Annuities and the Issue of Inflation

Inflation is a subtle, but nasty, factor that eats away at the value of your money over time. There are certain annuities designed to counter this loss of value.
One of the givens of the economic reality is the fact that the purchasing power of money declines as time goes on. This is known as inflation which indicates that the value of the money has inflated. It does not buy as much as it used to buy. This fact concerns people interested in annuities. It is especially true in the case of a long term fixed annuity. This problem is common to all fixed incomes. You are getting the same amount of money, but it is buying less and less.
The problem is not as acute with a variable annuity. The chance to make some extra earnings on the invested money counters the effects of inflation to some degree. This is not a satisfactory result for most people. They rightfully realize that inflation is eating up their earnings in their annuity in the same manner it is cutting into their earnings elsewhere. There is a good solution to the problem of inflation. It is the inflation proof annuity.
The inflation adjusted annuity is a name given to an index based annuity that uses the Retail Price Index (RPI) as the basis for the annuity payout increases. The Retail Price Index is considered one of the most accurate indicators of the true purchasing power of money. The annuity starts with a basic payout amount. It might have a pre-set interest rate that gradually increases the payout. When the RPI moves up, this interest rate increases also. In many cases, a decrease in the RPI would lead to a decrease in the interest rate that determines the payouts. This decrease would be most unlikely given the inflationary history of the RPI, but even if your payouts decreased a little bit, it would be during a period of lower costs. The idea is that your purchasing power remains the same.
The product is ideal for long term retirement or estate planning purposes. The risks of investment are already largely assumed by the Insurance Company that sells the annuity and now the Insurance Company is going to assume the risk of changing economic conditions as well. One of the best features of the annuity is the reliability of the regular schedule of payouts. When these payouts are being automatically adjusted to the inflation rate, this feature becomes even more attractive.
The annuity market has many different options. Your Insurance Agent will be able to help guide you through the complexities and steer you toward the options that best suit your needs and your financial goals. When you are exploring the various options, be sure to ask about the inflation adjusted annuity. Sadly, the fact that your money is going to buy less in the future than it can buy today is one of the most sure things in the entire financial world. The inflation adjusted annuity is one good way to control this fact.
Read more annuity information at UFCAmerica.com.



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Cheap Auto Insurance Quotes in Texas - Where to Find Them

Cheap car insurance quotes are in Texas, if you know where to find them. Look where you much of your other shopping - in the Internet.
Visit an insurance comparison Website
You must shop around if you want to find the cheapest car insurance quote in Texas. Fortunately, the Internet makes shopping quick and easy. You can compare an insurance website, simply fill out an online form and receive quick offers of several companies. You will then have quotes to compare, you can choose the best insurance automatically to the lowest price.
As an additional bonus, the best insurance comparison websites have a chat function, so you get answers to all your car insurance questions from the insurance business Professionals. (See link below.)
Are the quotations correct? May
You concern that the quotes you receive from an insurance comparison site are not correct or are unreliable companies. In fact, the quotes are as accurate as any you get by calling a local insurance agent. In addition, you& 39;ll only get from A-rated companies.
Keep your insurance costs Down
To help you get a cheap offer for your car insurance Texas, the following tips: *
decide what coverage limits you want. Go to the Texas Department of Insurance website (tdi.state.tx.us), to find out what the minimum necessary for Texas.
* If your car is more than five years old, consider dropping your comprehensive and Coverage.
collision * If you want comprehensive and collision coverage, enter your deductible as high as you can afford it. The higher your deductible, the lower your premium.
* see if you qualify for any discounts. Does your car have an anti-theft device? Can your insurance at home with the same company, so you get a multi-discount policy?
Visit http://www.LowerRateQuotes.com or click on the link below to cheap auto insurance in Texas quotes from top companies evaluate and see how much you can save. You can get more insurance tips in their articles section.
The authors, Brian Stevens and Stacey Schifferdecker, have 30 years in the insurance and financial industries and have a series of articles on auto insurance quotes in Texas.



