Life Settlement: Towards A Free Market for Life Insurance

The Life Settlement market is all about providing due access to needed cash from existing life insurance.

This so-called free market referred to as the life insurance industry???s secondary market is based on a central premise, namely that the value of life insurance is best determined by independent market forces and has been validated in recent years by its rapid growth. It is also amazing to see the value creation and opportunities that this market presents. What it a life settlement and why may it be an attractive financial alternative to policy holders?

Various market providers in this sector of the industry are focused on servicing viatical settlements, life settlements, and senior settlements. Maximizing the profitable offering price for your life insurance policy in what is commonly referred to the secondary market for life insurance. Quite innovative, albeit counter-intuitive, advocating looking at things from a totally different perspective and finding new value in life insurance

Life insurance provides financial solutions to meet various needs of businesses and families. Over time, however it also needs to be dynamic and change with the holders and the/their demands. For example as loans are repaid , key executives retire, estates become smaller, businesses are sold, estate taxes are reduced ??? or better yet, no longer exist of in cases where the policy simply becomes too expensive it is definitely time to revisit said policy.

Until just several years ago, individuals in the situations laid out about above were facing a monopoly, a market situation in which a seller can only sell to one buyer. Imagine if a homeowner, after living in the home for many years, was told that instead of being permitted to sell the home to any willing buyer, he or she could only sell it back to the original builder at the price determined by the builder. Clearly, no one would tolerate such a situation for homeowners, but it has existed for life insurance policy owners. For many years, policy owners have had only one buyer for their policies ??? the life insurers. The advent of a secondary market has lessened the monopoly power of life insurers and created a free market for policy owners to create value from and using their insurance.

Before the advent of the secondary market, life insurance policies could not readily be sold, and it would have made little sense to speak of a policy???s fair market value. By its very existence, this new and growing secondary market for life insurance bestows on every policy a fair market value like the owner???s other financial assets. A life settlement can now be treated like any other financial vehicle.

Institutional Life Settlement Funders
http://www.life-settlementco.com

Jon Thomas has been involved in finance and insurance,
specializing in emerging growth markets since 1979.

Top 5 Jobs Which Require Life Insurance

Life insurance is an important aspect of everyone's lives and is something which everyone will have to face at some point in time throughout their lives. This point may come sooner rather than later for some individuals because of the job they perform on a daily basis.

While some individuals start everyday by putting on their suits and racing to get to the coffee shop for their morning coffee, others are strapping on their work boots and preparing themselves for a day of excruciatingly hard labor. As scary as it may sound, there are many individuals who are willing to put their lives in danger every single day when they get up and go to work.

The following is a list of the top 5 jobs which are considered to be the most dangerous jobs in the world. Individuals who perform these jobs are highly recommended to have a life insurance plan incase (god forbid) anything goes wrong on any given day. These are the 5 occupations which made the list:

1. Police/Detectives Police Officers face life threatening situations almost everyday. They are highly trained to defend themselves and are equipped with protective equipment at all times. Life insurance and disability insurance are crucial for individuals working in the field of policing.

2. Airplane Pilots Believe it or not, airplane pilots require life insurance because they are dealing with such powerful machines which have been known to have mechanical glitches. Airplane pilots are also highly trained in their field to make sure they do their best to fly safely.

3. Construction Workers Construction workers are somewhat unappreciated for the amount of hard work they do everyday. They not only put their lives in danger from all the machinery they are expected to operate, but they also face many factors which will affect their health in the long run. Overexposure to sun, heat and excessive lifting are just a few of these factors.

4. Farm Workers Much like construction workers, farm workers are at high risk of injury or death due to the fact that they are constantly operating heavy machinery. There are hundreds of farm work related deaths a years and thousands of injuries for individuals working in farm fields. Life insurance and disability insurance are important for individuals in this occupation.

5. Fire Fighters It is a known fact that fire fighters put their lives on the line everyday to save the lives of others. Knowing the potential consequences and performing the job anyways indicates that these workers deserve the highest level of respect from others. Individuals who have chosen careers in firefighting are also likely to have a life insurance policy.

Is your job dangerous? Is your life on the line everyday? Maybe not, but there are many other factors other than your occupation which may indicate you need life insurance. Life insurance is a plan which will ensure your loved ones are taken care of incase anything happens to you. Wouldn't you like to know your family would be looked after should this type of situation occur?

