Thursday, September 30, 2010

Life Insurance Settlement Scams

Families opt for a life insurance policy to provide security against calamities such as death, fire, or accidents. Such deals prove to be a safe way of protecting individuals by agreeing upon a certain amount prefixed by the insurer that would be paid in case of such unfortunate events. Insurance companies assist bereaved families by providing moral, financial, and emotional support. Life insurance is purchased by working employees, and by senior citizens too.

It is possible that a policyholder may not be able to pay the premium fixed due to financial constraints. In this case he would be forced to sell his policies to companies for cash back at a fixed percentage. Some companies may not offer the amount expected by a policyholder. Other companies may agree to pay face value of the policy. An application form has to be filled that includes the medical and policy information to dissolve such a policy and claim compensation.

At times, major companies that invest in buying policies at a lower rate than the purchase value may acquire large sums offered by insurance companies at the time of maturity. Various lenders or brokers, who bid for higher rates, may pay the customers only half the value acquired.

Companies that buy such life insurance settlement policies are major investors who fund many transactions every year for a considerable amount of profit. These policies are held as portfolio assets rather than selling them to outside investors. Such policies are purchased from holders who are in desperate need of money. People may tend to sell their policies to companies without knowing if the company is legally recognized or not.

A policyholder has to consider all such drawbacks and avoid selling them to fraudulent companies who may reap profits over such deals and disappear.

Hence, before selling a policy, individuals are advised to consult lawyers who guide these people. It may prevent them from scams. Selling a life insurance settlement involves a lot of trust in the company. Hence, people need to read the prospect of the companies before taking such a major decision.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Understanding Supplemental Group Term Life Insurance

What is Supplemental Group Term Life Insurance?

Supplemental group term life insurance is an added benefit if you are already covered under a group policy through your employer. Usually group coverage is not as comprehensive as you may desire as policies are written according to what would benefit the group as a whole. As an individual with a family of your own, you may have different needs that are not covered through a group plan. If you find yourself in this position, buying a supplemental term life policy would be a wise decision.

An employee is eligible for supplemental term life insurance if he or she performs all of their regular duties on a full-time basis (check with your employer as some companies consider "full-time" as 17.5 hours or more while other companies require you work the full 40 hour weeks). Again, you must already be covered under your company's basic group term life insurance policy. Spouses and dependent children are also eligible for coverage if you buy a policy of your own.

What are the Benefits to Adding a Supplement?

There are a couple of benefits to purchasing supplemental term life insurance. The first is a waiver of premium. If you become completely disabled prior to your 65th birthday, the insurance company will continue to keep your policy intact and active until you become 65 years old. The stipulation is that your disability must last for nine consecutive months before the benefit can begin. If your disability continues indefinitely, the insurance company will not collect any further payments of premium from you. An individual is considered "totally disabled" when that individual is unable to work at any occupation collecting wages because of injury or illness. You must also provide proof of continuing disability annually.

A second benefit to taking out a supplemental term life insurance policy is the Accelerated Living benefit. If an individual is diagnosed with a terminal illness and given only 12 months or less to live, that individual may apply for a percentage of their combined basic group and supplemental term life insurance policies. The percentage is usually paid in a lump sum. Check with your carrier, as the benefit is usually 50% of the active face value amounts or $50,000.00, whichever is less. While an employee and their spouse are eligible for the accelerated living benefits, children of the employee are not. In most cases, coverage is portable -- which means you can take your coverage with you if you retire, reduce your hours or change jobs.

The only exclusion is the standard waiver of benefit payment should the employee or their spouse/dependents commit suicide within the first two years that the policy came into effect. Check with your carrier as in some states this exclusion applies to both sane and insane individuals while some states only the sane.

How Age Affects Your Policy

While premiums for supplemental term life insurance are literally just a couple to a few dollars per month, the rates are affected by age. The premium is based on attained age and then increases at various steps. You would have to check with your carrier for their specific criteria. Age 70 is a defining milestone for supplemental term life insurance policies.

Beginning at age 70, your coverage is reduced to 65% of original certificate face value.

Beginning at age 75, you coverage is reduced to 45% of original certificate face value.

