The Five Fold Benefits of Life Insurance for Seniors

Universal Life Insurance Company (Photo credit: Thomas Hawk)

The following are the few facts about life insurance for seniors.

1. These insurance policies are the most popular policies for the seniors
2. The rate of interests on policies is going down every day. Thus, this is the best time to purchase any kind of coverage.
3. Most companies offer customized life insurance policies for the seniors, since they are an important target of the companies.
4. A senior citizen obviously will not be eligible for a term life insurance and thus insurance for seniors are the only reliable option they are left with.

Benefits of Life Insurance for Seniors

1. Affordability

Life insurance for seniors come at a cheaper rate than any other coverage. The amount one is required to spend upon these investments are interestingly quite convenient.

2. Purchase Money

Most senior men and women have a strong self-esteem and do not wish to be a burden on anyone in their last days. This is mainly why, senior people wish to invest upon a life insurance policy. This kind of an investment is basically, a ‘money purchase,’ i.e. one can use this money to meet his own expenditures during and after his lifetime. When the policy matures, the amount one will be receiving shall take care of the entire medical expenditures and also expenses that arise post-death.

3. Property Planning

Senior citizens are benefitted from term life insurances, as they are available at cheap rates to them. a term life insurance can be purchased with the help of the income, like pensions. There are many reasons why a senior citizen would wish to purchase a life insurance. One of the more common reason is that he wishes to plan and hand over his property to the generation that follows him, without any hassle. By a term life insurance, one can ensure that no taxes levied on the property or estate after your death depletes its value.

5. Death Benefits

The death benefit period is decided at the very time one purchases the policy. However, the death benefit one would receive will be decided by the medical history and the age of the individual.

5. Caters to the Family

One would always want that his or her absence causes no problem for the rest of the family. Thus, the question of burdening the family with the post-death expenses haunts them. a life insurance policy for seniors would relieve the family of such burdens.

How to Become a Successful Freelancer

Freelancing is the idea of working somewhere far away from the office and safely in your own home. It’s very tempting for those who can’t work well in an office environment. Not having to go to work and pay for the commute, freelancers essentially work the way they want to work, not being bound by anything, and some have met success in this field. It’s not just for anybody, though it is something anyone should consider. For those that do consider the idea, here are some tips to help you become a successful freelancer: 

First of all, you have to make sure that you really want to freelance. If you’re already working in the office, ask yourself if you are willing to give up the weekly wages, the pension, the company of your office mates and the paid holidays. Ask yourself if you really are suited to freelancing. To help with this, start with part-time, so you can ease yourself into freelancing. 

Second is to ask yourself if you are marketable. Know if there are people who will desire your skills. As there is competition in freelancing, you have to be sure if you have the skills people will want, so you can land yourself a freelancing job. It is, however, easy to market yourself in the Internet; someone is bound to notice you when you market yourself.

 
Third is to join a union. It sounds pretty old-fashioned and out-of-place for a freelancer, but joining a union still gives you benefits. Freelancing is a mostly lonely job, so being in a union with other freelancers who probably have the same problems as you do, as well as being able to ask others for advice, will be a big help. 

Fourth is to be aware of the computer. A freelancer’s main tool is the computer; it’s where you do your work. It is also where you go to when you want to watch YouTube videos or read something funny in one of the usual sites you go to during your off-hours. Don’t let yourself get distracted when you’re supposed to be busy working. 

Fifth tip is to remind yourself that you are your own company. You are now every single department in one person, responsible for managing your money, marketing, publicity and all other things a normal company has different people doing. 

Sixth, do whatever it takes to get your name and business out there. Being a freelancer means having a tough competition with everyone else so you can land a job. This means competing with every company out there for work. 

Seventh, don’t get sick. As a freelancer, you are your own boss, which means a day of work missed means a day of where you don’t get paid. If this idea bothers you too much, don’t become a freelancer. 

Eighth tip, learn to deal with bad days. You are pretty much in charge now, so every bad day you have will only feel much worse as a freelancer. Learn to accept that fact and cope with it, as tomorrow is another day. 

The ninth tip is to plan ahead. Aside from balancing your work and your life and putting your work over life, you need to know where and when the work will come from. Plan ahead so that you will have something to fall back on after your current job is finished, then plan ahead for after that other job is already finished. 

The tenth and final tip is to have a life. Since you’re freelancing, you’re more or less always “on.” Every now and then, switch “off” and do something unrelated to work. It will take your mind off of it and you can start off fresh the next day. 

Author Bio: Austin Richard is an IT professional from Pass Certification. It provides you 100% 70-481 exams. Let’s take benefit of 70-448 Exams material efficiently and get guaranteed success. Check out free demo of all certifications Exam.

