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How will your family members and dependents manage financially if you die or become disabled? If someone depends on you financially, this is a question you cannot avoid. Insurance can help you answer this difficult question.

Description:
We want to help you reach your retirement and other lifetime goals, but your financial well-being could be devastated by premature death or disability. We don’t want you to have to abandon or compromise on future planning goals if the unexpected occurs.

In addition to life and disability insurance, you may want to consider long-term care coverage. The 2011 national average cost of care for a one-year period is $75,555 for a semi-private room.* Some conditions such as Alzheimer’s may result in stays of 10 years or more. If you are retired that amount could seriously reduce the number of years your retirement nest egg will last.

Benefits:
Most of us don’t want to think about these gloomy issues. That is why, as your financial advisers, we can help you make decisions about insurance so you have peace of mind that you have selected the correct type of insurance and in amounts that make sense for your situation.

Situations where a change in insurance coverage may be warranted include:

Married or Engaged – Most families depend on two incomes to make ends meet. If one spouse died suddenly or became disabled, would the other spouse have enough money to cover immediate expenses: e.g. long-term care or funeral costs, credit card balances, outstanding loans and mortgages, plus daily living expenses?

Parenthood or Impending Parenthood – Raising a child is expensive. If a parent died tomorrow or became ill or disabled would the spouse have the financial capability to provide the children with the same opportunities? Would there be enough income to pay for day care, a college education, and everything in between? Even a parent who doesn’t work outside the home may need life insurance and disability or long-term care coverage. The services a stay-at-home parent provides cannot be replaced at zero cost. It is expensive to replace services such as child care, transportation, and household chores. And single parents have an acute need for life, disability, and long-term care insurance because their children rely on them for everything.

Buying/Owning a Home – Life insurance and long-term care/disability insurance can protect the investment in a home and spare dependents the burden of having to find a new, less expensive place to live. Insurance can provide the funds needed to help family members maintain the lifestyle to which they are accustomed.

Changing Jobs – A good time to re-evaluate your insurance coverage is when you are promoted or change jobs. Why? When income rises, spending tends to rise to the same level. Existing life insurance coverage amounts may not be sufficient to cover the increased lifestyle. Disability and long-term care policies should also be reviewed.

Retired or Planning for Retirement – Even if your children are adults and your mortgage is paid off, you may still need life insurance. If you died today, your surviving spouse could live another 10, 20, or 30 years. Sufficient life insurance coverage can help widows and widowers avoid financial sacrifices in their retirement years. Long-term care coverage can help with expenses that may exhaust your retirement savings.

Single – Most single people don’t have a pressing need for life or disability insurance because no one may depend on them financially. But there are exceptions. If you are single and providing financial support for aging parents or siblings, or if you are carrying significant debt, you should consider life insurance, long-term care, and disability.

Process:

• We will help you request an in-force illustration of your current life insurance policies and ask you to bring those illustrations, along with your life insurance, disability, and long-term care policies, to us.
• You will be asked to complete an Insurance Needs Worksheet which will help us determine your needs and objectives.
• Then we will perform a comprehensive review of your existing policies to assure they provide appropriate coverage given your current situation and your financial goals.
• After assessing your current needs and goals and reviewing your existing policies, we can develop a plan to fill in any gaps in your coverage that may be present.