Life insurance can be a simple and flexible approach to make a significant contribution to your favorite charity

A Life insurance policy is an excellent tool for charitable giving. Not only does it allow you to make a substantial donation to charity at no cost to you, but you may also benefit from tax rules that apply to gifts of life insurance.

With the guidance and support of your favorite charity and the approval of your legal and/or tax advisors, along with the support of your family, you can create something very exclusive that is reserved for a select group of eligible individuals.

It can be a life insurance policy that has provided its original purpose, some examples are: a spouse who has past away and no longer needs it, a grown child who is financially independent or to protect a business that no longer exists. It can also be a new policy purchased specifically to benefit your favorite charity; a gift of life insurance can enable you to leave a much greater gift to your favorite charity than may have been possible during your lifetime.

There are at least four different ways in which you can structure a gift of life insurance to your favorite charity:

1. You can make your favorite charity a beneficiary of an existing life insurance policy. Upon your passing, the full face value amount of the policy will go to your favorite charity. Although the proceeds from the policy will be included in your gross estate, the full amount received by your favorite charity may be deductible as a charitable deduction. To make your favorite charity a beneficiary of an existing life insurance policy, you can simply request a beneficiary designation form from your employer or insurance company. Most forms require the following information:

• Your favorite charity full legal name:

• Your favorite charity permanent mailing address:

• Your favorite charity federal tax identification number:

• Your relationship to the beneficiary: Charity

2. You can make your favorite charity the owner and beneficiary of an existing paid-up life insurance policy. By doing so, you may be able to deduct an amount equal to the fair market value of the policy, or your cost basis, whichever is less. Since your favorite charity becomes the owner of the policy, the proceeds will not be included in your estate for tax purposes.

3. You can make your favorite charity the owner and beneficiary of a policy on which you are still paying premiums. You may be able to deduct an amount equal to the approximate cash value of the policy or the policy's cost basis, whichever is less, in the year in which you give the gift. You may also be able to deduct any future premium payments, and the proceeds will not be included in your estate for tax purposes.

4. You can purchase a new policy and make your favorite charity the owner and beneficiary. Because your favorite charity is the owner, you may be able to deduct premium payments as charitable contributions for as long as the premiums are paid, Subject to state limitations. In addition, the proceeds will not be included in your estate for tax purposes.

Life insurance is a flexible charitable giving tool that can be utilized to suit your individual financial needs while also substantially supporting your favorite charity's programs.

If you are thinking about a donation of life insurance to a charity, I encourage you to consult with your legal advisor and/ or tax advisor to help you decide on the best approach for you. It is important to note that some states don't consider a charity to have insurable interest in its donors lives.

Boaz Arbel is the General Manager at Arbel Life, LLC, a New York based company that specializes in the high net worth senior market. To obtain further information about Life insurance Premium Finance, Life Settlement and to read additional articles about these subjects please visit the website:

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While military-life is a choice for many, it is still a stressful life. Presently there are more than 350,000 active-deployed service members around the world in the five branches (Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy and Coast Guard) of the U.S. military. It is important for U.S. citizens to recognize these individuals' sacrifice through support whether as an act of duty, an expression of patriotism or other individual reason.

Care packages are a great way to support these service members if individuals have the time and the money to do so; but care packages do not last all year long and may be too expensive for individuals on a budget. The minimum amount of money to send a care package is generally $25.With these things in mind, the magazine-donation program Subscriptions for Soldiers was created. The purpose of the program is to provide individuals with the opportunity to send service members an inexpensive morale-boosting gift that lasts all year.

For just $10 per subscription, the donation program is affordable and easy. Donors visit and donate magazine subscriptions to a service member they know or are paired anonymously with a service member through the database of requests.

The program has already gathered thousands of requests from active-deployed service members through a separate website. Service members request up to three favorite magazines from 30 magazine titles like Guns & Ammo magazine, muscle & Fitness magazine, Shape magazine and Star magazine at no cost to them.

For active duty service members, something as simple as receiving a monthly magazine makes a difference by boosting morale in stressful times throughout the year. Magazines are an easy way for service members to stay up-to-date and connected with news, information and trends happening at home. As reported in a press release, many service members have already responded enthusiastically to the program describing magazines as a sought-after luxury.

It is important for active-deployed service members to have a consistent connection with life back in the States and there is no better way to them to receive that connection than from a citizen extending support.

For more information on how to donate a subscription, visit

Felicity Grant is a free-lance writer in Atlanta.

In the light of our proud soldiers that are stationed throughout the world to protect our freedoms, a strategy has been put in place for them to text message home. Our soldiers find themselves having a lack of communications with friends and family here in the United States. They have a right to be able to share with their loved ones, what they choose to share on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. As a matter of fact speaking from personal experience it is darn right impossible to stay in contact with everyone monthly let alone weekly.

As of right now our Troops have 3 typical ways of communication with us: phone calls, bulk e-mails, and letters. Typically, the soldiers are looking to call their family members but not their friends. Friends usually get the emails and the letters. However, this is not a daily occurrence you might get a phone call once every 3 -5 days, or an email or letter once a month. Following the war and our efforts to help our troops it has been noticed that there has been an evolving effort to donate computers to soldier sites and bases.

The idea for soldiers to be able to text message our cell phones from any computer in the world that has internet access, is a proactive form of communication. The program is simple and quick for our troops to use. It allows troops to upload cell phone numbers to a secure database and then take those cell phone numbers and break them down into groups (i.e friends 1, family, and friends 2...). Once they are broken down into groups they are free to send out as many messages as they want. They may chose to send messages to a whole group, their whole phone list, or individual numbers. The convenience of this service is unbelievable because now it will actually feel like that soldier is involved of our daily lives. We could be driving down the street and receive a text message. As a matter of fact we could receive a text message in the morning, afternoon, and night.

This service was built to cater to the troops, families, and friends. Someone can sign any person in the Armed Forces up for this program, all you have to do is give them their user name and password and their service will be up and running. Though the service is not free we will be donating $1.99 to 3 different Non-For-Profit organizations a month. Most likely one (1) of our donations will go to the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the other two will be for supporting our active troops.

To learn more about the service please visit our website at Please feel free to call us about this service we would love to answer your questions.