Essentially, the decision comes down to this: Do you want to pay a little right now for financial protection against your accidental death, or do you want to lock in to higher, longer payments that still offer death benefits but can provide dividends during your lifetime?
To answer this question, first ask yourself how long you intend to keep the policy. (Which is really just a polite way of saying, ‘Try to guess the date of your death.’) If it’s less than 10 years from now, then term is almost certainly the way to go. If it’s more than 20, then look into permanent. But what if it’s somewhere in between? A qualified insurance agent will be able to answer such questions.
There are many factors to consider. Whether or not you choose term, life, or a combination of both, there are still some constants. Your premiums will be based on factors such as age, gender and the dollar amount of the life insurance policy.
Your medical history may also be taken into consideration and you may be required to take a medical exam, although policies are available today that ask nothing more than whether or not you smoke.

The second answer is provided by Anthony Capone and he can be reached at acapone@ft.newyorklife.com:

I am thinking about getting some what is the difference between short term vs. long term?
To be clear I think it’s imperative to explain the difference between Term Insurance ( short term and Long term ) and Permanent Insurance (Whole Life ).

Think of Renting an apartment/house or buying one.
When you rent you only get the benefit of the shelter on a monthly or long-term contractual basis. No equity privileges. The short term contract is lower on a monthly basis but you are exposed to significant increases in the later years. The Long term Contract is fixed for the duration but considerably higher than the short term contract in the beginning. Again, no equity and for a ” TERM “. Meaning that at some point the contract ends. When you buy a house you have it for life, you get to enjoy the Equity and the payments are fixed.

Reasons for either: Short term is for budgetary constraints but very serious family responsibilities. Death Benefit premiums are considerably cheaper than long term but escalate with age. Long term has a fixed monthly premium for the entire duration but is obviously more on account of the extended contract.

THe costs?
The costs are as mentioned above. A yearly contract, also known as an Increasing Premium Term is the most cost effective term policy available for the short term ( 5 years or less ) but can exceed the premiums of a twenty year term in later years. Long term premiums are fixed giving peace of mind but are considerably higher.
( Inside tip: studies indicate that most policies are revised in the first few years due to life changes. Knowing this it would seem unnecessary to pay the higher premiums of a Long term policy. )

The benefits?
You can secure a Larger Death Benefit for a lower premium with term insurance during the most vulnerable years.

When do I choose which one and does this change over time?
I would choose short term insurance over long term as a starter policy. It’s more cost effective, easy to convert into a permanent policy( some companies allow you to upgrade to a permanent policy without need to undergo the medical all over again ) and gets us in the mind set of having proper coverage. Also, some families are still in the growing phase so will require additional coverage at a budget conscious premium.
If you are in a stable career and your family is complete you may want to lock yourself into a Long Term plan with a twenty year term or go with a Mutual Insurance companies Whole Life Policy that pays dividends on your premiums so you can supplement your retirement plan with it’s cash accumulation. This equity can be drawn on in later years on a monthly basis.

Single people usually do not have family responsibilities so can either buy sufficient term to cover their financial obligations and invest the rest or secure a whole life policy to compliment their Retirement plans.

Remember the analogy of renting a home verses owning one. With Term insurance you do not get equity privileges. It is PURE protection in case of the unexpected. It’s like using the shelter of the apartment. With Whole life insurance you also get equity by way of cash accumulation and dividends paid on premiums. Just like owning and enjoying the equity in your home. More expensive than rent but now considered an asset class.

I have assisted clients with a combination of both ( I call them Hybrid policies ) and have even stacked policies so as to have the term policies expire after the initial stages of life are past and then only have Whole Life accumulating supplemental income for retirement, Family inheritance and Estate Conservation.

Every individual is different and should speak to a financial services professional in order to determine the correct amount and type of insurance required to meet these needs. The younger one gets started the lower the premiums so remember ” Age makes a difference “.

