In this article I will discuss the benefits of a little known but very important plan called a family income plan which is also known as family income benefit. I will explain how the plan works and further I will go into how this type of plan can benefit the average client looking for life insurance.

First of all it is important to understand the various needs for life insurance and therefore have a greater understanding of were exactly the likes of family income plans fit within good financial planning.

There is generally only a handful of reasons one would have life insurance. The obvious ones are family protection and loans or mortgage protection. Mortgage protection or loan is quite simple you have a liability of a certain amount of money, so best advice dictates that you should insure exactly that amount in the event of death, and if funds allow in the event of a critical illness. Family income benefit does not cater for mortgage or loan protection for reasons that will be later explained.

Family protection is where family income plans fit perfectly. Family protection is all about making sure that your family or your dependents are adequately taken care of financially in the event of your death. In order to suitably meet this need you invariably have to have a figure to insure, an amount of money that your dependents would need in order to maintain their standard of living in the event that the worst actually happens.

A lot of people tend to use their incomes as a good benchmark to work from when ascertaining what level of cover they actually need. The reason for this is during life you may support your family to the tune of 25,000 for example, so it is fair to say that in the event you die they would need 25,000 per annum in order to maintain their standard of living.

Before the likes of family income plans people only had lump sum insurance plans to to take out as protection. This meant people would have to work out what size of lump sum they needed if they wanted an annual benefit of 25,000. Due to the fact tat they would never know what future inflation or investment returns would be meant this was far from an exact science and again from a good financial planning point of view was a poor and risky way to work.

Along came family income benefit. In short this plan pays out the annual required benefit. So if you wanted 30,000 per annum you took the plan out with that level of sum assured and then if the worst happens the plan pays out 30,000 per annum.

The plan went a bit further to ensure that it did the job correctly, by including something called indexation. This meant that each year the value of the benefit actually increased to ensure that if and the when the worst actually happened the amount your loved ones would receive would be the right amount regardless of how high or low inflation had been. Furthermore once claimed it would continue to rise with inflation making sure that continued to maintain that value from the benefit.

So in summary if you are looking for family protection and it is a level of income you are looking to protect, which 99% of time it really should be, then family income benefit is generally the right plan for you. It will ensure you have adequate cover to protect your family in the event of your death and it will continue into the future with inflation protection as a result of the indexation benefit available as an option within the plan.

Do you have several credit cards that have reached their limits and you find that paying the minimum monthly requirement is getting difficult? If you add the expenses of car payments, insurance, and mortgages on top of your mounting debt this can lead to a feeling of being financially overwhelmed. The way a debt reduction service operates is when you owe a particular balance to a creditor and negotiate to pay a lower balance. This differs from debt consolidation in that when you consolidate you pay a lump sum to an agency that then disperses the monies to the creditors that you owe. Creditors will agree to debt reduction if they believe that it is in their best interest.

Typically, those who request debt reduction services are individuals who are considering the option of bankruptcy as a form of clearing out their debt. Certain situations affect the pay off amount that creditors will offer. They will look at your credit report to see how you are paying your other debts. If it appears, you are paying everyone else in a timely fashion and neglecting them, they will most likely offer a high settlement based on the fact you appear to have the finances to be faithful to your other obligations. On the other hand, if they notice that your credit report shows you are not paying anyone they may offer a lower settlement. If their offer is in your opinion to high, then you can gather your financial information, including all incomes received and outgoing expenses to negotiate for a lower settlement offer.

When you have received a settlement offer either through a company you have hired or through negotiating yourself the creditor expects you to pay off the settlement with a one-time lump sum payment. There are exceptions to this rule such as if your debt is significantly high the creditor may consider payment arrangements over a short period. Usually they will offer up to six months. Another option is in using a debt reduction service that can negotiate for the settlement payments to stretch over a period up to four years.

The idea of using debt reduction services as a form of reducing your debt in and of itself sounds like a great idea. There are some points to consider if you are an individual who has good credit and has found himself or herself in a difficult spot financially, consider carefully before engaging in a debt reduction service. Once you do use this method, it will significantly lower your credit score, making obtaining credit more difficult. If you, on the other hand, are someone who has had a history of poor credit actually using a debt reduction service can change your bad credit rating from poor to good thus enhancing your credit status.

Concerned about the high cost of healthcare? Worried that your insurance doesn’t cover all your costs? Fortunately, a partial solution may be just around the corner. Since January 2004, taxpayers have had a tax savings tool called Health Savings Accounts, or HSAs. These HSAs may solve many of your healthcare cost problems.

How an HSA Works

In a nutshell, HSAs work like this. You buy a specific type of major medical, or catastrophic coverage, insurance called a High Deductible Health Plan. (This special HSA-compatible insurance is also known by the acronym HDHP.) Then, you annually contribute up to roughly $5,100 for a family and up to $2,600 for an individual–to a special health savings account. (Note that slightly higher deductions are available to taxpayers over the age of 55. Also, annual deductions are indexed for inflation.)

How You Save Taxes with HSAs

HSAs work because you get a tax deduction for the money you contribute to the health savings account. However, as long you spend the money in the account for eligible healthcare expenses-pretty much anything reasonable-you aren’t taxed when you withdraw the money. Note that HSAs deductions are not limited by taxpayer incomes.

In effect, the HSA makes all or most of your uncovered healthcare expenses fully deductible. This is a big deal because for most people, healthcare expenses are not deductible.
Just to put the value of an HSA into perspective, a family can save from $500 to as much as $1750 annually in income taxes by using one of these accounts. The final savings, predictably, depend on family income and the state where the family lives.
One other thing.

