Updating Your Life Insurance in 2012

The ultimate goal of anyone with a life insurance policy is to ensure that their loved ones are comfortable after they pass away. If you do not update your insurance coverage when changes occur in your life, you could leave your family without the benefits you intended. In order to determine what changes you should make to your life insurance coverage in 2012, consider the following. 

1. Are there any new family additions? If you’ve added people or pets to your family, then your cost of living increased. That means your family will need more in order to continue in the same standard of living after you’re gone. 
2. Did you relocate? If you’ve relocated then you have all new expenses, which may be more than those that you originally had when you took out your insurance policy and chose a death benefit.
3. Have you been promoted? If you earn more money now than you did when taking out the policy, then your family will need a larger death benefit to replace that income after you pass away.
4. How are your savings? If you have had trouble meeting your savings goals for emergencies, college tuition and retirement that may indicate that your heirs need even more financial assistance when they no longer have your income to rely on.
5. Has your debt increased? If you’ve purchased a new home, new car, or even new electronic gadgets, then you may have increased the amount of debt your family needs to pay off after you pass away. Increasing your death benefit will allow them to more easily meet these obligations.
6. What is the new cost of living? Inflation can increase the standard cost of living for your family. Consider how much inflation has affected the effectiveness of your current death benefit and make the appropriate increases.
7. Who’s your beneficiary? Are the primary and contingent beneficiaries on your policy still the individuals who should be on your policy? Or, have you got a trust that should now be named on the policy?
8. Will your heirs pay estate taxes? Estate taxes are back in effect. If your family will be expected to pay them based on the size of your estate, then it’s a good idea to increase your policy death benefit. If you’ve made your spouse the beneficiary, consider the fact that your death benefit, should you pass away prior to him or her, will be added to his or her estate later and may prompt estate taxes.

Your death benefit may face several expansions over the course of your life. These may be handled with the issuance of separate term policies or through increases of your main policy death benefit. If you want to discuss your options for gaining complete coverage for your family, give us a call. 

Have more life insurance questions? Call Reliable Insurance at 713-227-7283 or get a Texas Life Insurance quote today!

The Value of Accidental Death Coverage

The Value of Accidental Death Coverage

Some deaths are expected. Following months or years of illness, an expected death may even come as a relief that ends the suffering of the now deceased and allows his or her survivors to come together and celebrate the deceased’s life. Other deaths are sudden; the result of an accident that no one could have prepared for. These deaths take life much too soon and leave the deceased person’s family reeling.

An accidental death and dismemberment rider increases your life insurance policy’s death benefit in the event that your death is caused by an accident. This additional benefit can’t stop the pain your family would feel if they lost you suddenly, but it could help them deal with the sudden an unexpected financial loss.

Accidental Death

You have built a life for your family based on the income that you presently make and that you expect to make in the future. Without the means to replace that income after your death, your family may be in deep financial trouble. While your existing life insurance policy can help clear up some of this strain, the additional benefit found in an accidental death rider could ensure that they are able to meet obligations that you did not anticipate when you initially took out the policy and set the death benefit. In addition, it can help them get the grievance counseling they need to move past the emotional strain of your death and the resulting anxiety.

Accidental death riders do have exclusions that you should read. In order to qualify for the payment of benefits, the death must be the result of an accident. Some deaths caused by events such as acts of war, may be excluded.

Dismemberment

AD&D riders provide a percentage of your death benefit to you, rather than your beneficiaries, should you suffer the loss of a limb, your sight, or your hearing (see your policy for exceptions and details). Having access to a portion of your death benefit can be extremely helpful in assisting your family to adjust to this loss and the medical costs it creates. It can also help fill the gap between the date you experience the loss and the waiting period of your disability policy. 

If you’re interested in learning more about how an accidental death and dismemberment rider can help you and your family be protected against an early, unexpected loss, give us a call. 

At Reliable Insurance, we have been serving Texas since 1996. We specialize in Texas Life Insurance as well as home, business and car insurance in Houston, Katy and surrounding areas in Texas. Contact us today at (713) 227-7283 for questions or to get a free Texas Life Insurance quote.

The Role of the Insurance Adjuster

Insurance has a fairly simple purpose: help make policy holders financially whole, up to the limits of the policy, after losses experienced during an insurable event.

