Divorce is right up there with bereavement when it comes to raising stress levels, and – as well as being one of life’s most unpleasant experiences, a break up also seriously impacts on your financial health. This is why it pays to plan ahead – and life insurance, as ever, should be an integral element of planning for life’s undesirable eventualities.

Unfortunately, however, married couples neglect to consider negative outcomes. As Carole Peck, president of Carole Peck Financial Center puts it “Couples often overlook the financial ramifications of their split, or assume lawyers will hammer things out to everyone’s satisfactions.”

Female Spouse often Loses out Financially in Divorce

Very often it is the female partner who gets to keep the family home in the event of a divorce, in order to carry on looking after the children in familiar surroundings.

In exchange the main wage earner, (usually, but not always), the male spouse, tends to keep control of IRAs and other long term financial assets; and while he continues to reap the rewards from their previously joint financial portfolios the family home may start to seem  less of an asset and more of an intolerable financial burden.

Even with decent alimony and child support there may well not be sufficient funds to keep up with mortgage payments, property taxes and home repairs. And if payments cease due to the illness or bereavement of an ex-spouse the family face eviction.

Life Insurance can Provide Financial Stability in the Event of Divorce

Ellie DeLano writes a blog – the ‘Divorce Diaries’ about her personal journey through the divorce process and urges women to think about the importance of life insurance in the event of divorce . The spouse considered to be the most financially well-off (usually the male) should be encouraged to take out a life insurance policy which includes the children as beneficiaries, until they can be considered independent.

In her case she was lucky – a divorced friend had urged her many years previously to have it written into the parenting agreement that Peter, her husband, be “required to name me as beneficiary on his life insurance, until the children are no longer my dependents.” Now that the couple are divorcing Ellie is thankful for this timely advice.

As she says, “If I were to die unexpectedly, Peter would have more than enough money to buy and keep a roof over the kid’s heads, feed them and even probably send them to college. If the situation were reversed, I’d be in serious trouble. We’d lose the house without his support check, and life would certainly be much harder than I complain about now.”

Life Insurance could be a Lifeline – so it Pays to be Practical

In her ‘Divorce Diaries’ Ellie advises even the most happily married to plan for any contingency:  “Don’t sell yourself short just to seem like the ‘nicer’ person.”

We all enter into our marriage contracts thinking it will last forever- but it is imperative to use your ‘practical head’ when planning the future. Setting up adequate life insurance has to be a priority when it comes to safeguarding a future for you and your children – something which you may be very thankful for one day.

Source: mainstreet.com posted 02 December 2010

Divorce Diaries, posted in WomansDay.com Editors on 29 December 2010

photo credit: epSos.de

Genetics and Life Insurance

Earlier this year Australian Life Insurance company NIB offered its customers half price DNA tests. The cut price tests – down to $500 from $999 were offered to 5000 of their policy holders. The firm responsible for carrying out the tests is Californian based firm Navigenics.

NIB insists that the offer was simply an altruistic attempt to help customers get a better understanding of their health risks; in fact their chief executive, Mark Fitzgibbon says that he has had the test himself and has “found it to be an invaluable experience.”

DNA Tests have Financial Implications for Life Insurance

Fitzgibbon’s statement may be genuine but,  for some, the issue of life insurers encouraging customers to undergo genetic testing has privacy and financial implications. Once someone has taken a DNA test, they could be forced to declare the results to a life insurance company; If the results of the tests are less than satisfactory the life insurance company could raise their premiums – and if potential policy holders fail to declare having taken the tests their policy could later be rendered invalid.

Life Insurance and Genetic Discrimination

The fact is: There have been a number of cases whereby individuals have been refused life coverage due to their DNA profiles. Kristine Barlow Stewart, an academic and board member of the Australian Government’s Human Genetics Advisory Committee has done research into this so-called ‘genetic discrimination’ and finds the Life Insurer’s offer concerning. She has stated that “the move has raised red flags for me.”

Reliability of DNA Tests Questioned

Apart from the implications for life insurance policies, some academics and researchers are questioning the reliability of the data produced by firms like Navigenics, since many discrepancies have been found between gene scans of the different companies carrying them out.

NIB however insists that the results of the tests are private between Navigenics and the policy holders, even though the small print states that “you may be required to disclose genetic test results, including any underlying health risks and conditions which the tests reveal, to life insurance or superannuation providers.”

USA and UK have Voluntary Agreement regarding Use of Genetic Information

The US, like the UK, has at present an unofficial voluntary agreement banning the use of genetic information for underwriting life insurance policies. The Genetics Information Discrimination Act 2008 bans the use of genetic information for both health insurance companies and in the workplace. Life Insurers are, however watching with interest how things develop for NIB, and future pairings between the booming consumer genomics and life insurance companies cannot be entirely ruled out.

Source

New Scientist (Feb 2010) , Pharmacogenomics Reporter(Mar 2010)

photo credit: net_efekt

Many companies offer specialized life insurance policies for those people over the age of 50. You’ve probably seen ads on television for them over the years, but may not have been ready to commit to the coverage of the policy. These policies have proven to be very popular and more and more insurance companies are realizing what a huge market there is for this type of policy. Many policies that provide coverage for those over 50 are designed to be very affordable – regardless of whatever medical history or employment status you may have. Many people simply put off purchasing the proper life insurance coverage they need, waiting for a better time or for the cost to go down. The truth is, there’s no better time to purchase retirement-oriented life insurance for yourself or your spouse, than right now. Many companies are offering the lowest premiums in the industry in order to get your business.

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Most people don’t spend too much of their waking hours wondering about this question. The fact is, the great majority of us simply don’t want to think about whether or not we’re ready to…die. I mean, who’s ready to die, right? The most we can do is prepare for the great inevitable and do the very best we can to make sure that those people we care about are going to be taken care of after we’re gone. Death-proofing your life can be as simple as making sure you’ve got the right amount of life insurance in place.

How Easy is Purchasing Protection with Life Insurance?

Protecting your family financially after you’re gone isn’t as hard as you might think. It’s simply a matter of making sure that your financial life is in order and ready to handle the needs of your family when you pass on. Because most of us don’t go through our days with a ‘what if…’ plan going through our minds, we probably don’t have the faintest idea what will happen after… you know.

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