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The most difficult party to an annuity for a person to fully understand is the annuitant. The best way to understand this party to an annuity would be to compare it to the functions of a life insurance policy. When a life insurance policy is issued, the person insured is named on the contract and continues as the insured until the owner of the policy either terminates the contract or does not make any required premium payments – or, of course, the insured dies.

With the annuity, the terms remain in force until the contract owner makes a change or the annuitant (the person named in the contract as annuitant) dies. Therefore, the annuitant resembles the insured in a life insurance policy. But with an annuity, the death of the annuitant does not necessarily mean the contract is about to terminate. Even though every annuity contract must designate an annuitant, the annuitant has no voice or control over the investment or its disposition. If the contract is a Variable Annuity, and if the annuitant dies, this may create certain insurance company guarantees.

Annuitants are often called the “measuring life.” This means that the length of time that the contract covers must have a specific time frame. The annuitant is then used as the time frame that is considered and referred to by the contract. Just like in life insurance, the annuitant has no voice or control over the contract. The annuitant can benefit from an annuity ONLY when it “annuitizes.” The annuitant, by itself, cannot make withdrawals or deposits, change the names of the parties to the agreement, or terminate the contract.

The person named as annuitant can be any person so designated by the annuity, with the only restriction being that is must be an actual living person under a specified age, and not a trust, business, corporation, etc. The maximum age of the proposed annuitant depends on the requirements of the insurance company – usually the annuitant must be under age of 75 when the contract is first executed. It is of prime importance that the investment (contract) stay in force after the annuitant reaches this maximum age.

Generally, the contract owner may change the annuitant at any time provided the annuitant is alive when the contact was originally executed. Some contracts allow for the contract owner to name a co-annuitant. By naming a co-annuitant, the contract could last longer because any “forced” annuitization or the termination of the contract could possibly be postponed until the death of the second annuitant. The co-annuitant can be compared to a “second-to-die” life insurance policy, as the death of one annuitant will not force distribution of the annuity. Naming a co-annuitant means the death of one annuitant will not trigger a possible forced distribution.

Only a small number of insurers include a co-annuitant option as part of the annuity application.

Some annuity contracts require a distribution or “orderly liquidation” of the funds, once the annuitant reaches a certain specified age – typically 80 or 85. The death of an annuitant may require liquidation within a specified period, usually five years.

AGE OF ANNUITANT

Regulations are rather detailed as to who can purchase an annuity and for whose benefit, keeping in mind the contract law that a contract entered into by a minor can be voided by such minor.

California regulations state that (a) a minor under age 18 may enter into a valid contract for life or disability insurance, or annuities, (b) those under age 16 can purchase life or disability insurance or annuities with the written consent of their parent or guardian. In respect to benefits, a minor under the age of 18 may give valid instructions as to any money that has accrued or payable under the terms of the contract, but only with the written consent of a parent or guardian. The regulations also state that any contract that is made by a minor under age 18 that can result in the personal liability for assessment, may only be issued with the written assumption of such liability by a parent or guardian.

In actual practice, annuities are generally issued with maximum ages of 85 and annuitization at age 90 or 95, with some offering maximum annuitization age of 100. Age 85 is also often used for both purposes as that is the law in Pennsylvania. For non-qualified products the youngest issue age is usually -0-, but the minimum age usually is only mentioned for Equity Index Annuities.

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Website owners who keep up to date with SEO competition are finding out that if you are not learning and evolving you’re falling behind. It’s becoming more and more difficult for websites to maintain high rankings on search engines and that’s even if your site is already a few years old. If you are starting a new website it’s even more difficult to make your mark on a SEO. Expectations for new sites should be set up with the goal for long term results.

The most important factor in determining your website’s success is to know what you are looking for from your site. Most owners believe that rankings dictate a website’s success and while rankings are important they do not determine the overall success of the site. Owners should pay attention to the traffic they receive because that is going to factor into your business success and put money in your pocket. That’s why you have the site, correct? To make more money! Most website owners want to be in the top five of Google and Yahoo searches, when at the end of the day those rankings to not affect their bottom line.

This will not change the fact that rankings will continue to be a highly sought after commodity. Website owners need to think outside the box if they want to move up on SEO rankings. Owners have been expanding their keywords in hopes of attracting more surfers to their site. What they should be doing is figuring out what keywords people are using and incorporate those words and phrases onto their site.

At the end of the day websites are all about content, but what constitutes good content? In one word: Creativity. Your website is an extension of you, just like your business is. Use your voice and be unique with the content you decide to put on your website. This includes videos and pictures as well. Look at the resources you have and incorporate all the good things around you into your website. Do not steal or copy from other websites, it is superficial and that comes across to the visitors on your site. Make your content genuine. Do what you do best and speak from the heart. Make sure you write content for your site and not based on search engines. It’s a disservice and will not help your business or rankings.

The best advice one can give a website owner is: Do not compete with other websites! Continue to expand and evolve your own website and don’t saturate your brain with other people’s ideas. There is no right or wrong, what works for one does not work for another. Start with what you need to have on your site and work up from there.

You can pay all the money in the world to a SEO company and be number one on all the search engines, but did you really start a website to spend money or to make money?

In years past, the credit repair industry was tainted by fly by night credit repair clinics and other credit fixing scams. Despite the need that many people had to get help with repairing their credit, it was hard to find a credit repair company they could trust.

