Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Insurance Company Investment

Every insurance company advertises its life cover and the benefits they offer their clients. They tell you that their services, term life and whole life insurance have unique properties that you should buy into. I bet that everyone has heard something about life insurances, either whole or term insurances and many people are thinking about their future and their loved ones that may have bought one. However, there is another product on the market: universal life insurance, product that has many advantages over other investment options. This type of policy has witnessed an increased popularity in the last years and more and more people are beginning to think about their financial future. A universal insurance policy represents a personal portfolio that offers you a certain degree of financial security. It differs from other insurances as it offers clients a longer list of possibilities and facilities. Later in this article we will discuss the insurance company investment portfolio and what that involves.

A universal policy is based around a life insurance, and its core is a life insurance with everything it represents. According to what type of cover you choose, a universal life cover policy may contain whole , term or mortgage insurance insurance. It also contains an investment option (it includes a series of funds that you can use for emergencies or retirement). A universal life policy also contains a health insurance that covers both general health and critical illnesses. You can discuss with your broker to include other facilities as well, such as a disability and accidental death cover for you or other members of your family.

You can change the terms of your universal insurance scheme during its existence according to your financial situation at that time. Either you can expand its coverage on other aspects that you have left out when you had signed for it or you can resize its limits downward. A universal life insurance offers unique adaptability and flexibility to offer you the best insurance scheme for your requirements. If you want your family members to benefit from the advantages it offers, you can expand its coverage to them as well. You can choose a more expensive or a cheaper scheme whenever you want and you can even stop paying the fees for a certain amount of time if you have difficulties for a short while.

The investment company owning the universal insurance company investment portfolio will invest its funds in several financial instruments: bonds, stocks, real estate as well as other secure options. Managing the investment portfolio is complex and it is the job of the investment portfolio management to help reduce the risks and to maximize the profit. A long-term investment portfolio is managed differently from a short-term portfolio and these insurance company portfolios are usually managed through periods, having in mind a clear financial objective and the necessity to reduce risks. There are many cases in which commercial banks manage investment portfolios and they employ financial specialists and financial advisors to achieve their goals.

Health Insurance Schemes

Most health insurance schemes seem confining in one way or another as what works financially does not always work in practice. There is no perfect medical plan as medical costs are so high that in order to provide a medical plan that works for the majority of people something has to be left out. You will either get more day to day care and less money spent on hospitalisation or the other way around. You will have to work around these facts and find a medical plan that works best for you and your family.

In most countries around the world the premiums of medical plans are more or less controlled by the government in order to allow most people to participate in them. In order to keep premiums as low as possible the medical plans mostly just provide the essential services.

The less expensive health insurance schemes operate with a network of doctors and then require you to pay a monthly premium as well as a small extra fee when visiting a doctor or any medical professional. You will only be able to choose one of the doctors on a panel who have offered their services to the insurance scheme at a discounted price.

Most medical plans do not allow for expensive prescribed drugs but will give generics if the consumer is satisfied with these, if not he or she will have to pay for them themselves.

Health insurance is essential for all families and individuals to have as you never know when you or a family member will get ill and require medical attention.

Monday, March 31, 2008

Buying Life Insurance Online

The importance of life insurance drives many people to wonder where to buy it. There are several options when shopping for a life insurance policy. A person can get the coverage they want from local brokers, life insurance companies or directly through the internet.

A thorough amount of research is necessary to find the best deals and cheapest rates. Life insurers employ many sales people, who help the customers select the appropriate life insurance plans. Contacting these salespeople through telephone, e-mail or personally can be one to buy coverage.

However, before choosing a place to shop for life insurance policies, ensure that the organization is sanctioned by your state's department of insurance and better business bureau.

The best place to get all the necessary information is the internet. Online shopping is the simplest and most reliable way to buy a life insurance policy. You can find information and get quotes quickly and accurately, online. Many, many companies are included in online industry directories. These can also help you to study, compare, and buy a suitable life insurance policy for your situation.

Buying Life Insurance Online:

The internet provides a number of sites where you can search for relevant information on where to buy life insurance plans. These sites offer ratings and policy details of the top life insurers. These companies work with similar fundamentals and provide life coverage policies to meet the needs of customers. However, they differ in their coverage tactics, exemptions and terms.

For example, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Transamerica Occidental Insurance Company, American General Insurance Company, CIGNA and Aetna are some of the recognizable and famous names among life insurers accessible on the internet.

