Wednesday, April 14, 2010

MINIMIZE YOUR COSTS WITH LIFE INSURANCE

Tired of paying much for essential things? It is time to learn some ways of economizing. If you are sure it is time for you to get lifetime insurance, you have to consider a few details. First of all, the payment is the basic move-stopper. People know they need to get insured but they do not always have the right amount of money to get insured. When you get insured for life you get cheaper premiums, if fact much cheaper than cash-value policies. If you are young and healthy, you get to experience good opportunities coming your way with insurance. You can benefit from good service that will go on for a long time plus some preferable payments, that won't make your eyes roll around. Here is some important information on how to get a life term insurance policy that would make you proud of your decision.


The one you need

When you are about to get a life term insurance policy you must be aware of the fact that you purchase it with a particular time table which usually is around 5 or ten years, depending on the company that provides it. Within this period of time you pay a premium that you are obliged to pay. Due to this your family or friends, beneficiaries in other words, will get a benefit if you die suddenly within the term of this life insurance policy period.

There is always something else

Life term insurance plan can seem easy and reliable. But of course, being an insurance plan it surely add some complications to it. What you must think about is you death benefit amount, for instance. It will all depend on the level of life insurance you choose to have - decreasing or increasing type. And when the term is actually over that is when renewable or convertible term insurance is suitable.

The question is - is it or is it not perfect for you?

You have to keep on very important moment in mind - your future term life insurance will not accumulate cash-value or provide you with the additional tax benefits like in the case of continuous or universal life insurance plan, but it is great for those people who cannot manage paying higher premiums. This is how you can decide whether the term life insurance plan is the one you need or not -

a)You cannot afford to pay higher premiums as you are on budget
b)You are too young and you do not have any health problems at all
c)You are looking forward to get the most simple insurance plan that would only protect your basic interests such as your family and close people in case of your death.

As you get closer to making an important decision about your cheap life insurance plan millions of questions start to arise. In order to get answers for those questions that bother you and require an answer you have to address them to the right person. An insurance agent is the right person to talk to when you are about to make this important step. You should set your priorities first and share them with the specialist. If you need a cheap life insurance, just say so and find a good solution with the person that is competent, We believe this is how good steps are being taken.



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Sunday, April 11, 2010

DISPOSING OF TRAMADOL THE "GREEN" WAY

In the midst of all the debate about environmental issues, we are too often distracted by the hot button climate change. Yet controlling carbon emissions is only one of many different concerns about how we live our lives and the impact our lifestyles have on our environment. If we are to hand over a habitable planet to our children, we have to start thinking about every aspect of the systems currently in use and how we might make them safer. One of the less obvious questions is how we dispose of our unwanted drugs. There are a number of quite different issues. One day, you open the bathroom cabinet and find unexpected rows of half-empty bottles and packs of pills, all of which have passed their use-by dates. For a moment, you pause and wonder whether you should do something. Then your eye catches the toothbrush and life goes on for another month or so. Why worry?


Well, the statistics are interesting. In some parts of the country, more people accidentally poison themselves, become hooked on addictive drugs or die of drug overdoses than die in traffic accidents. That should give you pause for thought. The number of deaths from traffic accidents is already an epidemic but, when you collect the statistics from emergency departments around the country, one of the largest groups of people admitted for treatment is suffering drug-related problems. Children are common admissions. Instead of having lockable cabinets, parents store drugs in places easily accessible by children and family members, friends and neighbors with addiction problems. Children are often tempted by brightly colored pills, thinking them candy. Adults can raid your stash of unwanted drugs to feed their addiction. But how should you dispose of these pills?

The temptation is to flush them away. Except this dumps a cocktail of drugs into the sewers that drain into our rivers and seas. Downstream, the water is drawn out by another city or town but the water purification plants cannot remove all these chemicals. The result is that the downstream population consumes a dilute mixture of your drugs. Fish and animals you might eat also drink the water, treated and untreated, so there's a big circle of life with drugs recycling through the food chain.

That's why it's important for every town and city to have a safe disposal system. The best are run by local police departments which offer lock-boxes at strategic locations around every neighborhood. These allow anonymous deposits and deter all but the most determined of addicts. The drugs can then be disposed of safely, usually by incineration at high temperatures. So if you want to reduce temptation and prevent accidents, you should dispose of all your drugs as soon as you have finished the course of treatment. Although painkillers like tramadol are not abused, there should be a general shift in culture to ensure all medications do not end up as part of the cocktail of chemicals in our drinking water or the food we eat. If you do buy tramadol to keep a painkiller in reserve, you should store it in a lockable cabinet to reduce the chances of accidental poisoning or overdose. With children about, you used to worry about keeping liquor in the house. Prescription drugs are far more dangerous.


