Buying Life Insurance Directly

A new study released by LIMRA and the LIFE Foundation on Wednesday found that Americans, especially those who are younger, prefer to buy life insurance via the Internet, mail or by phone.

Although 64% of consumers are still buying life insurance from a professional, far fewer are doing so compared to 1996 when 80% preferred to purchase it face-to-face. Now, 26% of consumers prefer to buy life insurance directly.

“Obviously, the Internet has fundamentally changed consumers’ buying practices over the past 15 years,” said Marvin H. Feldman, president and CEO of the LIFE Foundation, in a press release. “Recognizing the growing consumer interest to use the Internet to conduct research and buy life insurance, life insurance companies and agents have developed and implemented innovative strategies to engage and serve consumers through their websites and social media platforms that are more convenient for the customer.”

Meanwhile, three out of four of those between 25-44 years of age prefer the Internet to buy life insurance.

The study found consumers in general feel life insurance is a necessity, with 86 percent agreeing that most people need life insurance. Nonetheless, only 70% think they personally need life insurance and just 63% of individuals surveyed say they own some sort of life insurance.

“Life insurance has never been as easy or inexpensive to buy, yet millions of Americans continue to put off making a purchase that they, by their own admission, say is an important one,” said Feldman.

The study revealed a few other highlights: Individuals rank understanding what they’re buying when it comes to life insurance as the most important factor in their purchasing decision, followed by obtaining the proper amount of coverage. Price ranked fourth out of six factors, with only 14% saying it was most important to them.

Yet worries over price keep people from buying more insurance. Although the study states that the cost of basic term life insurance has tumbled by about 50% over the last decade, consumers still think life insurance costs a lot. Of insured individuals who say their coverage is inadequate, 85% say cost has prevented them from buying more, followed by 76% who cite other financial priorities and 55% who say they don’t know what to buy, the report found.

The biggest reason people report owning life insurance is to cover burial and other final expenses followed by replacing the income of a wage earner. Sixty-two percent of individuals of all income levels say they see life insurance as a way to transfer wealth or leave an inheritance.

As for financial concerns, 46% of respondents said they are extremely or very concerned about having money for a comfortable retirement, followed by 42% who said they are worried about paying for medical expenses. Only 27% said they are extremely or very concerned about dying prematurely and leaving family in a precarious financial situation even though many Americans don’t have any life insurance or are inadequately insured.

The online survey was conducted from February 3 - 8, 2011 by Harris Interactive. The 2,051 respondents were between ages 18 and 75 and shared or were the sole decision maker for financial matters in the household. The margin of error in this study is +/- 2 percentage points or less.

Risk Based Capital

The risk-based capital (RBC) framework for the takaful industry is expected to be implemented in the first half of next year, paving the way for stricter capital requirements for Islamic insurance.

The move would enable takaful players to hold appropriate level of capital to undertake risks in their daily operations.

Takaful Ikhlas Sdn Bhd president and chief executive officer Datuk Syed Moheeb Syed Kamarulzaman said currently the exposure draft of the framework had been released and feedback was being collected from the market.

“We do not expect any delay in the implementation for the RBC framework for the takaful industry as it has been talked in the industry for a while. Unlike the conventional RBC framework, which was given a one-year period for compliance, we expect the actual execution for the RBC to be in a much shorter timeframe,’’ he told a briefing at the 1st Malaysia Insurance Summit 2011.

Moheeb, who is also the chairman of the Malaysian Takaful Association (MTA), said he was upbeat that all the takaful players would be able to comply with the framework upon its implementation.

He said there were one or two takaful companies currently “fine tuning” their portfolio to meet the framework.

Asked on the portfolio mix of the RBC for takaful compared with the RBC for conventional insurers, he said it would be slightly different as there might be heavier loans for credit-base weightage for the former resulting in higher charges for some takaful players under the takaful framework. This is in view of larger loans portfolio for Islamic finance coupled with lesser number of players in the takaful market.

The RBC framework for the conventional insurance sector came on stream in January 2009.

Under the conventional framework, insurance companies are required to have a minimum of 130% of supervisory capital-adequacy ratio.

The capitalisation of the insurance industry currently is strong at a CAR of 224.6%.

At present there are 11 takaful operators and three retakaful operators with another retakaful operator about to join the stable.

According to Moheeb, this year he expected the growth rate for the industry to exceed 20% for the family and general takaful business, higher than the previous year, with the inclusion of three new family takaful operators into the market.

Meanwhile, The Malaysian Insurance Institute (MII) CEO Khadijah Abdullah said the insurance industry as a whole was projected to grow by 12% this year supported, amongst others, by the Government’s various stimulus plans and other legislative initiatives as well as the historically low interest rate environment.