How to Supplement Your Retirement with Income from Other People's Properties

Property in Europe (Photo credit: Images_of_Money)

Do you have fears about not having enough money for a comfortable retirement? Perhaps you are looking to invest in property, either to supplement your existing pension, or to become financially independent from the portfolio itself. What you may not have realised, however, is that you don’t necessarily need to “own” a portfolio in order to create cashflow from one. Read on and discover how my daughter Emily and I went from 0 to £5000 per month from properties we don’t actually own... 

Would Ownership Work for Us? 

We had heard a great deal about building a small portfolio of properties that we could buy cheap or finance, refurbish and sell or rent to up-and-coming young professionals. It sounded a good plan on the face of it but the problem was that we were quickly running out of cash. Since the credit crunch, lenders usually require a hefty 25% deposit. Even if a property could be obtained below market value, it was costing us around £21,000 per property. After all that investment, we were only making around £200 per month cashflow. At this rate, we realised that it was going to take a long, long time to become financially free, so it was back to the drawing board. We knew that there had to be another way. 

Single-Lets vs. Multi-Lets 

As I mentioned, renting the property out as a single-let property, namely when the entire property is let out on an AST, just wasn’t producing the cashflow we required. It was then, that we discovered how multi-letting a property, namely renting the property on a room by room basis, created substantially higher cashflow each month. It did not take us long to realize that multi-letting was the way forward. However, we still had the problem of stumping up the hefty deposits required by lenders. That’s when the light bulb moment hit... 

You Don’t Need To Own! 

We knew that multi-letting was the best was for us to maximise cashflow, but we still faced the same problem, namely raising the huge initial deposit. It then suddenly dawned on us. Why do we actually need to buy these properties? We knew that there must be struggling landlords out there who are looking for a guaranteed rent and for someone to manage the property for them. We decided to contact letting agents and make arrangements to rent the properties through what a corporate let. We would rent on a room-to-room basis to multiple renters who would be young professionals between the ages of 23 and 35. The agent would have a guaranteed rent, and we would take care of having minimal renovations performed that were necessary to make the house attractive to tenants. Initially we were met with scepticism and were even thrown out a couple of offices! But we persevered and within 6 months we had 9 multi-let houses in 5 months generating £5000 pcm net! 

Finding the Right Properties 

In our target area, we look to acquire properties that had a number of larger bedrooms, such as Victorian houses. Double bedrooms rent out much more easily than singles, especially if they have an en-suite. We normally look to pay the landlord around £200 pcm for each double bedroom in the house. So a property with 4 double rooms, we will rent off the landlord for £800. We then advertise the rooms for around £400 per room. After all cost, we aim to make £500 per month cashflow off each property. 

This system has been working out well for us and we plan on expanding our portfolio of rent to rent properties in the next year or so. We have created systems so that we only spend a few hours each week managing each property. It really has worked well for us and can work for you too. As Nike would say “Just Do It!” Francis Dolley is an expert on this unique rent to rent system and runs courses in the UK teaching students how they can successfully build a portfolio of properties that they don’t own, yet generate substantial cashflow profits each and every month.

The Economic Benefits Of Continuing Your Education

In today's economy, it is extremely easy to become unemployed. There is nothing so sure about your career future when the economy keeps going through ups and downs. The only thing you can be sure is how you are going to protect yourself against this uncertainty and secure your position. One of the best way to do it is to continue your education. If you are currently a teacher, this means that you need to attend more higher learning courses to know how to become an even better teacher.

What Are the Benefits of Continuing Your Education

Firstly, you will be open to a lot of higher paying jobs. With a higher degree, such as masters or PhD, you will be eligible for a lot of high paying positions. You will have to invest some serious money for the degree, but your effort and money will be paid off when you land high paying jobs and become financially secure. Many people do not realize how much potential an advanced degree could give them. They think they have a solid job already and don't want to lose money pursuing a degree all over again. However, it is not true. You need to prepare yourself for the changing work environment.

Even if you don't want to change your current job, getting a higher degree could help you in many ways. Firstly, you will probably have a raise in salary when you have a higher education degree. Secondly, you will have more to offer your company when you enrich yourself with new knowledge from the degree program. You will be able to secure your position against newly graduates who may have received a better education than you used to have.

Some companies even pay for their employees to continue their education. You could ask your employer directly and see if your company has such a policy. If it does, why not join in?

If you fear that continuing your education will take away too much time of your own, you need to know that there are many types of programs available to help working people like you. You may attend a weekend class, or evening course, or even study online if you prefer. The choice is very much yours.

Author Bio: Kimberly Santoyo has been writing freelance for over 3 years. She is passionate about business and finance and would like to become an entrepreneur in the future. Learning Cultures Ltd provides practical and sustainable whole school solutions that deliver high quality teaching and learning and deliver high quality, cost effective and continuing professional development for teachers.

7 Habits of Highly Successful Retirees

retirement (Photo credit: 401(K) 2013)

Planning for your retirement is something that all of us know we must do, but many of us put this kind of planning off, we avoid it as we think we've got stacks of time to worry about it. However, if you wish to have a successful retirement, you must take the time to make plans to ensure that it is everything you desire.

