Insurance Spring Cleaning - Tip #1 Understanding your Insurance needs

As you de-clutter and file your paperwork, also take time to review your insurance policies to ensure that you have adequate coverage and that your beneficiary information is up-to-date. This is an opportune time to revisit home, auto, valuables, umbrella liability and other aspects of your personal insurance programs.

Consult with your agency, as agents and brokers can help you determine what is appropriate coverage depending on your age, assets and lifestyle. 

Insurance Spring Cleaning Tips - Series

With warmer temperatures, chirping birds and longer days, spring is in the air, and often, the season comes with housecleaning and yard work to start fresh after a long winter.

While many are spring-cleaning their homes, it is also a good time to do some financial spring-cleaning. This is an opportunity to revisit an often neglected aspect of financial planning—home, auto and other insurance policies.

Failing to review policies annually can allow your coverage to grow increasingly out of sync you’re your assets and lifestyle. As a result, you are likely overpaying for coverage that will still leave you exposed to severe financial loss, especially due to natural disasters. 

Follow along with us this week as we provide thoughtful tips to help you Spring Clean your insurance.

April Storms cost hundred of millions

Now it’s official. April’s thunderstorms were big.

The series of storms that wreaked havoc across much of the United States in April rank as the first billion-dollar economic loss event of 2014 that can be attributed to convective thunderstorms, according to Aon Benfield’s monthly Global Catastrophe Recap report, released Wednesday. At least 39 people were killed by flash flooding and severe weather during the storms, which included nearly 70 confirmed tornadoes across more than 20 states in the Plains, Mississippi Valley, Southeast, Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions.

Are Home Warranty’s Worth the Money?

Many people believe the only good thing about owning a home warranty is that it might help sell your home, but if you're not moving, their protections are limited.

Typically, warranty companies are difficult to deal with. Most require you to use their contractor only; rendering the warranty company only as good as their authorized contractors. If the company partners with unlicensed contractors or contractors with poor Better Business Bureau histories, you could have a mess on your hands. That is, if they even show up.

Consider an alternative: set aside $50 a month in a repair fund. Tap into it instead of a $400 to $600 annual warranty when major things start to fall apart.

Like anything else, you should shop several types of home warranties. Compare their costs, histories and reputations, especially their deductibles and rates-of-response.  But also compare them to the cost of starting your own repair fund -- and to the cost of a solid termite contract that includes a repair guarantee

 

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