Certified Financial Planners answer you
Our Panel for Monday, March 12 included:
Grace Ghezzi, Benefit Consulting Group, 474-1707 ext 460
Dennis Hebert, Strategic Wealth Advisors, 234-7526
Ted Sarenski, Blue Ocean Strategic Capital, 471-2762
Our topic was insurance, and here are some specifics we addressed:
~Beneficiaries: It's not the same as what you do on your will! You need to name your primary beneficiary, and then secondaries if that person dies before you do. Caution: Do NOT name your estate as a beneficiary, because that will mean the insurance settlement is subject to probate (a time delay!) and can also be used to pay off creditors. Advice: Discuss this with your lawyer as you make up a will.
~What's the point? You should have a 'goal' for your insurance: Know what you're insuring and why. Basically you're transferring a risk from your pocket, by spending a small amount on an ongoing basis to cover a possible major expense.
Some insurance is required, like for your car, and probably your house (especially if you carry a mortgage). Life insurance can be to pay funeral and other expected family expenses. Appliance warranties? Do you really need to pay? Car rental insurance? Check your auto policy--you may already be covered!
~How much life insurance do you need?
A good rule of thumb: multiply your salary times five. Then add in any 'major expenses' you need paid off: mortgage, college education, funeral costs. There are different types of life insurance for different needs. If you buy term insurance, which covers a specific amount of time and tends to be less expensive, the advice is to get 'convertible term' so that if something happens while it's in effect that precludes your getting more insurance (like a health change) you can still buy more insurance.
~Who to complain to?
If you're not happy about your insurance, you should complain to your agent or the agency you bought it from.
If that's not good enough, go to the consumer affairs department of the policy issuer (check the policy or their website for toll free numbers or internet access).
If you need more, there's help from NY State government---there's a link with information on how to file a complaint.
~Information about buying Life Insurance Long-term Health Insurance. This link has a guide,to downloadable (or you can order print copies) basic guides, which also include a checklist of questions to ask when buying a policy.
We answer your questions every Monday, 5 - 6:30pm on NBC-3. You can email questions in advance to money@cnycentral.com. Next week, our topic will be investing, in light of the current market status.
