Make Evaluating Your Insurance Coverage A Part Of Your Financial Well-being
Even though the stresses of tax season are for most of us but a memory, it is still important to not put away those W-2s and other financial data just yet. While your information is at your fingertips, it can be a great time to review your overall financial plan, especially as relates to insurance coverage.
When re-evaluating your strategy, a few questions bear your consideration:
• Have there been recent changes in your family? A new child? A new spouse?
• Has there been a change in your job status?
• Are you making more or less income or none at all?
• Are you relocating?
• Are you making a major purchase?
• Have you turned 50?
• Are you caring for an elderly parent(s)?
• Are you going into retirement?
• Have you suffered the loss of a loved one?
• Is your life insurance up to date?
"The best thing you can do is keep an eye on your insurance coverage as your family needs change," said Angela Jones, an Aflac policy services manager. "You need to make sure you have adequate coverage whether you are adding or taking someone off your policies."
So when assessing life insurance, make sure it meets the needs of your current situation and update this information annually.
There is also disability insurance to consider and how it will meet your needs in the event you get hurt and cannot work. And for anyone at midlife, the prospect of needing long-term care requires you to consider the prospects of possibly needing to address a chronic illness.
Among the best ways to augment your financial plan, and shelter a portion of your income, while also paying medical expenses is to establish a Flexible Spending Account (FSA). An FSA allows money to be deducted from an employee's paycheck pretax and then spent on qualified expenses.
There are two types of FSAs-unreimbursed medical (URM) and dependent day care (DDC). For example, if people know that they will incur annual expenses for over-the-counter medicines, they can elect a specific yearly dollar amount that they spend on these bills to be put aside.
Participation in one or both FSAs can save you money by reducing your taxable income.
Aflac insurance policies help supplement primary health plans by providing direct-to-the-policyholder cash benefits as one option to help fill gaps in traditional coverage.
