Life Insurance

What is it?Whole Life is the most basic type of permanent life insurance. Depending on your age and health, your premium will purchase a specific face amount and accumulate cash value, as long as your premiums are paid. Generally, Whole Life premiums, while higher than term premiums, especially for younger individuals, are guaranteed not to increase. In addition, Whole Life policies can earn annual dividends which are based on MetLife's investment, mortality, and expense experience. Dividends are not guaranteed.
Who's it for?People who:
Have a lifetime need for insurance protection
Prefer the high degree of safety provided by the policy's guarantees
Are attracted by the policy's ability to build tax-deferred cash values
Like to know that their premiums will never increase
Over time, whole life insurance may be more economical than term insurance since premiums do not increase with age and the policy builds cash value.
Earnings, and certain withdrawals and loans, may qualify for tax-favored treatment.
Policy loans and withdrawals provide access to your cash value. Loans, withdrawals and any unpaid loan interest generally reduce the death benefit, which could leave beneficiaries inadequately protected. Loans reduce the cash value and death benefit by the amount of the loan outstanding plus interest and may affect them permanently.
If you cancel the policy, the accumulated cash value is yours to use as you wish. Taxes may apply.
Dividends can be taken in cash or used to increase the policy's cash value and death benefit. This means that certain "dividend options" may be used to purchase additional insurance coverage each year, regardless of your health.
Premiums are initially more costly than term premiums, although they remain level for the life of the policy. Premiums are guaranteed not to increase over the life of the policy.
A minimum death benefit is guaranteed.
The cash value is guaranteed to grow at a specified, minimum rate.

Like most insurance policies, MetLife's policies contain exclusions, limitations, reductions of benefits and terms for keeping them in force. For complete costs and details, see your MetLife Financial Services representative.
L-98 Whole Life Insurance [Life Paid-Up at Age 98 (L-98) Form No. 8-90(95) ] is issued by Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, 200 Park Ave., New York, NY 10166.

The 2008 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event which is being held in Beijing, People's Republic of China, from August 8 (except football, which started on August 6) to August 24, 2008. A total of 10,500 athletes are expected to compete in 302 events in 28 sports, one event more than was on the schedule of the 2004 games.[2] The 2008 Beijing Olympics will also mark the third time that Olympic events will have been held in the territories of two different National Olympic Committees (NOC), as the equestrian events are being held in Hong Kong.
The Olympic games were awarded to Beijing after an exhaustive ballot of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on July 13, 2001. The official logo of the games, titled "Dancing Beijing," features a stylised calligraphic character jīng (京, meaning capital), referring to the host city. The mascots of Beijing 2008 are the five Fuwa,[3] each representing both a colour of the Olympic rings and a symbol of Chinese culture. The Olympic slogan, One World, One Dream, calls upon the world to unite in the Olympic spirit. Several new NOCs have also been recognised by the IOC.
The Chinese government has promoted the games and has invested heavily in new facilities and transportation systems.[4][5] A total of 37 venues will be used to host the events including 12 newly constructed venues. Earlier in 2007, former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch had said that he believes that the Beijing games will be "the best in Olympic history,"[6] and current president Jacques Rogge asserts that the IOC has "absolutely no regrets" in choosing Beijing to host the 2008 games.[7] The choice of China as a host country has been a subject of criticism by politicians and NGOs concerned about China's human rights record.

The term health insurance is generally used to describe a form of insurance that pays for medical expenses. It is sometimes used more broadly to include insurance covering disability or long-term nursing or custodial care needs. It may be provided through a government-sponsored social insurance program, or from private insurance companies. It may be purchased on a group basis (e.g., by a firm to cover its employees) or purchased by individual consumers. In each case, the covered groups or individuals pay premiums or taxes to help protect themselves from high or unexpected healthcare expenses. Similar benefits paying for medical expenses may also be provided through social welfare programs funded by the government.
Health insurance works by estimating the overall risk of healthcare expenses and developing a routine finance structure (such as a monthly premium or annual tax) that will ensure that money is available to pay for the healthcare benefits specified in the insurance agreement. The benefit is administered by a central organization, most often either a government agency or a private or not-for-profit entity operating a health plan.[1]

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A judge in Los Angeles has sentenced two elderly women to life in prison without parole for murdering two indigent men to collect insurance policies taken out on their lives.
Superior Court Judge David Wesley on Tuesday sentenced 77-year-old Helen Golay and 75-year-old Olga Rutterschmidt to two consecutive life terms each.
The judge denounced the women for their greed. He says the men they killed needed only food, water and shelter and thought the women were going to give them a helping hand.
Prosecutors say the women collected $2.8 million before their scheme was uncovered.

WEST ROCKPORT (May 9): How should I choose what type of life insurance to buy?
You should consider term life insurance if:
You need life insurance for a specific period of time. Term life insurance enables you to match the length of the term policy to the length of the need. For example, if you have young children and want to ensure that there will be funds to pay for their college education, you might buy 20-year term life insurance. Or if you want the insurance to repay a debt that will be paid off in a specified time period, buy a term policy for that period.
You need a large amount of life insurance, but have a limited budget. In general, this type of insurance pays only if you die during the term of the policy, so the rate per thousand of death benefit is lower than for permanent forms of life insurance. If you are still alive at the end of the term, coverage stops unless the policy is renewed. Unlike permanent insurance, you will not build equity in the form of cash savings.
If you think your financial needs may change, you may also want to look into “convertible” term policies. These allow you to convert to permanent insurance without a medical examination in exchange for higher premiums.
Keep in mind that premiums are lowest when you are young and increase upon renewal as you age. Some term insurance policies can be renewed when the policy ends, but the premium will generally increase. Some policies require a medical examination at renewal to qualify for the lowest rates.
You should consider permanent life insurance if:
You need life insurance for as long as you live. A permanent policy pays a death benefit whether you die tomorrow or live to be 100.
You want to accumulate a savings element that will grow on a tax-deferred basis and could be a source of borrowed funds for a variety of purposes. The savings element can be used to pay premiums to keep the life insurance in force if you can’t pay them otherwise, or it can be used for any other purpose you choose. You can borrow these funds even if your credit is shaky. The death benefit is collateral for the loan, and if you die before it’s repaid, the insurance company collects what is due the company before determining what’s goes to your beneficiary.
Keep in mind that premiums for permanent policies are generally higher than for term insurance. However, the premium in a permanent policy remains the same no matter how old you are, while term can go up substantially every time you renew it.
There are a number of different types of permanent insurance policies, such as whole (ordinary) life, universal life, variable life, and variable/universal life.