CRP Insurance

10/21/2021

Truth

Even some old-school coaches like Geno Auriemma have had to adjust how they coach today's athletes.

This is an interesting way to look at how we talk to and interact with athletes from Jon Gordon

03/09/2016

If you love someone, consider life insurance

It’s simple. If people you love depend on you for their comfort and financial security, life insurance may be among the most significant purchases you’ll ever make. Life insurance can help provide for your loved ones’ financial needs after you’re gone. Whether for their families, spouses or even essential business partners, people purchase life insurance to help those they care about have more secure financial futures. You can do this for those important to you as well.

Now is the time to start thinking about your life insurance needs and help protect the financial security of the ones you love. Contact me today to discuss your options regarding life insurance and how it can help you and your family. We’ll work together to help you determine how much and what kind of insurance may be appropriate for you and your loved ones.

03/08/2016

Tips to Grow Your Money

From buying your first car to building your dream house, financial discipline takes a strategy.

Sticking to a financial plan is like committing to a regular workout regimen: Everyone seems to have the best intentions, but before long, real life gets in the way of discipline and plans can go out the window.
There are ways though, for even the least frugal of us to start building a nest egg. Making small changes part of your everyday routine can grow that stash and help you protect your future.

One of the most important realities to face is that there is no better time than right now to make your financial security a priority. Take a look at the infographic below to see how putting your money to work for you sooner rather than later can pay off. Then use our handy calculator to see how different amounts, periods of time and rates of return can affect your long-term balance sheet.
Need some help to get started?

Try the following tips to help you:

Identify your financial goals.

Craft a blueprint for achieving them.
Understand some readily-available tools to help you stick to the plan you've created.

1. Track expenses and budget accordingly
Ask yourself: What are you spending on certain items and why?

A simple search for “budget apps” or “money management apps” will bring up any number of free services that you can use to get immediate feedback on your budget and expenses – in real time right on your smartphone. These apps are designed to identify shortcomings and help you cut back on a gradual basis. They’re also with you at all times, and much more productive than checking Facebook every few minutes.
Analyzing your expenses can be a jarring experience at first, but each time you do it, the more honest you will be with yourself and the more comfortable you will grow in devising your strategy.

2. Set specific goals
Ask yourself: What are you planning for?

A sound strategy requires deadlines and objectives, so knowing what you're planning for is as important as the planning itself. Aim to accrue a certain amount by a given date. It’ll give you something to shoot for, and even if you don't meet the mark, that's okay! The most important thing is making a plan in the first place – it’s much easier to feel good about your accomplishments if you know what it is that you want to achieve.
It's also worth considering two sets of reserves - one for emergency expenses, such as car repairs or unexpected medical costs, and one for long-term goals, such as retirement.

3. Pay yourself first
Ask yourself: Would you miss some money if you never saw it?

Most financial advisors insist on paying yourself first. That means automatically depositing a portion of your paycheck directly into the vehicle of your choice before any bills are paid. The idea is that if you don't see the money you'll be less likely to miss it (or spend it). Before you know it, you’ll have established a considerable reserve fund.

It's not as much about the percentage you're setting aside as it is establishing realistic terms for your budget. If you can't afford to set aside 10 or even 5 percent each month, that's fine, as long as you're setting something aside. If you begin earning more, you can reassess your strategy and adjust the figures accordingly.

Understanding the importance of saving early. See this infographic.

4. Tools of the Trade
Ask yourself: What are some options that will not only protect my money, but help it grow?

Short term tools:
A checking account should be used to manage your incoming and outgoing money and pay bills. Many banks and credit unions offer free checking accounts with direct deposit from your employer or with a minimum balance. Checking accounts may protect your money better than holding onto cash, but they generally don’t encourage your money to work for you. For that, you may need other options.

Interest-bearing savings accounts allow easy access to your money but are not as transaction-friendly as a checking account. Savings accounts are a simple way to set money aside for holiday expenses and vacations, but also leave your money vulnerable to an impulse buy. Savings accounts usually have lower returns than other vehicles that limit your ability to withdraw funds.