These companies easily handle all types of life insurance policies. The individual sites of these companies provide ratings and life insurance information. A customer should go to all these sites to compare and find out the cheapest plan with all necessary coverage, before making the purchase.

Metropolitan Life Insurance Company offers specific service features, trouble-free policy management, and reliable procedures. They propose the finest solution and service in case of monetary planning. MetLife offers services in Asia and Europe and serves customers as a part of Reinsurance Group of America.

American General insurance Company (AIG) is a universal leader in economical service that deals with insurance, retreat planning and savings. The insurance company covers the service internationally all over Asia, North America, Europe, and Latin America. AIG provides 75% reduction on life insurance policies at an affordable rate. Online quotes make a shopping less time consuming and infinitely faster.

Transamerica Occidental Life Insurance also handle affordable life insurance polices including term, whole and universal plans. CIGNA and Aetna are other online companies that provide life insurance policies at cheaper rates.

Conclusion:

There are certain online life insurance sites that help people to buy their policies. With the help of these sites, you can get a solution to the question, where to buy the life insurance. The websites listed below can get you started in the right direction. Moreover, they will compare quotes from all the major life insurers listed above.

Software for General Insurance

A good general insurance software package should improve the efficiency and profitability of insurance agencies by providing easy to learn systems at affordable prices. A few companies who provide such packages include:

QualCorp’s FormsPlus – a cutting-edge policy issuance and administration software solution that deals with all personal and commercial lines of insurance. The package includes ProjectPlus, a workflow administration and imaging solution and QueryPlus, a reporting tool that reads every database you operate on your LAN/WAN simultaneously and in real time.

INSolve manufactures the INSolve Policy Administration Suite (IPAS) that features a fully customizable web-based solution. IPAS will track suspense items, save applications as drafts, and perform customer account clearance. It has an automated quoting process, and policies are produced with all endorsement and exclusion forms with a built-in policy issuance engine.

Sapiens International offers the INSIGHT software program that

Includes life, health, property & casualty, and reinsurance policy administration and an expert underwriting system. It reduces the cost of doing business through automation and reduces risk selection through the use of rules based underwriting.

Insurance Systems has a comprehensive software solution to run your Property & Casualty insurance company called WebWriter BackOffice. This product combines ease of use with powerful features offering the most complete insurance program on the market.

WebPlus Software has LiveLink that electronically transmits a broker's entire package to you, handles all messages sent back and forth and sends the final quote back to the broker within seconds. Your company’s specific and ACORD forms are fill-able by the online broker using free software.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

General Insurance In Modern World

Who can live in the modern world without insurance? People insure anything and everything nowadays to feel secure about their possessions in this risk-filled world. And so insurance companies have become part and parcel of life today.

An insurance company is an organization that sells insurance policies and assures security for the client or administrator. Insurance companies are in the business of providing financial protection against risks involved in property, houses and health. They make profits from the premiums paid by their clients. This money is technically termed "float," and the success of an insurance company will depend on the success of its floats. If the floats are successful, the company will profit even if it pays back the entire amount it has received in premium.

Even when insurance companies pay out more money in claims that they actually receive in premiums, as most companies do, they still make profit by investing the money at a larger return than their cost of float.

Traditional insurance companies were mutual or stock companies, depending on the ownership of the company: policyholders and stockholders, respectively. But mutual insurance companies are very rare now, and so we can go into a more practical classification. Insurance companies can be classified as mainly Life Insurance companies and General Insurance companies, dealing in life insurance and property and auto insurance, respectively. They differ in their functions and services because life and related insurance policies are taken out for long periods of time, whereas general insurance policies cover short periods of 1 to 5 years. There are companies that sell both life and general insurance also.

Insurance companies are rated by financial rating services like A. M Best, Standard & Poor, Fitch and Diamond Bond. If you buy policies from a company that comes in the top four in any of these ratings, you can consider your insurance to be in safe hands.

Contarctors Liability For General Insurance Schemes

Normally, it is difficult for general contractors to work without general insurance. General contractor liability insurance is intended to guard operators and owners of companies from claims that may come from a broad spectrum of sources. These exposures could be just about anything, including liability engendered by accidents from the operations of the insured party, contractual liability, products manufactured by the insured party, etc.

The liability you select, whether it is one, two, or three million dollars, determines the cost of general contractor liability insurance. Also factored into the rates the rates are the kind of work undertaken, gross receipts and total payroll expenses. Similar to auto insurance, when it comes to general contractor liability insurance, you will first have to make a down payment and then follow it up with installments. Before buying general contractor liability insurance, it is best to compare the quotes available in the market.