Beginning at age 80, your coverage is reduced to 30% of original certificate face value.

One thing to keep in mind is that spousal coverage terminates at age 70. If the premiums are current, your spouse may choose to convert their individual coverage to a term life insurance policy of their own. Your dependents may also choose to convert their policies after their dependent status expires. They can obtain term life insurance policies in the amount of $25,000.00 or $50,000.00.

Supplemental term life insurance is a wonderful benefit as you can give your family an additional benefit of up to $270,000.00.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Becoming an Insurance Agent

The Insurance sector has seen a major growth in the recent times, opportunities in this field seem endless with the increasing population. If you are looking to become an agent then, You need to be a good salesperson with an outgoing personality. By keeping yourself updated on any changes in the insurance industry you can refine and define your sales pitch.
For starters we live in an age of when mother earth is fighting back humans through endless hurricanes, rain at unexpected places, drought in traditionally evergreen areas. It has never been a better time to help people ensure their financial well being by responsibly insuring their life and property. By becoming an Insurance agent you are not only entering a lucrative profession but you are helping the under priviledged and less informed folks out there who are in need of some heavy selling of the benefits of insurance.

You can either enter this as a part time or become dedicated to this profession. You can obtain highly respected designation of Chartered Property or Casualty Underwriter after having considerable experience as an agent by taking intensive courses and examinations. It is a very prestigious title, which involves reading applications that are submitted by the agents to determine whether the agency should accept the risk presented by the client. Since this is a starter's edition we just dive back to the basics.

Who is an Insurance agent? - An insurance agent is a representative of an insurance company who sells insurance policies to third parties. They sell different types of insurance policies, for a single insurance company, in return for a commission. Depending on the type of work they perform they are paid a salary, a salary plus commission, or only commission. He is also called an insurance broker in some instances and may work with different companies depending on their area of expertise and coverage.

Some of the basic Job Responsibilities of an insurance agent

His / her job his is to find local doable customers to determine their needs and help them in getting insured.
Delivering the insurance policy to the respective customers upon approval and collect the premium amount; in return for which they get a certain amount of commission by the insurance company.
He may sell individual policies for home, life, car and medical insurance.
Negotiate the new terms with the insurance company.
Help the insured customers to get their insurance claim in case of any natural disaster occurs.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Things To Know About Insurance Companies

There are many different types of insurance and just as many choices in types of insurance companies. Whatever you may need to have insured can be covered by some type of policy and there are also companies that will tailor a policy for one time special events. Here are some other things you might need to know about the types of insurance.

Anyone who has ever borrowed money to buy an automobile knows about auto insurance. These policies provide coverage against liability, fire, theft, and collision, as well as certain medical coverages which apply in the event of an accident where either passengers in your car are injured or any people at the scene who may get injured.

Homeowners and renters can find a company to write coverage for liability, fire, theft and water damage to your homes. These policies offer different types of coverage and may even include protection from tornado and high winds. Roof and basement damage can be covered as well as certain claims for landscaping.

Business owners have the need to be protected against fire, theft and liability, as well as provide health care insurance for their employees. A business policy can also cover high risk and certain special events that might not fall under the conditions of their normal business insurance policy.

Many people are now taking out insurance policies on their pets. These policies may cover anything from vet visits to such horrible things as the pet being stolen. Check with a good insurance agent to find out more about how to cover your pets with some affordable insurance coverage.

Airplanes, motorcycles, boats, RVs and Traveling can also have insurance coverage at affordable prices. Insurance companies are in business to provide coverage for anything you wish to insure. Just check with a reputable insurance agent to find out what your options are and then select the policy that is best for your needs.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

What Your Life Insurance Company Doesn't Want You to Know About Life Insurance Company Performance!

Does the investment performance of your life insurance company really matter? The answer is simple, yes and no.

The reason people ask this question is often because they are being told by that the life insurance company where they already have a policy or the life insurance company they are considering buying a policy from is not performing as well as the one the representative they are talking to is trying to get them to buy a life insurance policy from.

The truth is that if the life insurance company is a well established one such as Prudential, New York Life, Mass Mutual and any of 2,000 or more companies the names of which are familiar to everyone are performing just fine and passing the benefits along to their policyholders.

