Insurance Overview INTRO: Insurance Planning is important as an aspect of one's overall financial planning. Bruce Hagan, certified financial planner with RAI Investments and Corporate Securities Group is here to lend some insight on this topic. Q1: Everyone is familiar to some extent with Insurance; we have car insurance and homeowners insurance, but there are many other types of insurance available. What other insurance coverage should people be aware of and possibly include in their planning? A1: Indicate that other insurance areas include specialized business insurance (property/casualty, product liability, etc) but that for individuals we should examine our need for health, disability, life, long-term care and even some investment oriented insurance products such as fixed and variable annuities. Q2: If health insurance is not offered through one’s employer how would you go about buying it and how does someone know what coverage they need? A2: Make sure you seek advice from someone who is an expert in this area and is with a very reputable company. Health insurance can be complicated. Coverage options are numerous and each bell and whistle you add has a corresponding cost. You also have to realistically appraise your family’s health and select deductible limits that you think will best suit your needs. Q3: Why disability insurance? A3: This is possibly the most ignored insurance in financial planning and that’s unfortunate because someone’s chances of becoming disabled is far greater than most of us realized or care to admit. The loss of a major breadwinner’s earnings stream can have a devastating effect on a family. Q4: I know there are many forms of life insurance. A4: Yes, and the most major distinction is whether you need insurance that merely provides a death benefit (term insurance) or a policy that will also build up a cash balance as a forced savings vehicle (whole life); again, seek professional advice and customize your program for maximum cost efficiency. Q5: You mentioned long term care coverage? A5: This is fast becoming popular as the older baby boomers begin facing the inevitability of the aging process. It can prevent one’s retirement nest egg from being depleted by a debilitating illness of medical condition. The discussion offered above and in the movie should not be considered an endorsement by Florida State University. They are offered in the educational sense of providing thought-provoking information for our Web audience. Copyright shared with Florida News Channel (FNC), all rights reserved. Broadcast 1/28/2000