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Monumental Life, an Aegon Company, celebrates its 150th birthday in 2008. It started in Maryland in 1858 as Maryland Mutual Life and Fire Insurance Company of Baltimore, quite a long name for the first insurance company in the state.
Due to the location of Maryland during the Civil War and the vast number of Southern sympathizers, Maryland Mutual Life and Fire Insurance Company of Baltimore, decided that it would be best to cease writing both life and fire insurance until the war ended. They resumed again in 1870.
The company had several firsts in the insurance industry. They were the first to write a weekly premium life. At that same time, they developed a German department and issued policies to the recent immigrants from Germany. By 1883, the company had $1,000,000 of life insurance in force and the amount doubled in 15 years. This was a huge sum for that period. They opened a new home office on Calvert Street in Baltimore and managed to survive the 1904 great Baltimore fire.
The company was well ahead of their time and in 1918, they hired two females. One worked at the home office and the other worked in the field as an agent. Female agents in the insurance industry were scarce with other companies until the 1980’s. They survived the market crash, changed their name to Monumental Life and during WWII not only invested in war related manufacturing and government treasury bills, but, rationed gas by making the agents walk, rather than drive.
By 1958, the company had over a billion dollars of life insurance in force and nine years later doubled it. In 1986, Aegon purchased Monumental and joined later by Transamerica. Through the parent company, Monumental donates to many charities and grass roots movements.
By the year 2007, the million dollars in life insurance back in 1883 loses significance by the fact that the company pays $1 million dollars every day in death claims.
Monumental Life offers term life, whole life and interest sensitive life plans in addition to cancer insurance and accident insurance. Term insurance is pure insurance coverage that increases in cost as you age and accumulates no cash. If you don’t die, then, just like car insurance if you don’t crash, the coverage ceases when you cease paying premiums and you get nothing back.
Whole life insurance is precisely what it says, “meant for your whole life”. The company collects more premium when you’re young than the cost of term insurance. The money collects interest and grows in cash value as you age. When you cross the point where the insurance premium for term insurance is more than the cost of a whole life policy the company already calculated the amount necessary and internally they use it to offset the cost. The return that you get is in the cash value portion of the policy. Often laughed about for small returns, whole life insurance received praise when bank interest rates dropped dramatically in the early 2000’s. No where else could you get this stable of an interest rate.
Monumental Life’s interest sensitive product works like a whole life insurance policy but increase the interest as the market dictates. This type of policy has a guaranteed minimum interest rate. If the rate is beyond the guarantee then the excess credits to the cash value. This allows the owner to increase coverage without increasing premiums, by using the excess. The cash value in Monumental Life’s interest sensitive policy grows tax deferred and, if you borrow it out you never pay taxes on the growth. You never have to pay back the loan but pay only interest. That amount can come from the cash value or your pocket. As long as the policy remains in force until the insured’s death, there is no taxation and the loan amount reduces the death benefit as repayment.
Monumental Life offers two cancer policies. One pays for specific expenses and the other gives a check and you decide what to pay. Most cancer victims have a period of time where they can’t work. The check policy keeps the household running until recovery.
Monumental Life’s accident policy not only covers accidental death but also injury, loss of limb and eyesight, emergency outpatient services, hospital confinement and ambulance service. The cost is quite affordable for all it covers.
Monumental Life Insurance Company offers tools to calculate your financial needs, including a budget calculator, at their website. There are great tools from a great company.
Monumental Life’s Calculators: http://www.monlife.com/ml/calculatorsandtools.asp
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