Insurance Services
LIFE INSURANCE
There are many different types of life insurance policies, all of which are designed to serve different needs such as, protection for your mortgage, your family, your small business, your key employees, your replacement of income and give you return of premium, cash accumulation or survivorship needs.
We can quote from term life to permanent life depending on your individual or small business needs. Not everyone has the same needs therefore personalized service one on one is the key to successful life insurance planning. Complete Insurance Brokerage available: We represent more than 30 companies and have competent advice in this area.
Term insurance is generally the least expensive and least complicated type of life insurance. It provides insurance protection at a low cost for a specified period of time. If you are still living at the end of the term, protection ceases unless the policy is renewed. While there are some companies that offer “return of premium", there is no "accumulation" element, or cash value with term insurance.
Permanent life insurance is distinguished from term insurance in several ways. While term insurance provides protection only for a specific initial period of time, permanent insurance can provide protection for your entire lifetime, or in certain instances, up to a specific age -- at which point the insurance company will pay the policy owner the cash value. In addition, permanent life insurance policies can build cash value -- money that you can borrow against and, in some instances, withdraw to help meet future goals, such as paying for a child's college education. Note: You will usually have to wait a period of time after the purchase of your policy for sufficient cash value to accumulate for you to borrow against. If the unpaid interest on your loan plus your outstanding loan balance exceeds the amount of your policy's cash value, your policy and all coverage will terminate.
Permanent life insurance policies enjoy favorable tax treatment. Cash value generally grows on a tax-deferred basis, meaning that you pay no taxes on any earnings in the policy so long as the policy remains in force. Cash value may be taken out of the policy income tax free, as long as you adhere to certain premium limits so your policy is not considered a Modified Endowment Contract (MEC). Policy loans generally are not considered taxable income, and withdrawals generally can be taken up to the amount of premiums paid without being taxed.
The two general types of permanent life insurance policies are Whole Life, a dividend-paying policy, and Universal Life, a flexible policy.
All product guarantees are based on the claims paying ability of the issuer.
DISABILITY INCOME INSURANCE
Disability income products are designed to provide individuals or small business owners with a stated amount of income in the event you cannot work due to a disabling illness or accident. Statistics prove that the probability of disability greatly exceeds the probability of death during an individuals working years. The need for protection against the economic death of a wage earner cannot be over emphasized.
We represent several different carriers and can provide STD (Short Term Disability) or LTD (Long Term Disability) for either individual coverage or small group through our Complete Insurance Brokerage.
LONG TERM CARE
In September 1994, California implemented a major new program to help people with moderate incomes and assets purchase high quality long-term care (LTC) insurance. This program, known as the California Partnership for Long-Term Care (CPLTC), is a partnership between the State of California and select insurance companies that offer policies containing special consumer protections.
Perhaps the most unique feature of this program is its guarantee that the State and Federal Government will provide a financial back stop should the LTC benefits provided by the Partnership be insufficient to meet the needs of the purchaser. Individuals who buy partnership policies are entitled to keep additional assets equal to the amount their policy pays out, should they ever need to apply for Medi-Cal for health or LTC benefits. In the absence of such protection, single individuals can only retain $2000 in non-exempt assets in order to qualify for Medi-Cal benefits. This special asset protection helps assure consumers who can only afford premiums for a one or two-year policy, that should they exhaust their policy benefits they won't have to become impoverished before then can receive Medi-Cal benefits. Individuals who purchase Non-Partnership policies and use up their policy benefits must “spend down" their assets to poverty level in order to receive Medi-Cal assistance.