why people thake insurance policy?  

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Insurance is taken for just compensating the loss.

In life insurance, your family will be protected against the financial loss in case they lose you.

In case of general insurance, you will be compensated the loss due to damage of the item insured like (vehicle, home or health as the insured item)

insurance companyes  

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Aviva Life Insurance
Bajaj Allianz
Birla Sun Life Insurance
HDFC Standard Life Insurance
ICICI Prudential
Kotak Life Insurance
Life Insurance Corporation of India
Max New York Life
MetLife
Reliance Life Insurance
Sahara India Life Insurance
SBI Life InsuranceShriram
Life Insurance Co Ltd.
Tata AIG Life
21 ST CENTURY INSURANCE
ACE
AXA Group
Cathay Financial
Cattolica Assicurazioni
China Life Insurance
CNP Assurances
Corporation Mapfre
Euler Hermes
Fuji Fire & Marine
Hannover Re
Helvetia Patria
Legal & General Group
Lincoln National
Loews
Scor
XL Capital
Zurich Financial Services
WR Berkley
UnumProvident

Buying insurance? Ask these questions  

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1. What do I have to pay?
Premiums are what you pay the insurance company when buying a policy. This could be a one-time or an annual payment. It could be for a few years or for many years.
A friend of mine took a money-back scheme which needed him to pay a very hefty premium for just three years. When he turns a particular age, he will be given a lumpsum.
There are other schemes which require you to pay a premium till you turn 55 years of age. After that, you get a lumpsum returned to you.
Still others may require you to make a payment just once.
Also, check the frequency of premiums. Are you required to pay it every quarter, twice a year or once a year? If you are required to pay it every quarter or twice a year and you miss it and make it once a year, you will have to pay a late payment fee.
Issues to considerAre you taking a scheme that requires you to pay a premium only for a few years? If yes, is it very high? Will you able to service it without struggling to make ends meet?
Are you paying a premium every year? Will you be able to cough up that sum even if you are without employment for a year or two?
I took a policy that requires me to pay around Rs 43,000 every year so that I will get a huge amount when I am 55. The problem is that I was very enamored when I signed the policy. Now I am finding it a huge liability to give that amount every year. Moreover, if I want to take a break from work for a year or two, I will find it a big struggle.

2. What will I get?
What is it you are looking for when you buy insurance?
Are you scouting for an insurance cover to protect your dependents in case you die? Then just a term life will do. Here, you pay a premium every year till the tenure of the plan. If you die during this time, your dependents get the money. If you live, which is what you are hoping will happen, you get nothing.
So let's say you take a 10-year term insurance plan for Rs 10 lakh (Rs 1 million). If you die during this time, your nominee will get Rs 10 lakh. If you live, no one gets anything.
The good news is that term insurance is the cheapest life insurance available.
Are you looking at a retirement plan? Are you looking at supplementing your income after a particular age? Then you should go in for a plan that gives annuities. This is a plan which gives you a fixed amount every month (or at fixed periods) after a particular age.
Or are you looking a lumpsum? Then opt for an endowment plan which will give you a fixed amount on maturity.
DeathHow much will my nominee get if I die?Money-back
If I die, will my nominee get anything? If I live, how much will I get on maturity? What is the sum assured? This is what you are sure of getting. What is the maturity amount? Besides the sum assured, there may be additional bonuses. These bonuses plus the sum assured will give you the maturity amount.
At what age can I expect this amount?
Annuity
How much can I expect? At what age will the payments start?Will they be made every month or every quarter?For how many years will the payments be made?

3. What sort of a bonus can I expect?
First, you need to find out if your scheme provides for a bonus. If it does, you need to determine whether it is a reversionary bonus or just one at the end of the term.
Reversionary bonuses are added to your policy through the term. It may be declared every year or every few years, but it will not be handed over as soon as it is declared. It will be added to your sum assured (the money you are sure of getting at the end of the term).
Is the bonus variable? If the bonus is not fixed but depends on the profits of the company, it is referred to as a with-profit bonus. Are you willing to take the chance that, in some years, the bonus declared may be very low or, if the company does not make much of a profit, it will not declare a bonus?
I know someone who was told he could expect around Rs 20 lakh (Rs 2 million) on maturity. But he later realised the bonus was a with-profit bonus. The sum assured was just Rs 10 lakh (Rs 1 million). The agent calculated an 'expected bonus' for each year and arrived at the amount.
The with-profit bonus is offered purely at the discretion of the insurer and depends on the profits made that year.
As opposed to it, there is a guaranteed bonus. This is part of the sum assured. It will be paid to you on maturity of the policy or to your nominee if death occurs before that.
Once you get a grip of these issues, you will be in a much better position to compare plans from various companies

Insurance Benefits  

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Insurance Benefits encompass the facilities associated with buying of insurances. Insurance is mainly a instrument used by consumers for hedging the future contingent risks related with life, health and non-life general issues. Insurance benefits help the policy holder or beneficiary in combating with the losses or hazards associated with him/her
.The policy holder buys the insurance to hedge against the future perceived losses by paying a regular amount to he insurance company known as the Premium. Insurance companies ensure financial reimbursement of the insured losses to the policy holders or his/her beneficiary. This is the most coveted Insurance Benefits.
But with time, more and more insurance companies have cropped up and consequently the competition among them has increased. Every company is trying to woo all the customers into its fold and in a way offering more and more innovative Insurance Benefits to the consumers.
Affordability of InsuranceThe foremost insurance benefit in todays world is the low insurance rate and premium one has to pay. While choosing a insurance policy, every customer looks at this rate first and then to the other associated benefits. The lesser the insurance rate, the more affordable the insurance becomes. Thus, among all the insurance benefits, low insurance rate and premium is the most coveted one.
Accessibility Of InsuranceThe easy accessibility of a insurance is the next most coveted Insurance Benefits that the customers look for. The online access to insurance companies and their policies has made them more lucrative to the customers. Now-a-days, customers can search, compare and select their insurance coverage through the click of a mouse from their own residence. This has been observed that through online services, the insurance companies have been able to reach more number of customers and consequently their customer base has also mopped up significantly.
Some of the other Insurance Benefits are :-
Basic benefits of the insurance policy. That is, the person enrolling for the policy is entitled to receive the financial compensation in case of actual occurrence of the loss/hazard/damage.
Optional Insurance Benefits are also given by the companies to their policy holders in order to entice them to access their insurance package. These optional benefits include
health and dental insurance of the family, life insurance of the spouse and the child,
accidental death policy for the policy holder in addition to the actual insurance for which he/she has enrolled for,
long term and short term insurance plans against disability of the policy holder
unit linked insurance schemes meant for appreciation of the accumulated capital during the life span of the same, managed by an experienced and well-learned fund manager

Accidental death and dismemberment insurance  

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In insurance, Accidental death and dismemberment (also known as AD&D) is a term used to describe a policy that pays additional benefits to the beneficiary if the cause of death is due to a non-work-related accident. Fractional amounts of the policy will be paid out if the covered employee loses a bodily appendage or sight because of an accident. In the event of accidental death, this insurance will pay benefits in addition to any life insurance held. Death by illness, suicide, or natural causes is generally not covered by AD&D. Additionally, AD&D generally pays benefits for the loss of limbs, fingers, sight and permanent paralysis. The types of injuries covered and the amount paid vary by insurer and package, and are explicitly enumerated in the insurance policy.
There are four common types of group AD&D plans offered in the United States:
Group Life Supplement - the AD&D benefit is included as part of a group life insurance contract, and the benefit amount is usually the same as that of the group life benefit;
Voluntary - the AD&D is offered to members of a group as a separate, elective benefit, and premiums are generally paid as a payroll deduction;
Travel Accident (Business Trip) - the AD&D benefit is provided through an employee benefit plan and provides supplemental accident protection to workers while they are traveling on company business (the entire premium is usually paid by the employer);
Dependents - Some group AD&D plans also provide coverage for dependents.
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Crop insurance  

