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December 2, 2008 10:48:49 PM CST


life insurance

life insurance news stories

8 Stories

MARKETS

 Dow Off 177 on Poor Earnings 

Goldman report sends life insurance down

(Newser) - Stocks declined today as poor earnings reports made investors bearish, the Wall Street Journal reports. Although news of the Fannie/Freddie plan to speed refinancing efforts for distressed homeowners checked midday losses, the Dow dropped 176.58 to close at 8,693.96. The Nasdaq dropped 35.84, settling at 1,580.90, and the S&P 500 fell 20.26 to close at 898.95. More »

More about:  Dow Jones S&P 500 Nasdaq Goldman Sachs Starbucks Alcoa life insurance Toll Brothers

Ledger Tot Sues as Insurance Balks at $10M Payout

Company says it can't rule out suicide

(Newser) - A trustee representing Heath Ledger's 3-year-old daughter is suing the actor's insurance provider, who is balking at paying out his $10 million death benefits, TMZ reports. ReliaStar Life Insurance Co. says it's withholding payment until they determine whether Ledger's accidental overdose death was a suicide, an investigation that includes quizzing Mary Kate Olsen, reports the AP. More »

More about:  celebrity lawsuit suicide Heath Ledger Matilda Rose Ledger life insurance

LA's 'Black Widows' Get
Life in Prison for Murders

Pair killed two homeless men for life insurance

(Newser) - Two elderly women who carried out a cold-blooded scheme to murder homeless men have been sentenced to life without parole by a Los Angeles judge. Helen Golay, 77, and 75-year-old Olga Rutterschmidt—nicknamed the "Black Widows" in the media—lured two vagrants off the street, cared for them for two years, then murdered them for $2.8 million in life insurance, reports the Los Angeles Times . More »

More about:  murder homeless hit and run life insurance Helen Golay Olga Rutterschmidt Kenneth McDavid Paul Vados

Employers Use Law to Withhold Benefits

Think you're covered? Not if your company decides you're not

(Newser) - Thomas Amschwand was dying, but made sure his wife would collect on his $426,000 life insurance policy. Yet when he died, his boss withheld the money, and his wife was powerless—because a federal law stops workers from suing employers for large sums of health, life, or retirement benefits. Amschwand’s wife recovered her husband's premiums, which didn't even cover the funeral. More »

More about:  lawsuit US Supreme Court health insurance life insurance benefits retirement benefits

Quick-Fix Cash Schemes Find More Takers

Reverse mortgages, insurance buyouts   among risky moves

(Newser) - Big banks aren’t the only ones struggling to find the cash to keep going. Americans are feeling the pinch, and grabbing cash anywhere they can find it, the Wall Street Journal reports. Credit-card debts remains high, but more are turning to options that bring a quick infusion of cash but have high costs down the road, like reverse mortgages or life-insurance buyouts. More »

More about:  debt personal finance life insurance consumer debt 401k cash flow

 House Could Be Dead Giveaway 

69-year-old seller will make home's buyer beneficiary of $500K insurance policy

(Newser) - If Bob Fanning dies in the next decade, the buyer of his Wisconsin home—listed at $498,900—will get a half-million dollar payday. That’s because the 69-year-old plans to make the new owner the beneficiary of a 10-year life-insurance policy, a carrot he hopes will sweeten the deal in a tough real-estate market, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. More »

More about:  subprime crisis housing crisis Wisconsin real estate values homeownership life insurance

Military Death Payments Trouble Families

$500,000 windfalls for next of kin can cause confusion, discord

(Newser) - The military pays $500,000 to the next of kin of every soldier killed in Iraq or Afghanistan, but the sudden injection of cash during a time of grief often throws survivors off balance. Young military spouses can struggle with money management and long-lost friends and relatives sometimes appear asking for handouts. Some military kin have quickly ended up destitute. More »

More about:  Iraq war US military War on Terror Afghanistan war compensation military families life insurance benefits military spouses

Man Kills Stranger, Fakes Own Death

Suspect commits suicide as cops close in; wife under scrutiny

(Newser) - A Chicago-area construction boss trying to work a life-insurance scam killed another man, used the body to fake his own death, then killed himself as police converged, the Chicago Tribune reports. Authorities are now looking at whether the killer and his wife, who had email contact after his “death,” conspired to cash in his policy. More »

More about:  murder Chicago identity theft life insurance insurance fraud

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