There are some websites that are used solely for the purpose of lead generation that will sell your information to other agents and brokers.  They require you to submit your contact information multiple time – the first for their own marketing efforts, then when you submit the information, you are given access to other vendors.  For each vendor you want a quote from, you have to submit your information again.  Some of those vendors are also lead generators, so they might sell your information to even more agents and brokers.  You might be getting a lot more phone calls about life insurance than you were expecting.  So much for the convenience of the Internet.

If you would like to get life insurance quotes online without having to give out your personal contact information, there are several excellent sites (including Lifeinsure.com)that will give you quotes anonymously.  Then, only when you are ready to apply, will you need to submit your name and contact information. You should look for the websites’ privacy policies to see how your information is used.  If a website’s privacy policy does not explain what they do with your information or, even worse, if they don’t have a privacy policy, I would advise you to look elsewhere.

According to Buzzle.com, a study by Virginia Tech Driving Institute revealed that those who resort to texting while driving are 23 times more likely to meet with an accident. A comparative study of texting while driving vs. drunk driving statistics published in a leading car magazine in the United States revealed that texting while driving is even more dangerous than drunk driving.  Studies reveal that a person who is texting while driving at the speed of 35 mph will cover 25 ft. before bringing the car to a complete halt as compared to a distance of 4 ft. which a drunk driver would cover at the same speed.  According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration,  5,870 people died in car crashes in 2008, alone.  The same statistics revealed that 515,000 people were injured in various car crashes in the United States.  Around 28 percent of all crashes in 2008 were caused by drivers in the age group of 18 to 29, who admitted to texting while driving.

Just yesterday, I heard of a famous L.A. plastic surgeon who died in a car crash in Malibu.  A preliminary investigation revealed that he was probably texting while driving. In 2008, a Metrolink train in Los Angeles crashed, killing 25 people and injuring scores of others.  It was determined that the engineer had been texting to a friend when the train crashed into another.

What does this have to do with life insurance, you might ask?  Well, people are dying…that’s what.  However, my intention here is not to get people to think about life insurance.  Rather, it’s to wake up to this cause of many unnecessary deaths, with a lot more to come, if this behavior isn’t changed.  I am compelled to write this post because I see people texting while driving on a daily basis and it’s been getting a lot more prevalent.

Here’s what needs to happen with this problem, as I see it – the same attention that’s given to drunk driving needs to be given to this behavior; public service campaigns need to be directed at the target age group that seems to be doing most of the texting while driving; fines for this behavior need to be high enough to at least cause one to pause before sending or reading a text (this would include large financial penalties and jail time for repeat offenders).

Parents need to have honest discussions with their driving-age children and give them the hard facts and statistics about this problem.  A good place to start is  Oprah Winfrey’s No-Phone Zone.  It has some sobering information on it.  Sit your driving age children down and visit the site with them: http://www.oprah.com/packages/no-phone-zone.html. I appeal to those of you who are texting while driving.  Please stop doing it now – the life you save may be your own…or mine…or…???

10 Things You Need to Know About Life Insurance in General Life Insurance

We all know that Life Insurance is a great way to protect your family now, and even help plan for your family’s financial future. As with all insurance products before you buy any kind of life insurance policy is it best to do a little research, so you can understand what kind of life insurance is best for the needs of you and your family. In no particular order here are 10 tips that will help you to better know your options when shopping for life insurance: Like the purchase of any kind of insurance, it pays to shop around when looking for life insurance. Now it is easier then ever to shop online for Life Insurance, you can compare plans, get a free quote, even speak to an agent – all online.

Just having life insurance coverage isn’t always enough to make sure your family is fully protected in case of your death. You have to make sure you have enough converge so that the death benefit will provide for all of their expenses without the benefit of your income. All life insurance policies are subject to medical underwriting- that means the healthier you are the cheaper your rates will be. Get in shape, and quit smoking, you not only will live longer you will pay less for life insurance.

When you are young and healthy, the last thing you may be thinking about is buying life insurance, but that is actually the perfect time to think about it, Rates for Life Insurance are cheaper the earlier you purchase your policy. If you already have a Life Insurance policy it is important that you periodically review your coverages. Life circumstances change and so do life insurance needs.

Understand that there are different types of Life Insurance, such as Term Life, Whole Life, or Universal Life, Each is designed to fit different needs and different lifestyles. Get to understand the differences, and you will know which is right for you stage of life. You can get more details about the different types of Life Insurance by accessing our helpful Guide.

Before you commit to paying for your Life Insurance premiums monthly, see if your Life Insurance provider offers a discount for paying annually, many times they do. Never lie or “fudge” the information on the medical questions on a life insurance policy application – if you are caught, not only will your policy be cancelled, you may be barred from ever purchasing another policy again, even from any other carrier – and you may be subject to criminal prosecution for insurance fraud.

Some companies offer Life Insurance as a job benefit, but these policies are usually just for a year salary, and are woefully inadequate to rely on for your only Life Insurance policy. And of course such policies are tied to the job and will not be in effect if you leave that place of employment. In life insurance the “cost per thousands” in coverage gets progressively less as you increase coverage. In other words if you pay $500.00 a year for a $250,000 term life insurance policy – you wont pat $1000.00 to double the coverage to $500,000.00 – in fact it usually is only a few dollars more per month.

