Planning for "Special Needs" Dependents

Maybe you have a "special needs" child or know of a family member who does. If so, ask yourself what will happen to that adolescent or adult handicapped individual when you are no longer available to help him/her, both financially or emotionally. Will your state resources be adequate? Will your child be institutionalized?

Families that include a member with a physical or mental disability have special needs to consider when organizing their financial and estate planning. Long term solutions need to be considered if you should die and no longer can provide for your loved ones.

** Who will care for your childs basic needs, food, clothing and living arrangements?
** Who will provide emotional support?
** Have you provided for adequate financial resources for other family members or caregivers?

A Special Needs Trust may be the best solution. It will provide security, while allowing him or her to qualify for government benefits. The Special Needs Trust can be established and funded during the parents life, or established by will (a testamentary trust) to receive assets from your estate.

Typical assets placed in a Special Needs Trust include a life insurance policy, the death benefit from a life insurance policy or other income producing assets such as stocks and bonds. Insurance is the most widely used funding method as it does not require a trustee to manage a stock or bond portfolio and provides for immediate access to assets.

The first step is to review your financial/legal situation and make sure that your special needs child is taken care of and protected. For insurance planning, contact QuoteBroker.

Insurance for pet lovers

We all love our pet's, some more than others. This article is written for the person that would take all measures available to save their cat - dog if they became ill or were in an accident.

An increasingly popular insurance plan for pet owners is "Pet Insurance". Although this concept has been around for years, it was always difficult to find a plan that would actually pay a benefit, or would remain in business. We have found a company that we love and refer our business to, called "Pets Best Insurance".

Pets Best offers you a choice of plans to protect you and your pet from unexpected veterinary bills caused by illnesses, accidents or injuries. They even offer optional coverage to help to pay for routine care.Each Pets Best plan reimburses a straightforward 80% (after your deductible - most plan deductibles are $50-$300) for vet visits including emergency visits, treatments, lab tests, surgeries, and prescription medicines - up to the dollar limit of the plan you choose. Dollar limits range from $42,000 to $100,000. No complicated benefit schedule; no restrictions on your choice of veterinarian; no restrictions or set limits on diagnostics or recommended treatment, no pre-authorization processes to go through. Their contract language is straight forward and applying for coverage is an online 3 step process. There are also no pet age limits, which many of their competitors do.

To learn more, visit www.petsbest.com/CA004 or call 866-405-3647 and talk with their Call Center and give them this special Promotional Code = ID CA004

The Truth about Term Life Insurance

First we must understand what Term Insurance "is and is not". Term life is the simplest type of life insurance. Term gets its name from the limited length or "term" of the contract. Term insurance usually has no cash value, generally lasts for 1, 5, 10, 15, 20 or 30 years, or to some specified age such as age 65 or age 100. If you die during the term, the insurance company will pay the death benefit if all premium obligations are met. If you do not die during the term, no benefits will be paid. You may be able to renew the contract at the end of the term, or you will need to buy another policy (if you qualify medically and can afford the increased cost).

For term insurance, the premiums for each one thousand dollar of face amount death benefit roughly follows a curve reflecting the chances of dying - obviously getting very steep as one gets into his or her age 70's, 80's, and 90's when the chance of death is close to 100%. In contrast, the idea behind permanent life insurance is that the person "over-pays" (over and above what the cost of term insurance would be to cover the probability of dying in those early years) in order to keep the premium payments level during the older ages when the cost of term insurance would become prohibitively expensive. And because providing "life insurance" security for a family was deemed to be in society's best interests, a special tax break was given to the internal buildup of cash values within the life insurance policy - so they could build up more efficiently - free of income tax.

But is Term Life Insurance a Deal or No Deal? Term insurance has it's place in situations that require life insurance for a short or "temporary" period of time, or if you need large amounts of insurance until you can afford permanent insurance.

The truth is that Life Insurance companies love selling you this product. In an industry actuarial study, it was estimated that only 1 - 1.5% of all policies sold would result in a death claim.

Will you be the exception to the rule? For more information visit www.quotebroker.com