When Should You Purchase Life Insurance?

There are many of us who are unsure when we should really buy life insurance. There are also several individuals who tend to put off buying life insurance because of the added expense per year that we just don t think we can afford. The trouble is when you wait too long you may not qualify for the insurance or you may have waited too long because disaster has already struck. Life insurance for most couples is either bought at the marriage time or when they have their first kid.
When you are considering buying life insurance you really should do so when you become a legal adult. In most areas that is about eighteen. By this time most children are not under their parents roof or under their health insurance benefits. This means that they are responsible for themselves and their debts. When you die or have an illness it falls on the beneficiary to take care of outstanding debts, which is why life insurance is important. The life insurance can help cover those debts and the funeral costs. While the exact time you should purchase life insurance is really up to you think about the debts you have and what you could leave behind in the event of death or serious illness.
About the Author Luke Ashworth writes for Protected.co.uk, offering views on life insurance in the UK, visit www.protected.co.uk today and compare life insurance plans in minutes.



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PRIVATE VRS PROFESSIONAL INVESTORS

PRIVATE VRS PROFESSIONAL INVESTORS
Proponents of pooled funds argue that there is a great uncertainty on the stock market, and that it is dangerous for the private investor to play there, as they get prone to high losses and costs. Although there is a grain of truth in this, the argument for holding an investment in a unit trust or investment trust is just as good as that for holding equities. In the long term, returns from holding equities have outstripped returns from safer investments such as corporate bonds, gilts and deposits. In spite of these gains, the fact still remains that professional investors have some advantages over private investors. The advantages enjoyed by professionals span three main areas, namely: (i) information gap (ii) economies of scale and (iii) expertise, and these shall be considered in turn.
Professional investors, fund managers to be specific, have become increasingly powerful as the strength of institutional investors have grown over recent years. In the course of using their powers to instil goal congruence in corporate governance, professionals have had more access to insider information from companies than the private investor. Directors are quick to part with such information, if a denial will cost them their prestigious jobs. It is claimed that when the private investor buys a share in a company, he has bought ownership, implying access to information to help him to vote sensibly when making corporate decisions, but this is not what happens on the field. This disparity in information makes the private investor toil to no avail to identify a winner, as any benefits inherent in such shares must have already being factored into the price by the time they are discovered.
Private investors have to make do with usually adulterated media information on investment, whereas the professionals have sophisticated analytical machines and tools, readily at their disposal, on the back of the strength of their pooled funds. As if this is not enough, there is as well the expertise they can flaunt.
Professional investors also gain enormous advantages by exercising economies of scale. This occurs in various aspects of their operations, including R&D (research and development), administration and transaction costs. The availability of greater financial resources to the professionals enables them to employ the services of experts to research into detail the companies, products, and services they want to invest in. A lot of cost is saved, since one expert can consider several companies, products and services on the same project. This is a benefit the private investor cannot dream of. There are impressive cost savings when it comes to paying fees and commissions on transactions, since a lot of the securities will be considered in bulk.
In spite of the above-mentioned advantages, one area in which the private investor beats the professional is flexibility . The private investor only have to invest in a stock that will provide the desired return and does not have to invest just to keep up with the market, like the professional. Fund managers also have to operate within the confines of the styles prescribed by their trusts, whereas the private investor can employ a free style in investment. Indeed, to his own detriment, he can sell all the shares in his portfolio, go and bask in the warm sunshine of Spain, and come back to invest whenever he wants; such flexibility is totally out of the reach of the professional. As an aside, with the application of due care and technique it is possible to select a share that will provide long-term returns, but there is no method for choosing a good fund manager.
It is true that there are fluctuations in the stock market and can lead to losses for the private investor. Equally, there are a lot of fund managers who make losses and fail to achieve their targeted returns. Either side of the coin has its own ups and downs, private investor or professional investor. It is perhaps wise to combine the two in a portfolio, to even out the negatives with the positives.
David Opoku BA Hons. Accounting and Finance. (Currently specialising in Financial Advising in a leading Financial Services company).
E-mail: davido312@aol.com Web: www.investmentyouneed.com



