Individual dental insurance plans were designed with the single person or family in mind that are in need of assistance to cope with the expensive dental fees. These are a lot of companies that offer their staff dental and health benefits as part of the employment package, but than there are also those that don’t. Since health and dental care is often costly, it isn’t always possible for families to cover the full cost of dental treatment.

When it comes to choosing one of the insurance companies for dental coverage it’s always wise to read through the terms and conditions stated in the policy.

If you’re looking for a disability insurance market that is both lucrative and under-penetrated, consider the corporate executive market. Many of the nation’s millions of small to mid-size businesses offer employees no disability income protection whatsoever. And, of those that do, the coverage is often inadequate, particularly for middle- and upper-management.

As a result, numerous opportunities exist in the corporate executive market – opportunities you can take advantage of through creative, expert plan design.

A good disability plan design is one that is custom-tailored to fit the unique needs of your client company. Usually, it will include a blend of group and individual features that provide the most coverage at the best price. Such “combination plans” emphasize the strengths of group long term disability and individual non-can while minimizing the drawbacks of each, and are excellent door openers in the corporate executive market.

Ask the right questions.
To begin, approach your prospective clients with questions: What are their problems? What do they want to accomplish? How much coverage would they like to provide? Do they want upper-level executives to have more favorable treatment than others? How much money are they willing to spend?

Questions help clients clarify their disability insurance needs and enable you to explain many of the options that are available. Often, you will need to take an educational role. Group insurance is the only disability product that’s been introduced to many employers. The concepts of combination plans, underwriting concessions, and discounting are new to them.

Combination plans are especially attractive because of their flexibility. They can be structured to meet a variety of needs, thereby giving employers great control over their benefit programs.

Determine the right coverage mix.
Traditionally, the standard approach to combination plans has been to add a small amount of individual disability insurance to long term disability – say 20 percent individual added to 40 percent LTD. But more recently the group/individual mix has become more varied, and there is really no longer a “standard” approach. The right mix is determined by the unique make-up and goals of the client company, as well as any concessions the underwriting department is able to offer.

After you have determined the insurance goals of your clients, the next stop is to work closely with a risk manager or advanced underwriter. Always remembering that the primary strength of combination plans is flexibility – both in product blending and in underwriting – it is important to work with underwriters who are thorough professionals in plan design. The knowledgeable underwriter will look at the dynamics of each case to determine the optimum package for the client company and to establish the guidelines under which the case will be underwritten.

Consider Guaranteed Issue.
In large cases, guaranteed issue (GI) frequently replaces individual underwriting. GI means that a disability policy is issued at the standard rate with no restrictions. The size, occupations, incomes, and ages of the group are carefully evaluated in order to establish specific underwriting concessions. Guarantee to issue is a variation on the guaranteed issue offer, in that it is the standard policy but with certain rights reserved by the insurer.

Ensure continuity and flexibility.
If you’re looking to replace or enhance an existing disability insurance plan design, the underwriter will want to be certain that nobody loses under the new plan. This is especially important in smaller cases, where the individual portion of the plan design is individually underwritten. Your goal should be to create seamless coverage for everyone in the plan.

A good plan design should also stand the test of time. It must be flexible enough to cover promotions, salary increases, future employees and other personnel changes. In many cases, a well-designed disability plan provides the best coverage for your employer clients. Learning to develop good plan designs can also be highly rewarding for you: You will profit from multiple cases in one sale, add-on sales, and new enrollments. What’s more, your client base will grow, as you are able to offer precisely what your customer wants.

To develop and offer the best paycheck protection plan designs, it’s important to work with an experienced carrier or distributor. The best carriers have been developing combination plans for many years and have entire departments dedicated to helping producers devise the best plans for their clients.

Offer the best of all worlds.
By developing first-rate disability insurance plan designs, you will be able to offer your clients flexibility and quality – the best of both worlds. And you will have the necessary skills to open new doors in the corporate business market.

Is there a new trend in dentistry toward a higher incidence of dental fraud? According to the Surgeon General’s report on oral health last year, a century ago most Americans lost their teeth by middle age. Today though we have widespread fluoridation and most middle-aged Americans can expect to keep their original teeth for the rest of their lives. I am 48 and I know that is exactly what one of my dentists told me. Also unlike when I was a child, most kids today have few if any cavities.

Since dentists have fewer cavities to fill, they have had to find other ways to increase their income. According to Dr. Marv Zatz, a New Jersey dentist who works as a dental insurance consultant for Towers Perris, a health welfare and retirement consulting firm, “Dentist have changed their whole paradigm. Today, much of what they do is elective including tooth whitening, braces for adults and replacing dark fillings with white ones.”

