About Thomas Rockford
Proud graduate of Brown University (Go Bears!) and a lifelong financial advisor and retirement planner.
A rider within life insurance is categorized as something that you can add on to your life insurance policy and can provide substantial benefit coverage, all depending on what the rider covers. A common type of rider would be a spousal rider, which is a form of rider pertaining to Read More »
When you sign up for a new life insurance plan, you will be required to have a medical exam. Your health factors into the cost of your life insurance premium, and the medical exam is used to determine your overall fitness level and assign you a health rating. The logic Read More »
If you’re shopping around for life insurance, you’ve probably heard that obesity and other health factors can affect your premium price. It’s true - life insurance companies do consider your health when determining the price of your life insurance, and obesity is a part of that. However, if you’re overweight Read More »
Genetic testing has become very popular lately, with companies like 23andMe popularizing at-home DNA testing kits. Many people are choosing to get their DNA tested to learn more about their heritage, but DNA testing can also provide you with interesting information about your genetic background and what sort of diseases Read More »
When a life insurance policy "matures," it has reached its maturity date and now owes the cash value or death benefit to the insured. Maturity of your insurance policy is looked at as neither positive nor negative, but it is important to understand what exactly it means and how it Read More »
As a college student, life insurance is probably the last thing on your mind. You’re focused on doing well in classes and preparing for your future career. However, taking out life insurance as a college student can give you and your family some peace of mind in case an accident Read More »
Permanent life insurance policies with sufficient cash value normally allow for policy owners to pull money from their policy in the form of a loan. Loans from life insurance policies can have distinct tax advantages, and they do not permanently reduce the death benefit paid to beneficiaries. Here we discuss Read More »
Whole life insurance policies normally pay dividends. For mutual companies, the dividend represents a partial return of company profits to the owners of the company, the policy owners. For companies with different organizational structures the dividend is necessary to stay competitive with whole life offerings from mutual companies. It is Read More »
Buying life insurance for the first time can feel daunting. Not only do you need to think about your mortality, which is highly unpleasant, you also are faced with the task of choosing a complicated insurance product being sold by a lot of companies. Sometimes, you can talk to three Read More »
There are various risk classifications and factors that enable life insurance companies to put you within a certain rate class. These risks and factors include anything pertaining to health (mentally and physically), family history, lifestyle, and others. The rate or price that you will pay is entirely dependent upon these Read More »
Life insurance is important - it will cover funeral expenses and support your dependents in the event of your death. Many people don’t think they need life insurance, but it’s always important to have, because you never know what’s going to happen, and you don’t want to leave your dependents Read More »
Permanent Life insurance is not one kind of life insurance, it is any kind of life insurance that is meant to provide coverage for someone's entire life. This is in contrast to term life, which is only meant to provide protection for a specific length of time such as 10 Read More »
A life insurance policy can actually help you get a loan, and lenders often accept life insurance as collateral because of guaranteed funds. This is to ensure that even if the worst was to come, they initially will be able to get their money back. More often than not, these Read More »
Any insurance rider is an additional feature of a policy. A term insurance rider is an add-on to a permanent life insurance policy, most often a whole life insurance policy. The term rider adds additional life insurance, but instead of being permanent, the additional coverage expires. For the length of Read More »
Life insurance is a necessity for individual’s today that are seeking to provide financial security for their family and loved ones. With millions of people paying for life insurance, many beneficiaries do not understand how exactly the payout works when someone passes away. This means understanding how quickly benefits are Read More »
While many people believe that life insurance policies only pertain to death benefits, cash value life insurance can accrue cash value over time of the policy. Cash value life insurance pertains to the process in which you can either withdraw cash or take out a loan against your life insurance Read More »
You’re more than likely unfamiliar with return of premium life insurance. A relatively unpopular option (accounting for just 2% of term life sales according to a study by LIMRA). return of premium life insurance is a type of policy that most people overlook when it comes to buying life insurance. Read More »
There is a single major motivation behind buying life insurance: to financially protect your family in the event of your death. Of course, there are several additional side benefits, such as funding your death expenses and borrowing from the cash value element available with certain policies, but the main reason Read More »
As the name suggests, a 1035 exchange is an exchange of contracts covering annuity contracts, life insurance policies, long-term care policies, and endowments. These exchanges are popular due to their tax-free status. However, there are specific rules and regulations in place to ensure proper processing of the exchange. Therefore, it’s Read More »
When you have a pre-existing condition, it suddenly becomes more difficult to get health insurance coverage, but what about life insurance policies? It’s true that life insurance companies can deny people for a variety of reasons, but fortunately, there is coverage available for nearly everyone, regardless of any pre-existing conditions. Read More »
When you begin searching for life insurance, it’s understandable to want immediate answers. And with the internet, it’s possible to obtain a life insurance quote in just a few minutes’ time. However, it’s worth wondering whether these tools are as accurate as we hope. So, just how accurate is an Read More »
If you live a super busy lifestyle and you have very limited time to spare, or you getting a life insurance policy within a certain time frame has been mandated for some reason, then you’re going to need to get a life insurance policy super fast. Even if there is Read More »
Life insurance is one of the best investments you can make. It provides your loved ones with financial protection when you pass away, offering them – and you – peace of mind. But, if you’re shopping around for life insurance, you’re going to find that there are a few different Read More »
When it comes to life insurance, most people think that the more they have, the better. Of course, you want to ensure that your loved ones are taken care of when you pass away; but, like anything in life, too much life insurance isn’t always a good thing. In fact, Read More »
