Break Free From Osteoporosis!

Break FREE from OSTEOPOROSIS!

*Repost* National Osteoporosis Foundation

https://www.nof.org/about-us/building-awareness/national-osteoporosis-month/

May is National Osteoporosis Month!

Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a disease of the bones. It happens when you lose too much bone and/or make too little bone. This means your bones become weak and may break from a minor fall or, in serious cases, even from simple actions, like sneezing or bumping into furniture.

Osteoporosis means "porous bone." Under a microscope healthy bones look like a honeycomb but in bones with osteoporosis the honeycomb holes and spaces are much bigger. This means your bones have lost density or mass and that the structure of your bone tissue has become abnormal making the bone weaker and more likely to break.

FACT: One in two women and up to one in four men will break a bone in their lifetime due to osteoporosis. For women, the incidence is greater than that of heart attack, stroke and breast cancer combined.*

May is National Osteoporosis Month! We hope you will help us celebrate by taking the #JumpingJackChallenge. We issued this challenge to raise awareness about building bone strength and density when you’re younger to achieve peak bone mass and to maintain bone health and strength as you age.

Accepting the Jumping Jack Challenge is easy – videotape yourself, your kids, family or friends doing 10 jumping jacks in less than 10 seconds. Share the video via your social media page with the hashtag #JumpingJackChallenge and challenge your friends to do it too – or they should make a donation to NOF at www.nof.org. You can learn more and see an example on this page of our website: https://www.nof.org/about-us/building-awareness/national-osteoporosis-month/. Please remember that if you have osteoporosis you shouldn’t do jumping jacks, but you can do “stepping jacks” (step side-to-side raising your arms above your heard as you would for jumping jacks). This is a safe way for everyone to take part in the Jumping Jack Challenge!

You might wonder why we chose jumping jacks for this challenge. As noted above, we hope to raise awareness about building peak bone mass in children and adolescents. Peak bone mass is the greatest amount of bone an individual can attain. We reach our peak bone mass between 25-30 years of age. Focusing on bone health in children and adolescents is not just about growing strong bones, it also may help strengthen the concept of disease prevention over treatment. Most children do not consume the necessary amounts of nutrients needed to sustain strong bones during the key bone-building years of 9-18. In fact, a quarter of childhood injuries include fractures that could have been prevented through better nutrition.

Prevention of osteoporosis later in life begins in childhood with a strong health curriculum that teaches children healthy lifestyle choices including about proper diet and exercise.

I recently surveyed the community including educators and health leaders to determine if they think a curriculum including bone health is important to implement in schools and more than 75% said yes! Check out the following infographic to learn how you can incorporate bone healthy behaviors with your children or grandchildren before, during or after school.

We hope to see your posts on social media for the #JumpingJackChallenge!

Andrea Portillo, MPH, CHES®
Marketing, Consumer & Professional Education Manager
National Osteoporosis Foundation

Who is Senior Benefit Services?

by: Amanda Westbrook, Marketing Manager | 9/29/16 | Senior Benefit Services, Blog, Life & Health Insurance  | www.sbsteam.net | 800.627.2768

"We are often asked as a company: "What makes you different?" Beyond many things we can list is the underlying fact that we DON'T work for one insurance company - we work for YOU." -David McNerney, Company President

Who is Senior Benefit Services?

Founded in 1975, Senior Benefit Services (formerly known as Barnes Insurance Group) has grown to become one of the largest senior benefit organizations in the nation. We're an Insurance Brokerage that specializes in the Life & Health Industry with a majority of our focus on the Senior Market and people aging onto Medicare (ages 65+). However, with our large portfolio of products readily available, we can also assist anyone in the family with their insurance needs. Our portfolio includes: Medicare Products, Life Insurance, Cancer Coverage, Long Term Care, Dental/Vision/Hearing, Investments & Annuities, and MORE.

What do we do?