Anthony, NYC

I LIKEN IT TO MY WARBRODE — HOW MY NEEDS HAVE CHANGED OVER TIME
When I began working I spent a lot of money on my work clothes. I had no problem buying the more expensive items – suits, shirts, high heels, etc. However when I left the workforce to have children and raise my family – the way I spent money on my wardrobe has shifted. I no longer needed to spend large sums of money on work clothes and started to invest in my casual wardrobe. Although I still needed nicer clothes to go out so I still see spending money on a great sweater or shirt or blouse. And of course, shoes is something that I still will spend however I do not need the high heels as much.
Once again things are shifting. I am looking to get more involved in the workforce and have once again began reinvesting in my work wardrobe.
While this may seem like a trivial example, your needs for different types of life insurance will change as your children get older, go to university, and so on. There may also be a death of a loved one, loss of a job, a diagnosis of a disease. We never know what life will bring us. Today I say I have an “hybrid” type of insurance – some whole life, long term and some term which I want to convert over slowly to whole life. Being divorced I want to make sure my children are taken care of.

Ask your advisor questions and find what is best for you — know that in 5 years this may change!

All our best,

Sandra & Maritza

I was “empowering” a young man who wanted to apply for a fellowship with a world renowned company. They were accepting 1700 applications and only 100 will be interviewed and from that 100 only 10 will receive an offer for a position.

The odds are pretty tough so how do you shine? I worked with him on the 7 or 8 questions that they provided and it was the day before the application was due. The cutoff time was Tues. Nov. 17th, 2pm London, England time so 9am EST as there is a 5 hour time difference.

I called him to see how it went and received a call back from a very disappointed sounding young man – he made a MISTAKE and had it in his mind that he had until 8pm EST on that Tuesday forgetting that Europe is ahead of us. He missed the cutoff.

I told him definitely go get a drink and use a few choice words to describe his anger, disappointment and frustration at himself and the situation. Honour it and then LET IT GO. I am a firm believer that things happen for a reason. I told him that all his hard work has not gone to waste — keep his answers for he is applying to Business Schools shortly and some of these answers will be relevant. Also, it has given him an opportunity to fine tune his thoughts, expand and make them shine. It is a great exercise nontheless. It also taught him about being prepared and not waiting until the last minute!

I know it is hard to swallow however in life you will have disappointment and you will need to deal with it – honour it and then let it go. What you may not realize is how something today OR NOT that has happened will be used later in life. Every step along this journey will lead you to something new. I also told him that at this time he is not meant to do this fellowship.

Yes hard to swallow, however it is what it is.

All my best,

Sandra

Here is a link that contains excellent links to wonderful women on the web.  Many of them have written fantastic blogs with numerous topics.

Tags: amazing, blogging, web, women

Here is a movie that will bring a smile to you.  There are numerous quotes throughout the movie.  My favorite ones are:

“May your joys, like the stars at night, be too numerous to count,”

“May gladness wash away every disappointment, may joy dissolve every sorrow, and may love ease every pain,”

Tags: gratitude, inspiration, joy, kindness, love

This excellent workbook is from Expect Miracles illustrates a step-by-step guide to truly discover your passion.  It is best to print it out and complete the workbook.  It is a 12 day exercise.

Tags: 12 days, empowerment, guide, heart, passion, soul, step by step, think, workbook

From the description of Playing for Change music festival:

Here is an inspiring video:

http://playingforchange.com – Playing For Change: Peace Through Music is a film that explores our connections in a world overwhelmed with division. Through the process of making this film we traveled around the world and discovered that music opens the door to a place where we can come together as a human race. Music helps us to persevere through struggles and celebrate our differences which changes the world into a more peaceful place. Look for the DVD of this award-winning film in stores in late 2009.

Tags: change, documentary, for, hope, no, peace, playing, war, world

This is a fantastic song and video on YouTube.  It is about peace and bridging our differences.

Tags: bob, marley, one love, peace, video, youtube

I was recently in New York and met up with Maritza to talk about our work. We are so in alignment — even if we say it in a different way at times. We both want to empower women and youth and for you to know IT’S ALL ABOUT YOU, TAKING BACK YOUR POWER & FOLLOWING YOUR TRUTH AND PASSION. We need to stop relying on others for our answers and know that the answers lie within.