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Affordable Life Insurance

Purchasing affordable life insurance isn t as difficult as you may think it is, no matter what age you are. It is true, however, that you may have to pay more for life insurance if you are over the age of 50, but you can still find affordable life insurance. These days, you can even find life insurance that will not be cancelled in spite of your age or your health condition as time moves on.The fact is that everyone needs life insurance. This is true even if you do not have a spouse or children to worry about. Burial expenses are quite high, and life insurance can be used to pay these expenses. Your surviving loved ones will have enough to deal with without having to worry about how they will pay your burial expenses, as well as your final expenses. An affordable life insurance policy guarantees that they will not have these problems to worry about.There are different types of insurance, and if you don t know the difference, it can become quite confusing. Term insurance covers you for a certain number of years. At the end of the term, the policy may or may not be renewed. You have the choice of requesting renewal, and the insurance company has the option to approve or disapprove your request. This is often the most affordable life insurance, but its main disadvantage is that the term of the life insurance coverage does in fact end at some point.Whole life coverage is typically the best coverage that you can get when it comes to life insurance. It usually costs more than term life, but depending on the insurance company you purchase your policy through, there is no limit on the length of time that you can be covered. Generally, as long as you pay your premiums on time, you are covered.To get a better understanding of the life insurance that is available today, speak with your insurance agent about affordable life insurance options. Find out what type of coverage you are eligible for, and what your agent recommends for your particular situation; then do some comparison shopping on the Internet for that specific type of life insurance coverage.Affordable Term Life Insurance provides detailed information on Affordable Life Insurance, Affordable Term Life Insurance, Affordable Life Insurance Policy, Affordable Life Insurance Quote and more. Affordable Term Life Insurance is affiliated with Affordable Individual Health Insurance.



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Log Home Refinishing and Restoration

In this day and age, there are still people who prefer to build and live in log homes in the United States. One reason may be that log homes seem to be cozy, comfortable, and quaint forms of lodging that many people are attracted to. However, like all homes built of wood, log homes require proper maintenance or else their wooden parts (the logs that make up the walls) will eventually rot due to exposure to the elements (particularly rain and water splatter.)
To know if your log home has been affected by wood rot, use a small hammer to firmly tap on the log you suspect has been hit by wood rot. If the sound that you hear is that of a dull thump, then you have a rotten log in your wall. However, if the log is still sound and stable, the sound that will be produced will be like a clear ring instead. In that case, you should take steps to guarantee that sound logs in your walls will not be hit by wood rot in the future. This can be done through proper log home refinishing and restoration.
One of the options you may have in log home refinishing and restoration is to replace any rotten logs immediately upon detection. Though theoretically any rotten log can be removed and eventually replaced with sound wooden logs, the location of the rotten log will determine how difficult extraction and replacement will be.
Another common problem that is encountered with log homes is when rotting hits that part of the roof where it meets the upper half of the log wall. To remedy this, the rotten part has to be completely removed, replaced with sound wood, and then flashed the right way. This area of your log home structure is vulnerable to roof leaks, splashing due to snow or rain, and even piling up of ice, so upon construction of your log home you ought to treat the wood so that it will be protected from such weathering. This means doing very thorough wood flashing as part of the construction phase of your log home.
Now, let s say you would like to have refinishing done on your log home. You should first determine if this is actually necessary by sprinkling water in different parts of your logs. A log that does not require finish will show beads of water on its surface. When those water beads are absent, you should apply finish to your log home structure. If the logs also display signs of flaking and peeling, then you should really apply a proper coat of finish to your log surfaces. For gaps seen between individual logs, you may opt to rely on synthetic chinking or siliconized latex caulk to fill them in.
Many log homes have a chimney made of hard materials like rock integrated into the walls and roof of the log home. Leaks may be experienced at the base of the chimney where the roof line and the flashing meet. You could also find that the rock or masonry of your chimney may not have been sealed properly, or have cracked, so that moisture is allowed to enter. If a chimney cap is also not set into place properly, that could also result in entry of water because the function of the chimney cap is to prevent water from entering the chimney.



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