Don’t confuse HSAs with the old style Flexible Spending Accounts, or FSAs. With FSAs, you lost the money you didn’t spend by the end of the year. With HSAs, you don’t lose the money. The unused balance just carries forward to the next year.

Aren’t Medical Expenses a Tax Deduction Anyway?

No, not really. For most people medical expenses are not a tax deduction. Here’s why. Healthcare expenses do count as an itemized deduction for people who don’t use the standard deduction. However, only the portions of one’s healthcare costs that exceed 7.5% of adjusted gross income get deducted. That means that most people never get to use their healthcare costs as tax deductions because their healthcare costs don’t cross the 7.5% threshold.

Another Benefit: HSAs May Also Save Premiums

HSAs sometimes produce another economic benefit. The HDHP insurance itself may save people money because they buy less insurance. This is especially true for people who aren’t already using major medical insurance.

How to Set Up a Health Savings Account

HSA accounts aren’t difficult to set up. Essentially, you do just two things. (1) Get medical insurance that qualifies as an HDHP, and (2) Open an HSA account with a bank that offers HSAs. Your current medical insurance provider is a good place to start your search for HDHP insurance. You can also check with your state’s Blue Cross or Blue Shield insurer.

Three Warnings about HSAs

For what it’s worth, I am now using an HSA myself. (I got my HDHP from Premera Blue Cross and use an HSA account from HSA Bank.) But let me also share three caveats: First, obviously, you never want to cancel one insurance policy until you’re sure you have a replacement policy. Second, you do need to be careful about the fees associated with the HSA “bank account,” so shop around. Third, if you withdraw money from an HSA for something other than a valid medical expense, the withdrawal is taxable and subject to a 10% penalty.

Life insurance is a necessity for people whose spouses and/or other dependents rely on their incomes. Regardless of the type of insurance you decide to purchase, the payoff goes directly to your designated beneficiaries and is not taxed, so the beneficiaries receive the entire face value of the policy. The two most common types of life insurance are term life and whole life. Understanding the difference between the two can help make the decision about which is best for your situation easier.

Term life insurance is purchased to cover a specific time period, usually not more than 20 years. The premium is set when the policy is purchased and does not change for the length of the term. If the insured dies during the term covered by the policy, the beneficiary or beneficiaries receive payment for the amount of the policy. When the term expires, the policy is no longer in force, and the insured person will have to purchase a new policy.

Generally, applicants for term life have to undergo a medical exam to qualify for it.

The advantage of term life policy is that the premium is usually lower than for other life insurance products. The disadvantage is that term insurance does not increase in value over time, so the premium are simply an expense-it does not accrue to the benefit of the insured. One cannot, for instance, borrow against the value of term life insurance.

On the other hand, whole life insurance policies are issued to cover the entire life span of the insured. The premium for a whole life policy will be substantially higher than one for a term life insurance policy of the same value, but the policy does accrue value over time. If s/he needs cash at some future point, the insured can borrow against the value of the policy.

If the borrowed funds are not paid back before the insured’s death, the dollar amount of the loan will be deducted from the face value of the policy and the balance will be paid to the beneficiary or beneficiaries.

Some of those who purchase whole life use it as one tool in their estate-planning arsenal, because the beneficiaries do not pay taxes on life insurance payoffs. If a person has considerable assets and wants to avoid having some of them tied up in probate or subject to estate taxes, whole life can be a useful option in attaining those goals.

Some companies offer term life policy that can be converted to whole life during the covered term. The premium will increase, but the insured is not obliged to take another round of medical tests to qualify for the insurance.

Joint life insurance policy provides a single cover for 2 or more persons with one premium. Much like a life insurance policy for an individual, it provides benefit to the surviving policy holder in the event of death of the other holder/s of the joint life policy and can be term or whole life policy. Joint life policy is suitable for working couples and for business partners as one joint policy will cost less than purchasing two separate policies.

The most commonly opted for plan under joint life insurance policies is Joint ‘first to die’ policy. In this, at the death of one partner, the insured amount is paid to the surviving partner after which the policy ceases to be in force. It aims at providing support to the surviving partner to continue meeting expenses such as mortgage payments, car loan instalment etc.

in the event of death of the other partner. Joint ‘first death’ policy can be considered where both of the couple are earning and the main concern is to take care of only the surviving partner and there are no other dependants. The policy is underwritten by calculating the average age of the partners and should be taken according to larger of the two incomes. This joint policy can also be taken by business partners.

In case the requirement is to provide for dependants after the death of both earners, a Joint Survivorship Insurance policy also called ‘second to die’ insurance policy may be taken.  Here, benefit will be paid to the nominated beneficiary, generally the children of the insured, upon the death of both the holders of a joint policy.

This type of policy is normally considered when the need is to provide financial security to one’s heirs or to ensure passing on of business to the legal successors after the death of all founding partners. Survivorship joint life policy is typically a whole life policy.

Pros of a Joint life insurance policy:

a. It is less expensive than taking two separate policies.

b. Underwriting terms for a joint life policy are more flexible because they must adjust two different requirements and the risk is spread over more than one individual.

c. It presents an option for a person whose individual insurance policy would be too expensive due to old age or poor health provided that the other partner is in his/ her prime of health and age.

d. Effective financial planning tool in case of large estate.

Cons of a Joint life insurance policy:

a. A chance of a fall out between the joint holders for e.g. divorce.

b. In the ‘first death’ insurance plan the policy ceases after the death of one partner and at that time if the surviving partner requires an insurance cover it may be too expensive due too old age etc.

c. Single policies are more customised to suit unique needs of an individual than a joint insurance policy.

A joint life insurance policy can be considered primarily by partners especially married working couples as it provides the same coverage to both at a lesser cost than of separate policies while giving them peace of mind of financial security in case of  an unfortunate occurrence.