There are reports that some dentists are telling their patients to have old amalgam fillings replaced even though it is a practice that the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research does not recommend. What makes matters worse; according to dental industry sources dentists have fewer national guidelines on specific practices. Additionally, dentist are more likely to work alone hence there is less professional scrutiny. These factors give dentists an increased opportunity to over charge patients.

Also there are a lot of gray areas in dentistry. My son’s dentist recommended he have his wisdom teeth out when my son was 17. Americans spend $2 billion a year on wisdom tooth extraction and it is the main income for oral surgeons. Many dentists advise it should be done in teenagers to avoid cysts or infections. Also they say young people heal faster.

Actually there is no hard evidence of a long term benefit to routine extraction of wisdom teeth that are not problematic. Currently the most recent government recommendation is age 22 for wisdom teeth extraction. Even that advice is questionable given the results of a study published in 1990 in the International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care. The article suggested that “instead of routinely pulling healthy wisdom teeth, it might make more sense in terms of both economic costs and disability, to extract only those teeth that are impacted and clearly causing problems.” My husband has all his wisdom teeth and other than one cavity, he has had no problems.

Not all dentists are just in it for the money but some are. My advice is if you or a member of your family needs an expensive dental procedures, get a second opinion. Also choose your dentist carefully.

If you are looking for some easy investing methods, precious metals trading is something you must never overlook. It’s been well known how the yellow rare metal has the ability to develop money, protect your wealth as well as diversify your investment profile.

While there are many easy investing methods to put your money within the precious metal such as mining shares, ETFs, options etc, purchasing gold coins could be the best gold investment as well as commonly demanded by traders. Taking action with the addition of the actual precious metal in to your portfolio may potentially mean large profits in your financial in the future.

Since the gold trading price continue rising, it might be wise to invest in any of the gold coins, uncommon coins as well as silver coins that are still considered relatively cheap compared to the yellow metal.

Although there are around 2,500 tons of the gold precious metal being mined from Planet each single year, there’s nevertheless a constantly interest in gold that is a lot more than the supply produced. That’s being one of the reasons why your investment will worth a lot more and it is an easy investing method that could constantly grow your wealth.

Apart from for easy investing, there are another 2 explanations why individuals as well as investors are buying gold. The first reason is that it’s not difficult to collect precious and uncommon gold bullion coins as long as an affordable amount of funds is available. Some of them buy the coins for gains as well as fun. This is a term known as “numismatics”. It is the collecting and study associated with coins, paper currency as well as related things. Rather than taking the collection as an investment, they are more interested in the beauty as well as rarity of the gold bullion coins.

Now another reason why people love gold and silver investing is due to the opportunity to preserve wealth. Whether it is just for diversifying your own portfolio or providing a safe haven for your assets in an economic uncertainly like this, rare gold coins and gold bullion coins are ideal for long term investing and frequently traders want to buy them to safeguard their own wealth from the dilution of the paper money. In contrast to other what are known as easy investing programs, you will have a piece of mind simply because gold will always possess a value anytime and will not be absolutely zero.

With that said, the gold price and value has been shooting up against the U.S dollar as early as the year 2001. In terms of overall performance, the yellow precious metal has outperformed the S&P, currency market, NASDAQ and others.

Investors do not really worry as much if the gold bullion coins are old or even new, they have plenty of trust as well as faith for the reason that gold can increase their wealth. You do not need to be an expert to invest in the precious metal simply because it is considered easy investing to many individuals as long as you understand why gold is sustainable for the long haul.

One of the most popular day trading vehicles are financial contracts called derivatives which, as their name implies, derive their prices from the prices of an underlying asset.

There are many policy riders that can be added to a Disability insurance contract. As a consumer, it is very important to understand which riders are necessary and which ones are not. The quality of your coverage and likelihood of it paying you could very well depend on which riders you choose. The following is one rider that you should keep in high regard when purchasing Disability insurance:  

Residual Disability  

One of the most important riders that should be included on every Disability insurance policy is the Residual Disability rider. This rider expands the definition of disability in a contract, to include partial disabilities. Although the terms of this rider will vary with each contract, the concept will remain the same - A proportionate benefit will be paid if your earnings are reduced by at least 15-20% of your prior earnings due to an injury or illness. 

To fully understand the importance of this rider, consider a common definition of Total Disability: “You will be considered totally disabled if you are unable to perform all of the material and substantial duties of your occupation.” This means that only if you are unable to perform all of the material and substantial duties of your occupation will you be eligible for a claim. But what happens if you are still able to perform half of them? Even more importantly, what happens if these shortcomings have created a significant loss of income? Without the residual disability rider, you would not qualify for a benefit. Essentially, by not including this rider on your policy, you are restricting yourself to an “all or nothing” definition of disability.  

