Life Insurance to Compensate for Detrimental Impact of Earthquakes

In the aftermath of the earthquake near the Japanese islands and the devastation it brought into the country of the rising sun, we looked into the exposure of Canadians to earthquakes and the ways we can protect ourselves.  The events in Japan make us feel very strongly for survivors and victims alike.

Quakes are lethal and emotionally disturbing.  This is most certainly the case in Japan, where the Sendai quake registered a 9.0 reading on the Richter scale and thus was the 5^th strongest quake recorded in the history. The magnitude, however, is not really the most important either, because even a less momentous earthquake originating within an inhabited area may come to be more serious than a forceful occurrence happening in the middle of the Pacific.  The last earthquake in Canada could be noticed not that long ago, taking place just a few months ago on June 23^rd, 2010 between Québec and Ontario.  The thing nobody wants to worry about after living through something like an earthquake is paying for picking up the shattered pieces – this is where life insurance coverage can come in very handy.

We enquired five chief Canadian insurance companies and all of these will cover death in the event of a disaster.  The insured, however, mustn’t be hit by the disaster while visiting specifically prohibited locations.

The prevalence of natural disasters of huge significance steadily rises.  It was hardly a few weeks prior to the quake in Sendai that swaths of Australia were under water.

While no more than 75,000 lives were lost yearly during the 1990s, compared to 86,328 each year during the eighties, an average of 211 million people were directly affected by natural disaster in the 90s – up from 147 million in the eighties.

The number of natural disasters has tripled since the 60s and, even worse, the monetary effect has amplified by a factor of nine in that same time.

Death due to an earthquake is increasingly possible all the time, so in Canada, life insurance that helps when someone dies in an earthquake is only a natural choice.

Cremation as an Alternative to Burial and Your Life Insurance Coverage

The cost of cremation is by far smaller than that of a burial in Canada.  Nonetheless, the cost of cremation still vary widely.  Much depends on the complexity of the cremation ceremony that you select, the region you are home in, and the funeral provider that you use.  If you have been hesitant to ask thus far, according to a article on cremation, a direct cremation normally comes at about $700.  With an obit, holy service, transportation and catering, decorations and viewing, the total expense may climb up to $2,700.  Although much cheaper than the burials worth thousands of dollars, this is still a significant item in the budgets of most of us.

The Cremation Association of North America (CANA) claims that the ratio of cremations to traditional funerals in Canada, from about 5.89% in the seventies to over 68% in 2009. An article on the funeral “business” from Sun Media asserts that last year, cremation amounted to a slight majority of all funerals in Canada.  The climbing "popularity" of incineration in the recent years can be credited to one thing – inexpensiveness.

LSM Insurance is aware that many of us are interested in substitutes of the traditional funeral to save some money.  In Canada, life insurance can be a very effective strategy for doing away with the wide range of outlays associated with cremation.

Life insurance proceeds are paid out tax-free and, in most cases, the coverage can be taken out for a quite reasonable monthly fee.  Life insurance policies usually fall under one of the following three groups:

1. Traditional Life Insurance, where the client is required to subject her- or himself to a medical check-up and answer a comprehensive list of health questions.
2. Simplified Issue Life Insurance that does not require medical tests and the insured has to complete anywhere from 3-twelve health-related questions.
3. Guaranteed Issue Life Insurancewithout health check-ups and the insured needen’t complete any questions.  Guaranteed Issue Life Insurance is also referred to as No Medical Life Insurance

One trouble with guaranteed issue as mentioned above (and certain simplified issue insurance plans) is the contractual limitation of the payout to a return-of-premium and applicable interest in case the insured passes away within the first two years due to non-accidental causes.  This safeguard is in place to prevent insurance policies from becoming a speculative form of investment for otherwise uninsurable applicants.

What Is the Tactic for Getting Life Insurance after You Survived a Stroke?

Even if one survives a stroke, it does not yet disqualify her or him from obtaining a life insurance plan.

Stroke patients suffer either from anomalies in the way blood vessels supply nutrients to the brain tissue, or from dangerous blood leaks within their brain. Strokes can be slow, which are the cases when small volumes of blood leak into the tissue gradually. As the blood accumulates, it presses the brain tissue in the vicinity. In other cases, strokes can also come in the form of a burst vein which will release large quantities of blood into the cerebral tissue. Another type of stroke comes as the result of arterial embolism or thrombosis. In those cases a congested vein is unable to supply the brain with enough blood and renders it dead.

One way or another, the consequence is the loss of certain capacities in the patient. What is more, a stroke patient (whether or not one with milder or severe impact) is reckoned prone to suffering another stroke or to have impending health problems. Luckily, the patient is in many cases going to continue living his or her life without additional serious health problems, they usually cannot do without partial or constant attention and care from their family or professionals.

Does being a stroke patient change one's insurability? Must you worry?

A stroke has a definite impact on one's chances of obtaining life insurance. Traditional life insurance policies may be suitable depending on the scale of the stroke. In such cases, insurers will require details about the applicant's medical history, but particularly the description of the stroke, the age of the insured when the stroke occurred and any permanent cognitive or physical damage resulting from the stroke, such as difficulties with speaking and any medications applied to recover it.

