Florida Life Insurance

What Can Life Insurance Do (besides provide a death benefit)?
As an independent agency we work hard to provide a variety of smart, affordable choices that will help you and your family, meet your financial needs, goals and obligations. Whether you're trying to create or preserve your wealth, or are safeguarding your lifestyle and assets, we can help.

Representing numerous carriers we can offer life insurance, fixed and variable annuities, long term care and disability income plans that create or preserve wealth. To protect your lifestyle and assets, consider whole life, term life, universal life, variable universal life, survivorship life insurance and/or disability insurance protection.

We provide only the highest rated life insurance carriers that have a long history, are financially stable, innovative and are 100% customer focused. Often these are the companies we have our own personal and business life insurance policies with. One thing we do know is “we’ll find you high-quality insurance at the most competitive prices.”

Term Life Insurance
How can you protect your family and/or business in the event that something happens to you? It comes down to three little words — term life insurance. Term life insurance is usually the most cost-effective option for getting the most life insurance protection for your money. It provides life insurance protection for a fixed period of time, usually 10, 15, 20 or 30 years. Term life insurance pays a death benefit if you die during the term of your policy; however, unlike other types of life insurance, the policy does not build any cash value or assets.

Why Do You Need Term Life Insurance?
Consider what your term life insurance death benefit can do for your family or business:

• It may cover your family's immediate financial concerns at a lower out-of-pocket expense.

• It may help to protect and maintain your family's standard of living.

• It may create a valuable emergency fund for unforeseen expenses when your family needs it most – at the insured's death.

• It may clear any short-term debt, such as credit card debt, that has accumulated over time to give your family a "clean financial slate."

• It may ensure that your family can pay the monthly mortgage.

• It may safeguard your children's education costs.

• It may pay off any outstanding personal and business loans.

• It can fund a buy-sell agreement for a start-up business to help provide for an orderly change of business ownership.

• It can supplement current permanent life insurance coverage until more can be purchased.

Permanent or Whole Life Insurance
Life Insurance is a unique financial product. It was designed to provide a death benefit for your beneficiaries if you die, but permanent life insurance can be used for a multitude of other financial needs as well.

Permanent or Whole Life policies provide lifelong insurance protection. Policies pay a death benefit if you die tomorrow or if you live to be a hundred. Most policies also have a savings element that will grow on a tax-deferred basis and, provided you have selected the right kind of policy, could become substantial over time. Adding the savings portion generally means the premiums are little higher for permanent than for termed life insurance. However, the premium in a permanent or whole life policy remain the same (level), while term life rates can go up substantially every time you attempt to renew or upgrade the policy.

There are a number of different types of permanent insurance policies, Whole (ordinary) life, Universal Life, Variable Life, Variable/Universal Life and Indexed Linked Life. In a permanent policy, the cash value is different from its face value amount. The face amount is the money that will be paid at death or age 100 in most policies. Cash value is the amount of money that has accumulated and is available to you. At Cottrell Insurance Services we help our clients by providing policies that allow you to easily access the cash for emergencies in the future. The policy loan provisions we like are ones that have no interest payments and provide Tax-Free loans.  

Some of the unique features of Permanent and Whole Life policies are:

• You can lock in premiums when you purchase the policy. By purchasing a permanent policy, the premium will not increase as you age or if your health status changes.
• The policy will accumulate cash savings.
  Depending on the policy, you may be able to withdraw some of the money. You may also have these options:

Use the cash value to pay premiums. If unexpected expenses occur, you can stop or reduce your premiums. The cash value in the policy can be used toward the premium payment to continue your current insurance protection – providing there is enough money accumulated.

Borrow from the insurance company using the cash value in your life insurance as collateral. Like all loans, you will ultimately need to repay the insurer with interest. Otherwise, the policy may lapse or your beneficiaries will receive a reduced death benefit. However, unlike loans from most financial institutions, the loan is not dependent on credit checks or other restrictions.