ALLCHOICE Insurance :: Blog

ALLCHOICE would like to wish everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

Our Office will be closed Thursday November 26th & Friday November 27th.

There exists a great debate among so-called financial experts with respect to what type of life insurance policy is best.  One one hand, you have the camp that believes in the value of a properly funded “permanent” life insurance contract (i.e. whole life or universal life).  The other camp feels that you should purchase term insurance and invest the difference into some financial product.  Regardless of which camp you fall in to, the life insurance industry created a Term Life Insurance product which included a “rider” that allowed you to receive all of your premiums paid into a term life insurance product back at the end of that policies term.

Let’s assume that you go to your agent and needed to purchase life insurance.  After you and the agent completed a Life Insurance Review (hopefully), you determined that you needed an additional $200,000 worth of protection.  After looking at whole life & universal life, you determined those two options to be out of your budget.  You agent then showed you a Term product which was much cheaper.  However, you did not like the idea of paying for something, which if you did not die during the policy’s term would just vanish.  Your agent then showed you that you could amend that term product, for an additional premium, with a rider which would return every premium dollar you had paid into the policy should you not die during the policy’s term.  That is a win/win for everyone!

Well, if you like the idea of that “win/win” scenario, you better act fast.  The rules that regulate life insurance contracts are changing January 1st,  2010.  Actuarial Guideline 45 applies to individual life insurance products that offer endowment benefits prior to the expiration date of the life insurance coverage (most ROP products offer the clients a partial return of their premiums paid should the insured cancel the contract before the end of the Term).  The new rules make these Return of Premium products too costly for Life Insurance Carriers to profitably sell.

While many companies will continue to sell these Return of Premium Policies, they will have ot increase the cost of the actual rider.  This increase will, more than likely, cause many individuals to stay away from these products as the “cost / benefit”  analysis will be drastically reduced.  Further, many carriers are completely stopping the sell of their Return of Premium Policies.  Unfortunately, the real losers in this increased regulation (from the government) of the life insurance industry is the consumer.

About The Author:  Jack Wingate is the co-founder, and President of ALLCHOICE Insurance in Greensboro, NC.  For more information about Jack Wingate, ALLCHOICE Insurance, or Life Insurance please visit: http://www.allchoiceinsurance.com

Identity Theft is a very real threat in our society.  Undoubtedly, you have read the staggering statistics regarding Identity Theft.  If those facts do not make you step back a assess your current Insurance Program, I don’t know what will.  As I have spoken to countless people about the threat of Identity Theft, I have been amazed at the common attitude that exists.  Everyone believes that it can not happen to them.  My intent in writing this series on Identity Theft was to show those same people that, “Yes”, Identity Theft can happen to you!  Let’s start with a series of questions I would like for you to ask yourself (and be honest).

• Have you ever used a Credit or Debit Card?
• Do you sign the back of your Credit or Debit Card?
• Have you ever supplied personal information via the internet?
• Do you keep your Social Security Number in your wallet?
• Received Mail in your personal mailbox?

If you answer “Yes” to any of these questions (by the way, there are hundreds of questions just like this that I could add to the list), then you could be a potential target of Identity Theft.

If you have read Part One and Part Two of this series, you have seen some basic steps or precautions you can take to help stop Identity Theft.  You have also seen the financial impact that an Identity Theft can have on you, not to mention the amount of time an Identity Theft can cost you.  Hopefully, you will understand that you should treat your Identity the same way you treat your other major assets (home, car, life) and look for a good “insurance policy”.

The fact is that the people who look to steal identities, are countless steps ahead of any “Identity Theft Programs” available.  You have undoubtedly heard countless advertisements for various Identity Theft Solutions.  These solutions tend to portray themselves as stopping identity theft.  The fine print, however, lets you know that NO system is 100% effective.  Most solutions involve placing a “freeze” on your credit account (which is something you could do yourself for free).  More importantly, the vast majority of these solutions only deal with Identity Theft involving “finances”.

As you have hopefully learned by now, Identity Theft involves more than just Financial Identity Theft.  The most advertised solutions do nothing to help with the other forms of Identity Theft.  The premise behind these solutions is for them to simply STOP Identity Theft.  Again, no solution can guarantee this.  If I were to design an Identity Theft Solution there are a few things that I would want to have.

• Identity Monitoring (Credit Monitoring, Social Security Number Monitoring, Drivers License Monitoring)
• Dedicated Identity Restoration Specialist
• Service that takes the restoration out of my hands

In a nutshell, I want a service that will monitor everything that deals with my Identity and alert me when something suspicious happens.  Should we determine that someone has stolen my identity, or is attempting to steal my identity, then I simply say “go get ‘em and call me when you are done”.

Unfortunately, after reviewing countless Identity Theft Solutions, it seems that the majority of the solutions offer band-aids.  I found two solutions that best fit my criteria for an Identity Theft Solution:

1. IDwatchdog
2. Identity Theft Shield

While both solutions act in a similar fashion, I do lean more toward the Identity Theft Shield.  The main reason is similar to how I choose any other Insurance Provider.  I look at the track record.  The Identity Theft Shield is a solution from Kroll, Inc.  Kroll is the leading risk management firm on the planet.  In fact, they are the company that was used to track the financial records of Saddam Hussein.  The solution is marketed by Pre-Paid Legal Services.  While there are many people who look down upon Pre-Paid Legal, If you do your research, you will see that they have been in business over 30 years.

Protecting your Identity should be a major concern.  The threat is real.  There are steps that you can take to reduce your exposure, but you should seriously consider purchasing an Insurance Policy for your Identity.

About The Author:  Jack Wingate is the co-founder and President of ALLCHOICE Insurance in Greensboro, NC.  For more information about Identity Theft, Jack Wingate, or ALLCHOICE Insurance, please visit http://www.allchoiceinsurance.com