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Crop insurance is purchased by agricultural producers, including farmers, ranchers, and others to protect themselves against either the loss of their crops due to natural disasters, such as hail, drought, and floods, or the loss of revenue due to declines in the prices of agricultural commodities. The two general categories of crop insurance are called crop-yield insurance and crop-revenue insurance.
Crop-yield insurance: There are two main classes of crop-yield insurance:
Crop-hail insurance is generally available from private insurers (in countries with private sectors) because hail is a narrow peril that occurs in a limited place and its accumulated losses tend not to overwhelm the capital reserves of private insurers. The earliest crop-hail programs were begun by farmers cooperatives in France and Germany in the 1820s.
Multi-peril crop insurance (MPCI): covers the broad perils of drought, flood, insects, disease, etc., which may affect many insureds at the same time and present the insurer with excessive losses. To make this class of insurance, the perils are often bundled together in a single policy, called a multi-peril crop insurance (MPCI) policy. MPCI coverage is usually offered by a government insurer and premiums are usually partially subsidized by the government. The earliest MPCI program was first implemented by the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC), an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in 1938. The FCIC program has been managed by the Risk Management Agency (RMA), also a U.S. Department of Agriculture agency, since 1996.
Crop-revenue insurance: is a combination of crop-yield insurance and price insurance. For example, RMA establishes crop-revenue insurance guarantees on corn by multiplying each farmer's corn-yield guarantee, which is based on the farmer's own production history, times the harvest-time futures price discovered at a commodity exchange before the policy is sold and the crop planted. There is a single guarantee for a certain number of dollars. The policy pays an indemnity if the combination of the actual yield and the cash settlement price in the futures market is less than the guarantee. In the United States, the program is called
Crop Revenue Coverage.
Crop-revenue insurance covers the decline in price that occurs during the crop's growing season. It does not cover declines that may occur from one growing season to another. That would be called "price support," and would raise a series of complex agricultural-policy and international-trade issues.

Workers' compensation  

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Workers compensation (colloquially known as workers' comp in North America or compo in Australia) is a form of insurance that provides compensation medical care for employees who are injured in the course of employment, in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee's right to sue his or her employer for the tort of negligence. The tradeoff between assured, limited coverage and lack of recourse outside the worker compensation system is known as "the compensation bargain." While plans differ between jurisdictions, provision can be made for weekly payments in place of wages (functioning in this case as a form of disability insurance), compensation for economic loss (past and future), reimbursement or payment of medical and like expenses (functioning in this case as a form of health insurance), and benefits payable to the dependents of workers killed during employment (functioning in this case as a form of life insurance). General damages for pain and suffering, and punitive damages for employer negligence, are generally not available in worker compensation plans.
Employees' compensation laws are usually a feature of highly developed
industrial societies, implemented after long and hard-fought struggles by trade unions. Supporters of such programs believe they improve working conditions and provide an economic safety net for employees. Conversely, these programs are often criticised for removing or restricting workers' common-law rights (such as suit in tort for negligence) in order to reduce governments' or insurance companies' financial liability. These laws were first enacted in Europe and Oceania, with the United States following shortly thereafter

Group insurance  

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Group insurance is an insurance that covers a group of people, usually who are the members of societies, employees of a common employer, or professionals in a common group.
Group insurance may or may not be converted to individual coverage. As group insurance gets big business for an insurance company with minimum operational expenses (under one master policy issued to an employer, union or any recognised group), it is usually less expensive than individual policies.
Group coverage can help reduce the problem of
adverse selection by creating a pool of people eligible to purchase insurance who belong to the group for reasons other than for the purposes of obtaining insurance. In other words, people belong to the group not because they possess some high-risk factor which makes them more apt to purchase insurance (thus increasing adverse selection); instead they are in the group for reasons unrelated to insurance, such as all working for a particular employer.
A feature which is sometimes common in group insurance is that the premium cost on an individual basis may not be risk-based. Instead it is the same amount for all the insured persons in the group. So for example, in the United States, often all employees of an employer receiving health insurance coverage pay the same premium amount for the same coverage regardless of their age or other factors. Whereas under private individual health insurance coverage in the U.S., different insured persons will pay different premium amounts for the same coverage based on their age, location, pre-existing conditions, etc. Another distinctive feature is that under group coverage, a member of the group is generally eligible to purchase or renew coverage all whilst he or she is a member of the group subject to certain conditions. Again, using U.S. health coverage as an example, under group insurance a person will normally remain covered as long as he or she continues to work for a certain employer and pays their insurance premiums whereas under individual coverage, the insurance company often has the right to non-renew a person's individual health insurance policy when the policy is up for renewal, which they may do if the person's risk profile changes (though some states limit the insurance company's ability to non-renew after the person has been under individual coverage with a given company for a certain number of years).
In Canada group insurance is ussually purchased through a broker because brokers receive better rates than individual companies or unions. Bigger brokerage companies like PACE Consulting receive better premiums from the insurance companies and get the companies better rates.

Wage insurance  

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Wage insurance is a form of proposed insurance that would provide workers with compensation if they are forced to move to a job with a lower salary. The idea is usually proposed as a response to outsourcing and the effects of globalization, although it could equally be proposed as a response to job displacement due to increasingly productive technology (e.g. factories, or computers). Economic consensus generally holds that in both cases—the integration of the global economy through free trade, on one hand, and greater technological efficiencies, on the other—the changes will have a net benefit across the world. However, economic theory also indicates that, while people over the aggregate will be better off, many individuals will not be able to keep their current job at their current wages. Those individuals may be able to retrain and move to more highly paid wages, and the reduced cost of goods (which is likely to result from either case under consideration) may offset at least some of the wage loss. These compensating effects are likely to take several years to come about, however, and some people might never be fully compensated by normal market mechanisms. Wage insurance would offer compensation in these situations.

History
The idea of wage insurance has been tested as early as 1995 in Canada's Earnings Supplement Project.
Robert Litan and Lori Kletzer proposed the idea for wage insurance in United States in a 2001 paper. The basic concept became the United States Department of Labor's Alternative Trade Adjustment Assistance for Older Workers (ATAA). The ATAA compliments the Trade Adjustment Assistance program, which does not offer a wage subsidy or wage insurance. The TAA focuses on retraining workers while the ATAA includes a wage subsidy for workers who are considered too old to undergo retraining. The ATAA program includes a wage subsidy for laid off workers over the age of 50 who held a job with wages less than $50,000 a year, and who start a new job within 26 weeks of being laid off. The program gives a wage subsidy of half the difference between the worker's old and new wages with a maximum subsidy of $10,000. The subsidy can last for up to two years.

Economic theory
Economic trade theory assumes that countries will specialize and produce the goods they are relatively good at producing. This means a country that once had an equal balance between automobile and textile manufacture will concentrate all of its resources in automobile production if it trades with a country that is relatively better at textile production. While both countries will be better off overall, individual workers can still be hurt. A worker with years of experience in car manufacturing will find his skills are worthless if his country moves to specialize in textiles. The former automobile producer will have to enter the textile manufacturing industry as a low skilled worker. His wages will likely drop since he no longer has valued skills. Wage insurance would alleviate some of the consequences workers in such situations face. The worker's insurance policy would pay him a portion of the difference between his wages as a skilled automobile manufacturer to an entry level textile worker.

Insurance Underwriting  

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Definition: Insurance underwriting is the process of choosing who and what the insurance company decides to insure. This is based on a risk assessment. It is pretty much the "behind the scenes" work in an insurance company where they determine who is insured and how much in insurance premiums they will charge the insured person. Insurance underwriting also involves choosing who the insurance company will not insure.