According to the Life Insurance Association of Malaysia (LIAM) that in addition to these numerous initiatives announced in the Economic Transformation Programme, including the private pension plan and worker insurance scheme, economic conditions in the country are ripe for further life insurance development.

She added the current consumer confidence in Malaysia has also shown marked improvement, rising to 107 points on the latest Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Index - its highest score since the third quarter of 2006.

The General Insurance Association of Malaysia (PIAM) meanwhile reported that, in absence of any further adverse impacton the world economy, the association foresees the outlook for the general insurance industry this year to be positive with an increased demand for insurance in all areas.

Likewise, MTA also expects the Islamic insurance industry to continue to improve on its 10% market penetration, particularly by expanding into rural areas.

Khadijah said Malaysia and other Asean insurance markets should consider implementing the proposed Solvency II framework to be launched next year in the European Union (EU) so as to synergise the domestic industries as to be at par with other advanced markets.

This new framework would create a new scenario for the EU insurance legislations to facilitate the development of a single market in insurance services in Europe, whilst at the same time securing an adequate level of consumer protection, she noted.

China Life Insurance

China is expected to become the second-biggest insurance market in the next 10 years, reinsurer Swiss Re said on Wednesday, noting that the Asian giant posted growth of 26.2 percent in 2010 premiums.

"The global market share of emerging countries is expected to continue to increase strongly from today's 14 percent over the next 10 years," said the reinsurer in its study on the insurance industry.

"China is likely to become the second largest insurance market within a decade," it added.

The Asian giant is now the ranked sixth, with insurance penetration at 3.8 percent, far below the 10.1 percent in Japan, 10.5 percent in France and 12.4 percent in Britain.

Overall, global life insurance premiums were up 3.2 percent at $2.52 trillion in 2010, while non-life premiums increased by 2.1 percent at $1.82 trillion.

"The economic recovery should continue and bolster premium growth in the life and non-life sectors globally in 2011," said the reinsurer.

Once You Go Black - You Wont Go Back

Black rice is low in sugar but packed with healthy fibre and plant compounds that combat heart disease and cancer, according to scientists. Black rice - revered in ancient China but overlooked in the West - could be the greatest 'superfoods', scientists revealed today.

The cereal is low in sugar but packed with healthy fibre and plant compounds that combat heart disease and cancer, say experts. Scientists from Louisiana State University analysed samples of bran from black rice grown in the southern U.S. They found boosted levels of water-soluble anthocyanin antioxidants.















Anthocyanins provide the dark colours of many fruits and vegetables, such as blueberries and red peppers. They are what makes black rice 'black'.

Research suggests that the dark plant antioxidants, which mop up harmful molecules, can help protect arteries and prevent the DNA damage that leads to cancer.

Food scientist Dr Zhimin Xu said: 'Just a spoonful of black rice bran contains more health promoting anthocyanin antioxidants than are found in a spoonful of blueberries, but with less sugar, and more fibre and vitamin E antioxidants.

'If berries are used to boost health, why not black rice and black rice bran? Especially, black rice bran would be a unique and economical material to increase consumption of health-promoting antioxidants.'

Centuries ago black rice was known as 'Forbidden Rice' in ancient China because only nobles were allowed to eat it.













Today black rice is mainly used in Asia for food decoration, noodles, sushi and desserts. But food manufacturers could potentially use black rice bran or bran extracts to make breakfast cereals, beverages, cakes, biscuits and other foods healthier, said Dr Xu.

When rice is processed, millers remove the outer layers of the grains to produce brown rice or more refined white rice - the kind most widely consumed in the West.

Brown rice is said to be more nutritious because it has higher levels of healthy vitamin E compounds and antioxidants. But according to Dr Xu's team, varieties of rice that are black or purple in colour are healthier still.

They added that black rice could also be used to provide healthier, natural colourants. Studies linked some artificial colourants to cancer and behavioural problems in children.

The scientists presented their findings today at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Boston .

Victoria Taylor, senior dietician at the British Heart Foundation, said: 'In reality, it's unlikely there's a single food out there that will have a great impact on lowering your risk of heart disease. Healthy eating is about a balanced diet overall.

'It's great if you can eat more of some groups of healthy foods, like having five portions of fruit and vegetable a day, but there is still no conclusive evidence that 'super foods' alone make a real difference to your heart health.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1306356/Black-rice-new-cancer-fighting-superfood-claim-scientists.html

Who Is Yeo Yi Lin

Yeo Yi Lin - age 17 - lost her left leg to bone cancer and is now battling lung cancer - has shown the world that she never gives up hope by displaying her great fighting spirit and positive outlook in life. She even harbours hopes to further her music studies in England.

