October 4, 2008

AIG to sell American General Life

During the past several weeks we have all seen tremendous swings in US financial markets, one of which was the bail out of the world's largest insurance companies AIG. As many of you may be insured with AIG's subsidiary insurance company; American General, you may have heard rumors that this company may be up for sale.

Yesterday American International Group, Inc.’s (AIG) CEO announced his plan for the company’s future, which includes the sale of the AIG American General insurers. American General is very well capitalized with significant reserves and continues to be a safe and profitable insurance company. Because of the desirability of American General as an asset, AIG has announced they will sell American General as part of their restructuring. The proceeds from a sale of these assets can be used toward paying off the two-year $85 billion secured credit facility issued by the Federal Reserve Bank in September 2008 to help AIG with its short-term liquidity needs.

If you have an American General policy, you should not panic or be convinced by an agent that "The sky is falling" and cancel your policy. This may not be a wise move as you will need to re-qualify for a new life insurance policy, which will start a new contestability period and you may also be adversely affected financially with any policy "surrender charges".

For those of you looking for affordable term life insurance or health insurance, use an online quoting tool that allows you to shop the market in minutes to locate the best insurance prices for your situation.