College Is A Blast Until You Get Sick.

For the most part my own days as a college student were an utter blast. For the first time in my life I didn't have to worry about being under the every watchful eye of my parents and could set my own rules for how I lived my life. And, best of all, I didn't have to worry about a curfew anymore. No more lectures about where I could and couldn't go, what I could and couldn't do and when I had to be home. Freedom at last!

I got to choose when I wanted to go to classes and indeed whether or not I wanted to actually attend classes on any given day or simply have a bit of a lie in. Life was great. There were of course a few downsides such as mountains of homework, and having to find enough money to pay the rent and buy such things as groceries and textbooks, but everyone else was in the same boat and so we all managed to work our way through these daily problems together with a mixture or moans and laughter. However, one day my own moans took a serious turn when I has a nasty accident playing football and ended up in the emergency room with a broken arm and a very large medical bill which I had no way of paying. Dad?

I had never even thought about health insurance and, when I talked to some of my fellow students, it seems that I was not alone. When you're our age after all, and with everything else that is going on in your life at that time, the last thing that crosses your mind is that you might get sick or have an accident and suddenly need to start paying medical bills for the first time in your life.

Today it is estimated that a very substantial proportion of students attending college are not covered under their parent's health insurance plan and have no cover of their own and, while many do of course get away with it, all too many students find that the cost which accompanies illness or accident literally ruins their college career.

In many cases larger colleges will have an arrangement with one of the major insurers and will offer their own 'in-house' health insurance cover for students. But, in a lot of colleges this is not the case and students need to make their own arrangements for cover privately. The college may be able to help and point you in the right direction but, if not, then you will need to jump online and find yourself some student health insurance at a cost which you can work into your overall college budget.

Whatever the case at your own college the one thing you should not do is simply hope that you can get through college without any form of cover. I was lucky and dad did come to the rescue and was also good enough to help me out with arranging cover for the remainder of my stay at college. But will you be as lucky?

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Annuities: Did My Annuity Agent Rip Me Off?

Did you get ripped off when you bought your annuity? Maybe.

I often get called from people who own annuities and the first question they ask goes something like this: 'I own a (insert annuity name here). Did I get ripped off? It's not an easy question to answer but let's take a look at that.

Lets assume being ripped off means one of three things:

1) That you didn't exactly get what you paid for (i.e. invested in).

2) You got something completely different than what you paid for.

3) You got something you weren't expecting.

The bottom line is that, many people who buy annuities fall into one of these categories. You might think that's a bold statement but it certainly is not untrue. I know. I have interviewed a substantial amount of annuity owners and many (if not most) do not know what they own.

Does this mean they got ripped off? Well, maybe and maybe not. Let's take a look. An insurance agent has a duty and responsibility to inform the consumer of all the details of the product they are purchasing. Do they do that? Not usually. Sometimes the omission is important and other times it is not. However, if you have something that falls into one of the 3 categories above, then you may have been ripped off.

Where do the agent omissions come from? How can they fail to tell you everything? Well, omissions happen sometimes knowingly and sometimes unknowingly. So, in the agent's defense, sometimes, something is not mentioned because they feel it is not important OR because you didn't mention it was important. Does that make it right??? No. Other times, however, an omission happens due to the ignorance of the agent. This is definitely not excusable. Unfortunately, many annuity agents do not know exactly what they are selling.

Agents and insurance companies are to blame for this. Agents often take the insurance company's word for what a product is without doing their due diligence. Shame on them but often you pay for it.

Insurance companies often paint the sales story for the insurance agent so they can sell their products. Shame on them but you pay for it.

Don't get ripped off when it comes to your annuities. There are a few things you can do to avoid being ripped off:

1) Know what you want in an annuity

2) Know what features are important to you

3) Know what is important for your annuities not to have

4) Tell your agent EXACTLY what you want and don't want and document it for future purposes

4) Be well educated PRIOR to making a purchase

5) Assume you are going to be ripped off so you will act more carefully.

So, most importantly if you got something that falls in the three categories above, you may have been ripped off. If you feel like you have been cheated, there are appropriate measures you can take. If you are buying an annuity, there are things you can do to avoid being ripped off. I always say do your homework. Ignorance is not bliss.

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8 Ways To Get Benefits On Home Insurance

If you want to buy the insurance for your home than it is essential to get the home insurance to get the various benefits.

If you want to buy the insurance for your home than it is essential to get the home insurance to get the various benefits:

1. You must have to see that you will get the deductible on purchase of home insurance. At the time of claim, you need to pay the deductibles. You can select the deductibles starting from $250 or more depends on you. If you keep your deductibles on higher side than your premium will be lower.

2. While you are apply on the insurance than the insurance company gives more weight age on your credit. Depends on your credit report, the insurance company put you on higher rating.

3. If you install the fire alarm in your home than you will get the discount on the insurance. You must have to check up with your company about the discount offer by the company on your policy or not.

4. If you want to purchase more than one policy on different aspects like auto and other policy with the same insurance company than the insurance company offer discount on the policy.

5. The insurance company gives credit on insurance under the no smoker discount coverage. It is essential to check the rate with the company.

6. You must have to get the insurance credit on home that is listed in the full replacement value. It means it will consider the cost of house at present market price of home.

7. If you want to make some changes in your home on certain period of time than you insurance company will offer the premium at preferred rate.

8. If your home is not more than 20 years old than insurance company offer you discount based on the construction period of the home. You can also get the discount based on the area.

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