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ZIP CODES AND PREMIUMS

Often, California has been in the lead when it comes to legislating for fairness. When a service industry is acting in an arbitrary way and damaging the interests of consumers, you can usually rely on Sacramento to do something about it. So, for example, the Insurance Commissioner instructed auto insurance companies not to rely on ZIP codes when writing policies. The real basis on which to assess risk should always be the individual driver. It's fair to look at the person's experience, driving record, how far he or she drives every year, etc. That way you reward the good drivers with lower premiums and hit the bad drivers with higher premiums. This ends the discriminations of higher premiums for people living in predominantly black or Latino communities.



It would be great if we could see this change sweeping across the US, not just in auto insurance, but for all classes of insurance. Unfortunately, the insurance industry has fought the change tooth and nail wherever it has been proposed. Lobbyists with deep pockets have been able to keep the legislators at bay. The ZIP code approach remains the norm.

The most recent piece of research comes out of Chicago and relates to health plans. It seems it's cheaper to live in the suburbs. The research used just over 3,000 ZIP codes in the Chicago area and, when analysing the rates charged, found that people living in the blue-collar suburbs west and south of Chicago paid almost 25% less for their insurance than those living in the downtown areas. Similarly, the residents of the northern suburbs paid about 15% less. Spread the net more widely and it turns out that everyone living between 15 and 25 miles from the downtown area pays an average of 13.5% less, while those who have moved 25 to 40 miles out of the city pay an average 25% less.

There are obvious explanations. The hospitals and clinics in different areas attract doctors and healthcare providers with different levels of experience and expertise. Operating costs will also change with local conditions. The level of support for public facilities and programs from local government naturally varies depending on the local tax take and political factors. These affect the rates for services the insurers can negotiate with the local provider networks. And then there are all the intangible factors based on the wealth or poverty of an area, the percentage of people without current health insurance, and so on. Put everything together and profiling by geography may produce very different results. This leaves us with an uncomfortable reality. As it stands, the health insurance industry is unregulated. It can charge what it likes using whatever factors it wishes to consider significant. As and when the healthcare reforms pass through Congress, some practices that produce unfairness will disappear, e.g. no more discrimination based on gender, no more discrimination by denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, no more caps on lifetime benefits, and so on. But the ZIP code abuse will not be affected. No matter where you live, you will be judged not on your actual health records but the "accident" of your address. Perhaps you should consider relocating to a better area to get the best health insurance rates.



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REFINANCING AN AUTO LOAN

Refinancing is the payment of one’s current loan using a new loan from another lender. The new lender pays off the old loan and the customer makes his/her loan payments to the new lender.

Customers are usually offered lower interest rates as well as lower monthly payments when refinancing. Because interest rates fluctuate, it is a good idea to shop around for lower competitive rates, especially within the first year of obtaining that car loan. You could end up saving a whole lot of money by the time the loan is paid off.

While auto refinancing has its own advantages, it is not without disadvantages. It is important to understand both when considering refinancing your auto loan.


ADVANTAGES OF REFINANCING:

Refinancing helps you save money by lowering the interest rate. A lower interest rate is usually the first consideration for anyone looking to refinance an auto loan. If rates have gone down since you purchased a vehicle, it is prudent to shop around and see if you can refinance your auto loan, of course at a lower rate. This saves you money in the long run. And even more savings if you refinance during the early part of your term, when most of your payments go to the interest payment. It can also help you pay off your car loan earlier because of the reduction in the overall interest.

Also, most of the time, your payments are likely to be lower when you refinance. This is especially the case if your new loan is extended beyond the initial loan payment schedule. The basic advantage with this kind of arrangement is that it helps reduce the total monthly expenses, especially for those who are working on tight budgets. Plus, you will have some more money to pay for other debts (which might have a higher interest), take care of other unexpected expenses or sending in an extra amount towards your loan, without exceeding your income.