Think about it, these companies compete with one another just like their agents compete with each other. There are certain life insurance policies that one company has more experience providing that another and as a result is likely to have better results with them and pass those results along to its policy holders. There are certain types of professions and businesses they some life insurance companies are better at serving than their competitors, with perhaps better returns or lower premiums for their insureds.

But when you die they will all pay the claim and the differences in premiums and returns of investment will be quickly forgotten. It is the protection at the moment of death that you are buying the insurance for, not its investment potential remember.

Of course if the life insurance policy and its annual premiums are very large, the performance of the life insurance company can make a big difference in terms of return on the premiums paid, no doubt about it. Maybe so large in fact that the effective amount of money you are paying dramatically decrease and you can use the resulting savings to buy more life insurance.

No matter how much you already bought it was not enough to come close to replacing your economic life value and you know it.

In the old days when you were going to buy a car you would visit a dealership that sells a single kind of car, one with the features and benefits you were looking for. If you could not get together on the cost you would drive across town to another dealer of the same kind of car to haggle over the price - the features and benefits had already been established.

The second dealer would attempt to beat the first dealer's price or renegotiate the accessories in a way to get a compromise between features and cost. Now car dealers offer a wider range of brands, types, models, with an unlimited variety and combination of accessories. The decision making process did not get easier. In fact buying a new car or pickup becomes like a part time job, with people spending hours online after seeing the latest TV commercials, getting online quotes and bids, and then weekend after week end going from dealership to dealership.

Of all the questions they ask when looking for a new car or truck they would never think to ask about the performance of the car manufacturer. General Motors is in bankruptcy, or not and Ford Inc. is having incredible financial challenges with the failure of some of its ventures. But nothing any financial analyst or anybody is going to deter you from buying a new Ford S 150 if that's what you want.

The same is true of life insurance company performance. Among the established traditional life insurance companies there is a difference between their performance. Some have better investment portfolios, some are still working themselves out of past poor decisions, some specialize in more profitable markets, and some are more inclined than others to reward their stockholders more than their policy holders.

How can you sort this all out? How can you get to the bottom of the issue of life insurance company performance? How can you negotiate with an insurance company with hundreds of policy plans and accessories to offer? The simple answer is that you can't.

The best solution when it comes to life insurance, when you are concerned about a certain life insurance company's past present or future financial performance is to connect with a trusted life insurance professional, someone with the respect of a friend or fellow business owner whose opinions you value the most.

Talk to the recommended life insurance agent to find out if they have had experience working with other people like you - same job, same business, same industry, same profession as you. People you naturally identify with.

You might find that the best people to ask for the name of this highly trusted and respected life insurance professional are members of your peer group. Peer groups provide us all with access to the collective brains and experiences of people like us - people who have no financial stake in the advice and help they give you any more than you do it the advice and council you provide them.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

3/16/10: White House Press Briefing

White House Press Briefings are conducted most weekdays from the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room in the West Wing.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oepR5oPMIc4&hl=en

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Life and Income Protection Insurance - Make Sure you are Covered!

Despite popular perceptions, people working in stress-related jobs do not have to pay higher premiums for their life insurance as there is no evidence to suggest that their life expectancy is affected by their job. However, in terms of income protection insurance those in high-stress jobs are more likely to pay loaded premiums, according to Kieran Platt, co-founder of Life Direct and an independent financial adviser.

Rather than stress levels, it is the exposure to danger that drives up life insurance premiums. For example, a soldier due to serve a tour of duty in Iran or Afghanistan will find that his or her premiums will significantly increase, or cover may be withdrawn altogether. Workers who are employed as electricians will not have loaded premiums unless they are constantly working at high altitude, such as repairing pylon cables. As far as the insurance industry is concerned, the loading of premiums is in direct relation to the risks involved to the individual performing that job and not to level of stress endured.

