6 Things You Should Never Reveal on Facebook

September 15th, 2010 by admin

The whole social networking phenomenon has millions of Americans sharing their photos, favorite songs and details about their class reunions on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and dozens of similar sites. But there are a handful of personal details that you should never say if you don’t want criminals — cyber or otherwise — to rob you blind, according to Beth Givens, executive director of the Privacy Rights Clearing House. 

The folks at Insure.com also say that ill-advised Facebook postings increasingly can get your insurance cancelled or cause you to pay dramatically more for everything from auto to life insurance coverage. By now almost everybody knows that those drunken party photos could cost you a job, too.

You can certainly enjoy networking and sharing photos, but you should know that sharing some information puts you at risk. What should you never say on Facebook, Twitter or any other social networking site?

Your Birth Date and Place

Sure, you can say what day you were born, but if you provide the year and where you were born too, you’ve just given identity thieves a key to stealing your financial life, said Givens. A study done by Carnegie Mellon showed that a date and place of birth could be used to predict most — and sometimes all — of the numbers in your Social Security number, she said.

Vacation Plans

There may be a better way to say “Rob me, please” than posting something along the lines of: “Count-down to Maui! Two days and Ritz Carlton, here we come!” on Twitter. But it’s hard to think of one. Post the photos on Facebook when you return, if you like. But don’t invite criminals in by telling them specifically when you’ll be gone.

Home Address

Do I have to elaborate? A study recently released by the Ponemon Institute found that users of Social Media sites were at greater risk of physical and identity theft because of the information they were sharing. Some 40% listed their home address on the sites; 65% didn’t even attempt to block out strangers with privacy settings. And 60% said they weren’t confident that their “friends” were really just people they know.

Confessionals

You may hate your job; lie on your taxes; or be a recreational user of illicit drugs, but this is no place to confess. Employers commonly peruse social networking sites to determine who to hire — and, sometimes, who to fire. Need proof? In just the past few weeks, an emergency dispatcher was fired in Wisconsin for revealing drug use; a waitress got canned for complaining about customers and the Pittsburgh Pirate’s mascot was dumped for bashing the team on Facebook. One study done last year estimated that 8% of companies fired someone for “misuse” of social media.

Password Clues

If you’ve got online accounts, you’ve probably answered a dozen different security questions, telling your bank or brokerage firm your Mom’s maiden name; the church you were married in; or the name of your favorite song. Got that same stuff on the information page of your Facebook profile? You’re giving crooks an easy way to guess your passwords.

Risky Behaviors

You take your classic Camaro out for street racing, soar above the hills in a hang glider, or smoke like a chimney? Insurers are increasingly turning to the web to figure out whether their applicants and customers are putting their lives or property at risk, according to Insure.com. So far, there’s no efficient way to collect the data, so cancellations and rate hikes are rare. But the technology is fast evolving, according to a paper written by Celent, a financial services research and consulting firm.
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Why Should Pilots Be Paying More For Their Life Insurance Because Of Their Special Abilities?

August 25th, 2010 by admin

You don’t have to pay more!!  We can help!!!

• Enjoy simplified commerial aviation rules so that any pilot of a business jet type aircraft would be eligible for Preferred Best Rates
• Increased maximum number of annual hours for private pilots without assessment of a flat extra from 200-300 hours
• Decreased the minimum number of hours flown to 50 to remove the flat extra on pilots of home built aircrafts.
• Decreased the maximum flat extra for certificated ultra-light aircraft pilots from $7.50 to $5.00

Case Example

A 33 year old pilot, with 1500 hours of total flight time, 250 hours annually and a 6-year history of flying the same aircraft, is applying for 30 year Term Insurance policy for $1,000,000.  He has no health concerns.  He qualifies for a Preferred Best rating.

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Some Facts About An FL Life Insurance Policy

July 23rd, 2010 by admin

Do you know what your loved ones would do if you passed away prematurely? Do those loved ones depend on you? Knowing they will be taken care if you die is a great feeling of relief, especially if you are the financial supporter of your family. Do you live in the state of Florida? If so and you do not have an FL life insurance policy, it is time to start thinking about taking one out.

When someone dies unexpectedly, the grief alone is enough for the loved one of the deceased. If there are many debts to take care of and a funeral to pay for as well, the burden on family members will be heavy. Many families struggling in the hard economic times of today would not be able to afford the cheapest funeral expenses, much less pay off debts left owing. Make sure your loved ones will never have to go through a nightmare like that and get an insurance policy that will help them.

In most states, including Florida, there are two types of life policies. One is called term life and the other is permanent or whole life insurance. Both have death benefits for your loved ones to use for your funerals expenses, but each one is different in many ways.

You have probably heard of people borrowing money against their insurance policies. With a term life policy, you most likely will not be able to do this. The reason for this is because term life is more like a temporary policy and does not build up cash value over time. This is the type of policy a young family would invest in just to be sure of coverage in the event of premature death.

If you would like to have the policy that is going to build up equity over time, you will need to see about getting a permanent life insurance policy. Premiums for this policy will be more expensive, but you will have cash value growing over time in that policy that will allow you to borrow against it. If you chose this policy, it would be a life time investment with locked in premium prices in most cases.

Supposing you did decide to borrow against your permanent life insurance policy, you should know that amount will be taken from your beneficiary amount in the event of your death. However, any borrowed monies that are paid back in full before something happened to you, the death benefit would not be interfered with.

Another way to get money from your insurance policy is to use it as collateral in getting a loan. Many lenders consider these kinds of policies to be a solid and accountable asset. You can also get much lower interest rates because of this. This is a great advantage to FL Life Insurance.

All Florida residents need to consider getting an FL life insurance policy to protect their loved ones from unnecessary burdens in the event of death. The hassles involved in solving unpaid debts and raising money for funeral expenses will be a terrible burden on top of grieving.

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