Today, the credit repair industry has matured thanks to increased awareness and federal regulation. The keystone of this regulation is the Credit Repair Organizations Act, also known as CROA. Recognizing the value of professional credit repair services, Congress enacted CROA in order to define appropriate actions of a credit repair organization and to outlaw many of the practices typical of a fraudulent credit repair clinic.

While there are still some fraudulent credit repair organizations trying to take your money, by understanding the basic ideas of CROA, you can easily identify these scams and make sure you avoid them. Knowing what things credit repair companies are and are not able to do, will keep you from becoming a victim.

Below are three key points of CROA and what they mean to you as you are shopping for a credit repair company.

1) Credit repair organizations cannot charge fees for services before they are rendered

Most credit repair scams start off the same way. You are required to pay a large upfront fee, often times in the range of hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Then, after you have made the payment, the credit repair company does little or nothing to repair your credit and in some cases, simply disappears with your money.

To keep you from becoming a victim of this type of scam, CROA prevents credit repair companies from charging for services before they have been provided. If a credit repair company charges a set up fee, they cannot collect that fee until after the task of setting up your case has been completed. If a credit repair company charges monthly fees, those fees cannot be collected until after a month’s worth of services have been provided.

Keeping this requirement in mind is probably the most important thing you can do to avoid becoming a victim of a credit repair scam. Even today there are companies like Champion Credit Consulting and Credit Clean who will try to charge you $795 and $1223 before they have done anything to repair your credit.

2) Credit repair organizations cannot make incorrect or misleading statements

Preying on the naivety and lack of knowledge of people looking to improve their credit, many credit repair companies entice people with claims of improving their credit score 100 points in 60 days or removing bankruptcies from their credit reports. The truth is that while it is possible for each of these things to happen, no credit repair company can promise that they will.

In fact, no credit repair company can promise to remove anything from your credit reports because ultimately, it is up to the credit bureaus what items are listed on your reports. Disputing credit is not failsafe. There are cases where no matter what you do, a particular negative item will not be removed from your credit reports.

Any company that promises to increase your credit score or remove any negative items from your credit reports is violating the law. According to CROA, and the nature of the credit system, the best any credit repair company can do is promise to put forth a best effort. Just like in a court of law, a lawyer can promise to work as hard as they can, but they cannot promise that you will win over the jury.

3) Credit repair companies must inform you of your rights

The credit system is not easy and many people do not adequately understand their rights within the system. This lack of education makes it easy for con-artists to prey on the unaware.

So you do not get caught off-guard, credit repair organizations are required to inform all prospective customers of their right to order their own credit reports and their right to dispute the questionable information they contain. They are also required to inform you of your right to cancel your credit repair service within 3 days of signing up for no reason and with no penalty.

When signing up with a credit repair organization, CROA dictates that you should be presented with a disclosure statement titled “Consumer Credit File Rights Under State and Federal Law”. This statement describes the rights mentioned above.

CROA has changed the landscape in the credit repair industry and has been very effective in helping the FTC identify and prosecute shady credit repair organizations. Because of CROA, you can feel confident that your money will be well spent when you enlist the services of a legally compliant credit repair company.

It pays to have a thorough understanding about the personal insurance options available for health care insurance because some require out of pocket costs before any type of health care will be provided. Heath care insurance plans such as a HMO charge every member for the contract services they arrange with physicians and primary care facilities. After the monthly premiums are paid, the person is no longer responsible for any payments for the HMO services they receive.

An HMO health insurance plan works well if people are able to use the care providers that are part of the HMO network. The Health Maintenance Organization styled insurance is accepted by hospitals, and the medical care which is provided is under a strict service agreement where a set price is negotiated for all medical services. Any type of health professional that provides care in a medical facility in this network is expected to honor the pre-arranged treatment pricing and not expect full priced payments for any of the services that the patient obtains.

The Preferred Provider Organization works a bit differently in providing health care coverage to people that are part of their plans. PPO insurers negotiate contracts for certain services through physicians and other health care professionals. The insured has the option of using the preferred providers or accessing physicians that are outside of the network. The financial benefits for using the physicians in the network are substantial because the insured is expected to pay a fee for every service they receive.

Some families prefer to use a specific physician for their specific needs. To gain the financial benefits of a managed health care plan, however, the family physician must be on the list as a primary care physician for that network. The patient has more control over which physician they choose to treat them, and when care is needed, they know that the physician has agreed to provide them with care for a specific price. The insured know in advance that they are expected to pay a fee for each service that they receive and they will know the cost before care is provided.

Most people want to know certain things before they join a particular health care network. Some require deductibles to be paid for each office visit and other health care plans require the insured to pay monthly fees to help cover the health care services that they will receive in the future. Each plan has a listing of all health care providers who are part of the network, and some people with certain health conditions want to make sure that there are enough providers in their local area to treat the condition that they have.

Some health care insurance coverage is designed to be supplemental insurance and will not have sufficient coverage to pay for the high costs generated by major illnesses. Some families need two or more health insurance policies in force at all times because of these ceilings placed on covered costs. At best, an insured should expect to pay about 20% of all health care charges, but by comparing plans with specific health needs, there are ways to save money and not worry about incurring any out of pocket costs for any medical care received.