For a short-term investment that may have better returns than a savings account, you could try a Certificate of Deposit (CD). The amount you put in the CD receives a fixed interest rate and generally has a maturity date after one month to five years. You cannot withdraw money from it ahead of time without incurring a penalty.

A money market account may offer a higher interest rate than a savings account by requiring a higher minimum balance, and by limiting the number of withdrawals.

Long term tools:
For longer-term planning, consider qualified retirement plans that allow you to defer a portion of your salary into the plan and reduce your present income-tax liability by reducing taxable income.
The most common retirement account is the 401(k), which is usually provided through an employer, but you can also establish an independent 401(k) if you are self-employed. A portion of your paycheck is deferred to the account until you reach retirement age, and employers also frequently contribute to help the account grow.

There is also an Individual Retirement Account (IRA), and you can choose between a traditional IRA and a Roth IRA. Distributions from the Roth IRA are tax-free, while those from the traditional are not. Keep in mind that a variety of factors, including your age and tax bracket, may restrict your ability to choose one over the other.

You also have the option of purchasing an annuity. Generally, you place your funds into it earlier in life for a source of income at a later date, usually during retirement. The key points regarding annuities are that they provide income tax-deferred growth, meaning their value grows pre-tax, but you do have to pay income tax on distributions from them. Perhaps most importantly, you cannot outlive your income from an annuity.

Life insurance is another interesting option to help achieve financial goals. While this tool’s primary function is to provide life insurance coverage to help protect your family’s assets in the event of your passing, a permanent life insurance policy can also be used as part of your financial strategy. Life insurance may allow you to tap into the policy’s cash value income tax-free^^ for any number of long-term expenses - college tuition, retirement plans or down payments on a home - without the same restrictions applied to many of the alternatives.

IC-0315-A 06/15
^ For informational purposes only. Neither Farmers New World Life Insurance Company, its employees nor its Agents provide legal or tax advice. Always consult your own attorney, accountant or tax adviser as to the legal, financial or tax consequences and advice on any particular transaction.
^^Distributions from a life insurance policy in the character of partial surrenders (withdrawals) up to basis or policy loans will be income tax-free, provided the policy does not violate Modified Endowment Contract (MEC) guidelines and the policy is not terminated during the lifetime of the insured. MEC guidelines are rules in the Internal Revenue Code which specify maximum premiums that can be paid without triggering adverse tax consequences for withdrawals. A policy termination during the life of the insured can cause the owner a single taxable event for any gains in the policy that were borrowed or withdrawn on or before the termination date.
^^^As with other helpful tools, the information provided by this calculator is for illustrative purposes only and is not intended to offer any tax, legal, or financial advice. It is always a good idea to consult the appropriate professionals for advice specific to your situation.

1 Life insurance, annuities and accidental death insurance issued by Farmers New World Life Insurance Company, 3003 77th Ave. SE, Mercer Island, WA 98040.
Products & features may not be available in all states & may vary by state.
* Securities offered through Farmers Financial Solutions, LLC, 30801 Agoura Rd. Bldg. 1 Agoura Hills, CA 91301. Member FINRA & SIPC.
* Products and Services/Auto or Home/Questions you may have about Risk Assessment Indicators

02/26/2016

DO WE REALLY NEED INSURANCE AGENTS ANY MORE?

With access to just about all the information we need online to make purchasing decisions, is there really a need for insurance agents anymore? It's your choice. You can choose to go direct instead of going through an agent but if you have someone on your side who can help you make the best decisions, save you money, provide you with tools and is free why would you not go with them?

02/26/2016

GREAT NEWS! CRP has been appointed to sell Commercial Insurance! Please contact us for highly competitive rates!

02/01/2016

My son and his friends out helping to promote CRP Insurance by putting out flyers! Love them!

01/31/2016

We unfortunately are getting to that age where the term "life insurance" has more meaning than our carefree 20 something selves would have even considered.

Yet many folks put it off, here are the top ten reasons why folks say they haven't invested in life insurance. If #8 is one of your reasons, don't let it be any longer - contact Mark Paulsen and he can help you navigate what may be right for you!

