We can walk you through the basics of buying, or updating, your life insurance coverage, as well as show how health, disability and long-term care insurance fit into your overall financial plan. Our popular calculators (Life Insurance Calculator, Human Life Value Calculator, Disability Insurance Calculator) can help you determine how much life or disability insurance you need for yourself or family members.

Not sure how insurance fits into your stage of life? We'll explain how insurance is part of your overall financial plan, whether you're single, starting a family, have kids already in school, preparing for retirement or already in retirement. And if you have a small business, we can help you plan for your business insurance needs as well.

What is Life Insurance?

Life insurance may be one of the most important purchases you'll ever make. In the event of a tragedy, life insurance proceeds can help pay the bills, continue a family business, finance future needs like your children's education, protect your spouse's retirement plans, and much more. This section can help you gain a better understanding of life insurance and its role within a sound financial plan, and answer many of your questions.

Life insurance is a contract between you and an insurance company and is a way to protect your family in case of your death, by providing funds to pay outstanding bills, taxes and income loss. Under a Term Life contract, the insurance company promises to pay your beneficiaries a sum of money in the event that you die within a period of time defined in the contract (such as 5, 10, 15, 20 or 30 years). Under a Permanent Life contract, a portion of the money you pay in premiums is invested in a fund that earns interest on a tax-deferred basis. Over time, your policy will accumulate a "cash value" that you can use. For instance, you can borrow against the value of your policy. Moreover, you can design a Permanent Life contract that will accumulate enough cash so as to be "paid up" by a certain age (e.g., "Paid Up Age 65").

What is Health Insurance?

If you’ve ever been sick or injured, you know how important it is to have health insurance coverage. Health insurance pays for things big and small, from a lab test that might cost $75 to a hospital stay for major surgery that could cost thousands of dollars. It gives you peace of mind of knowing that no matter what kind of care or procedure you or a family member might require, you won’t have to worry about shouldering the cost on your own.