Any of other related disorders that the applicant may have, namely diabetes or cholesterol, can also have an effect on a person's fitness for one policy or another. When a stroke is accompanied by but an average medical record, the patient will be much less likely to qualify for traditional life insurance policies.

Simplified Issue Non-medical Life Insurance products may be another option for stroke victims. Many simplified issue carriers including Canada Protection Plan and Assumption Life are ready to provide immediate insurance coverage to stroke victims provided they have had the stroke earlier than the span stipulated in the plan application form. This is typically somewhere around 24 or 36 months. It is vital to look at simplified issue alternatives prior to applying for traditional insurance because should the insured be declined from traditional insurance first, they may suddenly lose eligibility for simplified issue insurance.

LSM Insurance specializes in locating the best deals for hard-to-insure clients and clients with special conditions or lifestyle.

BMO Life: A.M. Best Credit Ratings

Lately, there has been more good news for an insurance company among the many grim economic articles as A.M. Best Co. did not change the financial strength evaluation of BMO Life Assurance Company (BMO Life), reinforcing the rating at an “A”, which stands for “Excellent”. Similarly, BMO Life’s issuer credit rating also remained at an “a”. Even better, the projections for BMO Life were assessed as stable, with regards to all the Company's reports and other information available on Bank of Montreal and BMO Life.

BMO Life is a subsidiary of Bank of Montreal (BMO). BMO Life is not the only insurer owned by BMO, but is a major one for that matter, serving specific subsets of the insurance market. Hence, analysts rely on BMO to support BMO Life in case of any contingent financial issues. During the recent financial crisis, BMO Life was significantly harmed in the instabilities within the highly competitive insurance marketplace and needs to recover from all the monetary and brand-esteem losses.

BMO offers a selection of insurance products, ranging from universal life through individual life insurance , term life, whole life, critical illness, guaranteed issue life insurance to structured settlements and annuities. Its policy assortment is quite specific and thus preferred by certain subsets of the clientele, which may be considered its individual advantage. BMO Life offers its plans mainly using an agent network originally established by AIG Life.

In 2009, Bank of Montreal (BMO) decided to take over AIG Life Insurance Company of Canada. The company was transformed into a new brand of BMO Life Assurance Company, but its business model remained chiefly intact. Financial analysts seem to have welcomed this acquisition well, since AIG Life/BMO Life from now on can count on a stable and large parent supporting it.

The BMO group has another life insurer: BMO Life Insurance. This entity is unconnected to BMO Life Assurance Company, has its own network of agents and history, but exists within the same family. Find more information on BMO Life Assurance Company on our website.

Insurance and the Climate

“Since when do insurance companies worry about climate research?” you might ask. If so, you should ask RSA Insurance Group, a global insurer headquartered in the UK. RSA in Canada operates mainly in marine insurance, but the message their behaviour is demonstrating is will have significant effects across the whole insurance field, even for non-medical life insurance.

RSA recently announced an official alliance with the World Wildlife Fund world-wide. The mutual synergy upon which this relationship is based qualifies as both “the right thing” as well as a business interest. It is simply a win-win situation.

If anyone can actually express a climate change in probability figures, then it must be insurance analysts. However, insurers cannot always work out what lies ahead specifically enough. Following the floods and droughts around the world, insurance companies bumped into considerable claims and thus had to pay unexpected compensations on those of their insurance products that are linked with the state of temperature, weather, and climate. This signalled to them that they were unable to assess their products’ riskiness accurately. And risk being the elementary notion underlying the entire insurance business, something had to be changed.

Thus, this experience and the general involvement of RSA with marine insurance were what prompted RSA to look for information, opinions and support at WWF. They are interested in the developments of the global environment - those that WWF examines so intently. WWF performs numerous analyses in order to understand animals whose life is largely influenced by the smallest changes in the climate. Through helping WWF to do what they are best at, the RSA group will benefit from more trustworthy forecasts. Thus, the insurer will be able to ascertain its risk better, charge for its products more adequately and steer clear of disproportionate outlays.

Because the enhanced estimates should be publicly available, i.e., to every other insurer, the effect on competition between companies is going to be minimal. At most, more perfect competition will press down policy prices for insurees. On the other hand, wild species will welcome the partnership between RSA and WWF anyhow.

Lots of businesses are learning that an eco-conscious business model may not only save them substantial amounts of money, but also please their customers along with the public in one fell swoop. The spirit of this mind-set shift can be sensed around global enterprises such as Sony Corporation, which only uses recycled paper for all administrative work, PricewaterhouseCoopers, also contemplating a global change towards more sustainable offices, and Adobe winning awards for very small-footprint office buildings using modern technologies numerous times.

Insurance Companies Lobbying Against New IFRS

During the summer, Canadian life insurance companies were lobbying the federal government to move the principles in their favour. In summary, insurance companies demanded an amendment of IFRS which our government is prepared to implement but wants to effect not before 2013.

The industry believes that the new rules will introduce big volatility to the c/e ratio in annual (quarterly) comparisons. The problem is, not only would this make period-to-period comparisons more challenging, but it would also stop comparisons to statements prepared under the previous rules.

The people at LSM Insurance think the latter is weedy defense though, as the the industry would most possibly be called for to make new calculations for previous few periods' results applying the new order precisely for the purposes of rational comparability, as is the case with most alternations of the standards. Nonetheless, a shift of rules will surely bring bigger amount of administrative expenses in the time of the change at the bottom end.