TOP 10 REASONS PEOPLE DON'T BUY LIFE INSURANCE

Many people could benefit from a life insurance policy but still choose not to purchase one. Learn why they should give life insurance another look.

There's no question that not everyone needs life insurance. According to the Consumer Federation of America (CFA), there's little reason to buy it if you don't have any dependents, "since there is no economic catastrophe associated with death."

Even then, though, there are exceptions, with the CFA declaring that "those who expect family responsibilities soon may wish to get coverage early to guard against a health change that could raise costs. Substantial term life insurance is inexpensive for young non-smokers, so paying for what you don't need yet, but will soon, is not a serious burden."

Still, at least the case can be made that if you're single, and especially if you're single as well as relatively young and healthy, you probably shouldn't feel a pressing need to go out and purchase some form of life insurance as soon as possible.

The same can't be said for a lot of the excuses that people who pass on buying this type of insurance use when asked to explain their hesitation or indifference. In fact, most of the reasons cited by folks who fail to see the appeal or benefit of life insurance are pretty easily refutable, with the following examples being noteworthy cases in point.

1. It costs too much (or I can't afford it)
Here's the funny thing about this particular line of reasoning: usually life insurance isn't all that expensive.

That depends on a number of factors, of course, including how old you are when you decide to take out a policy, how healthy (or unhealthy) you are at that time, whether or not you're a smoker, which type of life insurance, and how much coverage you want to buy.

If you're fairly young and healthy and you're not a smoker, though, you should be able to get a 20-year, $250,000 level-term policy for less than $200 annually.

This is far from common knowledge among today's consumers, though, with Todd Silverhart, Ph.D., corporate vice president at LIMRA Insurance Research, sharing that the work he and his colleagues have done in this area suggests that "consumers generally do not have a good understanding of how much a life policy might actually cost."

In fact, he adds, "they tend to over-estimate the actual cost a lot," with a good example being that, when asked (as part of the 2015 Insurance Barometer Study that LIMRA conducted with non-profit Life Happens) to guess the yearly cost of the above-mentioned policy, the average person replied $400. The median response from people under the age of 25, on the other hand, was $600, while a whopping one in four assumed the bill to come to $1,000 or more.

2. I don't need it because I have plenty of assets to leave my loved ones
That may be true, but what form are those assets in at the moment? Are they mainly liquid, meaning your beneficiaries could quickly convert them into cash should the need arise? Or are they mostly in non-liquid form, which would mean real estate, a share in a business, or even jewelry?

If it's the latter, a life insurance policy could provide your loved ones with access to some "ready cash" that would allow them to pay off debts that require immediate attention and also let them retain those non-liquid assets rather than potentially sell them for a fraction of what they'd get if they could hold on to them for a while longer.

3. I'm healthy
You are now, but what about five or 10 years down the road? Actually, none of us knows for sure how healthy—or not—we're going to be tomorrow or the next day, let alone a year or a decade in the future.

It doesn't take much Internet surfing to find stories of people who ignored life insurance because they were healthy or young (or both), only to be blindsided by an unexpected medical crisis that made them ineligible for life insurance.

This doesn't mean everyone should run out and buy as much life insurance as they can afford. If you've got a spouse, or children, or a parent who relies on your financial support, though, you should seriously consider at least some form and amount of life insurance. Even if you regularly get clean bills of health from your physician.

4. I've got too many other things to worry about right now
Maybe you're recently married, or you're busy prepping for your trip down the aisle. Or maybe you're about to have a baby, or you just had one.

Those situations and many more have prompted a lot of people to put "buy life insurance" at the bottom of their to-do lists—assuming it ever made it onto these lists to begin with.

As was mentioned earlier, though, you never know when something unfortunate or unexpected could happen to you, so if there are people in your life who depend on your income, you should make life insurance a priority again as soon as you're able.

5. I don't understand it well enough to buy it
All sorts of studies have found that one of the main reasons people don't purchase life insurance is that they're confused by all of the varieties and options that are made available to them during the buying process.

According to LIMRA's and Life Happens' 2015 Insurance Barometer Study, for example, 38 percent of participants cited "I’m not sure how much or what type to buy" as their reason for not purchasing.

