting The Top 10 Insurance Myths (A Slide Show)
byx Efin Advisor | July 27, 2010
Call them rumors, fables or simply strangely-brewed factoids, it’s confounding how the plain facts about life insurance have fostered a mythology of misinformation. Today, the Internet has brought crystal clarity and straight-laced information to the subject of life insurance with resources like the Efinancial E-Learning Center and Life insurance Frequently Asked Questions. But not so very long ago, the soapy pitches that characterized life insurance sales were a hatchery for goose eggs like the Top 10 Insurance Myths that appear below.
Investopedia, a Forbes company, has produced a slide show of these myths with a capsule debunking of each, and a few useful links. A real hit-or-myth proposition
Myth No.1: I Don’t Need Coverage, I’m Single With No Dependents
What’s that? You’ll have no debts, medical or funeral bills? Are you sure?
Myth No.2: I Only Need Coverage Equal to Twice My Salary
See above, then add mortgage and family.
Myth No.3: My Term Life Insurance at Work Is Sufficient
Not for everyone. Did you include estate taxes, spouse and children?
Myth No.4: The Cost of My Premiums Will Be Deductible
Not unless the policyholder is self-employed and the coverage is used to insure the business.
Bust the Rest of the Top 10 Insurance Myths Inside! >>>
The “Social” Insurance Factor: Will Your Rates Change Based On Your “Tweets”?
byx Efin Advisor | July 8, 2010
A well-known “social media” analyst expects insurance companies to soon decide “You are what you Tweet!” then reward or penalize your online behavior with appropriate insurance rates and terms!
The research report on Social Media by the Altimeter Group predicts that insurance companies may use social data (in the not-too-distant future) to enhance their customer database. Just as today’s companies use previous purchasing behavior, demographics, psychographics and other studies, the researchers expect companies to take advantage of the social data that customers are providing to the public, in order to make better decisions.
Rewarding good drivers with lower rates is nothing new according to the researchers. Just look at Allstate’s advertising campaign. Insurance and healthcare companies want safe and healthy customers.
Social media is simply the most modern way that people are choosing to go public with their hobbies and lifestyles. Case in point: A Canadian woman who claimed medical disability, but was soon denied after the employer and insurance company discovered Facebook pictures of her on a beach.
Are You What You Tweet or Post to Facebook?
Here are three ways companies could influence rates based on social data according to Altimeter Group findings…
How Could Social Media Usage Affect Your Insurance Rates?
Efinancial…A Life Insurance Search Engine!
byx Efin Advisor | June 30, 2010
The Internet has been described as the greatest library of information the world has ever known, greater than the Great Library of Alexandria in Egypt or the U.S. Library of Congress. The only problem is the way the Internet is set up. All the volumes of information aren’t organized on book shelves where we can easily find them. They’re scattered all across the Web!
That is why search engines like Google, Yahoo, Ask, Wolfram Alpha and now Bing have become the “Table of Contents” for the Internet and the first stop for many Web surfers on the way to their “information destination.” Newcomer Bing has even decided to change its self-image from a Search Engine to a “Decision Engine.” Did you know that Bing’s new Entertainment “portal” lets you preview over 5 million songs and lyrics one time for free, plus more than 1500 TV shows and nearly 100 casual games that can be played online, without registration?
Where would we be today without search engines? Probably back in that Internet library buried in an avalanche of information without a a way of excavating it all.
When it comes to life insurance, Efinancial is the closest thing yet to an insurance search engine for finding the best rates and coverages by “querying” America’s top insurance companies and giving you back the most accurate “search results.” Depending on your parameters, Efinancial will apply its search savvy to :companies such as Transamerica Life Insurance Company, HSBC Insurance, MetLife, BannerLife, RBC Insurance, Genworth Financial, West Coast Life Insurance Company, ING, and Fidelity Life among others.
The advantages of a search engine, just like Efinancial’s search, is a huge savings in time. You find exactly what you need, quickly and efficiently, and without any pressure from third parties who want you to sell you a “favorite” product.
To start your search for a better financial future with Efinancial security behind you, you simply enter your age, height, weight and zip code into the Efinancial “search engine.” Then let Efinancial data miners put their technology to work for you and your family!