Examples: Jane went to her insurance agent to get a car insurance policy. After she told the insurance agent that she had driven without a license and insurance for 5 years and was in jail for reckless driving three times, the insurance agent said that their insurance underwriting department would not insure her because they feel she is too much of a risk.

Classic Insurance  

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Definition: Classic insurance is generally associated with insurance for a classic car. A car insurance policy for a classic car is sometimes different than a modern car. There are factors that the insurance company must evaluate differently for classic insurance. Safety apparatuses are different and car parts for a classic car are hard to find and more expensive and these are factors that the insurance underwriting department must consider when producing insurance for a classic car.
Because of these factors, besides a driver's driving record, car insurance for a classic car may also be more expensive. In addition, because of the special nature of classic insurance, one may have to search around for an insurance company that will provide classic insurance for a classic car.
Examples: Bob has had his classic insurance on his 1937 Ford Coupe for many years. He did not drive it often, but when he did he was very careful because although he had classic insurance and he knew the insurance company would cover his loss, he also knew that if he got into an accident it would be hard to replace many of the parts for his classic car.

Umbrella Liability Insurance  

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Definition: Umbrella liability insurance is designed to give one added liability protection above and beyond the limits on homeowners, auto, and watercraft personal insurance policies. With an umbrella policy, depending on the insurance company, one can add an additional 1-5 million in umbrella liability protection with umbrella coverage. This umbrella liability insurance protection is designed to “kick-in” when the liability on other current policies has been exhausted.

Umbrella liability insurance is actually very inexpensive. And since many people are realizing how much more money is being awarded in law suits now, knowing that they have extra insurance money from their umbrella liability to use if they are ever sued, they have found that the cost of umbrella coverage is small compared to the risk of not having the extra umbrella liability insurance.
Examples: Linda was sued for a golf club mishap she had while playing golf with her girlfriends. One of her girlfriends got hurt really bad and decided to sue Linda. Linda's homeowners liability policy covered her legal expenses for being sued, but it eventually ran out. She was thankful that she decided to purchase her umbrella liability insurance policy a few years ago because it kicked-in and covered the rest of her legal expenses

Mandated Health Insurance  

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Definition: Mandated health insurance is when one is mandated, or required to purchase health insurance. This is the term most often used in the new health insurance reform legislation by the Obama administration.
The idea behind mandated health insurance is that if the government required every citizen to purchase health insurance it would reduce overall costs. The overall costs would be reduced for many reasons. One way it would reduce costs is that people with health insurance tend to get preventative care and use a primary doctor. By getting preventative care, more expensive health care costs are usually later avoided. In addition, by using a primary care physician instead of just going to the emergency room, costs are dramatically reduced again since an emergency room visit is much more expensive.
Also Known As: shared responsibility, required health insurance
Examples: Leslie did not have health insurance. She often went to the emergency room when she was sick. The costs were usually not paid by Leslie but absorbed by the other hospital patrons which over time raised the cost of health care. If Leslie were mandated to buy health insurance by the government, she probably would visit a primary care physician instead of the emergency room and eventually health care costs would stabilize.

DISABILITY INSURANCE  

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Disability income insurance provides you with an income should you become sick or injured and unable to work. It helps protect against family financial catastrophe by giving you an income to meet daily expenses.
Disability income insurance comes in two major forms:
  1. A variety of employer-paid and government sponsored programs, generally cost-free to the recipient, covering certain categories of workers.
  2. Private policies (paid for by individuals) that protect income when there are no applicable employer or government programs or when those programs do not adequately meet income needs.

As with all insurance, disability income insurance operates on the principle that many people pool small sums of money to benefit those who need help. The beneficiaries are people who need adequate income should they become disabled.

CAR RENTAL INSURANCE  

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In most states, car rental companies are prohibited from refusing to rent you a car unless you purchase the additional insurance, but many companies still try to do it. The coverage's that you can get are all optional. Combined, they can add up to $30 per day to the rental bill. Each coverage protects against a different risk, but your car, home, life, or health insurance policies, or your credit card, may provide all or part of the protection you need, particularly when they are combined with the minimum insurance the car rental company is required by law to provide as a part of every rental.
There are four different types of insurance and insurance-like coverage's the companies try to sell to consumers at the rental counters: Collision Damage Waiver (CDW), Supplemental Liability Protection (SLP), Personal Accident Insurance (PAI), and Personal Effects Coverage (PEC). While this coverage may make sense for some renters, in most states you already have this coverage for a rental vehicle as part of your primary auto insurance, unless you declined to accept it when you purchased that policy.
SLP usually provides $1 million of liability protection, considerably more coverage than most consumers have under their own automobile insurance policies. So if there is a reason that you want more coverage for the rental than you ordinarily carries for your own car or you do not have an automobile insurance policy, buying the SLP may make sense. However PAI coverage, usually costing about $3 per day, provides medical, ambulance and death benefits for the renter and passengers of the rental car in the event of an accident. The medical coverage is usually around $3,500 and the ambulance benefit $150 and REC coverage typically costs $2 per day, usually provides $500 per person of insurance coverage, with a $1,500 maximum, for theft of personal effects of the renter and his or her family. The motto here is that before you buy into rental car insurance, you should check to see if your own car policy covers you already.

FLIGHT ACCIDENT insurance  

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Accidental death and dismemberment insurance, known as AD&D insurance, pays you, or your beneficiary (or your estate if you do not name a beneficiary) a lump sum benefit (e.g., $500,000) when an accident results in your death or the loss of a limb or the loss of your eyesight. There are 3 major types of Travel AD&D insurance:
  1. Flight Accident AD&D insurance pays a benefit only for accidents involving an airplane during the coverage period.
  2. Common Carrier AD&D insurance pays a benefit only for accidents involving a common carrier during the coverage period.
  3. 24-Hour AD&D pays a benefit for accidents that occur for any reason during the coverage period.

AD&D is often included with Travel Medical insurance and Trip Protection plans, but unlike baggage insurance and trip cancellation insurance, it is also sold separately.

"Common Carrier" means any licensed land, water, or air conveyance operated by those whose occupation or business is the transportation of persons without discrimination and for hire (e.g., airplane, train, bus, subway, tram, ferry, cruise ship, taxi, limo, etc.).

AD&D insurance usually covers Terrorism, but some plans require the payment of additional premium for a Terrorism Rider. War is usually excluded, but War Risk AD&D insurance is available at a high cost, and you must complete a special application with details about your trip itinerary and activities.

Variable universal life insurance  

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Variable Universal Life Insurance (often shortened to VUL) is a type of life insurance that builds a cash value. In a VUL, the cash value can be invested in a wide variety of separate accounts, similar to mutual funds, and the choice of which of the available separate accounts to use is entirely up to the contract owner. The 'variable' component in the name refers to this ability to invest in separate accounts whose values vary—they vary because they are invested in stock and/or bond markets. The 'universal' component in the name refers to the flexibility the owner has in making premium payments. The premiums can vary from nothing in a given month up to maximums defined by the Internal Revenue Code for life insurance. This flexibility is in contrast to whole life insurance that has fixed premium payments that typically cannot be missed without lapsing the policy.
Variable universal life is a type of
permanent life insurance, because the death benefit will be paid if the insured dies any time as long as there is sufficient cash value to pay the costs of insurance in the policy. With most if not all VULs, unlike whole life, there is no endowment age (which for whole life is typically 100). This is yet another key advantage of VUL over Whole Life. With a typical whole life policy, the death benefit is limited to the face amount specified in the policy, and at endowment age, the face amount is all that is paid out. Thus with either death or endowment, the insurance company keeps any cash value built up over the years. However, some participating whole life policies offer riders which specify that any dividends paid on the policy be used to purchase "paid up additions" to the policy which increase both the cash value and the death benefit over time. With a VUL policy, the death benefit is the face amount plus the build up of any cash value that occurs (beyond any amount being used to fund the current cost of insurance.)
If investments made in the separate accounts out-perform the general account of the insurance company, a higher rate-of-return can occur than the fixed rates-of-return typical for whole life. The combination over the years of no endowment age, continually increasing death benefit, and if a high rate-of-return is earned in the separate accounts of a VUL policy, this could result in higher value to the owner or beneficiary than that of a whole life policy with the same amounts of money paid in as premiums