DISADVANTAGES:

Refinancing may not save the consumer any money in the long run, if the loan period is extended beyond the original schedule. Most customers are attracted to the new lower payments, without paying attention to how long they have to pay the loan. Unless there is a big difference between the new and the old interest rate, one could end up paying more money than on the original loan. But this can be prevented if you strive to pay more than the required monthly payment, thus bringing you closer to paying off the loan earlier, hence the savings.

Fees: Sometimes, a customer might incur lien holder fees, re-registration fees, or in very rare cases, early payment penalties. These are very negligible though (somewhere less than $100 for lien holder and re-registration fees), which you can save on the new loan after about three payments.

Temporary reduction in the credit score, because in the search for auto refinancing, the lender will check your credit score, which will lower your score by a few points. But this should not be a big deal, as the points will shoot up again when you continue making payments.

Staying in debt a little longer. When one’s payment is extended because of the newly refinanced loan, it keeps the customer in debt longer than it should have taken.

All in all, it is wise to refinance if you will be getting a better interest rate. To realize the benefit of refinancing however, you should try to pay more than the minimum monthly payment and pay it off earlier than anticipated.



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WHY YOU NEED TO AVOID FORECLOSURE

All three of our daughters have had their close encounters with the foreclosure fiasco. All of them have been threatened and one of them even got to the point where she had to buy her home back. We did our best to help all of them but with us being in foreclosure ourselves we simply did not have the extra funds to do anything of any significance. What I did do was plead with them to not let their home go into foreclosure.

One of our daughters has a home that, in a normal market, would be worth about $60,000. Her loan on that home is just over $100,000. I even told her to do whatever she could to keep her home. She ended up being successful and is still paying on that over borrowed estate.

There are reasons I told my daughters to keep their home whatever they did. My reasons are realistic though; they have little to do with defaults, rates, loans and so on. I tried to give them what I thought was the most practical argument for hanging onto your home during this time of rampant foreclosure.

5) SHAME: Simple shame. Could you hold your head up at work, at church, with your friends, even within your own family? How do people look at foreclosure? I can tell you from personal experience, they do not find anything positive in foreclosure whatsoever. It doesn’t matter the reasons for being foreclosed upon; you have defaulted and you are the bad guy. I told them to hang onto their home as long as they could simply to avoid the derision and ridicule their peers would cast their way.

4) SECURITY: They need a home. They have one now they are familiar with and they should try to stay in it. The loan is there and they need to try to pay it however they must. Two of the three daughters have children and it would be best for everyone concerned for them to keep their children in the home they were born into.

3) FUTURES: Should they need to trade up at any time in the future or if they would like any other kind of major purchase further down the line, their performance on the home mortgage will be very important. Once a home loan goes bad, it will negatively affect the credit report for at least three years. I know, again, from personal experience that you cannot get another mortgage for at least three years after entering foreclosure. Not in Michigan anyway.

2) INVESTMENT: Don’t lose your investment. Every one of the girls has put a good share of their own funds, sweat and toil into their homes. They will get absolutely nothing for that investment. It doesn’t matter if your home is three quarters paid for; if you cannot manage the final one-quarter you lose everything. I just told the to protect their investment.

1) SELFISH: Don’t give any one of those predators out there the opportunity to capitalize on your hard spent time, money and efforts. There are numbers of agents, brokers, Realtors, self-proclaimed investors and others who are just waiting on the sidelines to take advantage of your pain and misfortune. They want to swoop in and buy your home right out from under you. Do not give them the satisfaction of being able to purchase your property at a fraction of the real value.

During my research I must have went to a dozen Internet sites to try to find the rate of foreclosures in certain area. All I could find is how that rate has increased, not what the total rate really is today. What I did run across, in every single search, were separate adds headlined like “Make money on foreclosures”, or “Profit from Foreclosure” and even one that read; “They lost it, you can find it.”

There is more attention paid to how someone can make money off my misfortune in losing my home than there is in how we can help the poor sap who just lost his home, through no fault of his own. If we think the government should be ashamed of how they handled the Katrina nightmare, this one should leave them red-faced forever. This is as bad as the insurance companies telling Katrina victims “You didn’t have flood insurance.”

If at all possible, keep your home; do not let foreclosure line the bloodsucker’s pockets with your gold.




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Saturday, April 10, 2010

LIFE INSURANCE DURING RETIREMENT

Some people don't understand you and give you a slightly weird look when you tell them that they should not go on with their life insurance plan. They say this - "I can't just drop it. I need to receive some benefits from it".