As to the volatility of capital ratios, the FP says that the the companies are pledging for a 2-tier accounting rules that permits capital to be counted based on a various pack of standards than the IFRS. This makes sense since the levels of capital backups are monitored and regulated by the Canadian regulatory body - OSFI. Should there be too big volatility of capital reserves, the insurance companies may be asked to re-check them more often which put off ideal capital management.

In serious situations, malnourished capital may push OSFI to consider an insurer bankrupt. Today, it is far from possible to find the exact effects of IFRS on c/e volatility, as the new rules are currently being developed by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). Nevertheless, the insurers are believing that 2-tier rules, which is in place in the Anglo-Saxon countries will erase any such worries.

An additional tool for overcoming future crises the insurance industry might use is embedded contingent capital mentioned in a previous article.

PS: Don't forget to check out our new website on no medical life insurance.

Boosted Ratings of Transamerica Life Canada

As reported in the August Issue of the Insurance Journal, S&P recently improved its counter-party credit and financial strength ratings for Transamerica Life Canada from “BBB” to “BBB+.”  The outlook as an insurance company is positive as of now.

Similarly, in July, AM Best changed Transamerica Life Canada to positive from stable and affirmed the financial strength rating of B++, which equates to “Good”.  AM Best also reclassed the prospects to positive from negative and confirmed the insurer’s credit rating at BBB+.  More good news for Transamerica clients and prospective customers, Transamerica Life has slashed its term plan prices from September 20.

To learn more about guaranteed issue life insurance, visit our specialized website.

Doctors Protest Against Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) in Ontario

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is a sport with about a 100-year-long modern tradition. The rules of the fight allow a selection of techniques to take place in every match. Thus, martial artists with various skillsets are able to compete in the ring. MMA is a full-contact sport with roots with roots as far as the ancient Rome.

Lately, medical professionals had something to say about this on the Canadian Medical Association’s general annual meeting in Niagara Falls. The majority of the doctors voiced their belief that the sport should not be legal. They simply argue that MMA is a dangerous sport with a large probability of injuries – a lot more significant than in boxing for instance.

Another parallel institution which lately voiced worries regarding MMA was the British Medical Association . Since early 2009, they are actively campaigning against this sport in Britain (for more info read BMA’s entire statement here). They, too, argue that the sport often gets excessively brutal.

As explained by Dr. Ian Gillespie, the president of BCMA, “MMA fighting, like boxing, is distinct from many other sports in that the basic intent of the fighter is to cause harm in order to incapacitate his or her opponent.” He adds that the “various techniques […] aren’t limited to punching, and there may be the presence of fewer safety rules.”

WatchKalibRun.com is a portal reporting on MMA events and news. In an article on this topic, it expresses their own opinions on the arguments of the British Medical Association. They mention that any available data is extremely limited and link to an American study finding that injury and knock-out rates in Mixed Martial Arts are comparable to those of other such activities.

The Hamilton Spectator interviewed two experts from the field – a fighter and a coach – idea about the issue. Less efficient protective equipment which makes fighting more dangerous is a large concern. Also, the referees are less specific plus any regulations are looser overall. Unlike in box, the strikes are not aimed solely at the opponent’s head and the body in MMA, which will easily cause more kinds of injuries. To be fair, it may still make head injuries much less probable. Both experts are calling for a unification of procedures across Canada instead of keeping different regulations for each province.

Why do the Canadian doctors step up now? It is because only now (in August), Ontario province government finally agreed to legalize MMA in the province. Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Warrior One (W1) are the two largest organizations. They already have business strategies aiming to develop activities in lucrative locations in the province. Ontario Premier Mr. Dalton McGuinty finally stepped out of his comfort zone to sign the law, but wants close scrutiny of all events and all the rules, according to Toronto Sun.

Doctors are unhappy that there are seldom trained professionals at the matches. They say that even if there were, it would be against their essential principles for them to passively watch the ongoing injuries and just let them pass. Traditional martial artists are displeased that the sport is in its essence countering the original values of martial arts which are most importantly respect, discipline, self-control and courtesy.

As reported by CTV, Dr. Shelby Karpman warns that since MMA is already very popular, outlawing it would cause that the fights take place illegally. Also, health supervision would not be enforceable and thus the artists could count on substandard care, which translates into even more danger.

That said, it seems reasonable to conclude that if the sport cannot be banned, it should definitely be officially regulated and any rules should be obeyed without exceptions. This means that there should be reasonable medical authority present with appropriate competencies; licensing, insurance and preventive measures should be in place during every match.

As I am sure you are wondering: Extreme sports such as MMA are treated as a special case for life insurance. Not every company will want to sell you coverage if you perform this or a similar extreme sport, and those who will are going to ask a much higher price. The final price is going to depend on the nature of the sport you do. A fighter should pay utmost attention to any exclusions and caveats in the policy and should not sign up for any but licensed events. Illegal fighting may mar your chances of ever successfully making a claim on your policy.

However, life insurance is not going to suffice to cover all expenses associated with extreme sports. A fighter will most probably cause harm to his or her counterpart and that will make him or her responsible for the reimbursements. In addition to the host of the match, each fighter should have liability insurance of his or her own. As with life insurance, with liability insurance it holds true that the fight must be part of a licensed and supervised venue and is limited by any exclusions in the plan.