However, more surprising than the fact that stress-related jobs do not attract loaded life premiums is the news that so many people have no life insurance whatsoever. Research carried out by life insurance firm Bright Grey found that one in three families in the UK do not have any form of life insurance cover and even less have critical illness and income protection cover meaning that many families could be exposed to financial hardship in the event of an accident or death of a major earner. A prolonged illness or a major accident involving the prime earner could especially impact on a family's finances, and leave them unable to meet their commitments. Even though they may have critical illness cover the chances are they will not be covered for accidents or major illnesses that are not considered life-threatening. This risk is particularly relevant to those who are self-employed as prolonged illness could destroy their business and cause them serious financial hardship.

Even if you are not self-employed it is financially prudent to ensure that you have adequate life assurance or insurance, depending upon your circumstances. Remember though to always ensure you adequately compare life insurance, critical illness insurance and any other insurance policies that are relevant to your circumstances. It is always best to get the advice of an independent financial advisor (IFA), who can accurately assess your circumstances and ensure the products that you buy are relevant to you, and are not sold inappropriately. If you belong to the 33% of the UK population that have no life insurance, then you should seriously consider contacting an IFA now.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Top 10 Most Common Insurance Scams by Individuals

Insurance scams by individuals against insurance companies are becoming common practice just as it is common practice for them getting caught in their illegal endeavors. Since there are many types of insurance in both the United States and Canada, there are many different types of insurance scams that exist from Worker's Comp scams to car insurance scams. In the end, these scams cost the individuals who are playing fair more in insurance than what they should have to pay. Below you will find the top 10 most common insurance scams by individuals.

Car Insurance (scams 1-6)

Car insurance accident scams may just be the most common of them all and there are actually more of them. These scams include:

o The paper accident - The criminal solicits an auto repair or salvage company to participate in an accident that only exists on paper

o Fictitious hit and run - The hit and run never happened

o The Swoop and Swat technique - When the criminal swoops in front of another car and stops while an accomplice pulls to the side of the target car, keeping it from swerving out of the way.

o The almighty sideswipe - This one occurs at turn lanes and intersections. The criminal takes multiple left turns to eventually end up in the targets lane.

o The friendly wave -The criminal waves at the victim to let them in front of them in heavy traffic and then quickly accelerates to have a collision.

Another but more subtle scam that is perpetrated by individuals is the "primary driver" scam. There are times in which an individual in a household may be cheaper on the insurance of a particular car. So instead of the actual primary driver being listed as the primary driver, the one who will be easier on the wallet is listed as the primary driver.

Life Insurance (scams 7 and 8)

This may seem like something from a lifetime movie, but unfortunately it does happen in real life. A spouse takes out a life insurance policy on the other and then they put antifreeze in their coffee to poison them or something so that they can collect on the life insurance money. Fortunately, the perpetrator gets caught most of the time, but it still doesn't keep those who feel that, "I'll never get caught" from trying.

Lying on life insurance applications is a scam in itself. Individuals are required to fill out certain pieces of information on the insurance application that can influence the price of it, which can actually hurt the perpetrator more than help them. Sure, it helps their pocket, but if it is found that the application was falsified in any way, coverage may not be awarded to beneficiaries.

Worker's Compensation (scam 9)

Worker's Compensation is meant to help someone who has been injured on the job. Sometimes someone drawing Worker's Compensation may lie to their doctor or get the doctor in on it with them so that they may draw benefits longer without having to go back to work. Unfortunately, this practice is all too common and costs lots of money.

Health insurance (scam 10)

Health insurance tends to not be as common a target as those previously mentioned, but it is certainly not out of the question. One scam is the offering of phony health insurance. An individual or group of individuals will call unsuspecting people to offer them health coverage to only receive nothing. The next thing they know they are calling the actual insurance company and there is no record of coverage.