In just a few clicks, you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for!
Top 10 Technologies to Impact Life Insurance
byx Efin Advisor | June 3, 2010
It’s the 2010 Life Insurance World’s Fair and you are about to enter the New Technology Pavilion. Please keep your hands, arms and legs inside of the moving vehicle at all times and open your mind to the following:
The 10 technologies that will have the greatest impact on the insurance industry include:
Web Services: More life insurers are using Web services to become more flexible and agile, enabling them to better respond to changing market conditions.
Business Intelligence: More powerful analysis capabilities can aid life insurers in improved underwriting, better customer intelligence (including customer segmentation, life stage analysis and profitability metrics), and more-accurate management.
BPM Solutions: Life insurers have been using tools to help manage business processes for several years. Today, companies are focused on the improved automation of tasks, such as underwriting and case management. Business process management (BPM) holds promise for insurance, because it enables companies to model, analyze and test business processes with greater efficiency.
The High-Tech, High-Touch Future of Life insurance Starts Here >>>
The Funnier Side of Insurance
byx Efin Advisor | May 27, 2010
We all have a lot of stress in our lives right now, and we at Efinancial try and give you some ways to alleviate that stress (whether it’s with tools like our free insurance quote generator or through personal financial advice). One way of relieving stress is through laughter, so we thought that these stories and quotes from insurance claims may give you the necessary laugh to lift up your day
-A car owner asked to be compensated for whiplash, headaches and backaches even though he was sitting in a bar when his car was hit.
-A driver caught speeding actually put in a claim for a new watch. He insisted that if he had a new watch then he wouldn’t have been late and wouldn’t have to speed.
-One man tried to make a claim for the ink in his expensive pen after he filled out notes from an accident.
-A man got in a second auto accident in a one week period. The cause: he was waving to the person who he got in an accident with earlier in the week.
- Quote: “I knew the dog was possessive about the car but I would not have asked her to drive it if I had thought there was any risk.”
- Report: “Windshield broken. Cause unknown. Probably Voodoo.”
- Report: “The accident occurred when I was attempting to bring my car out of a skid by steering it into the other vehicle.”
Ready to Mobilize Your Money? Join the Early Adopters in the U.S.A. and Africa!
byx Efin Advisor | May 13, 2010
Mobile banking is poised to become the next express lane for fast and easy financial transactions, with the nearest on-ramp as close by as your cell phone. Forecasters predict that by 2015, 50% or more of US mobile users will be moving money over the airwaves from their handheld devices. How will it affect you?
Mobile banking is already offering a dramatic new level of convenience, the ability to check account balances, pay bills and transfer funds from the same device you carry along everywhere. The ultimate success of “mobile money” will hinge on several factors, including a not very steep learning curve, technical system compatibility and security concerns among them.
Consumers aged 18 to 25 are currently the biggest users of mobile banking services in the U.S. But mobile banking is also looming large on the global stage. The countries of Africa are some of the earliest adoptees of mobile money, in some cases where people have never had a bank account.
Moving money by cellphone is proving to be a godsend for rural families and migrant workers who can pay bills and transfer funds without the need to travel to financial institutions. In the country of Kenya, mobile money has reportedly boosted the incomes of rural households by 5 to 30 per cent.
Brian Richardson, co-founder and managing director of WIZZIT, a South African bank, recounted, ““Five years ago, when we launched, the big banks were not convinced that mobile banking would ever work,” said “In fact they said it wouldn’t work – they said nobody would make a payment on a cellphone when they had a perfectly good PC in front of them. Their mindset was really focused on their existing bank customers.”
After WIZZIT pioneered the technology, the banks caved in and created their own mobile banking services, which now have about five million customers in South Africa alone.
Financial Reform In Plain English
byx Efin Advisor | April 30, 2010
American taxpayers have learned to dislike the phrase “Too big to fail” almost as much as they have disliked bailing out any institution who fell into the extra large, oversized category.
So now that the debate over financial reform has finally begun in Washington, the new question is: “Can a bank regulation bill be ‘Too big to pass.”