A Brief Overview of Canadian Long-term Care Insurance

There may come a time in our later years when we simply are unable to live on our own. If you read the statistics, 50% of Canadians are expected to need long-term care after 75. With increased longevity and the aging of the population, it is advisable that we sort out these matters as soon as possible. In this article, we are going to give you an overview of long-term care insurance, as well as briefly describe policies from three different Canadian insurance companies to help you compare.

What is long-term care insurance?
If you can’t do at least two of the following six activities:

• dressing,
• eating,
• toileting,
• bathing,
• maintaining continence,
• and transferring (e.g. from a bed to a chair)

on your own (the exact activity list depending on your individual policy), then you qualify for your benefit from long-term care insurance. Your policy will then pay you the agreed tax-free benefit on a weekly basis to help you get suitable assistance.

Long-term care coverage helps protect the resources and health of not only you, but also your children who would have to invest extra resources to provide for your needs. Unlike in Life Insurance, Long-term Care plans do not normally prefer non-smokers, nor do they distinguish between females and males.

Read here if you want to find out more about long-term care insurance vocabulary and definitions.

How to choose your long-term care insurance policy?
What to ask about your long-term care insurance policy:
You should first check for any exceptions in the policy as to when and how you get to your benefit. Then, try to estimate how much your care may cost you and for how long. You may choose to opt for a policy delay (elimination period) which will let you pay for your care from your own pocket for a chosen time before the policy kicks in, which makes the policy cheaper. Furthermore, see if the policy offers you guaranteed premiums (i.e. level amounts) and for how long. Examine any policy riders and add-ons of interest to you and don’t forget to consult your choices with an independent broker.

Interested in more details? See Shopping for a long-term care insurance policy.

Comparing insurers’ offers
You can buy Long-term Care insurance from Ontario Medical Association/Sun Life Insurance, Penncorp Insurance Company, Manulife Financial, RBC Insurance, Desjardins or Blue Cross. Let’s briefly look at a few of them in turn.

Ontario Medical Association (OMA) offers a long-term Care insurance policy to you and your family members 21 to 80 years of age. The policy is in fact underwritten by Sun Life Financial. The prices are the same as those of Sun Life’s plans. The policy has a rolling 5-year premium guarantee and offers a possibility of no elimination period if you need facility care. The plan is receipt-based. Premiums are lower for men.

Penncorp offers a so-called One Step Long-term Care, which pays the benefit already as soon as you have one incapacity, including cognitive impairment, which allows the insured to enjoy the broadest possible coverage. This is the plan’s specialty in Canada. One Step Long-term Care Plan by Penncorp is available to individuals aged 30 to 70. This plan doesn’t have a premium guarantee on the policy’s premiums.

Manulife Financial is trying to bank on simplicity. Manulife’s policy is called Living Care and the client is merely required to fill in an application form and undergo an interview. This is conducted by telephone if she or he is less than 70, and it should be conducted in person if he or she is 71 or older. If you are older, the insurer may get in touch with your doctor to verify your medical information. Manulife does not require laboratory exams during a long-term care application process. The policy is not receipt-based and it has a minimum elimination period of 90 days, which is longer than most competitors.

At Desjardins, the rates are a bit more expensive than competition’s. However, you have the money at your own disposal and don’t have to provide any receipts. Premiums are guaranteed for the first five years of the plan and favouring males.

You surely see that it isn’t easy to understand all of the insurance offerings in the market. Ask a broker you trust to help you out.

To find out more info about long-term care insurance, please check out our Long-term Care Consumer Report.

Searching for more details? Please see our enumeration of Interesting Facts About Long-term Care Insurance.

Standard Life and Their Insurance Policies

I would like to present to you several Canadian insurance companies in a few short articles, and I’d like to commence with Standard Life. Now, let me examine Standard Life’s Term and Universal Life plans.

The Universal Life policy:
You may apply for the Universal Life up to your 81st birthday. Perspecta - as this policyis being traded - has several nice things to offer, including multiple death benefit, flexible monthly premiums as well as cost of insurance options.

The Perspecta investment accounts include the following: managed accounts, indexed accounts (including Strategic Asset Allocation accounts), term deposits, and one daily interest account. What is more, Perspecta has a Shelter Optimizer and Account Optimizer, which maximize the return from premium investments by maintaining their tax-exempt status. The policy features client bonus payments in later policy years to further enhance value accumulation.

Applicants can add the following add-ons (and more) to the policy: 10 and 20-year term riders which are renewable and convertible, children’s term riders, critical illness riders for adults, as well as children, accidental death benefit, guaranteed insurability benefit and a benefit which relieves you from paying premiums in case of a disability.

On the downside, Standard Life insurance (which used to have some of the cheapest Universal Life plans out there) came with an increase in its pricing in 2005. Now, some age groups will be forced to switch to other insurance providers because of this increase. On the plus side, Standard Life is one of the handful companies in Canada to offer preferred rates on both their Term and Universal Life policy.

As an illustration, a 45-year-old non-smoking male will sign up to $211.95 monthly at least, as this is the minimum payment that keeps the policy alive.