Permanent life insurance  

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Permanent life insurance is a form of life insurance such as whole life or endowment, where the policy is for the life of the insured, the payout is assured at the end of the policy (assuming the policy is kept current) and the policy accrues cash value.
This is compared with
Term life insurance where insurance is purchased for a specified period (typically a year, or for level periods such as 5, 10, 15, 20 even 25 and 30 years) where a death benefit is only paid to the beneficiary if the insured dies during the specified period.
Permanent life insurance originally was offered as a fixed premium fixed return product known as
whole life insurance also known as cash surrender life insurance. This offered consumers guaranteed cash value accumulation and a consistent premium. Consumers later wanted more flexibility which was offered in the form of universal life insurance. Universal life insurance allows consumers flexibility in when premiums are to be paid and the amount that they would be. Universal life policies also allowed consumers to permanently withdraw cash from the policy without the interest associated with the loan provisions in whole life policies. Universal life policies retained the fixed investment performance of whole life policies. Variable life insurance follows the mold of whole or universal life, but it shifts the investment risk to the consumer along with the potential for greater returns. Variable universal life insurance combines this with the flexibility in premium structure of universal life to create the most free form option for consumers to manage their own money (at their own risk). Variable universal life insurance policies are considered more favorable to other permanent life insurance alternatives due to the favorable tax treatment of all permanent life insurance policies and their potential for greater returns than other permanent life insurance products.

Universal life insurance  

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Universal Life is a type of permanent life insurance based on a cash value. That is, the policy is established with the insurer where premium payments above the cost of insurance are credited to the cash value. The cash value is credited each month with interest, and the policy is debited each month by a cost of insurance (COI) charge, and any other policy charges and fees which are drawn from the cash value if no premium payment is made that month. The interest credited to the account is determined by the insurer; sometimes it is pegged to a financial index such as a bond or other interest rate index.
Similar life insurance types
A similar type of policy that was developed from universal life policies is the variable universal life insurance policy, or VUL. VUL's allow the cash value to be directed to a number of separate accounts that operate like mutual funds and can be invested in stock or bond investments with greater risk and potential reward. Additionally, there is the recent addition of Equity Indexed Universal Life contracts analogous to Equity Indexed Annuities that invest in Index Options on the movement of an Index such as the S&P 500, Russell 2000, and the Dow (to name a few). These type of contracts only participate in the movement of Index and not the actual purchase of stocks, bonds or mutual funds. They may have a cap (but not always) as to the maximum amount they will credit interest to and a minimum guarantee which keeps the principal of the contract from losing money in a down year. Typically each year the starting point is last year's ending point which means that: (1) the policy amount is locked in at the end of the year; and, (2)the beginning value from which the movement measured is reset.
Universal life is similar in some ways to, and was developed from
whole life insurance The potential advantage of the universal life policy is in its flexibility and the potential for greater cash value growth if the interest rates offered outperform the insurer's general account (that whole life policy cash value growth is based on). Universal life is more flexible than whole life in two primary ways: the death benefit and usually the premium payment are flexible. The death benefit can be increased (subject to insurability) and decreased without surrendering the policy or getting a new one as would be required with whole life. Also a range of premium payments can be made to the policy, from a minimum amount to cover various guarantees the policy may offer to the maximum amount allowed by IRS rules. The primary difference is that the universal life policy shifts some of the risk for maintaining the death benefit to the insured. In a whole life policy, as long as every premium payment is made, the death benefit is guaranteed to be paid if the insured dies. In a UL the policy will lapse (the death benefit will no longer be in force) if the cash value or premium payments are not enough to cover the cost of insurance. To make their policies more attractive insurers often add guarantees, where if certain premium payments are made for a given period, the policy will remain in force for the guarantee period even if the cash value drops to zero. There are two other areas that differentiate Universal Life from Whole Life Insurance. The first is that the expenses, charges and cost of insurance within a Universal Life contract are transparently disclosed to the insured, whereas a Whole Life Insurance policy has traditionally hidden this type of information from the policyholder. Secondly, there are more flexible provisions within a Universal Life contract including zero interest or wash loans which in limited cases can provide the policyholder the ability to access the growth inside the contract without paying income tax. However if the policy lapses while the growth has been withdrawn, there may be substantial income tax owed.

Term Insurance  

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Term insurance is a form of life insurance that offers financial cover, equivalent to the face amount of the policy, to the family of a policyholder in case the latter dies during the policy period. The period of this policy, which is also called term assurance, is limited and can range from one year to 30 years. Term life insurance is a pure form of insurance, which means it does not have a cash component. So, if a policyholder dies even a day after the completion of the policy term, his/her family members will not be entitled to any policy benefits.
Features of Term Life Insurance
Term life insurance is the simplest form of life insurance. Some of its basic features are:
Low premiums: The premium associated with this policy is the lowest, and hence most affordable, as compared to other life insurance policies.
Policy can be renewed: After the end of the term of this policy, a policyholder may opt to renew it for a specific period.
Premiums are not fixed: Every time a term life policy is renewed, the insurance company is sure to raise the premium of the policy. Moreover, a company can revise the premiums of this policy, based on certain factors.
Types of Term Insurance
The premium of term insurance is dependent on several factors, the term of the policy being one of them. The term of the policy is also a defining factor in distinguishing the various types of term life insurance:
  1. Straight Term: The insurance premiums and benefits remain constant throughout the term of the policy.
  2. Renewable Term: Can be renewed every time the coverage period lapses, irrespective of the status of the person’s health. In this policy, one can opt for annual renewable term, wherein the policy is taken for a year and is renewed annually for a total term ranging from 10 to 30 years.
  3. Level Term: Ensures a fixed premium until the end of the policy period, which can range from five years to 30 years.
  4. Decreasing Term: The amount for which you are insured falls over the course of the term of the policy. The premium, however, remains constant. This term policy is used when one needs to protect mortgage or income.
  5. Convertible Term: Can be converted from a term policy into a permanent one.
  6. Adjustable Premium: Allows insurance companies to offer lower premiums using less conservative estimates of mortality and administrative and interest costs.

Expatriate personal property insurance  

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Personal property insurance will provide coverage for all your valuable items. This type of cover is usually attached to a home insurance policy which will provide coverage for all "fixtures and fittings within the home" and "additional items of increased value". With a home insurance policy it is possible to include specific items on a "worldwide all risks" (WWAR) basis which will protect your valuables outside of your home. Insurers will typically require proof of value when insuring WWAR items and the addition of these items will increase the plans premium. In the USA this type of plan is commonly referred to as "renters insurance", although the scope of these policies overseas can have much wider implications.
Home insurance is different from fire insurance which protects the physical structure of the home and all rebuilding costs. Fire insurance policies are normally only obtained in the case that an individual actually owns the property and can be extended to cover "extra" or "allied perils". Extra perils can usually be added to a policy at the expense of an increased premium and can include typhoons/hurricanes/cyclones, flood damage, landslip and subsidence, and what in the USA is referred to as "an act of God". If you are expecting to be overseas for a short period of time it is highly unlikely that you will purchase a fire insurance policy unless otherwise stipulated in your tenancy agreement.
For individuals who are relocating overseas international transport insurance is usually a valuable plan. These plans are extremely broad in their scope and if the items insured are being shipped to their destination then the policy will usually be subject to marine insurance and maritime law. This includes all principals of average, salvage (different from the salvage found in property and auto insurance), and sue and tort. International transport insurance can be complicated as there are many different areas of consideration, typically an insurance company that deals with this area of insurance will have dedicated international transport specialists.
Property insurance claims can be complicated and are usually settled in the following ways:
  1. Indemnity - The payment of monies to the insured to cover the loss. This is also known as a "Cash payment".
  2. Repair - Payment to a repairer to fix the damaged item or property. \
  3. Replacement - With new items, property, or items that are likely to suffer very little depreciation, the insurer may choose to simply give the insured a new item that is the same as the one that was lost. This can be beneficial to the insurer, especially if they can obtain a discount from the supplier.
  4. Restoration - Typically this means the restoration of the item or property to the condition that it was in immediately prior to the loss.
  5. New For Old - the substitution of a new item that acts the same way as the item that was lost or damaged.