Follow Maritza on her journey:

MY JOURNEY BEGINS…
This week Sandra asked me to write an article about my journey; how being born into a poor environment may be the best gift one can ever experience: from rags to riches. “Riches” to me means rich in heart and living your life purpose to serve others.

I was born in the countryside of the Dominican Republic where I was raised by my grandparents in a big, wooden, blue house by the mountains, along with my brother, uncles and aunts; all together we were about 13 people in that seven-room house. My parents migrated to the United States when I was just three years old, leaving me in my grandparents’ care. How many of you recognize this from your own lives, watching your parents leave you behind while they searched for a better life in los Estados Unidos,”United States?” My grandparents, who today are still my role models, taught me at a very young age the value of hard work and perseverance, the importance of family, and most importantly having integrity and values. I remember we prayed every night. At the time I did not know what prayer was but now I realize how valuable praying every night was to my family and to me. These values I am passing along to my little leaders, Charlize and Amanda, my two precious girls. This is the foundation that I have always walked with; it has opened many windows of opportunity for me.

This path has led me from my early girlhood in the countryside of Dominican Republic, to my coming to New York City working in a bodega “grocery store”, to working in a factory, and eventually to my husband and I creating a restaurant from scratch called Much Gusto Spanish Cuisine Inc. which we recently sold, to becoming a partner and chief financial officer of a commodity hedge firm on Wall Street, Balor Capital Management LLC. The accumulation of all this knowledge and experience has led me to my most recent desire: setting up my own company, Quasar OM.

I have always loved finance but my true love and joy is to empower and inspire others to achieve their dreams

.
NEXT PART OF MY LIFE..
My next journey in life is becoming an inspirational speaker to teach and lead others in creating happy, successful and purposeful lives. This passion of mine has always been part of me. This year I decided to pursue my passion on a bigger scale. When I first realized I wanted to do this for the rest of my life was at my first inspirational speech at the United Nations last year. I was the keynote speaker celebrating Latin Heritage month. My inspirational speech made some people cry and I felt touched. I remember a woman came up to me and said, “I can relate to your story and I to came to America and left my family behind to find a better life for myself and my family back home.” This was the pivotal moment for me. After that I did a four-month leadership course to learn more about how to support others. Following that I took two courses with T. Harv Ecker to better improve my stage presentation. And Recently I took a seminar with Anthony Robbins to better equip myself to give an outstanding two day seminar for women Empowerment. In additions to these seminars I have read many books on how to live a better life and the secret to abundance, happiness, the immense power we have within and many other powerful topics. This has led me to create my own company called Quasar OM. The website will be www.quasarom.com, will be up and running by December 2009.

The plan is that Quasar OM will run workshops on women Empowerment, and provide the tools, expertise and guidance to support women to create their own opportunities and bring their own visions to reality. Quasar OM’s intention is to transform women lives from the inside out, so they can bring joy and abundance to all facets of their lives.

In addition to Quasar OM, I support DBI education on their Youth Leadership program. For more information you can log on to www.dbieducation.com And as well my pride and joy has been to work with Sandra this finance segment of her website.

I HAD A GREAT TALK with a man who bought the company that leads the graduate study courses for GMAT, LSAT, etc. We were talking about why you will choose one school to attend over another.

We both agreed that you need to clearly determine what is your intention of attending a grad program at a certain school. If you want to attend Harvard is it because you want to immerse yourself with an elite social group – for building those connections OR do you want to attend a school for a certain program that inspires you?

Whatever it is – be clear. Just know one thing your success is not determined by the school you attend RATHER BY WHO YOU ARE, THE KNOWING AND BELIEF THAT YOU HAVE IN YOURSELF AND THE UNIVERSE.

Good luck making your choice.

All my best,

Sandra

This brief 5 minute interview is worth watching because Dr Chopra talks about how our thoughts (our emotional state – love, compassion, joy, etc.) can change the chemistry of our brain.  He also mentioned that some of our genes are not fixed and can be changed by our minds.

For example, if we are late and think that we are running out of time, our biological clock would adapt by raising our heart rate and blood pressure.  Rather think that you have all the time in the world.

Tags: actions, attitude, attitudes, chopra, deepak, degeneres, ellen, mind, positive thinking

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