Insurance Training - 3 Secrets to Success

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By Zafer Ahmed


Insurance training is very easy to find. Getting the right insurance training, however, can prove to be a challenge if you're not sure exactly what you are looking for. First, you must choose which type of training you want, and then you must go out and find the program that works best for you. There are some considerations, of course, that can influence your decision and change your mind completely about it. If you want to have the most successful experience possible, keep these three tips in mind.

1. If you are seeking continuing education or even first time training, don't assume that you have to pay for it. If you work for an insurance company or agency, you should see what they can do to offer compensation for your continuing education. After all, you are an asset to them and many places will be willing to foot the bill. If you're just starting out, try to find a position that will pay for your training and licensure before you start looking for programs.

2. Focus on the quality of the program. It doesn't matter how much the program costs in the long run, as long as you're getting the best insurance training that you can. If you want a better career path, get more training. It's up to you as to which you choose, but you should never settle for a training course simply because it's cheap.

3. Pick your designation. If you're getting insurance training, you'll either need licensure in property/casualty insurance (P & C) or in life and health. You can also choose from commercial insurance training, as well as business insurance specialties like agricultural insurance, and so on. You choose your career goals, so you should choose the right training to achieve those goals.

When it comes to insurance training, it can seem like a very daunting task to find the right programs and get the training that you need. However, when you take the time to consider your options and find the program that's right for YOU, it can be much easier. Remember that if you've already got a position and are seeking CE requirements, you should talk to your employer about paying for them for you. Sometimes even if you're new to the industry, you can get an agency to hire you and pay for your licensure by agreeing to work with them for a certain amount of time. Keeping these things in mind will make your search much easier in the end.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Zafer_Ahmed
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Things You Need to Understand About Insurance

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By Florida Dy


When it comes to insurance coverage, there are really a lot of things that you would need to understand before you avail of it. After all, you should get one so that you and those you love will be benefited by it. If you really intend to make sure that that is what will happen in the end, then you better make sure that you understand everything about the policy you are thinking of availing before you even spend any money and affix your signature at any of the forms.

First of all, you would have to know the entire scope of what you will avail. Does it cover only for you or even for your family members? Aside from that, who are the ones that are eligible to be your beneficiaries? Also, you should clarify about how much you would need to pay and when it is expected. If you don't inquire about these things in advance, then there is always the tendency that you might misunderstand some terms and you might be surprised later on that you wouldn't be able to get the amount that you are expecting.

This has actually happened countless of times in the past and that's why there are many insurance companies that are receiving lots of complaints from their own clients. Actually, you might even be interested with some reports that you can view from the Better Business Bureau (BBB) website and you will be able to see some example of what we are telling you about.



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Reduce Your Health Insurance Costs - Six Strategies For Saving You Money

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By Marty Lisevick


My wife Donna and I are driving around Glastonbury, CT. yesterday and she started telling me how the gas prices differ dramatically in town. She is a very astute woman who can always find a bargain. As I looked around the town I saw she was absolutely correct. One station has regular at $2.28, another at $2.16, and yet another at the other end of town at $2.06. I'm sure the bargain hunters like her go to the one that sells for $2.06 - money's tight and you save it wherever you can. Then I started thinking about the similarities of pricing in CT when it comes to health insurance. Our capitol of CT is Hartford - "Insurance Capital of the World" - a lot of different insurance companies selling similar health plans - sometimes with a wide variety of pricing. I wonder if people spend as much energy looking to save money on gas as they do on their health insurance. If they did their savings would be a lot more substantial!

With that in mind, here are my six ways to reduce your health insurance costs.

1) Review your coverage and cost every year - It never ceases to amaze me the people who brag about how they saved $100 bucks for the year on their car or home insurance but never bother to look into their health insurance plan. If they put the same type of effort and research into this they could be putting a lot more money back into their pockets. There are health insurance companies now that offer 2 or even 3 year rate guarantees (the premium rate stays the same over that period) and insurance brokers like myself can help you review your coverage, often times help you find a similar or more inclusive plan for less money. This past week I helped a 55 year old woman reduce her health insurance costs by $250 a month - changing her plan to a different company (she had never switched before, they just continually rated her up each year) that she had for over 6 years to a different company. In the process I lowered her deductible, and helped her get improvements in her overall coverage amount, prescription drug coverage, increased number of doctor visits per year, and added a dental plan. She essentially just saved $3000 over the course of the year and walked away with a much better health plan. If you want to do this on your own, there are many websites out there that can help - you can compare costs and plans with all of the major companies - or feel free to contact me and I will be happy to help you. Do not be afraid to change companies - rates and coverage can vary dramatically.