We stated that we are an insurance brokerage - but what does that mean? It means that out of all of those top-rated companies that you are familiar with, and may even be insured with, that we represent over 50 of them! Yes, you read that correctly. When we sit down with our clients, we are able to lay out a wide range of over 50 companies with their corresponding portfolio of products, to help figure out which one works BEST for that persons' unique and individual needs. Nobody is the same when it comes to what type of coverage they require - even husband and wife differing at times - so it's very important that we do the research to a have full, comprehensive knowledge of what's out there. 

What else makes us unique? For starters, the average age of one of our independent agents is 25. Some may think that's "too young" or makes them "less knowledgeable." But think about these few things:  1. The insurance market, as I'm sure you're aware, is a constantly changing market place. Therefore, no matter if you've been in the industry for 2 years or 20 years, you can never stop learning or "know enough." 2. Adding on to that - as a brokerage we're constantly required to stay informed on trends and new products, as well as participate in continuing education on a regular basis. We're schooled, trained, and experienced to provide the best services nation-wide. 3. We're here to work with you FOR LIFE. Being the younger demographic that we are, we're able to grow with you, keep you updated each year, and always be the one you can trust when it comes to your decision making and planning. In other words, we're never going anywhere! Some final thoughts: Our services are truly one of a kind. Yes we sell insurance, but that's not our priority. There are over 40 Million seniors in the marketplace and an shockingly low average of around 1,000 agents in each state.  We sit down with too many people that have been taken advantage of, haven't seen their agent for years, or have simply been lost alone in the sea of all this information. We offer our services at no cost to you, so let us come sit down with you and start planning.

We're just one phone call away: 800-627-2768

Visit us Online at: www.sbsteam.net

More on Life Insurance Awareness Month

Life Insurance Awareness Month encourages Missourians to evaluate their life insurance coverage needs

Jefferson City, Mo – 
September is Life Insurance Awareness Month, which creates an opportunity for all of us to consider the impact life insurance has in guaranteeing the financial security of the ones we love.

“A life insurance policy is not about us; it is about protecting those we care about most,” said Missouri Department of Insurance Director John M. Huff.  “This can be a difficult subject to discuss, but we hope Missourians will set aside some time in September to evaluate  their life insurance coverage needs. 

One in three Americans believed the loss of their household’s primary wage earner would negatively impact their family in as little as one month.  Life insurance coverage can help alleviate the burden of funeral expenses, mortgage balances, and even provide money for college tuition. 
There are currently 480 life insurers licensed in Missouri. To help consumers in their search for life insurance, the Missouri Department of Insurance’s website features tools to help users research insurance agents and insurance companies. The website also provides answers to several of its consumers’ most frequently asked questions and features a Life Policy Locator Service, which was designed to help consumers find the life insurance policies and annuity contracts of their deceased loved ones.  

“These resources provide Missourians with the information they need to find a policy that fits their needs and the needs of their families,” said Huff.

For help understanding life insurance policies, finding an insurance agent or company, or using the Life Policy Locator Service, consumers can call the department’s Insurance Consumer Hotline at 1-800-726-7390 or go to the department’s website at www.insurance.mo.gov.

About the Missouri Department of Insurance, Financial Institutions & Professional Registration
The Missouri Department of Insurance, Financial Institutions and Professional Registration (DIFP) is responsible for consumer protection through the regulation of financial industries and professionals. The department's seven divisions work to enforce state regulations both efficiently and effectively while encouraging a competitive environment for industries and professions to ensure consumers have access to quality products.  

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Why Life Insurance?

*Re-post* Brought to you by: Life Happens

http://www.lifehappens.org/insurance-overview/life-insurance/

Too many people are taking an unnecessary risk by not protecting their loved ones with life insurance.

Each September, Life Happens coordinates Life Insurance Awareness Month. This industry-wide campaign is aimed at educating Americans about the importance of life insurance and helping them get the coverage they need.

‘‘Driving race cars for a living means going 200 miles an hour around a track with concrete walls. I know the risks, which is why I’ve had life insurance since the start of my career. But that’s not the only reason I own it,” says Danica Patrick.

It’s true. Most of us aren’t in risky professions, but like Danica, we do have loved ones that we care for, and we want to make sure they’d be OK financially if something happened to us. 

