If you choose to go with a private life insurance provider, which is an important part of your portfolio, the following suggestions (aside from maintaining good records or bookkeeping) should also help you in your journey to becoming financially stable: ·It is important to keep copies of all documents you receive from your life insurance providers just like any other documents in your portfolio. In turn, your insurance provider should be able to provide you copies of any misplaced documents. The best insurance providers have kept good filing systems and records. ·Know every little detail about where your premiums go, (i.e. what percentage of your premiums go to the cost of your life insurance). You have the right to know. However, these types of information should already be in your policy agreement/contract and should show on your regular statements, in the first place. The best insurance providers have clear and easy to understand contracts and statements. ·If your beneficiary(ies) are old/mature enough to keep copies of your policies, have them keep a copy for themselves, so they are aware that they are your beneficiaries, and should be aware of phone numbers to call in case claims have to happen in the long run. ·Most life insurance companies offer these four (4) possible types of policies. Understand the difference of each type of these policies: 1) Whole Life, 2) Term Life, 3) Universal Life, and 4) Survivorhip Life · Find out if any of your policies earn dividends or what is called, "divisible surplus", and how your life insurance providers compute those dividends. With policies having cash values (or cash surrender values), know how much interest gets applied. Understand where your insurance providers obtain interest rates from (in case your premiums are being invested somewhere) to make sure your cash/cash surrender values are accurate (the interest rates and/or website address where your insurance providers invest your premiums should always show on your policy’s contract, in the first place). With regards to your cash value balance, always check and make sure that the ending cash value balance (not the cash surrender value) from your previous statements matches the beginning cash value balance on your current statements. I have come across some that did not match, so always check. · Always figure out the difference between your“total accumulated premium payments from the beginning of your policy” and your “cash surrender value shown on your latest statements”. The difference is normally the cost of your insurance. Your life insurance provider, as mentioned on the second bullet, should itemize those for you in detail, meaning how much of it went to pay the agent’s commission, how much of it went to their operating expenses or administrative fees, how much of it goes into reserve, etc. The best life insurance providers are ones who are transparent in all their costs and fees. · Make sure that computations showing on your statements are correct. I have seen it happened! Some computations on life insurance summaries are unclear. For instance, if your life insurance provider showed a policy loan interest charges of $403.73 (on your annual statement) on a loan accrued on your life insurance policy, having a balance of $2,842.20 at 6.43% interest rate. Simply calculate the principal balance of $2,842.20 by 6.43% (or $2,842.20 x .0643). That will give you an answer of $182.75 (not $403.73). The best life insurance providers are ones that have a proven track record of having a good accounting system in place. · Some insurance providers have allowed policyholders to take out loans on their life insurance policies. However, Title 18 of the Insurance Code of Delaware, for instance, Chapter 2911 on Policy Loans states, “The policy shall reserve to the insurer the right to defer the granting of a loan, other than for the payment of any premium to the insurer, for 6 months after application therefor.” Learning to do research on laws and regulations, that pertains to your own state, is one good attribute of policyowners. However, the best insurance providers are ones who abide by those rules. · Choose a life insurance provider that provides a clear contract. One good contract agreement/policy document would be one that shows the policy owner’s name, policy owners account numbers, and the date policy owners bought the life insurance policy on every page (footer) of your contract agreement/policy documents. · Choose a life insurance provider that provides statements as often as your premium payments frequency. If you pay monthly, your insurance provider should provide you monthly statements. If you pay quarterly, your insurance provider should provide you quarterly statements, etc.