It is important to check the policy schedule and understand in which way claims on a specific policy will be settled. Marine Insurance or marine-related insurance policies have long and complex claims procedures that are best left to experts.

Landlords insurance  

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Landlords insurance is a policy to cover a property owner from financial losses connected with their property which they let out. Mainly a landlord insurance policy will cover the building itself with the option of including the contents left within.
The policy will normally cover standard perils such as fire, lightning, explosion, earthquake, storm, flood, escape of water/oil, subsidence, theft and malicious damage. Each insurance policy is different and may or may not include all these items. Most companies will provide the option to have extra cover on top of what is considered the standard cover. These may include things such as accidental damage, legal protection, alternative accommodation costs or rent guarantee insurance.
Common differences in use of the phrase landlords insurance is buy to let insurance, let property insurance, rented property insurance, or property owners insurance.

Captive insurance  

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Captive insurance companies are insurance companies established with the specific objective of financing risks emanating from their parent group or groups but they sometimes also insure risks of the group's customers as well. Using a captive insurer is a risk management technique where a business forms its own insurance company subsidiary to finance its retained losses in a formal structure. The term "captive" comes from the "father of captive insurance", Frederic M Reiss, who coined the term while he was bringing his concept into practice for an industrial client in Ohio in the 1950s.Template:Held Captive; Catherine Duffy The term "captive" came to Reiss when working with his first client, the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company. The company had a series of mining operations and its management referred to the mines whose output was put solely to the corporation's use as captive mines. When Reiss helped them incorporate their own insurance subsidiaries, they were referred to as captive insurance companies because they wrote insurance exclusively for the captive mines. Reiss continued to use the term for his concept, and both the captive and the term have adopted a far wider context. The term also made sense as the policyholder owns the insurance company i.e. the insurer is captive to the policyholder. If the captive only insures its parent and affiliates it is called a pure captive.
There are several types of insurance captives, the most common are defined below:
  1. Single Parent Captive - is an insurance or reinsurance company formed primarily to insure the risks of its non-insurance parent or affiliates.
  2. Association Captive - is a company owned by a trade, industry or service group for the benefit of its members.
  3. Group Captive - is a company, jointly owned by a number of companies, created to provide a vehicle to meet a common insurance need.
  4. Agency Captive - is a company owned by an insurance agency or brokerage firm so they may reinsure a portion of their clients risks through that company.
  5. Rent-a-Captive - is a company that provides 'captive' facilities to others for a fee, while protecting itself from losses under individual programs, which are also isolated from losses under other programs within the same company. This facility is often used for programs that are too small to justify establishing their own captive

Two other types of insurance companies which have developed recently are special purpose vehicles (SPV) and segregated portfolio companies (SPC):
SPV - Although used extensively in the past for various financing arrangements, recently they have been used for
catastrophe bonds and reinsurance sidecars.
SPC - SPCs can be formed as a rent-a-captive facility to enable those companies who lack sufficient insurance premium volume, or who are averse to establishing their own insurance subsidiary, access to many of the benefits associated with an offshore captive

Social insurance  

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Social insurance is any government-sponsored program with the following four characteristics:
the benefits, eligibility requirements and other aspects of the program are defined by statute;
explicit provision is made to account for the income and expenses (often through a trust fund);

  1. it is funded by taxes or premiums paid by (or on behalf of) participants (although additional sources of funding may be provided as well); and
  2. the program serves a defined population, and participation is either compulsory or the program is heavily enough subsidized that most eligible individuals choose to participate.
  3. Social insurance has also been defined as a program where risks are transferred to and
  4. pooled by an organization, often governmental, that is legally required to provide certain benefits.

In the U.S., programs that meet these definitions include Social Security, Medicare, the PBGC program, the railroad retirement program and state-sponsored unemployment insurance programs. The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) is also a social insurance program.

Retrospectively Rated Insurance  

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Retrospectively rated insurance is a type of insurance that uses retrospective rating: a method of establishing a premium on large commercial accounts. The final premium is based on the insured's actual loss experience during the policy term, sometimes subject to a minimum and maximum premium, with the final premium determined by a formula.
Under this plan, the current year's premium is based partially (or wholly) on the current year's losses, although the premium adjustments may take months or years beyond the current year's expiration date. The rating formula is guaranteed in the insurance contract.
Formula: retrospective premium = converted loss + basic premium × tax multiplier. Numerous variations of this formula have been developed and are in use.

Title insurance  

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Title insurance in the United States is indemnity insurance against financial loss from defects in title to real property and from the invalidity or unenforceability of mortgage liens. Title insurance is principally a product developed and sold in the United States as a result of the comparative deficiency of the US land records laws. It is meant to protect an owner's or a lender's financial interest in real property against loss due to title defects, liens or other matters. It will defend against a lawsuit attacking the title as it is insure, or reimburse the insured for the actual monetary loss incurred, up to the dollar amount of insurance provided by the policy. The first title insurance company, the Law Property Assurance and Trust Society, was formed in Pennsylvania in 1853. The vast majority of title insurance policies are written on land within the U.S.
Typically the real property interests insured are fee simple ownership or a mortgage. However, title insurance can be purchased to insure any interest in real property, including an easement, lease or life estate. Just as lenders require fire insurance and other types of insurance coverage to protect their investment, nearly all institutional lenders also require title insurance to protect their interest in the collateral of loans secured by real estate. Some mortgage lenders, especially non-institutional lenders, may not require title insurance.
Title insurance is available in many other countries, such as Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, China, Korea and throughout Europe. However, while a substantial number of properties located in these countries are insured by US title insurers, they do not constitute a significant share of the real estate transactions in those countries. They also do not constitute a large share of US title insurers' revenues. In many cases these are properties to be used for commercial purposes by US companies doing business abroad, or properties financed by US lenders. The US companies involved buy title insurance to obtain the security of a US insurer backing up the evidence of title that they receive from the other country's land registration system, and payment of legal defense costs if the title is challenged.

Kidnap and ransom insurance  

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Kidnap and ransom insurance or K&R insurance is designed to protect individuals and corporations operating in high-risk areas around the world, such as Mexico, Venezuela, Haiti, and Nigeria, certain other countries in Latin America, as well as some parts of the Russian Federation and Eastern Europe. K&R insurance policies typically cover the perils of kidnap, extortion, wrongful detention and hijacking.
K&R policies are
indemnity policies - they reimburse a loss incurred by the insured. The policies do not pay ransoms on the behalf of the insured. The insured must first pay the ransom, thus incurring the loss, and then seek reimbursement under the policy. Losses typically reimbursed by K&R polices are ransom payments, loss-of-ransom-in-transit and additional expenses, such as medical expenses.
The policies also typically indemnify personal accident losses caused by a kidnap. These include death, dismemberment, and permanent total disablement of a kidnapped person.
They also typically pay for the fees and expenses of crisis management consultants. These consultants provide advice to the insured on how to best respond to the incident.
The policies may be written to cover families and corporations. Some policies include kidnap prevention training
.