Term Life:
Standard Life offers two term life policies in its portfolio - Term 10 and Term 20. You can sign up for the Term 10 policy at any time between age 18 and 70, Term 20 ends at 65. The plans are renewable to age 85 and they can be converted up to age 65. The Term policies also offer many different riders which are like those coming with the Universal Life policy.

The applicant can also decide to sign up for an individual or first-to-die benefit (e.g. with a spouse).
Those in good health and have a good family health history may be able to qualify for a preferred rate. As a bonus, if you are extremely healthy, you might qualify for a super preferred rate! On the downside, these term life plans are not available at face amounts under $100~000. This can prove crucial for senior applicants in case they are a constrained budget.

Basel and Canadian Banks

Embedded contingent capital. This may sound like a term from another planet, but it is a model which may become the reality for our banks. The Basel Committee listened to Canadian advice and now considers implementing this new regulatory feature in a hope to help preserve the stability of the world’s banks. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said he was “pleased” Canada’s advice was being seriously considered.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision was created in 1974. This institution which unites the ten nations’ central bank governors. The committee gathers four times a year to discuss recommendations, guidelines and best practices that the members and other states should implement in their home legal system. The committee’s decisions do not directly influence the national markets, yet they are mostly obeyed since uniform law helps ensure that multinational banks are not required to use their own compliance management, which decreases the operating costs.

These new proposed rules redefine the accounting principles regarding banks’ debt, Financial Times reported. Under usual circumstances, debt (whether in the form of bonds or loans) is accounted for as a liability of the bank towards its creditors. Creditors have an advantage over shareholders: in case a company goes bankrupt, creditors are satisfied before any owners. In addition, the debtor-creditor relationship is traditionally more systematic and the creditor can expect to recoup back the face value of the debt at the end of the lending term. Regular debt is therefore safer than equity and thus cheaper too.

In the future, banks could make use of the option of transforming some of their debt to equity if another financial crisis strikes. Such a conversion will have to be ordered by the federal government and will allow banks to expand their capital levels instantly. More capital should allow the bank to withstand for a longer time – hopefully during the whole of the crisis. Therefore, the term “embedded contingent capital” is defined as capital embedded in the bank’s debt and contingent upon the financial situation of the bank or the entire economy. The government must initiate and approve the transformation.

In addition to improved banking sector stability, the newly proposed rules are meant to provoke greater scrutiny of investors and lenders over the performance of the bank and lending practices. As the effect of the greater risk they are facing, lenders will have an incentive to monitor their banks, the Basel Committee thinks.

But is it really that important of an argument? LSM Insurance argues that greater incentives are a positive notion. But will they be backed by appropriate legislation ensuring heightened transparency of the banking operations so that there are tools for investors to actually observe their banks effectively? Plus, even today, investors are interested in the well-being of their banks. The change may add additional pairs of eyes interested in the matter, but the added benefit is still debatable.

LSM Insurance believes that the major implication of this upcoming law for the banks themselves will be their ability to acquire financing in an extra way that is cheaper than equity but a bit more expensive than regular debt. That is if they can find a market to sell it to.

Debt in the form of loans and bonds normally obliges the debtors to pay back in regular agreed upon instalments – annuities – according to an agreed-upon payment schedule. The face value of the debt is always paid back to the lender when the debt matures. Equity, on the other hand, implies ownership, including voting and other rights. The disadvantage is that it is up to the company’s management to set the dividends, or whether there are any at all. What is more, shareowners cannot expect the face value of their investment to be returned at the end of the term and the only way they can recoup the money they invested is to re-sell their equity to another investor.

If Canadian banks find a way to take advantage this borrowing facility “of the third kind”, their cost of capital will increase. In return, they will have an interesting safety measure in place to resort to in case worse comes to worst. Of course, there must be a market and means of valuation for such an instrument, which is still a large question mark in a market as small as the Canadian one Nevertheless, the banks seem to expect that the hassle is going to be worth it eventually. The reassuring factor is that this feature can only be applied upon federal government approval and is not the decision of the banks themselves.

According to Reuters, the banks in Canada say they are ready to embrace the new rules. From their current position, they want to continue in their successful post-crisis growth. Banks and analysts are forecasting acquisitions and mergers in Canada and abroad. Our banks will want to expand their presence especially in the European and US markets.

How Longer Sleep Might Make Your Little Ones Lighter

Life insurance brokers repeatedly emphasize the importance of lifestyle in influencing your life insurance plan bill. Recently, academics discovered in a survey that if you improve your chidren’s day’s regime during their youngest age, it could possibly have a major impact on their well-being in the later stages of their life.

A survey conducted in the U.S. tried to find out if there is a traceable correlation between the length of a kid’s sleep and his or her body weight in a representative sample of U.S. 0 to 13 year-old children, Reuters reports. The survey was conducted in two chunks. In 1997, the researchers gathered the initial details about the people in the sample, followed up in 2002 by collecting information about the elapsed period.

The study showed that children who were able to get fewer than 10 hours of sleep before age 5 are expected to have elevated chances of becoming overweight in their later life. For those interested in more details: toddlers’ parents should allow their precious ones to sleep 12-14 hours every day. Older children before age 5 would do best to rest at least eleven-thirteen hours a day and children older than five but younger than 10 are advised to take ten- to eleven-hour sleep too. The trend continues in a similar way, encouraging teenagers to go with 8.5-9.25 hours of rest at night. The researchers take care to point out that interrupted sleep doesn’t add to one’s sleep time.