There are seven things that every successful retiree did prior to retiring that has made their retirement happy and secure. Surprisingly, they are not all financially related. Most of these retirees stated the following seven habits as the key to their happy retirement.

1. Savings Accounts

You want to have a bank account set aside just for your retirement. While you are still working, only make deposits in this account. When you retire, use this account to manage your finances. By changing your accounts when you retire, you have mentally created a new way to approach your money. 

2. Have Investments

Take advantage of every investment opportunity you can afford while you are working to guarantee an income when you retire. Make sure that your investments are diverse, and if at all possible, make sure that they have low maintenance fees. You want to make sure that your investments are funding your retirement and not paying high commissions to the brokers. 

3. Pay off Bills

Try to eliminate as many bills as possible before your retirement date. Review your current bills to determine if there are ways you can reduce them, such as downsizing cable options, getting rid of a land line phone and only opting for cell service, and moving credit card debt to low interest cards. Debt free living helps reduce retirement stress.

4. Downsize Your Life

You have spent your entire life working, now it is time for enjoyment. Look for ways to reduce your obligations so that you can only concentrate on your passions. If you have club memberships that you are no longer interest in, get rid of them. If you want a smaller home with less yard work, look for a new home before retiring. Have a pro-active approach to making your life your own and not filled with chores and duties. 

5. Take Advantage of Senior Discounts

There are so many different senior discount programs available, including those for necessities such as insurance policies and utilities, that it is foolish not to use them to your advantage. So many people avoid the “stigma” of senior citizen. The truth is, you need to embrace this title and take advantage of everything that it offers. 

6. Make Plans for Fun

One of the hardest things that retirees must face is waking up in the morning with nothing planned. After a lifetime of getting up and going to work, adapting to not having to be somewhere each morning can be difficult. Successful retirees always make sure they have at least one thing planned each day so that they are never sitting around with nothing to do. 

7. Volunteer

Retirees that offer their services to local charities, even for a few hours a week, seem to be the most successful. There are so many opportunities, from mentoring children to advising business owners, to accepting tickets at the gate of a state park, that any retiree can find a volunteer position that makes them happy.

The tricks to a successful and happy retirement are not as hard as you may have thought. As you can see, it just takes a little planning and a desire to be happy that will make your retirement the best time of your life.

This article was written by Perth Financial Adviser, Medhat Takla from Chambers Investment Planners. You can catch Medhat on Google+ and LinkedIn as well.

6 Ways to Market Your Small Business Via Social Media

Social media is a valuable resource for marketing your small business online. With new social networks popping up all the time, and others gaining mass popularity, it is tough to navigate the maze of opportunity. Here are a few surefire strategies for marketing your small business via social media. 

Engage, Don’t Broadcast

The goal of social media marketing is to start conversations and generate brand awareness—and, more businesses are starting to use social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to provide customer service, as well. The key is to engage your audience, meaning listening, responding and asking questions. If the only thing you do on social media is broadcast your content without ever interacting with users, you won’t grow your connections or make an impact. 

Take Advantage of Platform Tools

Many social networks offer tools designed to help businesses generate brand awareness. Facebook, for instance, allows businesses to create offers, such as discounts on products and services. When users accept an offer, it’s shared with their contacts, leading to more exposure for your business. Other examples of platform-specific marketing features include:

• Google+ Hangouts 
• Facebook Events 
• Facebook Promoted Posts 
• Twitter Sponsored Posts 
• Connect with Relevant Users 

Social media is a two-way street. Follow other thought leaders and relevant users and communicate with like-minded people to get the conversation flowing. You’ll make valuable connections with users who can help share your content.

Capitalize on Multi-Media 

Social status updates that include images capture attention and result in more clicks than text-only messages. So take advantage of the rich media features offered by many of today’s social networks, and incorporate images and videos into your status updates and content when possible.
Use a Multi-Platform Approach

There are so many social networks out there, it’s impossible to manage an active presence on every one. But using more than one social platform reaches a broader audience. The most popular social networks include:

• Facebook 
• Google+ 
• LinkedIn 
• Twitter 
• Pinterest 
• YouTube 

In addition to these primary platforms, there are second-tier networks that aren’t as widely used but are useful for targeting more precise demographics. Examples include:

• Quora 
• Instagram 
• StumbleUpon 
• Yelp 
• Tumblr 

Start by creating a brand page or profile for your business on each platform. This alone will help customers find you and boost your search engine rankings. Start joining in on the conversation and watch your brand recognition grow.
Tie in Your Email Marketing Campaign

Cross-promotion is one of the best ways to maximize your exposure online. Tying in your other marketing efforts, such as email marketing, by letting your subscribers know when you’ve posted an offer to Facebook or are hosting a Hangout on Google+, helps boost your follower counts and engage users.

There are dozens of ways to use social media to market your small business. It all starts with a presence across the social web. Combine your marketing efforts across multiple channels and actively engage your audience for the best results.