How to define your insurance needs

Its conventional wisdom that you need life insurance equal to five or seven times your annual income. That’s okay as a general rule, but following it too closely can be costly. The danger of over or underinsuring is especially great as your asset base changes.
Before deciding how much life insurance to carry, look at:

1. Cash needs for settling the estate and paying uninsured medical costs and funeral expenses.
2. Outstanding debts. It’s nice to give the family greater financial freedom by paying off the mortgage, car loans, outstanding installment debt and credit card balances.
3. Educational goals for children.
4. Surviving family income fund. The amount of insurance needed is the difference between expenses and income, including Social Security. Always include a cushion for emergencies.
5. Inflation protection. Figure 9% inflation a year to protect current purchasing power. Be prepared to alter your coverage as inflation expectations change.
6. Accumulated assets. The same assets that can provide income for your heirs can be wiped out unless you have adequate liability coverage.
7. Present age. Insurance is most essential for people who haven’t yet accumulated substantial assets. It’s important to start young, even if you can afford only term insurance. The danger with term insurance is that as it becomes more expensive with age, it’s increasingly tempting to drop it.
8. Instead of a raise, ask the company for more disability insurance. It’s deductible for the company, and the premiums aren’t considered income to you for tax purposes. But unless the company plan is adequate, be prepared to buy substantially more disability coverage.
9. Set a definite time each year-preferably twice a year-to review your financial plan and insurance coverage. Change your financial plan and insurance coverage to reflect the current situation.

While so many people worry about being under-insured, we should all be concerned instead about having too much insurance. The most common insurance mistakes are wasting money on the wrong kind of insurance, and on insurance that duplicates coverage already provided by another policy.

The biggest insurance trap is being sold insurance you don’t need. Many people buy flight insurance as a kind of good luck charm, but it is grossly over-priced. Take the money you would spend to buy insurance on a two-hour flight and use it, instead, to but more term life insurance that covers you 365 days a year, around the clock, wherever you are.

If you are being charged premiums for life insurance to cover your unpaid credit-card balance, ask that it be eliminated or switch to a credit card company that doesn’t burden you with insurance that is only for the benefit of the credit card company.

Volunteer Medical Professionals Offer Free Basic Health Care

All of the country, many cities are getting hit hard with brutal weather of snow storms, and freezing temperatures. Have anyone thought about the homeless- how they are surviving in the midst of it? It has been reported that on any given night, over 2000 homeless people are on the cold freezing streets of Cincinnati.

The Drop Inn Center doors are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to anyone in need of its services. On average, they provide shelter to 250 men and women each and every day. During the winter months, the Center usually reaches its capacity to sleep 300 people each night. In a typical year, they serve more than 130,000 meals and distribute toiletries, towels, blankets and clothes to thousands of homeless residents. Volunteer medical professionals provide basic health care at no cost to residents six days a week.

One such medical professional is University of Cincinnati Dr. Joe Kiesler a philanthropist who makes regular visits at the Drop Inn Center with a mobile medical center.
Dr. Kiesler, physicians, med students and nurses go to the different health centers in Cincinnati to serve the homeless in a mobile van that's a community health center on wheels.

How to Prepare for Emergencies

When disaster strikes, you may not have much time to act. To help protect loved ones, take simple steps now to prepare your family for sudden emergencies or other disasters.

Three basic steps for disaster or emergency preparedness:

1. KNOW what natural or other disasters could occur in your area and how to prepare for them. Learn about local evacuation routes, so that you know how to leave an area quickly. Planning and practicing specifically how and where you take shelter is a matter of survival. read more