When examining children over five, shorter sleep periods were not proven to be directly associated with excess weight, but is nevertheless deemed to have the force to change a kid’s body weight in a negative direction temporarily. The causes of that haven’t been discovered yet. There are theories, some of them suggesting that sleep has an influence over one’s . This is true for adults as much as kids. In addition, Dr. Janice F. Bell explains that exhausted children probably do not feel like exercising as much needed. Perhaps a more trivial explanation could be that the briefer one sleeps, the more chances he or she has to consume.

It has been noted above that the advantage of this study lies in the fact that the tested subjects were watched for a longer period, contrary to only one moment. That way, the researchers were enabled to track weight variations in the very same boys and girls, not simply averaging across a mixed group. The majority of probes had to rely on statistical incidence of overweight kids among examined groups and every single subject’s memories regarding their habits.

We ought to be positively encouraged that sleeping practices can be easily tailored to one’s needs, mainly in younger children who can possibly be impacted most. Keeping oneself in good health will definitely improve one’s enjoyment in life, but may decrease the price of his or her health care and life insurance quote.

The European Capital Test

In the middle of 2010, Europe’s bankers underwent a stress test to determine the assortment of their capital holdings and to what degree they relied on resources connected to problematic states. In spite of the results of the stress test being positive in the beginning, it was found after a while that there were important omissions of details in the test templates. The E.U. banks’ capital structure makes them indeed subject to more risk than is considered healthy.

A few weeks ago, in July 2010, a stress test was imposed on all European banks to determine whether they were ready to survive a future financial downturn. This assessment was chiefly aimed at assessing the EU banks’ reserve levels and its type – whether a satisfactory level of reserves exists and whether it is of a satisfactory quality for the examined banks to rely on. Several countries outside the E.U. introduced a test on their banks’ reserve ratios as well – LSM Insurance informed its followers and clients about that earlier this year as well. The E.U. test discovered that a handful of banks (especially in Greece) were in an unfavourable position, but the the findings in general helped to solidify the investor confidence in the European banking system in general. For those reasons, the Euro and other EU currencies outside the monetary union were benefiting from an unshaken position in the international market.

That is to say for a tad more than four weeks. Early in September 2010, The Wall Street Journal released a detailed analysis of the test results and compared it to a review of the official financial reports of the examined banks. WSJ found that the test subjects often did not manage to detail all the necessary descriptions on their funding, seeing as the numbers could not be entirely matched their statutory reports. This way, the transparency of the input details was unfortunately affected. The banks did not lie. Rather, the banks just did not care to categorize their holdings correctly as the CEBS guidance was not written clearly enough either to start with.

Traditionally, government debentures are believed to be carrying no risk. Considering the financial distress in in Greece, however, they have gained on importance. Greece’s near-bankrupt status puts riskier government debentures and as such, the Greek government bonds ought to be recorded differently. Many banks just would not make this principle clear when reporting. Some banks wouldn’t report parts of their capital holdings, claiming that it was because of their volatility and the fact that they were actively traded in the normal course of their business. This way, they effectively improved their results in an uncontrollable fashion. Since every tested participant “understood” the requirements of the test with slight differences, each tested subject disclosed its reserve holdings differently and that caused that the results are drawing from different assumptions. Therefore, they are virtually incomparable.

In short, the paramount issue with the testing was the limited amount of extra information that the banks included for the regulators. Obviously, the CEBS test requirements were too relaxed to really oblige the banks to reveal any useful pieces of data. This is unfortunate for the Euro, which experienced a severe shock and has been trying to climb back up insecurely from that time forth. It is bewildering to see that even now, the CEBS is still confident with the original rules.

We certainly hope the CEBS and other banking regulators all over the globe are going to learn out of this slip and will take care that any other tests and regulations are well-thought through. Any more issues would harm the trustworthiness of the affected economy.

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Hi everyone,

Just a quick question - have you already had a look at LSM Insurance on Facebook? We will be happy to see that you “Like” us!

Also, if you want to find your favourite broker, check out the exact location of LSM Insurance on wikimapia.org .

Thanks and stay tuned for more articles!

- Lorne

Were You and Your Loved Ones Caught Up in The Earthquake In Canada Last Week?

Did you feel the earthquake that struck south eastern Ontario and some of Quebec on June 23, 2010 at 1:41 pm EST?

Luckily, the magnitude was only 5.0 according to the US Geological Survey, and no extreme damage was reported. Just 61 km north of Ottawa is where the epicentre of the earthquake happened.

As reports came in, many people spoke of a gradual rumbling which escalated in intensity, a bit like building work going off below or around you. The vibrations could be felt as high up as the 9th floor of office and apartment blocks according to eye witnesses. The rumbling sensation may have been mild, but Lorne certainly felt the earthquake.

Even though natural disasters happen very rarely in Canada, they do occur and it brings home to us all how vulnerable we all are. It definitely makes me wonder what I can do to protect myself and my family should another disaster hit us.

Along with normal emergency preparedness, part of your preparation should include life insurance.

What many people do not understand is that along with disasters such as floods or hurricanes, earthquakes are one of the most expensive natural disasters. Earthquakes account for 30% of all damage by natural disasters from 1950-2001. While the human cost of earthquakes is only 9% compared to the 42% occurring due to famine, famine only accounts for 4% of the damage which is tiny in comparison to earthquakes.