2) Unnecessary options - Take a look at your coverage - are there options in it that you really don't use or need? For example, if you are young and healthy and rarely go to the doctor - you probably don't need a plan that gives you unlimited doctor visits over the year. There are many plans that will cover 2 -4 visits a year or you can choose to pay for the visit out of pocket it you wish. This can drop your premium down dramatically. Do you rarely need prescription medications - if you don't or you can go to Wal-Mart and get the generic brand for $4 - that is a great solution. I have had clients who had great prescriptions drug plans that had a $2000 a year cap that didn't need it - just reducing it to a $500 cap can reduce your premium. Do you have a vision plan, but don't wear glasses or contacts? That is an easy and obvious option to take a look at! If you pay a lot for dental coverage, you can see if you have an Aspen Dental office in your area. Look into getting a dental discount card (usually around $9 a month) and see how much a month going there can save you. Dental plans can vary dramatically - I have been able to drop clients costs from $45 a month to $15 a month in CT. - be sure you look at it.

3) Look into a high deductible plan with supplementary coverage - One of the greatest costs to a client in health insurance is caused by accidents. Many companies offer supplementary accident coverage that will fill in the holes left by high deductible insurance policies. For example, I have a 41 year old female client with a high deductible plan - $5000 on any hospital/surgical visit. The plan is very basic - offers a couple of office visits a year, prescription drug coverage, dental, vision, etc. She is paying around $180 a month for the plan. One of the smarter things we did was include a $2500 supplemental accident plan - covers her up to $2500 in the event of an accident - has a $100 deductible. Sure enough, she slipped in her kitchen and fell - threw out her back - by the time she was done she had $1800 in expenses - the plan covered all of it except for the $100 deductible. She saves money on a high deductible plan each month, and has the accident piece taken care of. If you own a business, look into a high deductible group plan, combined with a supplementary plan like AFLAC - they offer great solutions to the holes in the coverage and help keep your premiums low.

4) Quit smoking - You can save big dollars on your insurance costs just by quitting smoking. To test this, I plugged myself (45 year old man - good health/preferred rating) into a health plan that would cost me $219 a month. Next I rated myself as a preferred smoker and the premium jumped to $318 a month! So then I put my wife (39 year old and myself -non-smokers-preferred rating) on the same plan and our premium came to $386 a month. That same plan would cost us $562 a month if we are listed as preferred smokers. So if you smoke, give it up - if you won't stop for your health, then stop smoking for your wallet!!! A lot of companies will give you the preferred rating if you have stopped for 6 months. You can save up to 30% on your costs by kicking the habit!

5) Overweight - drop the pounds - If you are overweight, health insurance companies will rate up your policy premium. The average rate up can be around 25% if you are 20-30 pounds overweight. Once you drop the weight, contact your company - if they won't make the adjustment for you - start looking at different companies - your savings could be substantial.

6) Find a solution to your coverage problem - There is a solution out there for you. I recently sat with a group of realtors who were under the misconception that they could not get health insurance because their company did not offer a group plan. Nothing could be further from the truth - I showed them some individual plans that several of them are now with. I also was able to put four of them into a small group plan (they were willing to start their own business together that could produce a Schedule C and the appropriate tax documents). I recently also had a 50 year old female client - who was not insurable by individual plans due to her condition - but we were able to find her a guarantee issue plan that would cover her. Companies that would routinely deny coverage to people for years for such conditions like diabetes are now accepting the exact same people as clients. The message here is don't give up - and if you need help - get a broker/agent to help you find the coverage you need.