So these are some of the most common scams perpetrated against the different branches of insurance. Some get away with the most subtle of offenses, but the more severe the crime the more likely they are to do time for it. That's why it is better to be honest than not even chance trying to illegally obtain money through insurance scams.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Liberty Mutual Ad (1st edition): "Half Acre"

DOWNLOAD THIS VIDEO USING THESE LINKS. MPEG: www.sendspace.com MOV: www.sendspace.com AVI: www.sendspace.com The first in the "good deeds" series of television commercial for Liberty Mutual produced by advertising agency Hill Holliday. It features strangers doing good deeds for strangers, which inspires onlookers to do the same. The song is "Half Acre," by Hem. It's on their 2002 album "Rabbit Songs." More information about the band can be found at their MySpace page here: www.myspace.com View the second edition of the ad here: www.youtube.com Source: www.hhcc.com



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMwoexR1evo&hl=en

Monday, September 20, 2010

SHAME ON YOU: Rep. Speier To You Mr. Sullivan,. Chairman Waxman's Eric R. Dinallo, Superintendent, NY State Insurance Dept, Lynn E. Turner, arch accountant, Securities Exchange Commission Robert B. Willumstad, CEO, Martin J. Sullivan, CEO, AIG

Obaid Karki An Outcast Underdog Libertarian Diogenesist Kabbalist Spinoziste Qutbist Pantheon Hexalingual Automath Former UAE Under Secretary Independent Street-Knowledge Urban Talking-head. Unaffiliated to a State, an Organized Religion Group, a Sect or a Kin and an Anti Tribal Gentile. Every phrase is an earnest verdict. Thats my bio. If you dont agree with me thats an honor. It is immoral to appease to please. My word hurts big time because it is quality of a moment of truth US Conspiracism is a Grassroot Religion alas belief masterminded by the Establishment to Worthy the Worthless. This in-thing is sold as Partisanship to the Unemployables for free. Its the Disneyfication of the Mass to glorify a Legacy of Ghosts as Rothchild, Bilderberg, English royalty etc. Neither Mainstream Media & nor Hollywood or the Publisher's Clan would be outsourced to such task simply because they are assigned to edutain the Untalentable Aristocrat Urban Parasites. AIG American International Group, Inc. (NYSE) Google Finance Yahoo Finance MSN Money AOL Finance CNN Money Reuters 3.51 0.36 ( 9.30%) 7 Oct 4:00pm ET Open: 4.22 High: 4.22 Low: 3.51 Volume: 90285327 Avg Vol: 218654000 Mkt Cap: 9.44B Disclaimer After Hours: 3.54 +0.03 (0.85%) 7 Oct 7:59pm ET Crisis strengthens Manulife's hand in AIG bid Manulife and other insurers are expected to bid for AIG divisions as early as this week, they said. The American insurance giant is under pressure to sell Former AIG Executives Get Harsh Criticism ...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK4_rDGEXZs&hl=en

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Health & Education

Health is wealth. The old saw that has never lost its teeth. How can we misconstrue fiat money as more valuable, more important to our well being than well being? Education is to the nation as health is to the individual. Without health, none of life's pleasures can be tasted by man. Without education, none of life's bounty can be enjoyed by society. If we succeed at procreation, but fail at education, what have we? Nature appears to favor those organisms which leave the environment in better shape for their progeny to survive. As we perch atop the food chain, responsible in part for the largest mass extinction in sixty five million years, are we to imagine we enjoy nature's favor? We would not speak to you so bluntly, so frankly, were not time a factor, a critical factor in each and every case mentioned. The race between entropy and ecstasy is well and truly joined. The facile observance would suggest entropy is ahead and pulling away – a conclusion that we, as optimists refute vigorously. As the Chinese say, all auspicious signs are present in abundance and we of the National Optimists persuasion reiterate, as we have always done, that solutions, ideal solutions exist for each and every challenge we face. But our time to act is now. Our window of opportunity is open, but not indefinitely. We encourage our leaders to lead, forcefully, with principled intent and with our mutual betterment at heart. When they fail to do so, it is our civic responsibility to not only say so ...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rokrm2YRrZM&hl=en

Friday, September 17, 2010

Online Mortgage Life Insurance

Mortgage life insurance protects the family of the borrower against the danger of losing the home due to non-payment in case of the borrowers' death. Mortgage life insurance offers peace of mind to the lenders as well as the borrowers since the mortgage will be repaid, no matter what. It is possible for borrowers to obtain mortgage life insurance online.