Bill Mason is a retired insurance agent who now writes as a freelance writer for http://www.insuranceguide101.com a site that offers information on insurance of all kinds including online life insurance, business insurance and more.

Copyright Bill Mason - http://www.insuranceguide101.com/

Realtors Sue Blue Shield

Health coverage is going to be difficult for California Realtors from now on. California based Blue Shield, which used to offer health coverage for about 8,000 realtors and their families, has now decided to terminate its coverage abruptly. All the customers were informed through mails that their coverage would be active only till May 31, 2007. Reacting to the situation, California Association of Realtors has taken up the responsibility of defending its members and has sued Blue Shield.

Blue Shield has cancelled all agreements with its customers. Speaking on this, Colleen Badagliacco, President of California Association of Realtors, said that this was really a tough situation. The families are trying in vain to find a replacement for Blue Shield. She further added that Blue Shield had behaved in the most careless and irresponsible manner by not showing even a hint of sympathy about the health of more than 8000 families. The company is not ready to hold any discussions pertaining to this matter.

David Seldin, spokesperson of Blue Shield, said that the association had violated the agreement. According to the agreement, 75 percent of the association members should be enrolled in the Blue Shield Plan for their health insurance under the group coverage. Blue Shield had intimated the association regarding its decision in December itself and had also given the customers ample time to get a replacement.

But the association does not agree to the charges. According to their lawyer, the enrolled members in the guaranteed issue plan are more than 75 percent. The attorney said that almost 99 percent of the members have joined the plan. Blue Shield, which offers coverage to more than 3 million natives of California, states that under a group plan, 75 percent enrollment is prerequisite in order to preserve the interests of the company and also the individual.

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Enhanced Online Features at Blue Cross Blue Shield Help You

Blue Cross/Blue Shield has been helping Americans receive affordable healthcare for decades. Without its existence, millions of hard-working American citizens would not receive the kind of care and treatment they deserve, especially after decades of paying taxes and helping to grow this great and prosperous nation.

Like many traditional socially-centered organizations, Blue Cross/Blue Shield has embraced the new technologies developed in recent years. In an effort to provide better service to Blue Cross/Blue Shield members, the organization has enhanced its website and now offers more services for people to use.

HealthIssues.com is one of the new online features now available at Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Surfers can access useful newsletters from the past year and the current one so that they may stay current with potential health issues and ways of dealing with them. The service can be initiated and terminated at any time. While active, members will receive a newsletter via e-mail every month with a host of useful information that is of vital importance to anyone concerned about their health. Health issues such as the avian flu epidemic sweeping Asia are just some of the hot topics covered in newsletters.

One of the other major improvements to the online website for Blue Cross/Blue Shield has to do with customer service. What was once formerly known as the “Contact Us” portion of the website has been changed to “Customer Service”. The enhancements to this section were made primarily due to overwhelming demand by Blue Cross/Blue Shield members.

One of the time-saving and beneficial advantages offered by the new service is to allow members to change the spelling of their name on official Blue Cross/Blue Shield documentation. What once was a time consuming task bogged down by red tape, this simple but essential service speeds up the correction of mistakes and ensures continuation of benefits without worry of interruption. The new online service also allows people to change date-of-birth and social security information as well.

The timely and useful enhancements to the Blue Cross/Blue Shield customer service section also allow members to access information about their individual enrollment plans to check for accuracy and updates to coverage. Also, at times when the service area for a local Plan is not available, members may access records without leaving the comfort of their own home.

Unfortunately, members cannot access their information at all times of the day or night. Access is only permitted at present on Monday thru Saturday, 7 a.m. – 9 p.m., EST. But, for persons that utilize the services during these hours, any changes made to their personal information will be posted and applied during the next business day. Plans are currently in the works to expand hours of access so that the website becomes even more convenient and useful to members.

Although not all transactions can be conducted online, the truth is that the new additions to the online services offered by Blue Cross/Blue Shield have made the entire process far more accessible and convenient for members. The newsletter provides members with critical healthcare information while the enhancements to customer service reduce waiting time and increase the ease of use for services.

For more information on Blue Cross Blue Shield, visit http://www.bluecrossblueshieldinfo.com.