I hope this helps you to find ways to reduce your health insurance costs. If I can be of further assistance, feel free to drop me a line at your convenience.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Marty_Lisevick
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Finding an Insurance Company That Meets All Your Insurance Needs

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By Susan Hutson


Here are some fantastic tips to help you choose the best El Paso insurance company which will provide you with cheap premiums and an efficient and reliable service:

1. Visit the El Paso insurance department. Have a look at the consumer complaint ratios and other surveys comprising of basic rate comparison. This will give you an idea of how the industry is faring and how each provider is operating.

2. Talk to medical practitioners or local personnel. Make sure these are people you can trust and ask for their opinions on different companies and which ones they would recommend.

3. An insurance agent would be a great person to talk to, to gain plenty of insight about a particular El Paso insurance company. However be aware that agents may not be straight about everything; do your own investigations based on what they say.

4. Referring to the A.M. Best and Standard & Poor's ratings can also help you check the financial strength ratings of various insurance companies.

Having the right information on hand can help you immensely when you are doing your shopping. Either you can choose to shop online for insurance or seat yourself down with an agent and chat about the different prospects that you have.

While some companies sell plenty of insurance policies online, others sell their policies in the traditional method, through their agent. Also each company independently decides about the expenses that they are likely to incur and thereby the pricing of their policies. Hence you might actually get drastically varying quotes from different companies, so shop wisely!

As you are completing a quote, ensure that your insurance company collects information which is necessary, relevant and accurate. Additional information collected by the company can bring about inaccurate El Paso insurance quotes. Also make sure that the information remains within the boundaries of those who are involved in sales processing and those involved in claims service and/or customer service.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Susan_Hutson
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Make Savings on Insurance

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By George McGonigal


A few years ago if you were looking for insurance and you lived in Northern Ireland then you could forget about making great savings. Residents of Northern Ireland often found that what they thought was a good deal wasn't so good. They would search online only to find that at the bottom of the online form they were prohibited from claiming simply because of where they lived. Thankfully things have now changed for the better and insurance in Northern Ireland can now be found.

It does not matter whether you are looking for car, caravan, motorbike, home or life insurance you can enjoy the biggest savings by going with a specialist broker. There are many things you can do to ensure that you get the very best quotes with the cheapest premiums when looking for insurance in Northern Ireland.

Any type of insurance will come with a set amount of excess that you will have to pay if you were to have to make a claim on the insurance policy. All insurers will set a limit on this amount and this amount can differ between policies. While there is a set minimum amount, you could choose to pay out more in excess. If you do then the premiums for the cover can work out cheaper. However you do have to find the amount you choose to pay as excess out of your own pocket if you should need to make a claim on the policy. If you were to have to make a claim on the policy more than once in the same year then you could lose out.

Another way that you can make savings on your insurance is to ensure that your home, motorbike, car or caravan is as secure and as safe as possible. If you are looking for cover for a vehicle then parking it under lock and key in a garage can save you money on the insurance as the vehicle would be harder to steal. You could also install security devices such as steering wheel locks and a tracking device and these again can all help to keep down the cost of the insurance premiums. If you are looking to make savings on home insurance then you could install window and door locks and payout for a good alarm system for your home. When looking for life insurance then the healthier you are the cheaper you will get your insurance so you can stop smoking and cut down on the drinking to save money on insurance quotes.

While there are many ways to make savings on all types of insurance in Northern Ireland, it is essential that you are totally honest when applying. You will have to answer questions regarding door locks, your health, the security of your vehicle and whether your home is protected with an alarm and security alarms, for instance, of course stating yes will help to keep down the cost of your quote but if you answer less than with total honesty and have to claim, the claim could be unsuccessful.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=George_McGonigal
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The Truth About Insurance

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By Carla D Edwards


Many consumers purchase insurance without ever understanding what they really need or what they are buying. That can lead frustration and disgust for the insured. Following are a few of the most commonly heard myths:

Myth: I bought "full coverage" so I am covered.
Fact: "Full coverage" does not exist. In most states, only liability insurance is mandatory, but there are many other coverage options available for you to purchase. The coverages you choose are a personal and financial decision.

Myth: I only need the state required minimum liability coverage.
Fact: Although this is all that is required to drive the vehicle, it may or may not be enough to cover the damages you cause if you are involved in a severe accident that results in a lawsuit. Therefore, your personal assets could be at risk.

Myth: I need more than one estimate before my car can be repaired.
Fact: Although some companies may require more than one estimate, this is rare.