There are a number of mortgage lenders online who not only provide mortgage but also mortgage life insurance online. There are many Web sites that allow customers to compare mortgage life insurance rates of the different companies at the same time. This process saves a lot of time, effort and money of the customers. It also allows customers to compare and contrast various mortgage life insurance options to find one that best suits their needs.

Online mortgage life insurance includes two major types of insurance options. They are decreasing term insurance and level term insurance. Decreasing term insurance is for the mortgage borrowers who have taken a repayment mortgage loan. As the balance on the mortgage decreases, the sum of life insurance cover also decreases. Level term insurance is especially designed for borrowers who have an interest only mortgage. Terminal illness benefit guards the borrower against the risk of losing his home, if the payment is not made due to loss of income. Critical illness is additional coverage can be taken as it ensures a payout of the sum of the coverage in case of a critical illness.

The family's emotional as well as financial loss is already a lot to cope with. The worry about how to keep the house as well gets a little too much for the individual. Therefore, borrowers take a mortgage life insurance as the balance mortgage amount is paid by the insurance company.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Davos Annual Meeting 2009 - Gaza: The Case for Middle East Peace

www.weforum.org 29.01.2009 Gaza The Case for Middle East Peace The uncertainty and complexity surrounding the crisis in Gaza have captured the attention of the world. What needs to be done to prevent the Middle East peace process from slipping away yet again? Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General, United Nations, New York Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister of Turkey Amre Moussa, Secretary-General, League of Arab States, Cairo Shimon Peres, President of Israel Chaired by David Ignatius, Associate Editor and Columnist, The Washington Post, USA



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cR4zRbPy2kY&hl=en

Monday, September 13, 2010

SHAME ON YOU: Rep. Speier To You Mr. Sullivan,. Chairman Waxman's Eric R. Dinallo, Superintendent, NY State Insurance Dept, Lynn E. Turner, arch accountant, Securities Exchange Commission Robert B. Willumstad, CEO, Martin J. Sullivan, CEO, AIG

Obaid Karki An Outcast Underdog Libertarian Diogenesist Kabbalist Spinoziste Qutbist Pantheon Hexalingual Automath Former UAE Under Secretary Independent Street-Knowledge Urban Talking-head. Unaffiliated to a State, an Organized Religion Group, a Sect or a Kin and an Anti Tribal Gentile. Every phrase is an earnest verdict. Thats my bio. If you dont agree with me thats an honor. It is immoral to appease to please. My word hurts big time because it is quality of a moment of truth US Conspiracism is a Grassroot Religion alas belief masterminded by the Establishment to Worthy the Worthless. This in-thing is sold as Partisanship to the Unemployables for free. Its the Disneyfication of the Mass to glorify a Legacy of Ghosts as Rothchild, Bilderberg, English royalty etc. Neither Mainstream Media & nor Hollywood or the Publisher's Clan would be outsourced to such task simply because they are assigned to edutain the Untalentable Aristocrat Urban Parasites. AIG American International Group, Inc. (NYSE) Google Finance Yahoo Finance MSN Money AOL Finance CNN Money Reuters 3.51 0.36 ( 9.30%) 7 Oct 4:00pm ET Open: 4.22 High: 4.22 Low: 3.51 Volume: 90285327 Avg Vol: 218654000 Mkt Cap: 9.44B Disclaimer After Hours: 3.54 +0.03 (0.85%) 7 Oct 7:59pm ET Crisis strengthens Manulife's hand in AIG bid Manulife and other insurers are expected to bid for AIG divisions as early as this week, they said. The American insurance giant is under pressure to sell Former AIG Executives Get Harsh Criticism ...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK4_rDGEXZs&hl=en

Friday, September 10, 2010

Insurance Companies Listings and Ratings Guide For Insurance Agents & Brokers

Here is the newest, revised version of the best insurance companies listings. These are compiled in a top 100 ratings guide format. The listings are in alphabetical order helping insurance agents & brokers locate an insurer. Find out how your opinion compares. How can you possibly rate an insurance company? I will mention briefly the various ways, show you the method I is used for this article, and why.

