Posts Tagged ‘elder care’

Service Repair Contracts For Stairlifts Do You Need One

Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010

You just received a friendly phone call from your stairlift company explaining your guarantee warranty is about to expire and why you need to take out the optional maintenance service protection plan. If you are not covered by a Maintenance / Repair Cover Plan repair bills can be both inconvenient and costly.

Replacing broken or worn parts on your stairlift can be very expensive often exceeding the cost of a Service Maintenance Contract and no guarantee a company will offer to send a call-out engineer to someone who is not on their system.

How much do they cost! Annual stairlift maintenance contracts start at around (250-500) Ballpark figure The lower price insurance packages will only give you basic limited cover. You will need to pay for the engineers call-out, parts and labour costs.

If you do not have a service contract then you really need to read the next few paragraphs. Some companies charge you for traveling time. If you do not have a contract with the company you engage the services of make sure you ask if they charge for the engineers traveling time.

If there not a local company and the engineer spends two hours travelling time to reach you? That’s a hefty bill! Average call-out price (80 per hour x 2 =160) and he hasn’t even arrived yet. That’s only half of it good possibility you will get stung for the two hour return trip as well 80 x 4 =320 smackers.

Most companies offer a range of maintenance service contracts rated by stars or colours. Obviously the more stars or metallic of colour the higher the price but more benefits and cover you receive. All contracts should include an annual service of your stairlift.

I personally would recommend that you take some type of protection cover out on your stairlift unless you have very deep pockets. In fact it would be wise to use the company you originally purchased the product from. Other companies might not have the service parts required to complete the service or repair.

In my next article I will explain what you actually get for your money when an engineer arrives to carry out an annual service of your stairlift. Keep your eyes peeled out for that one some good info to be had.

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Life Insurance Choices For Senior Citizens

Friday, May 28th, 2010

Are you surprised to find out that older people lack a life policy?

Maybe some people just never really felt any sense of mortality until they passed fifty, but I think most people had other reasons. Some of us had life insurance through our jobs, but it did not follow us when we retired or changed jobs. Others did take out term life insurance policy to protect their families or pay off a mortgage. Then that term life insurance expired, and those people realized they had no coverage at all, but their savings were still not sufficient to take care of all obligations if they passed away. They could still carry debts, or perhaps offspring had not yet become as self sufficient as expected. Other people realize that they might give their families a tax advantage if they pass on money through a life insurance plan, rather than just leaving them money. Others want to protect their business if they pass away, or be able to allow a partner to buy out their portion of a business from other family members.

The reaons that an older person matter, but what is really important is that seniors can find a variety of products that are being marketed to them today. The top insurers recognize this growing demand, and they are responding with products that will answer this need. Rates will be higher than they would be for a 50 year old, but maybe not shockingly so.

There are many things that a senior can do to keep premiums lower too. Good health habits are one key. Insurers usually offer the best rates to people who do not smoke, and who keep themselves fit. Many seniors have lived for many years because they have adopted good health habits. They may also take care of their financial life. Many top insurers look into credit reports too.

Lower face values can also hold down premiums. If an older person only needs ten or twenty thousand dollars worth of life insurance, it will be a lot less expensive than if they needed a million dollars worth. Hopefully, by the time they are older they will have already handled some basic obligations like getting a home loan paid off or sending kids to college.

A cash value life insurance is also a useful tool in other ways. It can actually build a cash account that can be cashed in, borrowed against, or used as an asset. It can also be used in a senior life settlement arrangement. So some life insurance does more than just provide a death benefit. It can be a financial tool to use while the insured person is still alive.

We can help you get Seniors Life Insurance for yourself or somebody you care for. Also consider some Seniors Whole Life Insurance Advantages.

categories: life insurance,whole life insurance,senior citizens,baby boomers,family,elder care

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Over Age 50 Life Insurance Choices

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

Can a person in their middle years or senior years still buy life insurance? If you are over 50, or if you are caring for an older person, you can find a wide choice of products. Since statistics show that Americans are living longer and healthier lives, insurers are willing to extend affordable coverage to older people. Most middle aged and older people can still find life insurance policies.

