Seniors

Submitted by: Nat Criss

As with any financial tool, it makes sense to periodically analyze your insurance holdings to make sure that you are on track towards your goals and adequately protected from downside risks. Many insurance industry professionals suggest an annual review of your policies to make sure that you have the coverage you need. Follow these steps to complete an annual insurance check-up:

1) Do some comparison shopping to verify that you are not overpaying with your current carrier. While you’re at it check into your current company or those you’re considering. Most if not all states have insurance departments where you can research various companies to see if they have any pending issues. The Better Business Bureau can be another great resource to help you investigate the track records of providers.

2) Look for additional savings and inquire about raising your deductible. Bringing your deductible up from $500 to $1,000 could equate to significant savings in your annual premiums. Another money saving tip can be getting quotes for multiple policies from the same carrier. Many insurance companies offer multi-line discounts so keeping your home and auto policies under one roof may lead to serious savings.

3) Maintain a good credit score to make yourself an attractive customer in the eyes of an insurer. Why? Insurance companies are like most businesses. They like to have their bills paid on time and do not want to spend time and money chasing down customers for payment. A customer with a low risk for default may enjoy lower premiums as a result.

4) Check with your current carrier to see if your existing policy can be adjusted to either add protection or scale back your existing coverage. If you are like many homeowners in the United States, your property value has likely taken a hit the past five years.

5) Ask about available discounts. Some carriers reward you for improving the safety of your home. Adding a home security system and dead bolt locks can protect your property from unwanted guests. Smoke alarms and sprinkler systems can help reduce the cost of fire damage. Of course some of these items are more cost prohibitive than others but there is no denying that they can help save your life and personal possessions.

When choosing a provider be sure to ask if they offer discounts for long-term customers. It may take you a handful of years to reap the benefits. But, in doing so, you may save big over the long run by not bouncing from carrier to carrier to save a couple dollars every year. One final money saving tip may be to see if you can save money each month with electronic bill payments. More and more companies recognize that mailing out bills, paying the associated postage, and having someone manually process those payments is not a good use of their funds. Thus, companies are offering incentives to help move their customers towards electronic delivery and payments.

While saving money on your insurance coverage is always nice, be sure that you also select a quality provider with a proven, stable track record.

About the Author: Nat Criss is a marketing professional who helps consumers connect with companies building their brands online. Find more insurance information at

ncinsurancequote.com

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Submitted by: Bima Deals

Analysts are downgrading valuations of insurance companies which are facing lower margins in the new regulatory system.

Analysts opine it is difficult to predict persistency in new Ulips (unit-linked insurance plans) as the reduced commissions have failed to enthuse the distributors.

Also, factors such as the unclear product approach and reduction in branches and employees could impact the long-term franchises, analysts say.

All these factors have put the margins of life insurance companies under significant pressure, they say.

The margins of life insurance companies have definitely gone down due to reduced commissions on Ulips. All charges have also considerably reduced. Since October 2010, the new business premium of private insurance players has slowed down considerably. The companies have also brought down their branches and number of employees considerably. says SB Mathur, secretary general, Life Insurance Council.

There has been a slew of regulatory changes that have impacted the industry. Regulations have impacted both the product structures and feasibility as well as distribution models. While the margins on Ulips, which were 75% or so of industry volumes, have come down substantially, pensions that contributed to around 30% have become unviable, says TR Ramachandran, MD & CEO, Aviva India.

We find major challenges in the new operating environment pressure to drastically cut costs and commissions (25-30% expense reduction as highlighted by key players) and simultaneously increase business volumes to leverage fixed costs. Regulatory restrictions have reduced the leeway of insurance companies to offer much variety in the product portfolios, said Nischint Chawathe and Manish Karwa of Kotak Institutional Equities in a report released on Tuesday.

They have also identified the key challenges faced by this sector. According to them, volumes may be imperative to leverage overhead costs, but product strategy is still unclear.

Popular products like pensions are not attractive anymore. The traditional policies seem to be a focus area, but most companies do not have the franchisees to scale up this segment.

It is felt that reduction in branches and employees will result in saving operating expenses, but the strategy can affect long-term franchise.

Our margins are affected, but lesser than other players. Earlier, pension products contributed 25% to the total sales, but since pension products have become less attractive it has affected the overall sales, says G V Nageswara Rao, MD & CEO, IDBI Federal Life Insurance Co Ltd.

The other challenges identified by Chawathe and Karwa are, predicting the persistency of new Ulips (in the light of longer minimum tenure) and the new commission structure, which they feel may not motivate distributors though a reaction is yet to be seen.

They have reduced the first-year commission and are giving higher focus on renewals. It is also felt by them that new business trends for the past two months appear weak.

But analysts think insurance companies, which are a part of a banking group, have slight advantage over their pure standalone private-sector peers. They find it convenient to sell their insurance products through their banking channel.

Insurance companies, which are a part of a banking group, will have a lesser impact on valuations compared with pure standalone private sector insurance players because these players at least have their own branch network due to which they will continue selling their products. Due to this advantage such players have also garnered a better market share in the last one year, said Vaibhav Agrawal, vice-president- research at Angel Broking.

Source: [dnaindia.com]

About the Author: To know more about Insurance, Insurance Companies, Insurance Plans, Insurance Policies and Compare Premium visit here:

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