BY NUMBER OF AGENTS

This ratings guide listing method evaluates the insurer by the sheer number of insurance agents & brokers currently licensed and under contract. with carrier. I feel this evaluation to be worthless for a multitude of reasons. First of all there are a number of career health and life insurance agencies that have thousands of representatives. However, of these,up to 80% of the total agents are relatively new in attempting to establish credibility in the industry. Four years down the line only 6% of many an insurance company agency force will maintain enough production to stay career representatives.

Moreover, my findings uncover inaccuracy of this method due to licensing renewal process state insurance departments impose on the insurer. Most state departments of insurance send the renewal report forms on a yearly basis. There is a fee to be paid by each ins agent renewed. What makes it difficult is the variation of different paperwork procedures by individual states for removing non-active ins reps. The paperwork consists of costly, time consuming forms and procedures for the insurance company to make any changes. Renewing all the sales representatives is often cheaper, and thus the route the insurer frequently takes. This also gives the insurance company bragging rights to how many sales people write for them.

Personally I was shown in state insurance department records as licensed for 11 years after I wrote my last case.

INSURANCE CO FINANCIAL RANKING LISTINGS
There are four or five top independent firms that employ this insurer rating of a company based on a multitude of financial factors. A lot has to do with projecting the financial stability of the insurer. This is accomplished by closely dissecting past and present financial history. It covers how the insurer investments perform, and the rate of return. An insurance evaluation also takes in consideration the amount of cash on hand, and how much exists in reserves to pay present and future claims.

There is a consensus among life insurance association members into believing that the highest rated insurers are the best of the bunch. Yet association members make up less than 12% of the total producer base. The other insurance agents and brokers, (the majority), do not agree that these are always the best ones to use for their client's needs. Logic tells you that a newer quality insurer does not have past history to start out top ranked. In my situation, clients bought what I presented them. Nearly half the time it was NOT the highest rated company by the rating firms. I however sold the client what their emotional needs demanded. Many past insurance companies with rankings in the best 100 later financially failed, and still frequently do in today's world.

BY RANKING OF PREMIUMS COLLECTED

This is a very common type of insurance company listing & ranking to produce. Insurance companies are rated by total number of premiums they collected that year. It seems rather unfair to mix annuity premiums in with all dollars collected. Producers know it is easier to sell a $20,000 annuity than a $20,000 premium term insurance policy. The other fault I find with using total premiums collected is with who actually contributed a chunk of the premiums collected. With some companies an enormous amount of these premiums were not collected by the average sales person. A lot of institutional buyers directly bought hundreds of thousands of dollars of annuity premiums.

BY RATINGS IMPORTANT TO HEALTH & LIFE SELLERS

This is my way. As fair and balanced from an sales representative perspective as feasible. Premiums are collected from the 1,500,000 agents, trying to make a living by selling insurance policies in this industry. Often these sales are done one by one. Plus, of this 450,00 independent brokers, semi-independent agents and some career reps write, depending on which company, 50% to 100% of that insurance co business.

This rankings method is imposed because I find the insurance companies listing is intended to be a beneficial directory. One that independent brokers, semi-independent representatives, along with some career reps can turn to. This is a guide directory to other insurers that you may consider writing production for.

The insurance companies listing and ratings guide to the top 100 is purposely placed in alphabetical order instead of by premium or financial data. You may not agree completely with the listing, because we have left in some companies with a strong percentage of business sold in annuities, and investment products.

In the eyes of a typical health and life broker, this guide is of health and life insurance companies is about as accurate as possible.

