Life Insurance
A popular misconception about life insurance planning is that it’s about ensuring others (your policy beneficiaries) enjoy the fruits of your insurance once you’ve passed. While that is just one aspect of planning for the inevitable, if executed properly, life insurance planning can offer multiple benefits – even as you live to enjoy them!
Why Life Insurance Planning Is Important For Individuals & Families
Death benefits pay-out for survivors is only one aspect of life insurance. If the policyholder passes, the policy’s cash value can help young families meet their financial needs or even help pay off a mortgage. However, there are other facets of life insurance that are equally important.
Most life insurance products allow policyholders to tap into funds as the value of their policy grows over time. If you are looking for tax-deferred gains, a life insurance policy offers that because you are only taxed once you withdraw the money from your policy. With the right life insurance planning strategy, your policy can provide your beneficiaries with a great source of tax-free wealth transfer.
In retirement, a well-planned life insurance strategy can generate additional retirement income or even provide other living health care benefits in your old age.
What We Can Do For You
Not every life insurance policy provides you with all of these benefits. Our experienced Life Insurance Planning specialists will discuss your needs in detail and customize a life insurance plan that meets those specific goals.
Some of the life insurance planning tools and products available to our advisors include:
- Term Life Insurance: If you have a specific time horizon over which you need protection, then Term Life Insurance policies are worth considering. These policies are designed to provide short to medium-term coverage at an affordable cost. For instance, if you have young children whom you wish to provide for until they are older – say 15 to 20 years – or if you have an unpaid mortgage that you want your family to pay off in the event of your untimely passing, then a Term Life policy is worth considering
- Permanent Life Insurance: Permanent life policies provide insurance protection for life and are a great way to grow the value of your policy. The enhanced cash value might then be tapped subsequently to meet future needs, such as funding the college/university education of a child or creating an additional retirement income stream
- Participating (or Whole) Life Insurance: Depending on your investment goals, our insurance advisory team might recommend a Participating Life Insurance product for you. With these products, your policy's cash value and death benefit payout can experience tax-advantaged growth. You might also be eligible to borrow tax-free funds (for any purpose you might deem fit) against the cash value of your policy
- Universal Life Insurance: If you are searching for higher savings and earnings potential from your life insurance policy, then Universal Life Insurance might be what our advisers recommend. These policies also offer great flexibility, as the amount insured can be changed, and premiums can be adjusted (increased, deferred, decreased) while enabling policyholders also to withdraw part of the cash value
- Variable Life Insurance: A Variable Life Insurance product might be needed if you want to leverage stock market performance through your insurance policy. They allow policyholders to invest their cash value in various insurer-recommended stocks, bonds, money-market funds, and other investment products. Our insurance specialists will make you aware of all the risks and opportunities associated with a variable insurance product
- Long-Term Care Insurance: Long-Term Care (LTC) insurance intends to replace income and cover medical expenses if you need professional medical attention at home or in a designated facility for an extended period. The overall wealth effect on a family from a nursing home stay can be significant. This is an essential component of a comprehensive financial plan for most households. Because a health event can seriously impact your family’s finances, the financial risks of unforeseen events, such as disability or prolonged illness that could require some level of long-term care, are essential. Our team can help you to understand the amount and types of insurance to be considered.
Our team will help you gain an understanding of the following:
- Different benefit types: Such as skilled nursing home or home health care
- Benefit period and amounts: Some policies provide benefits for a stated period, compared to a specified benefit amount used over time.
- Benefit-sharing: Some policies allow for a sharing of benefits between policies
- Taxation of benefits: Some policies allow premiums to be tax deductible or have tax-free benefits. Our team can help you understand these policies’ differences and which alternative better meets your needs.
- Medicare Insurance: Navigating options for Medicare insurance coverage can be a daunting task. Whether you have to decide between the different Medicare plans, when, or how to sign up, let our experts help you understand your choices.
*The cost and availability of life insurance depend on factors such as age, health, and the type and amount of insurance purchased. Before implementing a life insurance strategy, ensure that you are insurable by having the policy approved. As with most financial decisions, expenses are associated with life insurance. Policies commonly have mortality and expense charges. In addition, if a policy is surrendered prematurely, there may be surrender charges and income tax implications.