While the goal of insurance is simple, its execution doesn’t always follow the same clean lines. After all, to control insurance costs you have a limit on your policy that spells out the maximum benefit you can receive. You will also have deductibles which are out-of-pocket requirements that you must meet, and finally, there is a process of examination that can follow a claim in order to ensure that everything works accurately and appropriately based on the loss you suffer.

When you submit a claim to an insurance company, your insurer owes it to all of their clients to investigate each claim. They do this for several reasons. First, they want to verify the incidents behind the loss. This helps ensure that the incident was insurable under the policy contract. Next, they want to determine the extent of the damages. This assures your carrier that they’ve awarded you the amount you deserve in order to be made whole after a qualifying insurable incident.

An insurance claims adjuster is the individual who works in the role of investigator. He or she may interview witnesses, review records, and even come out to the location of the incident to explore the damages. This can be an especially helpful exercise as the adjuster may meet with you, at the incidents location, to go over details. This may prompt you to remember items you otherwise would have forgotten...

Contact us at (713) 227-7283 to learn more about Houston auto insurance as well as home, business and car insurance in Houston, Katy and surrounding areas in Texas, or continue reading "The Role of the Insurance Adjuster"

Texas Windstorm Insurance Association Seeks 5% Rate Increase

August 20, 2010

The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association has filed for 5 percent increases in both its residential and commercial rates, effective Jan. 1, 2011.

The state's insurer of last resort provides wind and hail coverage in the 14 coastal counties and parts of Harris County. TWIA provides wind and hall coverage when insurance companies exclude it from their homeowners and other property policies sold to coastal residents.

In accordance with the Texas Insurance Code, TWIA is required to make an annual rate filing with the state Department of Insurance no later than August 15 of each year. Actuarial data indicates that rate increases of 27 percent for residential and 36 percent for commercial are needed. However, the group's board of directors voted to file for the 5 percent increase.

Jerry Hagins, spokesman for the state Department of Insurance said it is premature to say whether the insurance commissioner will disapprove the rate request. Yet the commissioner's approval is not needed.

By law, any rate increases greater than 5 percent must be approved by the commissioner within 60 days. However, for rate filings of 5 percent or less, the commissioner does not have to approve the rate. The commissioner does have 30 days from the rate filing to disapprove of it. And if the commissioner does not disapprove of the rate increase, it will automatically take effect, Hagins explained.

Source

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Texas Insurance Department working to fix problems in workers' comp division

Jul. 15, 2010 By DARREN BARBEE dbarbee@star-telegram.com

Hundreds of workers compensation cases - including dozens collecting dust for at least three years - hit a virtual dead end at the Texas Department of Insurance, according to a state audit that also highlights the division's sloppy work and lifeless enforcement.
 
The workers' compensation enforcement division threw in the towel on businesses and individuals between July 2009 and February: More than 8 of every 10 cases resulted not in fines, but warning letters.
In contrast, other insurance department enforcement teams handed out fines in 55 percent of their cases, according to the audit released Thursday.

"We're working to fix it," said Insurance Department spokesman John Greeley.

The state auditor's office report found as of April, 661 pending cases had been open an average of about 15 months - 467 calendar days.

One case has been open since fiscal 2006 and 58 since 2007.

In 45 cases tested by auditors, all lacked either documentation or evidence that a supervisor had reviewed them. Workers' compensation also has no methodology for assessing fines. As a result, auditors had no way to judge whether fines were applied consistently.

The department has started to address its problems by keeping an accurate inventory of cases. A database now tracks cases and creates reports on all pending matters. Enforcement team leaders will also conduct case reviews to verify that cases are making progress. The senior associate commissioner has introduced a procedure to verify that leaders are conducting case reviews in a timely manner.

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Get a free workers compensation quote by calling 713-227-7283.

Auto Insurance

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Texas Session on Health Reform Law

Image courtesy of IIAT.org

Insurance Commissioner Mike Geeslin will join panelists for a discussion of the implementation of the new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act at the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas 113th Annual Conference on June 15 at the Omni Hotel in downtown Fort Worth.

The panel discussion, which begins at 9:45 am, is open to all agents and company personnel, even those not registered for the conference.

The panelists include the current president of National Association of Health Underwriters, Russ Childers; Shannon Meroney, J.D., Governmental Affairs manager with Aetna; and John Prible, vice president of Federal Government Affairs for IIABA.

David VanDelinder, IIAT executive director, will moderate the discussion which will revolve around the impact of the new law on insurance markets and insurance costs.

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