From one point of view it does make sense. But frankly speaking this is the only type of insurance we can offer this with. We cannot afford to do something like this with any other type of insurance plan.


People are very strange with what they believe in. They feel upset when the term expires and they realize that they have not been eligible to any benefits they could have had with the service company. Would you rather suffer than be safe? What a weird point.

In reality you should be happy you lived happily without any worries for ten years. Lifetime insurance is a different insurance to what you may think. Of course, it is meant to give you guarantees throughout your life but who can ever grant you a guarantee that nothing will ever happen to you? This no one knows.

Life insurance is there to keep you safe from financial losses that one can meet with the death of a member of his family. If you are not sure about this type of insurance here are some points for you to consider knowing if this type of insurance is right for you.

If you are mostly worried about your family members or people that you are close to, if you think they can experience hardships in case something tragic happens to you, then this is the perfect insurance for you.

Let's say you are a retired couple. One of the spouses is seriously ill. There is no longer an income that could support the couple like there was back in the working days. So the seriously ill one has to think about the difficulties his partner might meet if he dies. If there is no such case, you don't need any life term insurance.

There is another important moment. You have to figure out the right amount of money you want your insurance to be about. Think of how much your family will need to live normally after your death. This is exactly the amount of insurance you need to get. You can pay for your life insurance little by little every month. This is one of the good sides of it.

There are a few insurance types you might want to consider. There is a possibility to get a term insurance or a temporary policy. What is that? Well, it is for the situations in which the financial loss is limited to the gap years between the actual period of time and the retirement. In cases when you have the owner of some sort of business your belongings and so called estate might be the subject to state taxes.

If you are just seeking for a cheap life insurance there is plenty of possibilities to search. You can get a cheap life insurance from internet sites as well as through a trust-worthy company or a well-known appreciated agent. Whatever you do, remember one thing - you need to think about tomorrow today! Especially when you are not alone...





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CREDIT RATING AND YOUR CAR INSURANCE RATES

If we tell you that everything that is a part of your past matters, how will you react? You will probably be upset because everyone is allowed to make mistakes and we should not be judges by them. When it comes to auto insurance companies, they don't accept mistakes and even when they do it only means one thing - you are walking away with a bigger check.

If you are a newcomer and you never had insurance before - remember to have a good credit record. If you are to change you insurance company for some other company that you think will suit you better - remember that they will take a good look at your credit history before they determine how much you will pay for your premiums.


It is important for the insurance company to know where you are at with the driving experience. You have to understand them too - if you are a troublemaker on the road, they should not always pay for your mistakes. They want to know how you behaved in different situations and what to expect from you further on. If you have a good driving record they consider it a benefit so there is less chance for them to end up being responsible for losses and damages.

Those companies that take into consideration your driving score do not limit themselves in this thing only. They want to know pretty much everything there is to your and your driving experience. They will consider your age, your driving background, and the car you own as well as the area you live in. All this will determine your car insurance rates and payments, affect your premiums in the future. If you have absolutely no credit history it may not be ideal too. The company may not offer you any discount or special offer which usually leads to a bigger premium too.

If you know your driving record is alright and you doubt the correctness of the insurance company decision upon it, please provide the company with the full name, address, your SSN and date of birth.

There are many components that determine the credit score of your driving experience. Here are some of them:

Public record is important. If you have any bankruptcy cases that are a part of your past it may not be the best for you. Then there are past payment history details. These are the times you delayed or were late with your payments. The insurance company has to see how responsible you are with set dates. Then we find the lengths of credit history in general. This is the total amount of time you have been in the system. What is also important for the insurance company is the number of times you were seeking a credit from any type of companies. They also want to know how many credit cards you own, types of credit you use and how much of it was not used yet.

As you can see there is plenty of information companies want from you. But what are they willing to give in return?

If they decide you are a valuable car insurance client they will benefit you with good premiums, special offers and good service. For the further information please contact your auto insurance company directly and get a list of necessary document from them.

We hope your driving record is fine. Remember that it always pays off being careful and attentive on the road.



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RUMORS ARE BAD WHEN IT COMES TO HOME INSURANCE

People like to spear rumors they invent. This is a commonly known fact. Sometimes it gets to the point that rumors turn into myths that haunt people and get stuck in their head for ages. In order to get rid of these untrue myths one has to dig deeper into situation and try to find the truth. But we don't think we need this. It is easier to believe what others say and what we hear around. Here in this article we will discuss the most famous and commonly- spread rumors on insurances related to homes.