Myth: My insurance premium always increases if I'm involved in an accident.
Fact: Insurance rates are determined by a variety of factors: Information about you, your car, and your driving history all combined will affect your rate. Your rate can increase, decrease or stay the same.

Myth: Red cars are more expensive to insure.
Fact: Color is not one of the factors used to determine your rates. The year, make, model, body type, and engine size are the important factors.

Myth: Insurance companies can charge what they want for auto insurance.
Fact: Every state is requires insurers to file how they calculate rates and they cannot deviate from these filed rates. If a company desires to charge more, they must file for a rate increase with the state and wait for approval. Regulators review that information.

Myth: If someone else driving my car causes an accident, I won't be held liable.
Fact: You could be. In most states, the policy covering the vehicle is considered the primary insurance.

Myth: I should be paying the same rates as my neighbor.
Fact: No. Insurance rates are individually determined and because of this, each person's rate will be different.

Myth: My rate should go down since I am 25.
Fact: Younger and older driver typically have the most automobile accidents, however, age is only one factor in determining your auto rates. While this is generally true, other pieces of information may change that could cause your rate to stay the same or go up.

Myth: Renters insurance is too expensive.
Fact: Renters insurance is very reasonably priced.

Myth: The landlord has insurance that covers me.
Fact: The landlord usually only covers the building, not your contents.

Myth: I am healthy, I don't need life insurance.
Fact: The truth is that you are not insuring for the likely occurrence, you are insuring for the unlikely occurrence. Therefore, you can purchase the right kind of insurance (and a lot of financial security) for a healthy person for a very reasonable premium.

Myth: I don't work, so I don't need life insurance.
Fact: That may be true, but if you are a mother who is staying home taking care of young children, think how much it may cost to pay for childcare and housekeeping in your absence. It could be $30,000 a year. You should use that number as your salary to calculate your life insurance.

Insurance can be complicated. It's not something people deal with every day. The more informed you are, the better choices you'll make and a good independent insurance agent can help.



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Types of Insurance

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By Juanita Martinez


The right insurance polices can give you the needed peace of mind. There are different types of insurance policies available to cover almost anything that you can think of. You may like to take at least 2 big vacations each year, or may need to travel quite frequently for work. If you have travel insurance, you can make a claim for reasons like, loss of baggage, or trip cancellation and the like. Yes, having insurance can help when you need it the most.

There are different types of insurance policies to protect the different things you value in life, like life insurance, auto insurance, health insurance, jewelry insurance, motorcycle insurance, travel insurance and so many more. You may have a business that you run and definitely you do not want any thing to harm your business. But who can predict an accident? If an accident does take place and your business has to stop temporarily who would pay for the losses? An insurance policy at times like this would be really helpful.

Business insurance in only one of the various types of insurance policies available. Chemists can insure their stock, earnings from accidental damage, destruction and any legal cost that may be associated with it. You may be the proud owner of a classic car and hence would definitely want to protect it from any scratch. But if any damage happens to your classic beauty you won't obviously like it. Classic car insurance in such a situation might help.

All the types of insurance policies available have been designed keeping in mind the comfort of each individual. The beauty of it all lies in the fact that each of these types of insurance policies is available at different packages keeping in mind individual needs. Different insurance companies offer different packages. Not all insurance policies will have all kinds of coverage. There are exclusions in certain policies. But there are again other specialty types of insurance to provide coverage for these exclusions.

If you are the sole earning member of the family and you have an accident that renders you unable to go to work for a fairly long period of time and hence temporarily stops your income, what would you do? Disability insurance helps you prepare for a situation like this. Through disability insurance you can save up for a time like this. Similarly, there are insurance policies for several other situations.

It is very important that you determine your insurance needs before you think of buying a policy. While it is true that getting inadequate insurance is not worth the investment, it is also true that you must not be over insured. This way you will only waste your money without receiving benefits any greater than the others. It is hence advisable that you choose your policy carefully and not get confused with all the different types of insurance policies available.


Author Bio: Juanita Martinez is a longtime contributor and Moderator of the Ampminsure community. She is a financial writer, specializing in the field of insurance. You can reach-out to her through the ampminsure community for insurance related queries.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Juanita_Martinez
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