Locked Funds Insurance  

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Locked Funds Insurance is a little known hybrid insurance policy jointly issued by governments and banks. It is used to protect public funds from tamper by unauthorised parties. In special cases, a government may authorise its use in protecting semi-private funds which are liable to tamper. Terms of this type of insurance are usually very strict. As such it is only used in extreme cases where maximum security of funds is required.
Locked Funds Insurance policies are not exactly insurance policies in the real sense. They possess characteristics similar to both ordinary types of insurance covers and International protectorate documents therefore they are more correctly known as hybrid policies.
They exist in 4 main classes: Class A, B, C and D (in decreasing order of strictness of terms). Additionally, these could either be "Interferral" or "Non-Interferral". The Interferral category allows its terms to be modified by special authority of the issuing government while the terms of the Non-Interferral category can only be modified by clauses present within the policy itself.
Locked Funds Insurance policies provide the highest level of security for funds and are rarely used because of the amount of protocol involved in its issue. Any amount of money protected by this type of cover is virtually impossible to tamper with, except the terms with which the insurance was drawn permits for such.

Self insurance  

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Self insurance is a risk management method in which a calculated amount of money is set aside to compensate for the potential future loss.
If self insurance is approached as a serious risk management technique, money is set aside using actuarial and insurance information and the law of large numbers so that the amount set aside (similar to an insurance premium) is enough to cover the future uncertain loss.
Self insurance is possible for any insurable risk, meaning a risk that is predictable and measurable enough in the aggregate to be able to estimate the amount that needs to be set aside to pay for future uncertain losses. For a risk to be insurable, it must represent a future, uncertain event over which the insured has no control. Other characteristics which assist in making a risk self-insurable include the ability to price or rate the risk. If the insurable event is one in a large number of similar risks, the aggregate risk can be estimated according to the law of large numbers and the probability of that event occurring in the future can be quantified. Normally, catastrophic risks are not self-insured as they are highly unpredictable and high in loss-value. Catastrophic risks are normally underwritten by the re-insurance or wholesale insurance market. Any risk where the potential loss is so large that no one could afford to pay the market premium required to provide cover would not be commercially insurable. An example is that earthquakes cannot be fully insured against because an earthquake can cause more damage than any insurer or the combined insurance market is willing to risk in total assets. However, captives and self-insurance programmes are often designed to provide for a part of a risk that would be catastrophic to the business concerned, or catastrophic risks that are often commercially uninsurable, such as tobacco litigation liability risks.
Full or exclusive self-insurance is rare, as a combination of self-insurance and commercial insurance usually provides the best cover for the self-insured. Usually the predictable losses of the risk are retained and self-insured, forming a first or "working" layer of cover, and a stop-loss or stop-gap policy is purchased from the commercial insurance market. The commercial insurance market then pays for losses above the specified self-insurance limit per loss, thereby stopping the cost of losses to the self-insured above the retained values. Effectively the losses paid for by the insured before the stop-loss policy pays becomes the deductible layer. Depending on the level at which risks are stopped, commercial insurance cover should become less and less expensive the further away the commercial insurer moves from the working layer of paying claims each year.
A popular and cost-effective form of self-insurance can be found in various types of employee benefits insurance offered by corporations with many thousands of employees. Employee benefits self-insurance programmes are often underwritten by captive insurance companies formed, owned and managed by corporations in both on-shore and off-shore captive domiciles. The reason for this is that hundreds of thousands of employees constitute a large enough risk pool for the corporation to be able to predict and price the risk of losses from benefits offered to employees. In this way, corporations are able to manage their financial exposure to the self-insurance programme without buying commercial insurance.
The idea of self insurance is that by retaining, calculating risks, and paying the resulting claims or losses from captive or on-balance sheet financial provisions, the overall process is cheaper than buying commercial insurance from a commercial insurance company. Cost savings to the self-insured entity are usually realised through the elimination of the carrying-costs that commercial insurers are obliged to pass on to their insurance consumers.
Another example of this is a self-funded health care plan under which a smaller employer helps finance the health care costs of its employees by contracting with a Third Party Administrator (TPA) to administer many aspects of the plan. The employer may also contract with a reinsurer to pay amounts in excess of a certain threshold, in order to share the risk for potential catastrophic claims experience.
Self insurance is less readily available for individuals because individuals rarely gain sufficient cost-savings on small premiums to justify specialised self-insurance captives, interventions and negotiations with insurers. However, many small businesses are now using self-insurance mechanisms such as cell captives and rent-a-captives with considerable success.

No-fault insurance  

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No-fault insurance has the goal of lowering premium costs by avoiding expensive litigation over the causes of accidents, while providing quick payments for injuries. The victim's insurance company would only pay out the claim, while the driver-at-fault's insurance company would pay out a claim and charge that party a higher insurance premium as they are now higher risk. While this may disadvantage the victim's insurance company, as the at-fault driver's insurance company can recoup the claims quicker through raised premiums, accidents happen between drivers of both insurance companies with an equal chance of drivers from both sides being at fault, so this in theory should even out
Critics of no-fault argue that it does not punish reckless or negligent drivers sufficiently, with only raised premiums and a higher risk rating, and no jury awards or legal settlements. Detractors of no-fault also point out that legitimate victims with subtle handicaps find it difficult to seek recovery under no-fault. In response, proponents of no-fault insurance point out that automobile accidents are inevitable and that at-fault drivers therefore should not necessarily be punished; moreover, they note that the presence of
liability insurance insulates reckless or negligent drivers from financial disincentives of litigation. Also supporting no-fault insurance, in regions with high numbers of uninsured motorists, at-fault parties are often “judgment proof” (i.e., unable to pay their liability damages) in any case. Another criticism is that some no-fault jurisdictions have among the highest automobile-insurance premiums in the country, but this may be more a matter of effect than cause (i.e., the financial savings from no-fault may simply make it more popular in areas with higher automobile-accident risk).
A quantitative monetary threshold that sets a specific dollar (or other currency) amount that must be spent on medical bills before a tort is allowed. Disadvantages of this threshold are: (1) that it can encourage insureds (and their medical providers) to exaggerate medical costs through over-utilization, and (2) that, unless indexed, it can become ineffective over time because of inflationary effects on medical costs.
A qualitative verbal threshold that states what categories of injuries are considered sufficiently serious to permit a tort (e.g., death, or permanent disability or disfigurement). The advantage of the verbal threshold is that it removes any incentive to inflate damage amounts artificially to meet some preset monetary loss figure. The primary disadvantage is that broad interpretation by the courts of the threshold can lead to over-compensation.

Professional liability insurance  

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Professional liability insurance, also called Professional Indemnity Insurance, protects professional practitioners such as architects, home inspectors, lawyers, physicians, and accountants against potential negligence claims made by their patients/clients. Professional liability insurance may take on different names depending on the profession. For example, professional liability insurance in reference to the medical profession may be called Medical Malpractice. Notaries public may take out errors and omissions insurance (E&O). Other potential E&O policyholders include, for example, real estate brokers, appraisers, and website developers. There are also specific E&O policies for technology companies, such as software developers, technology consultants and other creators of technology. This coverage focuses on the failure to perform, financial loss and error or omission of the products or services sold. Additional coverage for breach of warranty, intellectual property, personal injury, security and cost of contract can be added.
The primary reason for professional liability coverage is that a typical general liability insurance policy will only respond to a bodily injury, property damage, personal injury or advertising injury claim. The above mentioned professional services and products can cause claims without causing a bodily injury, property damage, personal injury or advertising injury. Common reasons alleged in making claims on these policies are negligence, misrepresentation, violation of good faith and fair dealing, and inaccurate advice. For example, if a software product fails to perform properly, it may not cause physical damages, personal or advertising injuries, therefore the general liability policy would not be triggered. It may, however, directly cause financial losses which could potentially be attributed to the software developer's misrepresentation of the product capabilities.