People losing their lives fell in the 90's from 86,328 per year in the 80's to 75,252; but those touched by natural disaster climbed from147 million in the 80s to 211 million people a year in the 90's.

With a big increase in monetary impact from natural disasters since the 1960's we also see an increase of occurrences, which isn't good news.

With more disasters occurring then it stands to reason that more and more people are going to have their lives affected by them, as a result it is only natural to look at ways of minimizing the impact on your family.

The five influential Canadian insurance organizations we surveyed do provide death benefits for you and your family if such disasters take place, but you need to check the policy carefully if you choose not to use them and go elsewhere. If you are urged not to travel somewhere, such as a war zone and you do, be aware that this is one exception that insurance companies put in place on their schemes.

Delivered by Lorne Marr, the founder of LSM Insurance and mortgage life insurance expert

Not every shake is the same!

image by elana's pantry

Investing in a Life Insurance - Is It a Good Idea?

Life insurance policies can be divided into two very broad categories - term insurance and permanent life insurance. Term insurance policies are generally prepared to cover you for a temporary period of time, usually 10 or 20 years. With a permanent policy, the insurance can last for your lifetime. Furthermore, there are three sub categories of permanent life insurance policies: Term 100, Universal Life and Whole Life. There are several variations of the latter two policies. An independent and qualified advisor can help you to find which of them is best for you.

The primary difference between Whole and Universal Life insurance is in the investment component - on a Whole Life policy, it is built in the premium, while on a Universal Life insurance it is separate. In addition, Universal Life policies offer a wider variety of investment possibilities. However, the most important aspect when buying a life insurance policy is that it must fulfil your needs. Let's suppose your needs are met and you can pay for a permanent policy. Now you need to ask - is it a sound investment?

Opinions on this subject vary, in part because life insurance as an investment is a very misunderstood topic. Now we will present the crucial pluses and minuses of using life insurance as an investment:

Advantages

* Profits within the policy and the MTAR limits grow on a tax sheltered basis. In case of Whole Life insurance, the premium shouldn't exceed the MTAR limit, Universal Life policies set a maximum premium according to the MTAR limit.
* The investment portion on an increasing death benefit Universal Life insurance and the dividends on a Whole Life policy are added to the face amount and are paid out on top of the policy face amount tax free.
* You can use the investment component on a permanent insurance to pay for future premiums, allowing you to pay future premiums with pre-tax money, rather than after-tax money.
* The minimum investment rate guarantees are set to more than 4% in case of numerous Universal Life insurance products. This is a great plus for investors who don't like to risk, particularly in today's low interest rate environment.

Disadvantages

* For numerous permanent policies, there are strict penalties, if you decide to cancel your insurance within the first few years.
* Generally, it is not a good idea to select a permanent policy, if you don't need a permanent life insurance, as the mortality charge for the life insurance would be higher.

Photo source: thinkpanama

Why Not to Get Life Insurance Policy Directly from a Website

When you see the title of this article, you might think we are fighting against ourselves, as a company specializing in the online marketing of life and health insurance. Every day, thousands of people check our website and many of them contact us inquiring if it's possible to buy an insurance policy directly via our website. After pondering on this problem for a long time, we came to a conclusion that buying life insurance online would mean a disservice to our clients.
The following reasons are supporting our opinion why Internet is not the perfect way to buy a life insurance policy.

1. When you buy a life insurance directly on the Internet, it is just a single product and not a part of an overall financial portfolio. It should always be evaluated carefully and considered for a specific client - why and how much insurance is necessary and what's the best type of insurance. It is very difficult to do this without speaking to a broker over the phone or in person.

2. When you decide to buy your life insurance online, you can get only a limited product offer. Most companies selling life insurance online limit their portfolio to a few carriers and in some cases, just one carrier with just a few of their products.

3. There are often some features of the insurance policy that may not be fully explained to you when you buy the insurance online. When you buy your life insurance online, you may be surprised later about some details - for instance some ten-year term policies are not renewable or convertible, or may have a higher than usual renewable premium, and so on.

4. Many insurance products are just too complex to be sold online. There are too many details in some products (for example Universal Life or Whole Life insurance) that cannot be disclosed when the policy is purchased directly online. In case of BMO's Universal Life insurance policy, there are more than 400 investment possibilities available. There are just too many nuances in the whole plan, which makes it difficult to be offered online.

5. If you wish to get in touch with someone from the insurance company, it would be most likely with a call centre and not a broker.

Just to be understood correctly - of course the Internet is a great source of information when buying life insurance. Some Internet pages can give you a lot of useful information concerning life insurance. For instance tools such as our Instant Quote Calculator or Needs Analysis Calculator may be a great help. But finding information is very different to purchasing.

Ever thought of insuring your collection of stamps?

We all have heard of at least one person who falls into a category of collector. It can be assumed that most us have, at one time or another, collected a variety of things such as stamps, bubble gum stickers, Zippos or toy sets from breakfast cereal boxes. Then, after some time, we lose interest in what we used to thought of as collectible and boxes full of junk litter the attic floor.

But some of us turn out to be consistent and continue with their hobby for ever. There is, however, a certain type of collectors, who have taken this hobby to a higher level and have diversified their portfolios by investing in valuable coins or stamps.