Additionally consider the fact that seventy percent of all disabilities are caused by illnesses. Most illnesses that can truly be disabling do not just appear from one day to the next and certainly will not disappear so quickly either.   Instead these illnesses will gradually worsen in the development stages and lessen in the healing stages, if curable. Therefore it is very important to be certain that you will receive benefits while partially disabled, whether it is prior to a total disability or after.  

Disability insurance is used to protect a person’s income in the case of them being unable to work due to an illness, or injury. Purchasing a Disability contract without including the Residual Disability rider leaves a huge GAP in the coverage. Keep in mind that the chances of you suffering a partial disability are far greater than that of a total disability. Therefore, this part of a disability contract should not be taken lightly. Each company provides a different version of this rider. Be sure to speak with your insurance broker about the options you have.  

Shopping for a flood zone insurance provider is a very important decision you have to make to protect your home and your contents, so spend enough time to acquaint yourself with the policies of the insurance providers before you make a choice.

There are so many insurance companies for you to choose from and it is very vital that you put your trust on an insurance company that has a good reputation, a solid history and proper accreditation in the insurance industry. Do not make decisions with your eyes closed and put your trust on a company that is not reliable.

If you do your research for flood insurance companies through the internet, do not rely on everything and base your decisions from what you got there. Check and make sure the insurance company you chose has a sales staff and a call center who will address your concerns.

Using the internet provides you with a wide field to pick out your insurance provider. Some insurance companies may even have a chat feature where you can ask questions and get answers right away instead of waiting for replies through your email. This is important because you may be filling up forms and insurance quotes online or you need clarifications on the insurance policy so you need to talk to somebody right away.

You should also read the content of the website the insurance policy provides. See the range of their products and if these are functional. Another thing is to make sure that you can process payments online on a 24/7 basis. This is important because if this feature is absent, you may find yourself going out of your way just to drop your payments and this is a waste of time on your part.

When you fill out online forms and quotations, fill out all the necessary information needed because this could help you save a large amount from your quotation. You must also look out for special promotional offers like money back guarantee plans, first month free insurance and others because when your flood insurance providers offer something like this, this means they are sure of their services.

Flood insurance companies who can give you cover for your homes and properties abound in the UK. You only have to find the best sites with inexpensive rates and those who can meet your insurance needs for a flood insurance coverage.

Your insurance company may provide any of the two main types of cover which is the old-for-new category where your possessions will be replaced at their current market value when lost or destroyed by a flood, and the indemnity over where your insurance provider will consider the general depreciation of your things. If you look at it, you may consider the old-for-new policy as the better option but again it is all up to you. Remember experience is a hard teacher. It gives the test first and the lesson after. You house and contents are valuable so make the right decision.

Long-term care insurance is a good financial protection vehicle for anyone who has enough assets to protect and can comfortably afford the premiums. It can help ensure that all of the time and effort you have spent on acquiring a sufficient retirement income is not lost due to the rising costs of long-term care.

There are several specific advantages for couples purchasing long-term insurance. Consider this: most often, the healthier spouse acts as the primary caregiver. Without long-term care insurance, the healthy spouse often takes on the bulk of caregiving duties, simply to try to avoid paying the high costs associated with either in-home care or institutional care.

Eventually, this can leave the caregiver almost as ill as his or her spouse. Long-term

While real estate syndicates are formed for a variety of reasons, the typical reason is to create a tax shelter. More specifically, the purpose of a Real Estate Investment Trusts or REIT is to reduce or eliminate corporate income taxes. In the United States, where they are generally more widespread as investment vehicles, REIT pay little or no federal income tax but are subject to a number of special requirements set forth in the Internal Revenue Code, one of which is the requirement to distribute annually at least 90 percent of their taxable income in the form of dividends to shareholders.

The first REIT was introduced in the United States in 1960. The vehicle was designed to facilitate investments in large-scale income-producing real estate by smaller investors. The US model was simple, enabling small investors to acquire equity interests in vehicles holding large-scale commercial property. In order to ensure that REIT are widely held, they must have at least one hundred shareholders, no five or fewer individual shareholders can own more than 50 percent of the equity value of the REIT’s shares, and the REIT must be managed by one or more trustees or directors. At least 75 percent of the gross income of the vehicle must come from real estate related sources, and at least 95 percent of the REIT’s gross income must come from real estate related and other passive income sources.

