Insurance

An annuity is a contract between you and an insurance company that requires the insurer to make payments to you, either immediately or in the future. You buy an annuity by making either a single payment or a series of payments. Similarly, your payout may come either as one lump-sum payment or as a series of payments over time.

Fixed Annuity:  The insurance company promises you a minimum rate of interest and a fixed amount of periodic payments. Fixed annuities are regulated by state insurance commissioners.

Variable Annuity:  The insurance company allows you to direct your annuity premium to different investment options, usually a select list of mutual funds available for that annuity. Your payout will vary depending on how much you put in, the rate of return on your investments, and expenses. These are regulated by the SEC, FINRA, and state insurance commissioners.

As the most basic form of cash-value life insurance, whole life insurance is a way to accumulate wealth as regular premiums pay insurance costs and contribute to equity growth in a savings account where dividends or interest are allowed to build-up tax-deferred.

A type of flexible permanent life insurance offering the low-cost protection of term life insurance, as well as a savings element (like whole life insurance), which is invested to provide a cash value buildup. The death benefit, savings element and premiums can be reviewed and altered as a policyholder’s circumstances change. In addition, unlike whole life insurance, universal life insurance allows the policyholder to use the interest from his or her accumulated savings to help pay premiums.

A policy with a set duration limit on the coverage period. Once the policy expires, it is up to the policy owner to decide whether to renew the term life insurance policy or to let the coverage end. This type of insurance policy contrasts with permanent life insurance, in which duration extends until the policy owner reaches 100 years of age (i.e., death).

A life insurance policy that a company purchases on a key executive’s life. The company is the beneficiary of the plan and pays the insurance policy premiums.

Also known as “key man insurance,” “key woman insurance” or “business life insurance.”

A type of life insurance on two people (usually married) that provides benefits to the heirs only after the last surviving spouse dies. This differs from regular life insurance in that the surviving partner doesn’t receive any benefits after their spouse dies. Thus, second-to-die insurance is used for estate planning.

Unlike traditional health insurance, long-term care insurance is designed to cover long-term services and supports, including personal and custodial care in a variety of settings, such as your home, a community organization or other facility.

Long-term care insurance policies reimburse policyholders a daily amount (up to a pre-selected limit) for services to assist them with activities of daily living such as bathing, dressing or eating. You can select a range of care options and benefits that allow you to get the services you need, when you need them.