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Affordable Travel Insurance

With travel insurance you can make your trips safer. If you are setting out for your trip and planning to do a lot, then ensure your future plans with travel insurance. It will give you coverage necessary to deal with unforeseen situations that may occur while you travel. Travel insurance is certainly useful, but not all of travelers have enough money to afford it.
With affordable travel insurance, you can spend your money with care, as it is affordable even to those with tight budget. It is available for a lower rate, but the coverage is not the same in some cases. For this reason, it is essential that you carefully look through the coverage offered by travel insurance package. Generally, this type of insurance doesn t cover your whole travel costs; it covers only a part of it. However it is still better than nothing.
Approximately, you can get affordable travel insurance for about 3 per cent of the cost of your trip. In comparison with paying 5 per cent of the cost for traditional travel insurance. If you are purchasing your travel package online or if you are consulting with a travel agent you will find better prices for affordable travel insurance than if you seek for it by yourself.
Affordable travel insurance doesn t essentially mean that the quality is lower and is not similar to traditional travel policies. Travel agencies realize that most individuals do not look at travel insurance as a need. They have also worked out that if they offer it at an affordable cost than their rivalry it can be a key feature for some individuals to make their choice in favor of them.
When purchasing affordable travel insurance, remember to compare prices. As well as this, make comparison of the coverage offered by several companies. It is important to get clear information about everything you are interested in; if you do not understand even a single issue then you can ask any question to the insurer that comes into your mind.
Certainly you never know when an unforeseen occasion, like illness or some other health problems, will cause you to call off your travel plans. And that can really get a thing of disappointment without having travel insurance, as it makes everything easier. In this case the insurer will help you to postpone it or will give you a compensation for it. Even though if you can just manage to pay for affordable travel insurance, you will get a partly reimbursement and you can use that money on the purpose of rearranging your travel plans.
Visit Wawanesa Insurance to read more articles about insurance.



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How to Get the Best Renters Insurance Quote

If you rent a house or apartment, and want to protect your possessions, you need to get renters insurance because your landlord s insurance won t cover them. Here s how to get the best renters insurance quotes.
Why Get Renters Insurance?
Renters insurance will cover your personal property from such hazards as:
* Fire or lightning * Windstorm or hail * Smoke * Vandalism or malicious mischief * Theft
It will also cover you if ...
* A guest is injured while visiting you in your home. * Your property is stolen from someplace other than your home. * You damage your landlord s property and have to pay for repairs. * Your rental apartment or home is damaged and you have to pay to live somewhere else for a while.
Take an Inventory
To get the best renters insurance quote you need to figure out how much coverage you need. As a renter, you may not think you have enough possessions to make getting insurance worth the money. But sit down and think about how much it would cost to replace your
* Clothes * Furniture * Computers, televisions, and other electronic equipment * Kitchen supplies, such as dishes, pots and pans, silverware, and utensils * Towels and linens * Recreational equipment, such as bikes, skis, and camping supplies * Other items, such as books, jewelry, DVDs, and CDs
Make a list of all the items you own, including serial numbers and purchase price where possible. This list will help you figure out how much coverage you need.
Get Quotes to Compare
Once you know how much coverage you need you re ready to get some quotes.
Begin by visiting insurance websites on the Internet. On many sites, you can fill out one form and get fast quotes from multiple companies. Some sites even have a chat feature so you can get answers to your questions from an insurance professional. (See link below.)
Ask about Discounts
The best renters insurance quotes will include discounts such as:
* Multi-policy discount, if you have your auto and renters insurance with the same company. * Non-smoker discount, if no one in your residence smokes. * Safety and security discounts, if your residence has deadbolts, smoke detectors, burglar alarms, or other safety devices.
Visit http://www.LowerRateQuotes.com/renters-insurance.html or click on the following link to get the best renters insurance quotes in your area from top-rated companies and see how much you can save. You can get more renters insurance tips by checking out their "Articles" section.
The authors, Brian Stevens and Stacey Schifferdecker, have spent 30 years in the insurance and finance industries, and have written numerous articles on getting the best renters insurance quotes.



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