Planning For Your Family's Future
"It is important to create a summary of your life
insurance benefits and communicate your information with selected loved ones."
(NAPSI)-Millions of Americans have made providing for their
families their primary responsibility. For many, that includes functioning as a wage
earner and insuring themselves, in the event of their own untimely death.
As a result, life insurance has become an important part of
many people's financial plans designed to protect their families. But do surviving family
members know what to do with that life insurance when they need it most?
"Preparing for Tomorrow" helps educate
policyholders on what they can do now, and what loved ones can do later, to expedite the
payment of death benefits.
"Our goal is to help our clients prepare for
tomorrow," says Vivian Banta of Prudential Financial, Inc., whose company Web site
offers tips to life insurance consumers and their families. "We want individuals to
address important insurance issues some people may not consider."
Some of the tips offered to help prepare loved ones include:
• Making sure all the beneficiary designations
are up to date and on file with your insurer. Failure to do so can slow down the
benefits claim process and may even force your insurer to make the payment to your estate
or to someone other than whom you intended. Life events, such as marriage, birth, adoption
or death may necessitate a beneficiary change.
• Informing the insurance company of any changes
in marital status. In some cases, state law may require reclassifying your
beneficiaries.
• Understanding your own insurance portfolio and
sharing coverage summaries with selected loved ones.
"Preparing for Tomorrow" recommends that at a time
of loss, loved ones:
• Ask the insurer if there are any policies covering the
deceased beyond what have been identified.
• Contact the individual's employer to see if there are
any group policies.
• Contact the Social Security Administration for
benefits that may be payable.
• Consult the individual's checkbook and bank statements
for payments made to insurance companies if you can't find policy documentation and don't
know which company to contact.
• Contact the individual's financial representative or
adviser.
For more information, visit Prudential's publications
library at www.prudential.com.
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