1. Aetna 2. AIG Life Insurance Company** 3. Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America 4. American Family Life Assurance Co of Columbus 5. American Fidelity Assurance Company 6. American General Life and Accident INS Co** 7. American General Life Insurance Co** 8. American Income 9. American Memorial 10. American National Life 11. Americo Financial Life And Annuity 12. Anthem Blue Cross 13 Aurora National Assurance 14 Aviva Life and Annuity Company 15. AXA Equitable 16.Bankers Life and Casualty Company 17. Banner 18. Beneficial Life 19. C.M. Life Ins 20. Colonial Life & Accident 21. Columbus Life 22. Conseco Life 23. Farmers New World 24. First-Penn Pacific 25.Forethought 26. General American 27. Genworth 28. Gerber 29. Great American 30. Great-West Life & Annuity 31. Guardian 32. Hartford Life and Accident Ins Company 33. Hartford 34. Homesteaders 35. Indianapolis Life 36. ING 37. Jackson National 38. John Hancock 39. John Hancock Life Insurance Company USA 40.. Kansas City Life 41.. Lafayette 42.. Liberty Life Assurance Co of Boston 43.. Liberty National 44.. Life Ins Company of North America 45. Life Ins Company of the Southwest 46. Life Investors Ins Co of America 47. Lincoln Benefit 48. Lincoln Heritage 49. Lincoln National 50. Massachusetts Mutual 51. Metropolitan 52. Midland National 53. Minnesota Life 54. Monumental Life 55. MONY - America 56. MONY - New York 57. National Guardian 58. National Life 59. New England Life 60. New York Life Ins and Annuity Corporation 61. New York Life 62. North American Co for Life & Health Ins. 63. Northwestern Mutual 64. Ohio National Life 65. OM Financial 66. Pacific Life 67. Penn Mutual 68. Phoenix Life Ins 69. Primerica 70. Principal 71. Protective 72. Provident Life and Accident 73. Pruco 74. Prudential - America 75. Reassure America 76. Reliance Standard 77. ReliaStar 78. Riversource 79. Security Life of Denver y 80. Standard 81. Stonebridge 82. Sun Life and Health 83. Sunset 84. Surety 85. Symetra 86. Transamerica 87. Transamerica Occidental 88. Trustmark 89. U.S. Financial 90. Union Central 91. Union Security 92. United Healthcare 93. United Ins Company of America 94. United Investors 95. United of Omaha 96. United States Life 97. Unum 98. West Coast 99. Western and Southern Life 100. Western Reserve Life Assurance Co of Ohio Note: Sagicor Life, Foresters, and Illinois Mutual should appear on the bottom 3 listings, replacing the companies listed above as #6, 2, and 7.

**AIG Life Insurance Company, American General Life, American General Life and Casualty Comments

This group of companies USED to be one the highest premium generating, and highest ranked insurance companies in the United States. Still, after two massive Federal Bailouts, the future is uncertain. Therefore, AIG Life is no longer deserving of being on this top 100 list guide.

GUIDE TO QUESTIONABLE LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY LISTINGS

The following insurance companies listings often could be included in different types of some top 100 Life ins company rankings IF you were evaluating premiums written. Sometimes the premiums consist of considerable amounts of annuity premiums. Also counted in would be insurers where a large portion of sales do not come from representatives and sales people. Instead it is written by security stock brokerage firms, and independent broker-dealers of variable investment contracts not governed by insurance departments. In other cases, products may be directly strictly toward teachers, the military, or credit unions. In a couple cases, there are companies with pending litigation. A representation of this mix of insurers is listed below:

1. Cuna Mutual 2. Genworth Life and Annuity 3. Harford Life and Annuity y 4. John Hancock Variable Life 5. Mayflower National 6. Metlife - Connecticut 7. Metlife Investors USA 8. MML Bay State 9. Nationwide 10. Nationwide Life & Annuity 11. NYLife of AZ 12. PHL Variable 13. Sun Life Assurance Co of Canada 14. Teachers Ins and Annuity Assoc of America 15. USAA 16. Shenandoah -- financial difficulties

There is a grand total of over 600 Licensed Life/Health Companies "active" in every state of the United States. However, some are not currently writing new business. In addition, there are many active in only one or a few states, so you will find them missing from the top insurance company listings. Most states have a true actual listing count of 220 to 330 life and health home offices currently accepting new cases from licensed agents & brokers.

Advisor's predition. If I choose from the provider listings above, Foresters would be my top pick as the next rising star. Its innovative niche products are starting to create a high demand. Also watch Genworth, its stock value has zoomed and the company is very adaptive to market opportunities.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Mass mutual life insurance company

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company


Founded in 1851, Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) is a leading mutual life insurance company that is run for the benefit of its members and participating policyholders. The company has a long history of financial strength and strong performance, and although dividends are not guaranteed, MassMutual has paid dividends to eligible participating policyholders every year since the 1860s.