Insurance Planning
At Godsey & Gibb Associates--Investment Counsel, we feel that proper attention should be given to a full review of one’s (family) insurance needs. Our focus on insurance solutions addresses life events that can negatively impact one’s life savings during his/her lifetime. As with our investment management process, throughout the financial planning process, a central focus is risk management. Due to longer life expectancies and rising health care costs, we feel that Long-Term Care and Term Insurance work to safeguard one’s liquid net worth. Second-to-die Insurance is used for estate planning purposes. In every case, the insurance solution we provide is client needs driven. We only provide insurance solutions to our clients, not the public.
Term Life Insurance or Term Assurance is life insurance which provides coverage for a limited period of time, the relevant term. After that period, the insured can either drop the policy or pay annually increasing premiums to continue the coverage. If the insured dies during the term, the death benefit will be paid to the beneficiary. Term insurance is often the most inexpensive way to purchase a substantial death benefit on a coverage amount per premium dollar basis.
Americans are living longer and facing the important decision of whether to purchase Long-Term Care Insurance. Most people buy long-term care insurance to protect assets, preserve independence and provide quality care. Long-term care insurance provides for your care when you no longer can take care of yourself. It can pay for care at home, in an assisted living facility or in a nursing home. A quick needs analysis can help you decide if long-term care insurance is right for you.
If you own a wealthy estate and are looking into purchasing life insurance, but worry about the estate taxes being too high for your family to take care of when you die, there is hope out there. A Second-to-Die Life Insurance policy, also known as survivorship life, can help. That’s because second to die life insurance policies don’t pay out until the second insured person on the policy passes away. In many cases, the death benefits from the policy are meant to be used on outstanding taxes, so with the proceeds of your policy, your beneficiaries will not have to scramble to sell the estate or your possessions, in an attempt to pay the bills once you are gone. With second to die life insurance, if you die and leave all your worldly possessions to your spouse, they will not owe any federal estate taxes — at least not yet. Those possessions become part of the surviving spouse’s estate, which will then be taxed after he or she dies. Business partners even look into getting second to die life insurance policies, due to the estate tax ramifications involved.