Why would people over 50 even want to buy a policy? When we were younger, we probably purchased term because it was cheaper. We were told that at the end of 20 or 30 years we would not need coverage any more because our savings would cover us. We thought our kids would be on their own, and our mortgage would be paid off. At 30, those 2 or 3 decades of term coverage seem life forever.

How did that idea work out for you? In many cases, it did not work all that well. Our kids took longer to get off on their own than we planned. Maybe they haven came back home, and maybe they have their own kids now. Those mortgages we planned to pay off are still there because we moved or took out another loan to cover some expenses. And job losses or other problems meant that our savings just never really grew like we thought they would.

So, why don’t we have life insurance? Well, that term policy only lasted for 20 or 30 years. Thankfully, we outlived it. Or we had group coverage at work, but we are not at that job any more. We are older now, but we do not have any coverage.

Who buys life insuramce after 50? People have different reasons for wanting a policy. You must understand your options, what different insurance can do for you, and then you will be able to buy the right coverage for you.

If a person is sure they just want coverage, they may consider another term policy. It will probably be much cheaper than whole life. A middle aged person, or even a younger senior, may still find affordable term life. These lower premiums are important to consider.

Some term policies can be converted to permanent policies later. This allows you to get the cheaper one now, and then decide if you need lifetime coverage later. Since you are not sure what you will need in ten or twenty years, this may be a good option. These policies should not require you to prove you are healthy either.

But some people would want to consider whole life now. The premiums at 50 will be cheaper than they will be at 65, and the price will stay level. You get lifetime coverage, and even the chance to build the cash value of your policy. Being able to borrow against that value, cash it in, or use it for senior life settlements, may make this attractive.

How much will this cost you. Premiums will vary by many factors. These include the size of the death benefit, the type of insurance, your age, and your general health. An experienced insurance agent should be able to help you explore your options. Just be careful if they seem too concentrated on one type of policy.

You may want to compare SPLI (Single Premium Life) vs Annuities for retirment planning.

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Single Premium Whole Life Pros and Cons

Sunday, February 28th, 2010

Are you planning for a secure retirement and eventual transfer of your estate? You do not have to be very wealthy to benefit from this. Let us look at one product that is becoming more noticed these days with advisors and people who are making future plans. This is called single premium whole life (SPLI).

SPLI differs from the type of life that you are used to in a couple of ways. The most obvious difference is that you fund it with a large payment at the beginning for the policy. With regular coverage, you make monthly, quarterly, or yearly payments over a period of years.

That money, paid at the start, will guarantee coverage for your whole life. What you have done, really, is to turn a sum of cash into a much larger amount of coverage on you. This is how you can take one amount of money, and turn it into a larger estate to pass on to your beneficiaries.

Look at the example of a healthy 70 year old who retired from the public school system. Her savings and teachers pension enable her to live well. But she also has another $50,000 she inherited from her own parents. She could take this cash and fund an SPLI for, let us say, $200,000. This way she sets up a nice estate to pass on to her kids and grand kids.

The example above is not meant to represent a real situation, but is just to illustrate how this product can be used. Your own numbers will depend upon several different things like your health, age, insurer, etc.

Would SPLI be something for you to think abuot? If you have some money, and would like to be sure you can leave more money to survivors, it may be something to think about. It works best if you are sure that you do not need that money to live on, especially in the next few years.

If you do have to cash out your policy early, you could lose some of the value to surrender charges and fees. There is usually some sort of term for these, and policies are different.

Another advantage to the owner is a SPL policy’s ability to grow a cash value quickly. If you can leave the money alone for the few years you will need to get past surrender charges, you can have a nice place to borrow money from. You can also cash the policy in. The cash value should grow quickly since the insurance is already funded by the initial payment!

Many policies also have accelerated death benefit provisions. If the insured person is terminally ill, some of the death benefit can be used to provide care while that person is alive. Some also have nursing home provisions, so this can be a good way of planning for that possible need without another long term care insurance policy.

There could be some disadvantages to single premium life insurance. Remember that early cash outs can incur surrender fees. You lose some of the tax advantages of regular life policies too. And of course, you do need to have a lump sum of cash to fund it.

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