To maintain competitiveness, many REIT have distributed in recent times among investors all or even more than their annualized earnings, often resulting in dividend yields comparable to bond yields. This is not, however, a practice that can be sustained for long even during times of appreciation of real capital assets and market values, much less when values are dropping. In fact, if an investment company such as a REIT distributes more than its taxable income, the excess distribution is considered “return of capital” for tax purposes, which is taxed to the individual investors as a capital transaction, rather than regular income. The end result is, therefore, that the distribution requirement may hamper a REIT’s ability to retain earnings and generate growth.

Because of this, the shift to privatization is driven by the realization that private buyers will pay more for the company than stock market investors will. In addition, rising costs of being publicly-traded companies are another factor enticing REIT to pull out of the stock market. And finally, being private gives Real Estate Investment Trusts a freer hand to reach out for deals in an increasingly competitive market. The reason is that public companies find it very difficult to grow through acquisition, as investors invariably do not justify the risk of development alternatives. The combined power of reduced expenses, consolidated pools of capital and abating real property values are exactly the perfect recipe for making a kill in real estate – and they are doing it!

The inverse relationship between interest rates and prices of REIT’s shares plays a role as well. On average, it is safe to assume that interest rate increases are likely to be met by REIT’s price declines in the Stock Exchange, because increasing rates correspond to a slowdown in the economic growth and less demand. But out of the context of the frantic buy and sell of Wall Street, even slowdown in the market for single-family houses can actually benefit REIT. This is so, because even though real property prices are in decline, it is still cheaper to rent than to own, especially during a period of rising interest rates. And REIT thrive on rentals. No city is a better environment for REIT to operate in than New York City, where some 70 percent of residents rent.

Bottom line is that the privatization trend has taken off this year, and that it is likely to continue for the next foreseeable future. For a list of the Top 100 US REIT, visit http://www.forbes.com
/2006/02/15/real-estate-REITS-cz_sf_0215reits.html?partner=msn [http://www.forbes.com/2006/02/15/real-estate-REITS-cz_sf_0215reits.html?partner=msn]

Luigi Frascati

There are so many health insurance companies and so many health insurance agents in the market that it makes life a little difficult when it comes to choosing a policy suited for you. The sound advice is: Don’t just jump and buy any policy your insurance agent recommends – most likely, he’s recommending you a particular policy because the insurance company’s paying him a fat commission for selling it. So, if you’re not sure about what you need, you’re going to walk into a policy you need the least.

What you must do is to sit down with your insurance agent and grill him with the following questions and conditions:

1. What type of insurance policy do I really need? Do I need the regular indemnity policy (fee for service) or should I go in for a managed care policy (HMO/PPO)?

2. Or, if neither the traditional nor the managed care health insurance plans suit my needs, should I look at Medigap, home care or a hospital care plan?

3. I can only afford to set aside $____ as my monthly medical budget. Give me a plan that will take care of any expense over and above my spending limit. Please include co-payments, coinsurance and deductibles when you make your calculations.

4. The maximum premium I can pay per month is $____. Please sell me a health insurance policy that is within my budget and yet takes into account the maximum amount I can spend on healthcare expenses per month.

5. I am comfortable with a particular doctor and would like to continue seeing him. Please ensure that the health plan you sell me has networked this doctor. (Pose this condition if you are very particular about seeing a specific doctor).

6. I am comfortable with a specific hospital and would like them to take care of me in case I need hospitalization. Please ensure that the health plan you sell me has networked this hospital. (Pose this condition if you prefer a particular hospital).

7. I would like to go with a plan that offers me free screening services such as diagnostic lab tests, precautionary health check-ups, etc. So, what are the free services offered in the plan that falls in my budget?

8. Your plan is not networked with my preferred doctor and/or hospital. But that’s okay provided you can convince me that I will receive quality healthcare under this health insurance policy. So, why don’t you go right ahead and convince me?

9. I have an existing medical condition. Will my new plan cover this condition?

10. Does the plan cover prescription drugs and are there any limits on such coverage?

11. Does the plan feature a lifeline limit? Lifeline limit is the maximum amount an insurance company will pay for medical costs incurred in the insured’s life.

12. Are you making me buy a plan that is being sold by a reputed health insurance company, one that has been rated well by an approved financial institution or rating agency?

The answers to these questions will clue you on into what you are getting into. Once you’re sure that your new policy will take care of your health and wallet at the same time, you can consider making an investment in it. If you are uncomfortable with any of the answers to the questions above, probe further to reach a satisfactory conclusion, but if you reach a dead end, then skip the plan you’ve been talking about and move on to discuss other alternative plans.