The following are posts by staff writer, Kevin Mercadante, who is a professional personal finance blogger, and the owner of his own personal finance blog, OutOfYourRut.com. He has backgrounds in both accounting and the mortgage industry.
When you think about giving gifts to your loved ones, there’s an excellent chance that you never think of life insurance as a consideration. Even though it’s a financial product, it’s also a gift in the truest sense. Life insurance is your last best gift to your loved ones. Not sure it’s really a gift? …
Having a bankruptcy on your credit report, especially recent one, can affect much of what you will do in life. It can certainly have an impact when you apply for a loan, whether it’s a mortgage, a car loan, or a credit card. But it can also have an effect on an application for a …
Virtually everyone needs life insurance. But if you’re self-employed, you really need life insurance, even more so than people who are employed by others and are paid a salary. That’s because nearly everything connected with self-employment tends to be more complicated than it is for a salaried person. The self-employed person simply has more loose …
With the new year, people contemplate making all kinds of changes. Sure, they could implement those changes at any time during the year. But the new year tends to be a catchall of resolutions. The change from one year to the next seems like a convenient time to take actions that we’ve been avoiding all …
Let’s face it, unless you work in the business, life insurance is not a favorite topic. It certainly doesn’t make the rounds on the dinner and cocktail circuit. Other types of insurance might, but since life insurance is closely associated with death, it isn’t exactly considered polite conversation. That may not be a problem when …
Cost is always a factor in everything we do. That’s because you have only a limited amount of income, and you need to cover all of the expenses in your budget on whatever amount that income provides. There are large expenses, and small ones. People often try to economize by cutting small expenses in order …
Unfortunately, when you are applying for life insurance, it isn’t just your health that comes under the microscope. Your family history is also a factor. That means that even if your personal health history is flawless, you can still be charged a higher premium if a member of your direct family lineage has a history …
Some people scoff at the idea of having life insurance. Often, their dismissal of this financial product is rooted in the fear of their own death. Other times, they disregard the possibility that that day will ever come. And other times it’s a cost issue – they simply feel that there are better ways for …
If you have an enlarged heart, getting life insurance can present some challenges. The severity of your condition is critical, as is the specific life insurance companies that make application to. If you do have an enlarged heart, it will be very important that you have a competent agent working on your behalf. This is …
College is an enormous expense, particularly if you have more than one child who will be attending. But what will happen to those educations in the event that you should die before or during the process? Even if you have saved money for your kid’s college educations there are always additional expenses. That can include …
Cushing’s Syndrome is a less commonly understood health condition, largely because it is highly curable and non-fatal. That’s actually good news, but if you have Cushing’s Syndrome it could cause complications if you want to apply for a life insurance policy. Your application will likely be approved, but it’s a question of the premium level. …
People often have an almost casual attitude toward life insurance. They’ll pay every other bill – the house, the car loan, utilities, credit cards, health insurance, and a gym membership. And the life insurance premium? It will be near the bottom of the list. And if times get hard, if a job is lost, the …
This is a difficult subject to discuss, but life insurance is designed specifically to deal with the most difficult event in life, so it’s one we have to cover. Suicide, unfortunately is very much a gray zone when it comes to life insurance. With most other causes of death, outcomes are known and more easily …
If your spouse doesn’t have life insurance, do you simply respect their wishes and go about your life? On some level, that may sound like a fair response. But whether a person wants life insurance or not, not having it is downright irresponsible. Even if your spouse doesn’t have life insurance, and doesn’t want it, …
Most people correctly assume that the main purpose of life insurance is to provide financial resources to your loved ones in the event of your death. But there’s also an intangible benefit that may be just as important. Life insurance eliminates worry. The peace of mind that comes from having adequate life insurance can be …
One of the unfortunate realities surrounding life insurance is that people often purchase policies, then file them away for safekeeping. They continue to make the required premium payments, but the policies themselves can disappear for years at a time. When that happens, there’s a real danger that the information contained in the policy won’t be …
Vaping is a fast growing habit, at least partially intended to reduce reliance on cigarette smoking. Though you might think that that fact alone what endear vapers to the insurance industry, it’s actually quite the opposite. Even though vaping has generally been shown to be considerably less of a health hazard than cigarette smoking, life …
A previous history of cancer can have a major impact if you are trying to get life insurance. Cervical cancer is one of those types of cancer. Yet even if you have had it in the past, it is still possible to get a life insurance policy, even one at an affordable premium. It’s mostly …
If you are the sole proprietor of a small business, or have significant ownership in the partnership or small corporation, you may be interested in key man life insurance. It’s one of the most important forms of business insurance, because it can enable a business to continue functioning in the aftermath of the death of …
An article was published on CNN/Money that indicated, based on survey results, that the Millennials are the most under-insured generation in the country. About a quarter of the group does not have health insurance, and only 13% have disability coverage. And just 36% have life insurance. That means that 64% of Millennials will leave their …
Atrial fibrillation, commonly referred to as A Fib is the most common type of irregular heartbeat. It affects about 2.2 million people in the US, and becomes more common with age. Since it has no immediate effects, it’s possible that you won’t even know that you have it. But what if you do, and you …
The biggest benefit of term life insurance is lower cost when compared to whole life insurance, and other policy types that have an investment provision. Term costs considerably less, and if you invest your savings yourself, you’ll almost certainly have more money in the future than you will have with a whole life policy. But …
It has become popular among some life insurance agents, agencies, and companies to sell customers life insurance policies that are blended with an investment provision. But few people bother to ask if life insurance should even have an investment provision at all. The basic idea has been to sell two very distinct financial products under …
You’ve probably heard about trusts. But you may have thought that trusts are only for “rich people”. That’s hardly the case. In truth, anyone can set up a trust, even if you don’t have much money. You can do it using life insurance to create a trust. And though you may not be around to …