Tue25

How Much Life Insurance Does a Stay at Home Spouse need?

Posted on Jul 25, 2017 in Success ideas

When deciding how much life insurance a person needs, Financial Planners recommend an amount of 7 to 10 times your annual income.

But what if you don’t have any annual income? What if you are a full-time, stay at home spouse and parent? Do you need a life insurance policy if you have no income?

Well, in a way, yes. In fact, as a stay at home spouse or parent, you make hugely valuable contributions to the household. Contributions that could cost thousands should something happen to you.

According to a recent Salary.com survey in 2016, the value of a stay at home parent would be about $143,000 if you had to outsource those jobs. These services include those provided by a typical homemaker which include a housekeeper, child care, a driver for the kids, and more.

But how much does this stay at home spouse or parent need for life insurance? $1,000,000? Probably not. Use the following as a guide.

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Fri31

Group Life Insurance – What is Imputed Income?

Posted on Jul 31, 2015 in Industry & Legislative News, Success ideas

Many employers provide employees with employer-paid group-term life insurance benefits or arrange for employees to purchase group term life insurance benefits. But did you know that in some cases, if an employer pays for more than a $50,000 life insurance benefit, there can be tax implications for the employee?

Must the cost of employer-provided group-term life insurance be included in an employee’s gross income?

Pursuant to Internal Revenue Code (Code) Section 79, an employee may exclude up to $50,000 of employer- provided group-term life insurance from his or her income. This tax exclusion applies only to insurance on the life of the employee. It does not apply to insurance on the life of the employee’s spouse or dependent or other individual.

In addition, the employer may generally deduct the premiums it pays for the coverage as an ordinary and necessary business expense, so long as the employer is neither directly nor indirectly the beneficiary under the policy.

May the employer provide group-term life insurance for its employees in excess of $50,000?

Yes. However, the “cost” of the coverage in excess of $50,000 must be included in the employee’s gross income. “Cost” as used here does not refer to the premium paid by the employer but to the cost determined under the Uniform Premium Table contained in IRS regulations. The “cost” of the coverage added to an employee’s gross income is commonly referred to as “imputed income”.

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Wed24

How much coverage do I need for Key Person Insurance?

Posted on Jun 24, 2015 in Success ideas

Valuing a Key Employee

It can be hard to put an exact monetary value on how important a key person is to a given business. The goal when valuing a key person for life and disability insurance is to get the correct amount of coverage based on the specific needs of the business, but that also corresponds to the realistic loss associated with the death or disability of the key employee from the insurance company’s viewpoint.

In many cases the amount of key person insurance requested is dramatically higher than is available from the life and disability insurance companies. For example, just because a firm is borrowing $10,000,000 for a project expansion doesn’t mean the insurance company will willingly write $10,000,000 of key man life or disability insurance. Specific details will be required by the insurance company to justify the insurance amount requested.

There are several valuation methods commonly used to determine the proper amount of key person insurance needed from both the business and insurance companies perspective. These valuation methods include: the replacement cost method, the contribution to earnings method and the multiples of income approach. A brief explanation of each valuation method follows below.

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