Is your Caribbean vacation destination safe?

Americans looking to travel to the Caribbean are typically interested in the three S’s: sand, sun and safety. But it’s the latter that has people’s attention of late.

One reason for that is the mysterious deaths that have plagued the Dominican Republic of late. While the investigations into those deaths continue, Delta Air Lines is allowing customers to change or cancel their flights there.

Does your favorite vacation spot have a travel advisory?

When it comes to favorite tourist destinations in the Caribbean, Americans have a wide palette. But with the state of the world, it’s always best to cross reference potential vacation spots with safety advice from the U.S. government.

The State Department maintains a list of travel advisories and warnings for countries around the world. There are four levels to be aware of. They are:

• Level 1: Exercise normal precautions
• Level 2: Exercise increased caution
• Level 3: Reconsider travel
• Level 4: Do not travel

Most Caribbean islands only have Level 1 travel advisories at present, but some (including Dominican Republic) are under Level 2 travel advisories. Here’s how they stack up and what, specifically, the government says you should be looking out for if you travel to any of these places.

Caribbean destinations 2019: Level 1 travel advisories

Here are the Level 2 travel advisories and warnings, according to the State Department:

Caribbean destinations 2019: Level 2 travel advisories

Country Reason For Level 2 Advisory Date Issued The Bahamas Travel Advisory “Violent crime, such as burglaries, armed robberies, and sexual assault, occurs even during the day and in tourist areas. Although the family islands are not crime-free, the vast majority of crime occurs on New Providence and Grand Bahama islands.” April 15, 2019 Jamaica Travel Advisory “Violent crimes, such as home invasions, armed robberies, sexual assaults, and homicides are common. Sexual assaults occur frequently, including at all-inclusive resorts. Local police lack the resources.” May 7, 2019 Trinidad and Tobago Travel Advisory “Exercise increased caution due to crime, terrorism, and kidnapping.

Do not travel to:

Laventille,

Beetham,

Sea Lots, Cocorite, and the interior of Queen’s Park Savannah in Port of Spain.” April 9, 2019 Cuba Travel Advisory “Exercise increased caution in Cuba due to attacks targeting U.S. Embassy Havana employees resulting in the drawdown of embassy staff.” April 23, 2019 Turks and Caicos Islands Travel Advisory Especially in Providenciales, “local medical care and criminal investigative capabilities are limited.” February 25, 2019 Dominican Republic Travel Advisory “Violent crime, including armed robbery, homicide and sexual assault is a concern throughout” the country.

April 15, 2019

A Level 3 travel advisory constitutes a “Reconsider Travel” warning. As for Level 3 travel advisories in the Caribbean, there is only one:

Caribbean destinations 2019: Level 3 travel advisories

Country Reason For Level 3 Advisory Haiti Travel Advisory “Political violence and violent crimes are common in Haiti, including murders, robberies, assaults, vehicle break-ins, and home invasions. Travelers are often targeted, followed, and violently attacked and robbed shortly after leaving the Port-au-Prince international airport.”

Note: As of spring and summer 2019, there are no Level 4 travel advisories in the Caribbean. 

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When it comes to travel advisories, conditions can change at any time, so it’s always a good idea to check with the State Department before you travel out of the country.

Here are 3 safety steps when traveling abroad

Here are three safety tips from the State Department:

• Never leave valuables unattended: That goes for any public areas, including the beach, the hotel lobby, hotel rooms, or in rental homes.
• Don’t isolate yourself: Going out on the town? Always stick to well-lit and well-traveled routes.
• Always be aware of your surroundings: If you see something suspicious or unusual contact local police to report immediately.

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Ask Clark: What should you do when your term life insurance rates skyrocket?

When consumers have financial problems in their lives, they turn to a trusted source for information like Clark.com.

Such was the case with this Twitter user who wanted advice on how to handle a sudden spike in his term life insurance premium.

@ClarkHoward I have a term life insurance policy and am 72 years old. The premium went from $142/mo to $675/mo and I just received notice that it is going to $1200/mo in Sept. What other options are available?

— Larry Winn (@LrwinWinn) July 24, 2018

Term life insurance premium too high? Consider this

If you’re heard Clark talk about life insurance, you know that he recommends level term life insurance. The beauty of level term life insurance is that you pay one fixed rate for the entire life (aka the term) of the policy. And the cost never goes up!

But level term life is a relatively new development in the insurance world. If you bought your policy years ago, you might be in a term life policy that’s not “guaranteed level.”

Understanding annual renewable term vs. guaranteed level

There’s something in the world of insurance called annual renewable term (ART). An ART policy covers you for one year. At the end of the year, you can renew the ART policy for another 365 days — usually at a slightly higher premium.

The thing about ART is that it tends to offer a lower premium during the first couple years than you would get with a guaranteed level policy. So it’s easy to look at quotes for the two different flavors of term life policies and think you’re making the smart choice by going with an ART.

By the way, if you have access to a group life insurance policy through your employer, ART is usually what you’re offered. You can think of it almost like buying a homeowners insurance policy a year at a time — except that it’s on your life, not your home.

But here’s the thing: Because ART policies will become more expensive as time goes on, they’re only recommended when you have a short-term need for life insurance. Otherwise, you want to lock in with a guaranteed level term policy, as Clark advises.

Wondering about the specifics of when an ART might be the right choice in your life?

Insurance site Haven gives the example of a smoker applying for life insurance who wants to quit but isn’t quite there yet. This hypothetical customer could probably get a lower rate with an ART policy for the first year versus a level-term policy for which they would underwrite and get locked in with higher rates as a tobacco user.

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If they opt for the ART, they could spend that first year working on kicking the habit. Once our smoker has quit for good, he or she could likely get a better deal on a guaranteed level policy as a non-smoker instead of continuing on as an ART customer.

So it appears that the Twitter user who wrote into Clark above likely has term life that is not guaranteed level, but rather annual renewable term.

Here’s another factor driving up his rate: The poster notes that his age is 72. Because he’s above 70, the actuarial tables insurers use to set rate are working against him big-time with an ART policy.

Think about it: It stands to reason there’s a greater rate of mortality after age 70 than, say, before age 30 or 40. And a higher cost follows when you have higher risk. So that also explains the steady uptick in price over the last term from $142/month to $675/month, and now the enormous 77% jump to $1200/month that he’s facing.

Now that we know the likely reasons why the poster’s policy is going up, what should he do about it?

Here are Clark’s recommendations

When we spoke with Clark Howard about the poster’s situation, the money expert had a couple of thoughts:

Based on what the poster told us, Clark thinks the man was probably in a guaranteed-level term policy that ran through age 70. Then once he hit 70, it came to an end and switched to annual renewable term from that point on.

But there’s a bigger question here: Is there still an insurable need for this insurance?

The answer is likely not. You get insurance for replacement of income to support your dependents in the event of your death. At 72, it’s less likely there are dependents to support to begin with. So that may negate the need for a policy in the first place and he can stop paying on it.

However, let’s play devil’s advocate and say there is an ongoing insurable need even at age 72. In that case, the best solution would be to shop the marketplace. There may be another insurer who offers a better deal on ART.

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Shopping is easy on the internet. You can comparison shop for new quotes at any of a number of sites below, which we’ve listed alphabetically:

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