No one really wants to think about life insurance. But if someone depends on you financially, it’s a topic you can’t avoid. In the event of a tragedy, life insurance proceeds can:

• Pay for funeral costs
• Help pay the bills and meet ongoing living expenses
• Pay off outstanding debt, including credit cards and the mortgage
• Continue a family business
• Finance future needs like your children’s education
• Protect a spouse’s retirement plans

Getting life insurance doesn’t have to be hard (or boring). We have some easy steps for you to walk through to see if life insurance is right for you. You’ll also find information and interactive tools to help you get a sense of how much and what kind to buy, plus information about how different life events—such as having children or buying a home—can affect your insurance needs. So why not get started!

Why do the Wealthy Need Life Insurance?

THE BLOG

3 Powerful Secrets the Wealthy Know About Life Insurance

 06/03/2015 03:55 pm ET | Updated Jun 02, 2016

Wm. Scott Page CEO, Published Author and Celebrity

At my company, we regularly work with high-net-worth individuals and some of these folks have tremendous wealth. Earlier in my career, I would be somewhat intimidated by them because they had amazing stories of success, and they could hop on their private jets and travel anywhere in the world with the same level of ease that the rest of us go to the grocery store.

Yet as time wore on, I started to learn that even the wealthiest people in America are generally down-to-earth folks who have worked very hard to earn their money, build their fortunes and retain their wealth. And just as Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart, drove a pickup truck until the day he died, many extremely wealthy people wear jeans, shop for bargains and don’t like to overpay - for anything.

Aside from learning about wealth creation, high-net-worth people can also teach us a great deal about many financial tools, including life insurance.

Lesson One: They have it, even though you may think they don’t need it.Though they may not be living from paycheck to paycheck, high-net-worth individuals still have life insurance. Here’s why:

1. Liquidity. When someone passes away, their assets may not be easily transferred into cash. The principle holds true for a mansion in the Hamptons or a ranch house in the suburbs. Life insurance enables surviving families to cover costs associated with the death of a loved one — as it may take time to sell the family home or turn other assets into cash that is more easily divided among heirs.
2. Income replacement. Wealthy folks worry about money too but maybe just on a different scale. How families will continue if a primary bread winner passes away is a relevant concern across all income groups.
3. Wealth transfer. While the average person may not be considering trust funds for their grandchildren, we all work hard for our money and we hope we can pass down the money we don’t need to our loved ones.

Lesson Two: Financial plans for the future should include life insurance
High-net-worth people consider life insurance a powerful tool that helps them hedge against the knowns and unknowns in life.

It’s true that many wealthy people buy life insurance to help pay future estate taxes: something most of us don’t worry about. The important lesson is that we should all be looking down the road at the future costs that will impact our heirs when we pass away. If you have accumulated a certain amount of wealth, a portion of your estate may be taxable and you may not want your heirs to have to pay extra taxes. If you own a business with a partner, you may want to use insurance to fund a buy/sell arrangement if you pass away unexpectedly. If your family business is reliant upon you in order to survive, perhaps a key-man policy is in order. Life insurance is a tremendous tool that has value far beyond the traditional reasons.

Wealth individuals also recognize that their goals and needs change, so life insurance should be regularly evaluated. Needs change and sometimes better insurance products come along or circumstances change so that coverage should be modified.

Lesson Three: Life insurance is an asset
Savvy and wealthy individuals recognize that life insurance is not just a tool but also an asset. In some instances, it has a precise cash value but always carries an intrinsic value. When a life insurance policy is no longer needed, it can often be sold through a transaction known as a life settlement. This is not an option solely for the super rich but one that any senior or baby boomer with an insurance policy can explore. Holders of whole or term insurance may be eligible to sell a policy on the open market for an immediate cash payout.

While we can’t all expect to join the ranks of high-net-worth Americans, we can employ the same financial tools to protect our personal fortunes and pay for retirement.

Follow Wm. Scott Page on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ScottPageCEO

Source: The Huffington Post 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wm-scott-page/3-powerful-secrets-the-we_b_7494292.html