Directors and Officers Liability Insurance  

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Directors and Officers Liability Insurance (often called D&O) is liability insurance payable to the directors and officers of a company, or to the corporation itself, to cover damages or defense costs in the event they are sued for wrongful acts while they were with that company. It has become closely-associated with broader management liability insurance, which covers liabilities of the corporation as well as the personal liabilities for the directors and officers of the corporation.
Typical sources of claims include shareholders, shareholder-derivative actions, customers, regulators, and competitors (for anti-trust or unfair trade practice allegations). Directors and officers of a corporation can be liable if they damage the corporation by breaching their duties and contracts to the corporation, mix personal and business assets, or fail to disclose conflicts of interest. In the United States, however, corporations are often required by law, particularly state law, to indemnify directors and officers in order to encourage people to take the positions. Liabilities which aren't indemnified by the corporation are covered by D&O insurance. However, the policies have exclusions and must be read carefully.
Directors and Officers Liability insurance is commonly purchased with a companion product "Corporate Reimbursement Insurance" (or "Company Reimbursement Insurance"). When purchased together, a single insurance policy is normally issued which is entitled "Directors and Officers Liability and Company Reimbursement Insurance". Modern Directors & Officers policies now frequently include cover for the Company Entity itself as well as Employment Practice Liability.
D&O insurance is usually purchased by the company itself, even when it is for the sole benefit of directors and officers. Reasons for doing so are many, but commonly would assist a company in attracting and retaining directors. Where a country's legislation prevents the company from purchasing the insurance, a premium split between the directors and the company is often done, so as to demonstrate that the directors have paid a portion of the
premium.
A common misperception of D&O insurance is that it makes directors or officers able to engage in acts they know to be wrong; this is not the case. Intentional acts are not covered in D&O insurance. Only negligence by directors or officers would be covered.

Political risk insurance  

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Political risk insurance is a type of insurance that can be taken out by businesses, of any size, against political risk—the risk that revolution or other political conditions will result in a loss.
Political risk insurance is available for several different types of political risk, including (among others):

  1. Political violence, such as revolution, insurrection, civil unrest, terrorism or war;
  2. Governmental expropriation or confiscation of assets;
  3. Governmental frustration or repudiation of contracts;
  4. Wrongful calling of letters of credit or similar on-demand guarantees; and
  5. Inconvertibility of foreign currency or the inability to repatriate funds.

As with any insurance, the precise scope of coverage is governed by the terms of the insurance policy.
The underwriting of political risk insurance is a dynamic, growing business. As globalisation increases, there are more corporations doing more business in more places around the world with each passing year. Some of the changes occurring in the business are high growth, new product offerings, and a greater role for private capital.
While political risk insurance policies are sometimes manuscripted for specific situations, the major political risk insurers have standard forms for the coverages that they issue.

Earthquake insurance  

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Earthquake insurance is a form of property insurance that pays the policyholder in the event of an earthquake that causes damage to the property. Most ordinary homeowners insurance policies do not cover earthquake loss.
Most earthquake insurance policies feature a high deductible, which makes this type of insurance useful if the entire home is destroyed, but not useful if the home is merely damaged. Rates depend on location and the probability of an earthquake. Rates may be cheaper for homes made of wood, which withstand earthquakes better than homes made of brick.
As with flood insurance or insurance on damage from a hurricane or other large-scale disasters, insurance companies must be careful when assigning this type of insurance, because an earthquake strong enough to destroy one home will probably destroy dozens of homes in the same area. If one company has written insurance policies on a large number of homes in a particular city, then a devastating earthquake will quickly drain all the company's resources. Insurance companies devote much study and effort toward risk management to avoid such cases.

Principles of insurance  

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Commercially insurable risks typically share seven common characteristics
  1. A large number of homogeneous exposure units. The vast majority of insurance policies are provided for individual members of very large classes. Automobile insurance, for example, covered about 175 million automobiles in the United States in 2004.The existence of a large number of homogeneous exposure units allows insurers to benefit from the so-called “law of large numbers,” which in effect states that as the number of exposure units increases, the actual results are increasingly likely to become close to expected results. There are exceptions to this criterion. Lloyd's of London is famous for insuring the life or health of actors, actresses and sports figures. Satellite Launch insurance covers events that are infrequent. Large commercial property policies may insure exceptional properties for which there are no ‘homogeneous’ exposure units. Despite failing on this criterion, many exposures like these are generally considered to be insurable.
  2. Definite Loss. The event that gives rise to the loss that is subject to the insured, at least in principle, take place at a known time, in a known place, and from a known cause. The classic example is death of an insured person on a life insurance policy. Fire, automobile accidents, and worker injuries may all easily meet this criterion. Other types of losses may only be definite in theory. Occupational disease, for instance, may involve prolonged exposure to injurious conditions where no specific time, place or cause is identifiable. Ideally, the time, place and cause of a loss should be clear enough that a reasonable person, with sufficient information, could objectively verify all three elements.
  3. Accidental Loss. The event that constitutes the trigger of a claim should be fortuitous, or at least outside the control of the beneficiary of the insurance. The loss should be ‘pure,’ in the sense that it results from an event for which there is only the opportunity for cost. Events that contain speculative elements, such as ordinary business risks, are generally not considered insurable.
  4. Large Loss. The size of the loss must be meaningful from the perspective of the insured. Insurance premiums need to cover both the expected cost of losses, plus the cost of issuing and administering the policy, adjusting losses, and supplying the capital needed to reasonably assure that the insurer will be able to pay claims. For small losses these latter costs may be several times the size of the expected cost of losses. There is little point in paying such costs unless the protection offered has real value to a buyer.
  5. Affordable Premium. If the likelihood of an insured event is so high, or the cost of the event so large, that the resulting premium is large relative to the amount of protection offered, it is not likely that anyone will buy insurance, even if on offer. Further, as the accounting profession formally recognizes in financial accounting standards, the premium cannot be so large that there is not a reasonable chance of a significant loss to the insurer. If there is no such chance of loss, the transaction may have the form of insurance, but not the substance
  6. Calculable Loss. There are two elements that must be at least estimable, if not formally calculable: the probability of loss, and the attendant cost. Probability of loss is generally an empirical exercise, while cost has more to do with the ability of a reasonable person in possession of a copy of the insurance policy and a proof of loss associated with a claim presented under that policy to make a reasonably definite and objective evaluation of the amount of the loss recoverable as a result of the claim.
  7. Limited risk of catastrophically large losses. The essential risk is often aggregation. If the same event can cause losses to numerous policyholders of the same insurer, the ability of that insurer to issue policies becomes constrained, not by factors surrounding the individual characteristics of a given policyholder, but by the factors surrounding the sum of all policyholders so exposed. Typically, insurers prefer to limit their exposure to a loss from a single event to some small portion of their capital base, on the order of 5 percent. Where the loss can be aggregated, or an individual policy could produce exceptionally large claims, the capital constraint will restrict an insurer's appetite for additional policyholders. The classic example is earthquake insurance, where the ability of an underwriter to issue a new policy depends on the number and size of the policies that it has already underwritten. Wind insurance in hurricane zones, particularly along coast lines, is another example of this phenomenon. In extreme cases, the aggregation can affect the entire industry, since the combined capital of insurers and reinsurers can be small compared to the needs of potential policyholders in areas exposed to aggregation risk. In commercial fire insurance it is possible to find single properties whose total exposed value is well in excess of any individual insurer’s capital constraint. Such properties are generally shared among several insurers, or are insured by a single insurer who syndicates the risk into the reinsurance market.

