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If ever you need a lawyer to explain to you the legalese, it is when you are buying insurance. The first essential in buying insurance is being sure that what you bought is what you thought you bought.
About ten years ago, I had the misfortune to run into a villainous individual named Bob Grovich. He represented a firm in Newport Beach called TransAmerica. The way Bob laid things out was that I would have a level payment term insurance. At the end of ten years, I would have thousands and thousands of dollars at my disposal. He also wrote a life policy for my mother in law, who was in her 60's at the time, and weighed 300 pounds with commensurate cholesterol problems and high blood pressure. When that policy was approved by the company, I should have been tipped off!! Just to be on the safe side, I had my CPA check it out, it seemed too good to be true. My guy told me that it was on the up and up. Unfortunately it was on the down and down. When my mother in law turned 70, the premium went from about $125 and month, to $5000 a month, with breathtaking increases thereafter. I only found out about the company's duplicity through a class-action that was brewing throughout the United States. In all, at the tender age of 62 I found myself a stroke survivor that was uninsurable. Fortunately for my wife, my family is quite well provided for, but I wonder how many unfortunate little guys had this piece of crap for an insurance agent. Proceed carefully, and find an attorney who specializes in insurance, to read your contract, otherwise you are in for a double workover, your attorney's and the insurance companies fees. When buying insurance, remember that the agent is not your friend. They want to sell you a product and get the largest commission possible. If you wife has to hock her engagement ring to pay for the wake, the agent could care less. Also, make sure that the insurance company is financially sound. Make sure you get their financial statement from the agent. If they don't offer it, don't buy insurance from them. Policies are being written today with reckless abandon. I am in my 60's, and Connecticut Secure Life is betting that I will be around into my 90's. Scary. The only thing worse that having a bad policy is having none at all. It is amazing how many men I have met that have no insurance. If you care about you wife and kids, you should provide for them should something happen to you. I had the foresight to buy disability insurance 15 years ago in California, now that I have had a near brush with death, that $3500 a month is really been a savior to myself and my family. The bottom line is that I paid $138,000 in premiums over approximately ten years, and the class action got me back $7,700. Many insurance agents specialize in scamming the elderly. Things like burial and nursing home insurance are often a scam. The Wall Street Journal can hardly go a day without running a story about someone being gutted by these bastards. Some of our clients have taken more time picking out watches and jewelry than they did reading their insurance plans. Don't be taken advantage of by these crooks. Do your research, go slow, and make sure your policy is found. Your heirs will thank us both. I have many clients who are fine insurance agents. If you need help, feel free to give me a call.
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