Life insurance premium financing is used by wealthy individuals
to pay their life insurance premiums. By financing your premiums, it
allows you to free up the funds that might have otherwise been used to
pay your premium. Many wealthy people require a substantial amount of
life insurance for business planning, estate planning, or for income
replacement.
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Insurance Premium Financing |
In order to qualify for life insurance premium
financing most insurance companies require you have a minimum of $2.5
million in net worth and at least a $200,000.00 a year income. In
addition, you must be bankrupt remote entity, such as a Limited
Liability Corporation, or an Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust.
In a
normal premium financing arrangement, you would apply for a policy at
the same time you apply for a loan. The loan is usually arranged by the
insurance company you are working with although there are many different
companies that handle only the financing and do not deal with the
actual insurance policy. While you are being medically underwritten for
the life insurance policy, your loan is being processed. Assuming you
pass the medical exam and qualify for the loan, the policy and financing
are put into place at the same time.
The benefits of a premium
financing arrangement is that it frees up business and personal money to
be used more efficiently in other investment arenas. In addition, life
insurance premium financing may minimize gift taxes, and can provide a
greater rate of return on the death benefit paid through regular
non-financed methods.
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Life Insurance Premium Financing |
Life insurance premium financing loans may
be repaid either by paying a monthly payment while you are alive, pay
from the policy itself, or at the time of your death, proceeds from the
policy will pay off the loan.
Interest on the life insurance premium financing loan is considered to be personal interest, and therefore, not tax deductible.
If
you are considering a premium financing loan for estate planning, there
are some tax issues you may want to consider. The life insurance
proceeds will be included in your estate if you own the policy. If the
life insurance policy is owned by an irrevocable life insurance trust,
estate taxes on the death benefits may be avoided.
Before you
consider financing your life insurance premiums you should be aware that
the life insurance policy will have to earn returns of between 150 to
300 basis points over the interest rate of the loan.
In addition,
you should ask what the loan commitment fee is, as well as knowing
whether the life insurance premium financing loan is renewable, how long
the term of the loan is, and if the loan extends well beyond your life
expectancy.
You may want to find out if the loan requires a personal guarantee, or if the loan is guaranteed by the life insurance policy.
Also,
you want to know how if the program is designed on your IRS calculated
life expectancy or is it conventional. If the loan is based on your life
expectancy, and you live beyond that, the loan amount will exceed the
cash value and the whole program will come apart.
Before entering
into a financing agreement you may want to consult a trusted attorney,
your financial advisor, and/or your Certified Public Accountant.
You
will also want to shop around and compare insurance companies, their
individual plans, the premium amounts, and the different types and
amount of life insurance available to you.