Auto Insurance  

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Your auto insurance protects you from economic losses if you ever meet with a vehicle accident or some other unforeseen event. Auto insurance is basically an agreement with the insurance company and you. You make a premium payment to the insurance company and in return the company agrees to pay for your losses as promised in the insurance policy.
  1. The main question is that why should someone purchase an auto insurance?
  2. If you owe a loan for your auto you need to make a purchase of some amount from the auto insurance.
  3. In case you face some loss of property and have received some physical injuries in some road accident, faced some losses from natural calamity, or experienced burglary then the auto insurance covers the expenses for the above mentioned circumstances.
  4. You need to make a minimum payment as a legal responsibility and it is applicable in every state. And it entirely depends on the different rules and regulations of the state whether forms of auto insurance coverage has to be put into use or not.

Liability coverage pays for your legal responsibility to others for physical injury or property damage. Insurance is independently regulated by each state. According to the state government you have to purchase some amount from the below given forms of liability coverage:

  1. If you have an uninsured/underinsured insurance means that if you have met with an accident which is caused by someone else, and they do not have the insurance to cover the damage, you can file a claim with your insurance company asking for the compensation. It entirely depends on the amount of the coverage you have and your insurance company can make out the difference. This can save you from complete financial loss just in case you have a major accident.
  2. Property damage liability is the coverage for the responsibility to pay the damages of another person for the loss or destruction of the person’s property. It also includes the coverage to reinstate the auto.
  3. This liability covers your property if you are involved in a case of a death of a person in an accident or for a physical injury to any person.

There are types of coverage and it can vary from state to state.

Personal Injury Protection is an insurance coverage for the medical reasons that you receive from an auto accident. This covers your medical expenditure.

Collision Insurance coverage makes a payment for the damages that has been caused to your vehicle in some accident.

Comprehensive insurance coverage assists you to make a payment for the losses that are incurred by flood, fire, theft or any natural calamity.

Deductibles- The deductible is the amount you must pay toward a claim before your insurance begins to pay.

The factors such as getting physically injured or damage to your tangible property are expelled from your policy statement. This also includes situations where you have damaged or trying to hurt anybody.

There are some of the important factors that you can’t deny and which also affects the premiums you pay for your auto insurance like- the parking place of your car, the model of your car, how old are you, name of the state where you reside, and your driving history. These factors are important but following are some of the important points which can minimize your insurance premiums:

  1. It is very important to keep your driving record clean to have a lower insurance premium.
  2. By increasing your deductible amount
  3. By providing proper parking space for your vehicle
  4. Abolishing additional insurance like the labor cost and insurance for the rent from the auto insurance.
  5. You should not prefer those vehicles which can easily get stolen or which has costly maintenance.
  6. Don’t hesitate in inquiring about some discounts you can get for your auto insurance like- if your car mileage is low then ask about for any premium decrease which is done for some specific miles and also for various anti theft gadgets.

LIFE Insurance  

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A life insurance is mainly used to financially secure a family from the financial loss caused due to an untimely death of a family member. Consulting a life insurance agent can be beneficiary for everyone nowadays. Life insurance has several purposes.
It is your family who will be forced to pay for the owed amount and various taxes if you have not taken any life insurance plan. There are no central income taxes for your life insurance plan for those who are the receivers of the policy. There are some specific policies where the amount which you have earned is not taxable till the time they are not withdrawn
Before you take a final decision on deciding a life insurance plan following are some of the purposes that the insurance plan serves:
  1. A life insurance plan is the best suited for those who are employed and will get retire after a specific time period. Taking a suitable life insurance plan will provide you to save an extra amount for your post-retirement.
  2. It will be beneficiary for your family as it will assist them financially to meet the day to day expenses after your death. It will also help them to pay off any outstanding loans.
  3. To make a payment for your children’s studies and future prospects.
  4. Life insurance plan gives you the liberty to make a payment for your medical expenses, paying off your property taxes, and the cost incurs for the memorial service in case of your death.

Who all can make use of the life insurance plans?

  1. You can make use of the life insurance plan if you have your own trade and want to invest in it.
  2. You have a large amount of monetary funds
  3. You have children at home and after your death to take on the expenses of their future education..
  4. You have your parents at home and they are very old to take care of themselves and are dependant on you..
  5. life insurance plan is important if you have a spouse and he/she is not earning.

The question arises that how much life insurance is needed by you? The main law of determining the need of life insurance is to plan for ten times of the total salary of your family. You have to decide how much is the need and the price of your coverage is decided according to your needs and requirements.

It is better to evaluate and review the existing rates and then opt to buy any life insurance plan. It is always better to check the credibility of the insurance company. It should have a decent status in the market. You can take the help of the internet in searching the best insurance providers, suitable rates, and their credibility. If you have a fixed budget the best option to opt will be of life insurance. This plan is as simple it can get where you borrow a certain coverage amount for a fixed time period.

There are other forms of the life insurance but they are costly and they are- cash value and whole life. These types of life insurance plans are very difficult and confusing. So it is recommended to go for the life insurance which is simple and the safest method. It is different from term insurance.

Health Insurance  

Posted by insurance

A health insurance is a necessity these days. It assists you to pay various bills from physicians, hospitals and other expenses relating to your health. Health insurance helps in meeting all the medical expenses going higher day by day
The health insurance categories are discussed below-
Health Insurance can be categorized in two types such as insurance plans and managed care plans which comprises of POS plans (Point of service plans), HMO (Health Maintenance Organizations), and PPOs (Preferred Provider Organizations). A reimbursement plans provides you the option to select your own physician. You can also select your payment plan, whether you want to make a payment for in installments or on a per day basis
Managed care plan maintains a contract between insurance authority and the health care organization. It is the task of the health maintenance organization that a physician taking care of you should refer you to some consultant or some professional. It is very important to take care of all the medical facilities before choosing for some health insurance plan.
What are the important facts that a good insurance plan should cover?
A health insurance policy makes a payment of the cost of your private rooms, nursing, your food, the ambulance service, expenses for your x-rays, and various laboratory tests etc while you are admitted in the hospital. It also includes the cost of the surgeons and assistant surgeons and all the other expenses of the surgery. Under the health insurance plans the doctor’s fees is fixed if the doctor pays you a home visit. The health insurance plans are specially designed for your benefit in case of your medical ailments.
You should make sure that the insurance plan that you have selected provides you with the extra assistance and should comprise some of the following points:
  1. Your insurance plan should be able to cater any maternity related issues (if any). Make sure that you get the service for midwives who will take care of you.
  2. You should ensure that you are getting all benefits for your medicines.
  3. Make a schedule for regular check-ups with your physician. You should be consulting your physician on regular intervals for developing good preventive healthcare assistance.
  4. Having a treatment for the mental problems and complications. A good health insurance provides you with all the medications relating to the drug abuse or alcoholic complications.

What will be the price that you have to pay?

There are some supplementary costs that will add on just in case you have kids and they are regular visitors to the physician. While deciding for some health insurance plan make sure that do you have to make a payment for the following:

  1. Coinsurance is a payment which is a percentage of all the deductions made in your total medical bill.
  2. It is an amount that you have to pay yearly for your medical expenditure. It has to be done before an insurance agency start paying claims for it. It is usually witnessed in the insurance plans.
  3. This amount is usually required by health maintenance organizations and it is a specific amount that you have to pay for every medical visit you make with the physician.

The choice is up to you whether you want to have a health insurance plan by having an association with some school, clubs, or probably some social organizations. And the most convenient of them all having your individual health insurance plan. The advantage for having individual health insurance loan is that you can make any suitable alterations in your physical schedule according to your needs.

The most suitable health insurance plan is the one where you can get more lenient guidelines with the minimal price. Following are some points you need to keep in mind.

  1. It is very important to accumulate all the information and the credibility of the company or any financial institution.
  2. The health insurance plan also should comprise of all the health related facilities that are required by you.
  3. Make sure that will you get the services from the physicians you are currently seeing.
  4. Make an enquiry about your health insurance plan includes family and personal treatment.