"Given that buying life insurance is believed to be important and not something that is done often, the uncertainty that surrounds it paralyses many people," Silverhart says.

One fairly obvious solution to this issue is to reach out to an experienced agent so you can be led through the process by a helping hand rather than tackle it on your own.

6. I find the process intimidating
According to a 2014 LIMRA study, more than 70 percent of people who purchased life insurance policies through their employer said they were happy with the process and even described it as "comfortable."

A more recent study from the same organization, on the other hand, suggested that those who go to buy life insurance on their own are far less pleased with the experience. In fact, many say they find it intimidating.

Again, this is another situation where working with a professional who knows the ins and outs of the industry would help ease some of the tension associated with such a complex product.

7. I have other financial obligations that are more important than life insurance
For some people, spending their hard-earned cash on vacations, or shopping, or movies, or eating out is more important than using it to pay for a life insurance policy. For others, cable, Internet, and phone bills come before life insurance.

In fact, according to the most recent Insurance Barometer Study conducted by LIMRA and Life Happens, 60 percent of Millennials consider their cellphone, Internet, and cable payments higher priorities than purchasing life insurance, with 49 percent of those 65 and older saying the same thing.

According to Jim Kerley, LIMRA's chief membership officer, “Consumers today are confronted with more financial demands than ever. Younger shoppers in particular realize they need life insurance, but it’s not a priority for them."

One way to make it more of a priority for younger and older consumers alike, he adds, is to reinforce just how cheap life insurance can be—especially if you spend a bit less on eating out, movies, even your daily coffee run and use the savings to fund an insurance policy instead.

8. I don't trust insurance companies or agents
This keeps more people than you may imagine from buying life insurance, as the aforementioned study conducted by LIMRA and Life Happens found that nearly 40 percent of respondents have refrained from it due to the apprehension they feel for insurance agents.

If this describes you, there are a number of places you can go to read up on any companies you're considering doing business with, with A.M. Best, the Better Business Bureau, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, and your state insurance commissioner's office being four great examples.

9. I'll get to it eventually
Another way of putting the above is to say that a lot of people procrastinate when it comes purchasing a life insurance policy.

"Even though they recognize the value of life insurance and are aware of their need for it, many consumers [30 percent, according to the most recent Insurance Barometer Study] just haven’t gotten around to taking care of that need," Silverhart says.

10. It makes me think about death
Similarly, 30 percent of the men and women who participated in the 2015 Insurance Barometer Study suggested they've avoided buying life insurance because doing so causes them to think about their mortality.

Unfortunately, there's no easy way to combat this particular quandary—other than, perhaps, to point out that the thought of leaving your spouse, or children, or other loved ones in dire financial straits isn't likely to be much more, if at all, appealing thank thinking about passing away.

Frequently Asked Questions
Q: In what kinds of situations or circumstances would I want to avoid or ignore life insurance?
A: Most experts will suggest staying away from life insurance if you're single, or if you don't have any dependents. Many will say the same in regard to retirees—or at least a certain segment of the retired population. There are times when even folks in these situations may want to buy life insurance, though—with two cases in point being young, single people who assist siblings or parents and retirees who help support grandchildren.

Q: Do "empty nesters" need life insurance?
A: Sometimes, yes. For example, are there people in your life who depend on you for financial assistance? If so, you'll probably want to invest in this kind of insurance even if your children have "flown the coop." Another instance when life insurance may make sense for a so-called empty nester is if you're at all concerned about the Social Security “blackout period” that impacts some folks—women, especially—following the death of a spouse. (Because Social Security pays nothing between when your youngest son or daughter finishes high school and you apply for survivors’ benefits—the latter of which isn't possible before you turn 60.)

Q: I'm a retiree. Do I still need life insurance?
A: Whether or not you "need" life insurance as a retiree depends on your current circumstances. If you're free of debt, you no longer rely on an occupation for income, you have children who are self-sufficient, or if you're having a hard time paying your premiums, you very well may not need, or no longer need it. That said, if you're still paying off your house, or if you're supporting one or more dependents—a good example would be grandchildren you may be caring for, or even adult children who are disabled—you could make a far worse purchase than life insurance.