Permanent Life Insurance – Choosing the Best Policy And How to Choose Life Insurance?

Permanent life insurance was designed for individuals who felt that investing their funds into a term life insurance policy wasn’t quite right for them. If you pay on term life insurance for a given period of time, and you do not die, that money simply disappears. It’s like car insurance – you pay to insure your car, but you don’t get any money back unless you actually get into an accident.

Permanent life insurance offers an investment vehicle that goes along with life insurance payments. It is “permanent” in that it continues for the duration of your lifetime, and a payout is guaranteed. You can also borrow against some permanent life insurance policies, so long as you’ve paid your premiums on time, and don’t borrow so much that you lose your plan. However, it this type of insurance isn’t for everyone, as is made clear in the recent article at doughroller.net.

If you don’t need as much money as you once did, if you can’t afford to spend much money on premiums, or if you only have a short period of time in which you need coverage, then term life insurance is better for you. For example, if your retirement is only 5 years away, and you’ll be cashing in on a large amount of money at that time, then term life insurance is perfect for you.

Term life insurance is also better for many younger people, since it costs significantly less for them. Older people will pay more for their insurance, and might not enjoy such a large savings between term and permanent life insurance. However, if you plan to keep your life insurance for a very long time, and you like the fact that the funds are tax-deferred if you cash in on them during your lifetime, then a permanent plan might be right for you.

Permanent life insurance can also provide a larger sum of cash for your beneficiaries upon your death, which can come in very handy if you have a large amount of debts that will outlive you, or if taxes will be owed against your estate upon your death. There are several types of permanent life to consider when you purchase, including traditional whole life insurance, universal life, and variable life. Each offers buyers different degrees of cash value, as well as risk.

Speak to a knowledgeable insurance broker about the different types of life insurance and how they might apply to you. There are a lot of options to choose from, but ultimately, choosing the best policy for you and your loved ones can provide them with solid financial support in the event of your passing.

I must admit I’m a sucker for detective stories, whether in a novel or on television.  If watching one of the CSI, Law and Order, or other assorted whodunit-type shows on TV with my wife, I inevitably upset her by guessing (and blurting out) who the murderer is within the first 10 minutes of the show.

The biggest dead giveaway (pun intended) is when the detectives mention a large life insurance policy on the life of the victim. The detectives usually follow this lead to find the surviving spouse (the perp) had paid off a “hit man” to off the vic (I know, I have been watching too much TV).

I’m not sure if life imitates art or if art imitates life, but if you Google life insurance + murder, you will find several news stories about spouses who arranged murders for hire of their significant others for the purpose of cashing in on life insurance policies.  While most hire someone else  to do the ghastly deed, several I read about committed the murders themselves.  Arsenic seems to have been the method of choice in the cases I read about, but there was also an assortment of the usual implements of death – guns, knives and (gulp), a baseball bat.

As in the aforementioned TV shows, the beneficiary of the vic is always looked at as a suspect, especially if the policy was issued or increased recently.  In every news article I read, a life insurance policy led to the perp.   As my reality sometimes blends in with the TV shows I watch, I can imagine Horatio Caine, removing his sunglasses slowly as he addresses the perp being escorted away in handcuffs, saying (slowly and in a chopped cadence), “It seems to me that the only thing you will be a beneficiary of is a life sentence in prison.”  Then Steve McGarrett (who’s coming back soon in a new version of Hawaii 5-0) says to his assistant, “Book him, Dano…Murder One!”

If you Google the terms life insurance or life insurance quotes, you will have literally hundreds, if not thousands of websites to choose from.  How do you know which website is going to give you the best quotes?  Here are a few tips for getting the best term life insurance quotes on the Internet:

The website does not need your name, address, phone number or email address to give you a quote.  They are collecting this information to either sell your information as a sales lead to insurance agents who are willing to pay for the information or to contact you to attempt to sell you a policy.  Some websites will sell your information to multiple websites, resulting in numerous phone calls to you.Regarding lead-generating sites mentioned above, you can often tell these websites by the multiple companies listed on their home pages.  They will not be involved with finding you the best rate.  Instead, they will list several companies on their website and charge each website a fee for all the times someone clicks on that name and redirects to their site.If the website doesn’t require any health information, the quotes will most probably be lower than you will pay.  Any quote you receive is not necessarily the price you will pay for the insurance – that will be determined during the underwriting process, which will take into account your medical history and medical exam.  The most accurate quotes will be based on multiple health factors:  height/weight, tobacco use, family history, blood pressure, cholesterol and driving record, to name a few.Sometimes an insurance company will give you a quote on their website.  However, as most insurance companies use agents and brokers to sell their products, your information will most probably be passed on to one or more agents.  The rates are not less expensive if accessed through the companies’ sites directly.  If you want to compare these rates to other companies, you will need to continue shopping.  This can be time-consuming.

The best websites to visit for quotes are those that provide quotes from multiple companies (without having to enter your personal information), base the quotes on a basic health profile and, if you want to apply for a policy, act on your behalf as a broker to assist you in purchasing the policy.  There are only handful of life insurance websites (including this one) that fit this profile.

Your decision to purchase a life insurance policy is a good one.  Make the best of it by following these tips.