They say that the standard home insurance will cover the damages your house will suffer after the flood. This is an absolute nonsense. This doesn't have any ground underneath it because the flood damage is never covered under the standard insurance plan. When you feel the necessity to cover yourself from the flood damage, you get additional coverage.



Homeowners insurance plan with its medical payment part will pay for the injuries me and my family will suffer.

This is not true. The Medical payment portion of the insurance is meant to protect you in the case when someone other than you or any members of your family gets hurt on your property and they don't want to take you to court. If it is you or some family member that gets hurt there, the insurance company or the coverage doesn't protect you from anything.

There is a myth that the company will reimburse anything you tell them you lost if this occurs. This is a fairy-tale to believe in and it is not true. What will happen is the company will tell you to make a list of what you owned at the moment of the loss, but they will make you do it very precisely. They will need pictures of your belongings to make sure you owner those things. So you need to have photos taken of everything you have in your house in case anything like this ever happens to you.

People think that when they file a claim, it raises their premiums. But people don't always consider that claims are not the only things that matter. It doesn't always happen so that the premium goes up. Sometimes it takes years. You should always take your deductible into consideration. Also try to find out if there are any discounts that you can apply for. Maybe you get lucky.

Jewelry and furs have limitations. There is a particular sum that they company will give you to reimburse those things in case of burglary. If you own too many of those, please get additional coverage.

Sometimes we think that if we live in a non-flood zone, we can't have flood ever happening. It can happen to anyone just like earthquakes that can't be predicted. Flood insurance generally is a nice idea that most home owners should go for.

We think that we are obliged to get some insurance plan when in reality we are not. Nobody forces us to make certain steps. They are totally up to us. Another thing is that it would be wiser to make them in order to avoid some unpleasant and unwanted trouble later.

You should get yourself insured so that you know it and feel protected. Cheap home insurance can be found by those who want to look up and find it. But don't rush into it. Cheap home insurance plans can be tricky so watch out and don't listen to gossip on the street. Figure out for yourself. This is the only truth there is.


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Auto insurance tips for those facing an accident

A traffic accident is never a think to be happy about. Having even the smallest car accident will surely give you a lot of stress and headache. Not to say that things will be a lot worse if there's someone injured or the damage to vehicles or property is serious. The best thing to do in such a case is to remain calm and not panic. You will need your cool head for evaluating the extent of damage and injuries before you even contact your insurance company to report the accident. And here are some things to keep in mind if you want to do that right.

Remain cool-headed

The first thing you should do is to calm down. It will certainly be hard especially if you never had accidents before. But this is very important for properly analyzing the situation and helping other people involved if they need help. You have to keep focus on all of the details so you can report them to your insurance agent or the police officer when you will be asked questions.

Call for help first

Prior to evaluating the damage and injuries there's another thing you have to do. Call 911 and report if there's anyone injured at the scene. If the accident took place in a location where it is dangerous to remain (heavy traffic, high risk of collision) it is better to move the vehicles to a safer place rather than waiting for the police officer to document the accident. This will save you from additional risk of damage or injury. When you have all of these things done you can take your camera and notepad for documenting the crash.

Gather evidence

Try to get as many pictures and notes from the scene while it is still as-is before the police start moving the vehicles. Then write down how the accident happened step by step as you remember it. If there's someone who saw it happen around the scene, get their names and contacts, and ask for their version of the accident. It's not wise to start arguing with them if you don't agree with them. Just document as many evidences as you can to have plenty of information that can be presented to your auto insurance company or the police.

Help the authorities

When the police arrive to the scene you should cooperate and do everything they say. Report everything you are asked about and ask for an additional copy of the report when it's compiled. It can be a bit stressful to deal with so much documents but it will make it easier for your auto insurance claim to be processed faster.

Here are some things you have to pay utmost attention when documenting the aftermath of the crash:

1. Compile a list of any personal items that are missing after the accident.

2. Document the physical condition of all the people involved in the crash, even if it's a light headache. Sometimes a light pain in the arm can turn out to be a fracture a few days later.

3. Take pictures of all the damage resulted from the accident. Take close up pictures of the damaged car parts and any infrastructure that has been affected by the crash.

4. Don't sign any documents or agreements if you aren't aware of their content. Contact your lawyer or your cheap auto insurance company to learn what you should do in such a situation.


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