In the age of technology, we’ve all become pretty accustomed to buying whatever it is that we want or need just by tapping your finger on a screen. From clothing to accessories for your home, and even groceries or a car service, you can get virtually anything you want in Read More »
When you’re young, say, in your 20s or early 30s, you’re in the prime of your life. You’re healthy, have few responsibilities, and have your whole life ahead of you. The last thing you’re thinking about is your mortality and life insurance. But, believe it or not, buying life insurance Read More »
In 2017, MetLife, one of the biggest providers of life insurance in the United States, established Brighthouse Financial. The purpose of MetLife establishing Brighthouse Financial was so that the insurance provider could focus solely on selling life insurance, as well as annuities, to individuals. MetLife still continues to exist, but Read More »
Many companies provide life insurance as a benefit. If you work at such a company and are considering leaving, there are a lot of important factors that needed to be sorted out before you do. One of those factors is what you should do with the life insurance coverage that Read More »
When it comes to life insurance plans, there are so many different options to choose from. Different policies offer different advantages and different coverages. Two of the most common types of life insurance policies include term life (only effective for a predetermine period of time) and permanent life (insurance coverage Read More »
If you have a permanent life insurance policy, there are two terms that you should familiarize yourself with: cash value and face value. As the name suggests, a permanent life insurance policy offers permanent coverage because it offers coverage for the entire span of your life, rather than just a Read More »
The death of a loved one is hard enough, but finding out that a life insurance claim was denied can make the loss even harder. While there’s no amount of money that can ever replace the one you lost, it can certainly help to ease your worry – especially if Read More »
If you are worried about someone buying a life insurance policy on your life without your knowledge, you can most likely rest easy. First of all, it isn't legal, and there are systems in place to prevent this from happening. Now, is it absolutely impossible that some kind of sophisticated Read More »
Life insurance is one of the best investments you can make. Not only does it provide your loved ones with financial stability when you pass away, but if you own a business, it can also protect your company. If you’re a business owner, you might be wondering if your life Read More »
If you have a family, it’s likely that you invested in life insurance as a way to provide your loved ones with financial security in the event that you pass away. However, you may be wondering if, when you do pass away, the proceeds from your life insurance policy will Read More »
You might be too concerned with saving money. You might want to even stop saving. That isn't the traditional advice from a financial advisor. But in 2018 the rules are a little different. With the price of housing near cities in the United States, and the rate at which it Read More »
If you are buying a home, you know how expensive it can be. The median home price is about $200,000 in 2017 and rising quickly. In some markets, you will be hard-pressed to find a home for less than $500,000. A standard mortgage requires a 20% down payment. In a Read More »
Black Americans face many negative stereotypes and disadvantages over their white counterparts. One difficulty Americans of all cultures face is saving for retirement. There have been many studies done that conclude that black Americans have less money saved for retirement than white Americans. The undertone is that black Americans are Read More »
The life insurance industry is finally modernizing. After years of the old-style model of an agent cold calling people, getting meetings, and trying to sell a policy the client didn't understand, things are finally starting to change. It is easier than ever to buy a policy online, and the underwriting Read More »
You can get life insurance if you have cancer. We help our clients obtain valuable policies every day when they have cancer or any number of other serious diseases. The caveat is that the process is a bit more involved than the standard way. It will take a little more Read More »
Here is a secret most life insurance companies don't want you to know - you shouldn't buy whole life insurance. Why are we telling you this? It sounds like a strange thing for a life insurance company to say. But at Life Ant, we are more concerned about giving our Read More »
If you are looking for life insurance, you might be wondering how much it costs. You may even have already received a quote, but you don't know if its a good price or not. If you have an older policy, you may wonder if prices have gone down or up Read More »
Fixed annuities became very common investments when interest rates were really high. They also enjoyed bumps during the market turmoil after the ".com" bubble burst in 2001, and the subprime mortgage crisis in 2008. The reason they became popular during times of high interest rates was because people were locking Read More »
Applying for life insurance does not need to be a complicated process. We always help our clients at Life Ant through the entire application, from finding the right policy to applying for coverage to managing your policy. The life insurance application can appear daunting. It involves many pages of questions Read More »
Here is a common scenario: A wife and husband both have 401k retirement accounts through work. They probably contributed to them for different amounts of time, and one may be quite a bit larger than the other or they may roughly be the same size. Now in their mid-30s, they Read More »
Many companies offer life insurance as a benefit to working for them, much like medical insurance or disability coverage. Your employer may offer it for free, or you may pay a small amount from each paycheck, usually just a couple of dollars. The question is, is this free or highly Read More »
Guaranteed issue life insurance is a form of "no medical exam life insurance". Just like it sounds from the name, a life insurance company can not deny a policy if someone applies for a guaranteed issue policy. While this sounds great, there are some very important catches to this type Read More »
A financial advisor may propose a single premium life insurance policy instead of a policy that requires annual premiums, typically to high-end clients. A single premium life policy also known as (SPL) is a pretty straightforward life insurance concept, but this type of policy has some nuances that are important. Read More »
First of all don't worry. Insurance companies are required to pay death claims even if the beneficiary can't find the policy of the insured person. Just because you can't find a policy doesn't mean that the contract isn't still enforceable in it's original form. You don't need to buy a Read More »
There are many reasons why someone might want to avoid taking a paramedical exam, which is also more commonly known as a life insurance medical exam or a paramed. Some are not sinister, it may make you nervous to have someone examine you for instance. Some people may want to Read More »
It sounds like a gimmick right? Why would you need to buy life insurance for a baby? The baby doesn't have any kids or husband or wife. The baby doesn't own a business. It can sound ludicrous. The truth is there actually are a couple good reasons to buy life Read More »