This Malaccan lass also brings out another very important message to all fellow Malaysians, especially the younger generation: not to lose hope and easily despair in life, especially when facing difficulties and challenges. Nurture your confidence and always be brave and strong and live life to the fullest!

Worthy Leadership

As parents and professional adults, we must recognize that today’s students will grow up to be tomorrow’s social, business, and political leaders, therefore, we must help them to develop the necessary skills of leadership.. Does there need to be a basic level of leadership ability within every person? Yes, because even if a person does not lead others, he or she must lead him or herself.

It is common to think of a leader as someone who is very verbal, outgoing, and visible, makes their opinions known, and has plenty of them! But, leaders can be quiet people, too. In fact, some people will be more inclined to follow the strong, quiet types who lead by example, rather than by words.

Some people are "born" leaders and some have follower tendencies due to innate personality characteristics.

What is leadership? Leadership is defined as one’s ability to guide, direct, or influence people. To provide a more encompassing definition of true leadership, however, Grahek, Phillips, & Thompson (2008) refer to “worthy” leadership. The word worthy is defined as having adequate or great merit, character, or value. Therefore, worthy leadership is the ability to guide, direct, or influence people in a way that has great merit, character, and value.

In worthy leadership a person or organization must have the capacity to lead, the commitment to lead, and the character to lead.

So, how can we help young people to develop worthy leadership skills? A good first step is to teach them that the highest courage they can have is to dare themselves to be true to who they are in the face of adversity and challenges by life and others. Choosing right over wrong, ethics over convenience, and truth over popularity are the choices that will add up, define who they are, and measure their life. Remind them that it is important for all of us to live a life of integrity without regret and looking back because there is never a wrong time to do the right thing.

Following are a few other points to teach young people about leadership.

The Power of a Leader: True leaders are not those who strive to be first but those who are first to strive and do all possible to contribute to the success of the team of which they are a member. True leaders are first to see a need, envision the plan to answer the need, and empower the team to action. Because of the intensity of a leader’s commitment to the task at hand or principle employed, the power of those others involved can be catapulted into action.

The Essence of Leadership: A true leader has the confidence to stand and act alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He or she does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the quality and integrity of his or her actions and intent. Leaders are a lot like eagles in that they do not flock together, rather are likely found one at a time.

The Essence of Character: A person’s true character is usually revealed by the clarity of his or her convictions, the choices made and the promises kept. By holding strong to one’s principles and refusal to follow the path of convenience, the essence of a person’s character can be evidenced! Both what one says and does defines who that person is, and who they are…they are forever.

Candidates For Insurance

So how do you know if you’re a candidate for life insurance? Here are five signs you need the coverage.

1. You’re Married with Kids
If you’re hitched and have one or more children, life insurance is crucial. If you or your spouse died, the surviving spouse would need the money to keep up with car payments, buy food and clothes for the kids, save for college and retirement, and cover all the other everyday expenses the deceased person would no longer be around to help with. It’s not something anyone likes to think about, but it’s good to know money would be less of an issue if something happened to you or your spouse.

You might both want to buy life insurance even if you don’t have kids yet or don’t ever plan to. The sooner you get the coverage, the cheaper it’ll be. Besides, you’d probably want your spouse to be taken care of if you died prematurely, even if there weren’t any kids in the picture

2. You’re Single but Caring for an Aging Parent
Like couples with children, singles who are the main caretakers of an elderly and/or ill parent would probably feel much better knowing the parent is taken care of financially in the event of the caretaker’s premature death. That’s especially true if the parent would have no other way to pay for a professional replacement, which is extremely expensive. The services of a licensed home health aide, for example, now cost $19 an hour, on average. So the bill for even just a few daily hours of those services a day could easily surpass $20,000 in the course of a year.

3. You Have a Mortgage
You may have heard of at least one case in which somebody’s husband or wife died and they had to sell the house and move because they could no longer afford the mortgage. Life insurance can prevent that by providing cash to keep up with mortgage payments or perhaps even pay off the entire loan in one shot, if the policy is big enough.

4. You Own a Business and Have Partners
Business partners should always have life insurance on each other in case one of them dies, which can devastate a business because the deceased partner’s daily contribution to its success is lost. Insuring the partners’ lives can provide cash to help keep the business running in the event of someone’s death.

5. It’s Your Only Way to Give to Charity
Some people are well off enough that their death wouldn’t cause undue hardship for loved ones, but they don’t have anything extra to leave to a charity they want very much to help. They can solve this dilemma by purchasing life insurance and naming the charity as a primary beneficiary of the policy.

The Bottom Line
Don’t let the constant barrage of bad economic news and concern about your investments distract you from other important personal finance issues such as life insurance. At this point, getting adequate life insurance might actually be a higher priority for you than investing. Strongly consider purchasing coverage if there’s anybody who would suffer financially if you died.