It is the general contractor’s job to make sure that the people working under him are covered by an insurance policy. If for example, a person who is not a part of the project gets injured, the injured person’s lawyer can target just about anyone involved in the project. The more individuals that are involved, the greater the chances of a successful lawsuit.

The General Contractor will have to make sure that all his subcontractors have general liability insurance. If they have the necessary insurance the liability exposure, and the insurance rate, is distinctly reduced. Generally, the subcontractor is not considered an employee; he is an independent worker. So, the contractor is not liable for his subcontractor’s mistakes. Still, a lawyer worth his salt can find ways to charge anybody working on the project with negligence. Thus, liability insurance for everyone becomes imperative.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Profitable Businesses With Life Insurance

Life insurance companies are the most profitable businesses these days. Moreover, companies selling policies are among the most influential corporations in the world.

These well-known and biggest companies provide affordable policies that benefit consumers. Economical stability of the insurance industry helps these companies to make the most of the consumers' money with an attractive cash return.

Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MetLife), Transamerica Occidental Insurance Company and American General Insurance Company (AIG) are some of the recognizable brands in the United States. These companies deal mostly with life insurance. They handle both term and whole life insurance policies in an easy and comfortable manner.

Details on These Giants:

All the biggest companies work with similar principles. They provide life coverage policies to fulfill the needs of the customers. However, they differ in their coverage plans and terms.

Metropolitan Life Insurance Company offers definite service factors, simple policy administration and reliable operations. They offer the best solution and service, in case of financial planning. MetLife handles $2 trillion worth of policies and therefore, is considered as one of the biggest insurer in the United States. MetLife provides financial holding with a countrywide-chartered bank.

MetLife also offers services in Asia and Europe, and serves customers as a part of Reinsurance Group of America. In 2005, MetLife received the certification of biggest life insurer in the United States, with the implementation of traveler's life and allowance group. MetLife offers both term and whole life policies at a cheap rate and avoids rider.

According to the press releases, American General insurance Company is another of the biggest insurance company in the United States. The company is a worldwide leader in financial service that deals with insurance, retirement planning and investment. This company is spread internationally all over Asia, North America, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East, as AIG (American International Group).

AIG provides savings on life policies at affordable rates. Online quotes offer an effortless and hassle free shopping option to their customers. AIG plans include term life, whole life and universal life insurance coverage. However, their term life policy is the most widely used as compared to others.

The Transamerica Corporation is the parent firm of various life insurance and investment companies. Among these firms, Transamerica Occidental Life Insurance Company is the biggest insurer. They also handle affordable policies, including term, whole and universal.

Conclusion:

All the above listed companies sell these policies at affordable rates and assure security to their customers. These qualities make them the giant figures in the industry. These companies earn huge profits from the premiums paid by their customers.

These premiums are termed as float and the status of float, leads to the life insurance company's success. Certain financial rating companies such as A.M Best, Fitch, Diamond Bond, and Standard and Poor evaluate the status of these companies annually. Their findings show that, MetLife, AIG, TOIC and Prudential are the four biggest companies.

General Contractor Liability Insurance

Normally, it is difficult for general contractors to work without general insurance. General contractor liability insurance is intended to guard operators and owners of companies from claims that may come from a broad spectrum of sources. These exposures could be just about anything, including liability engendered by accidents from the operations of the insured party, contractual liability, products manufactured by the insured party, etc.

The liability you select, whether it is one, two, or three million dollars, determines the cost of general contractor liability insurance. Also factored into the rates the rates are the kind of work undertaken, gross receipts and total payroll expenses. Similar to auto insurance, when it comes to general contractor liability insurance, you will first have to make a down payment and then follow it up with installments. Before buying general contractor liability insurance, it is best to compare the quotes available in the market.

It is the general contractor’s job to make sure that the people working under him are covered by an insurance policy. If for example, a person who is not a part of the project gets injured, the injured person’s lawyer can target just about anyone involved in the project. The more individuals that are involved, the greater the chances of a successful lawsuit.

The General Contractor will have to make sure that all his subcontractors have general liability insurance. If they have the necessary insurance the liability exposure, and the insurance rate, is distinctly reduced. Generally, the subcontractor is not considered an employee; he is an independent worker. So, the contractor is not liable for his subcontractor’s mistakes. Still, a lawyer worth his salt can find ways to charge anybody working on the project with negligence. Thus, liability insurance for everyone becomes imperative.