So, who needs a special cover? Think about this: if you have standard homeowner insurance, it is probably good enough for your every day household needs But valuable collections are completely different story. In certain situations low value collections may be covered, but submitting a claim to the insurer is fraught with difficulties and can often be unsuccessful. The majority of homeowner policies will typically cover just the material cost and not its perceived value. Of course it is easy to claim for a broken TV set, but try claiming for a priceless rare Roman coin.

So, fellow collectors, what is the best approach to insurance if you collection is more valuable than your new car? Do you lie awake at night waiting for it to be stolen? Fortunately, an simple solution is at hand, with specialist insurance policies now available just for these kinds of collections. AIG and Allianz are but two of many insurance companies that have specialist policies for valuable collections.

Being a serious collector, it is most likely you will choose an 'all risk' policy which will insure your valuables against everything from fire to nuclear attack to 'mysterious disappearance' The strange phenomenon of 'mysterious disappearance' can be found in the cover that is provided by the Fireman's Fund policy. Transportation and traveling doesn't have to be a worry as both are covered in all specialist policies.

As it is natural for collections to increase in both size and value, policy writers account for this in the way their policies are written. You can simply phone your insurance provider to tell them them that you have invested in another item and this would be added to your policy immediately. If you are nervous about going to collect a new addition, then a quick phone call to your insurer prior to going and your new investment is insured.

Nothing can replace sentimental value in collection built up over many years.

Nevertheless, if you have adequate insurance cover, the financial impact of such a loss won't be nearly as bad as the emotional one. Unfortunately, you can't insure your emotions.

Photo source: Michael Wheeler

Strange Insurance: Weather Insurance

Weather insurance - doesn't it sound strange? Well, in any case it represents one of the oldest forms of insurance. Weather has been the decisive circumstance for farmers and their living, ever since the beginning of agriculture. Nowadays, much more than crops can be covered by weather insurance.

Rain is the primary target of weather insurance. Luckily, it is quite easy to negotiate a rain insurance policy. Concerning rain policies, you can choose rain accumulation policies (for this, you need to determine how much rain would still be acceptable for your event and how much would already waste it) or dry hours (how many hours in a period of time were without any rain). Counteraction on snow are available in a similar way, either aiming on inches per session or per storm. A unique version of this insurance is particularly for municipalities and public organs, who want to cover extra costs by a special snow removal insurance policy.

And the whole insurance business goes even further. There is wind insurance against undesired wind conditions, perfect for instance for a hot air ballooning show. An ice cream promotion can pay for temperature insurance to secure the investment in the face of cold weather.

Mostly you can choose your own combination of the various policies needed for your event. Are you making a movie and need to insure underwater visibility or against lack of snow? No problem, film productions are typical customers for many unusual insurance policies. Another usual customer is a manager of a sports event, a concert, a festival or a trade show. For us, whose business is not directly influenced by the weather, like me, selling disability insurance, we can still purchase weather insurance for our free time and our holidays.

This is quite a new product, just getting to the customers from the whole world. You can get some of your money back if it rains more than expected during your holidays - this is available by some French travel agencies, in cooperation with Aon France. Analogically, a new sunshine insurance is now available by Lufthansa, the German airlines. A simple insurance policy is available for €20 ($31.24) for passengers from Germany. They can get €20 back for each day during their holiday when it rains more than 5mm.

Naturally, for destinations such as Tunisia or Greece, weather insurance is not really needed. And for places like Vancouver, they may not be willing to sell you a weather insurance. It wouldn’t hurt to ask.

Can you insure the weather, please?

Most of us have already some experience with some insurance products - for instance life insurance, long term care or disability insurance. The financial safety of our daily life is at least a bit guarded by these options. While there are so many different types of insurance available, the whole selection might seem to be a bit conservative. But the world of insurance is more colourful than you would ever expect There are even some special policies that look quite bizarre One of them is events insurance.

Imagine yourself planning a marvelous wedding ceremony full of romance - taking place on the beach, with roses all around and guest count going into hundreds. But in the worst case scenario, it may happen that just before the ceremony begins, you step on your veil, slip and end up with a broken leg. For such cases, there is a special insurance product available, just to limit the damage to the minimum. Almost all imaginable attributes of an event can be secured by the insurance, and it doesn't make a difference if it is a birthday party, a wedding or a bar mitzvah you want to insure. The most common insurance types are liability and cancellation insurance, but you can adjust the insurance according to your specific needs. But what to do if you have dreamed of an outdoor party and the weather shows you its unfriendly face? No problem, if you purchase the policy in advance (around two weeks), you can ask also for this protection.

And there are many more possibilities concerning your events insurance. You can even retake your pictures, if the first ones were destroyed by an unskilled photographer, but you had purchased the right insurance. Also, all the gifts, jewelery and rental property can be covered And think about a case of a bride running away from the altar... Yes, trust me; you can cover cold feet too

Event insurance is sold by some of the most famous insurance companies in the world. Allianz offers it via Fireman's Fund subsidiary; Axa adds fireworks and Christmas light insurance, some other offer the option to cover alcohol related accidents. Prices often start below $100 for the basic coverage.

Briefly, you can cover your events from A to Z.

Photo source: Teozilla