Why Don't Women Have Life Insurance?Written by Ivon T. Hughes
Traditionally, life insurance companies solicited men as main breadwinners in a family to ensure, that they had adequate life insurance coverage.Now, times have changed, but statistics on women show that great percentage of American and Canadian women carry no life insurance. And those that do have a policy, carry about half as much coverage as men do. Most modern U.S. and Canadian households are dual-income households. If you are married, especially if you have children, would your husband be able to afford family style of living if you were to pass away? If you are single, who would assume burden of paying for your final costs if you were to pass away? This may fall to your parents, who are also likely to be living on a fixed income. Many single women, especially those with children, may be on a tight budget and feel they can't afford life insurance. However, they may be surprised to know that a 30 year old healthy woman can purchase a $250,000 10-year term life insurance policy for $12.00 a month. If you are a healthy 50 year old, that does not mean it is too late to buy affordable life insurance; your cost for same policy as above would only be about $37.00 a month. If you have children, it is especially important to make sure they will be taken care of if anything were to happen to you.
| | How to use a Home Equity Line of Credit CalculatorWritten by John Ross
Most home owners know that lower interest rate, lower monthly payments. But then process may get a bit fuzzy. While your monthly payments may be same every month, you are not applying same amount to principal of loan. Your amortization will vary month to month. So, you will have to use a little math to determine how much equity you are actually gaining. Are you confused yet? If you are, don't worry. There is luckily a very helpful tool that will take guess work out of home equity loans. Before you commit to anything, you should play around with a home equity loan calculator to determine how much you can borrow. There are many sites available online that give you free access to a wealth of tools and calculators.What is a home equity loan calculator? Basically, it is a mathematical program that will ask for a few key pieces of information. It will then calculate how much you can borrow, and show you an example of what your amortization schedule would look like. Your lender may use a similar program to determine amount that you can borrow against your home. Once you find a home equity loan calculator, you will need to enter in a little bit of information. First it will ask you value of your home. Typically, more accurate this figure more likely you are to get an accurate end result. Most appraisal companies will take private orders, so you can order an appraisal at any time prior to actually obtaining a loan. Prices vary by location, but you can expect to spend a few hundred dollars obtaining a report. Second, you will be asked amount owed on your current mortgage. This should include any first or second mortgages that you may already have out. Consult your mortgage lender to find out exact amount owed at present time. From these two figures program will determine how much equity you have in home. You may also be asked for loan to value ratio required. This is typically 80%, 90%, 100%, or even 125%.
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