Insurance: A piece of Cake

the Geico Gecko

Insurance is simple right?  Now all it takes is 15 minutes and Bingo everything is done.  Wait that's just been cut to 7 1/2 minutes.  Need more help get a General in your corner.  Or better yet be Progressive and be discounted to death.

Drivers who switched  saved $$$$$$$$ and not everyone can be the lowest.  Hint look at the companies they compared themselves too and see which one saved the least.  If we just kept  switching back and forth and kept saving eventually they'd pay us to have insurance with them.   

Pay a little now...instead of a lot later!

Kidding aside, Insurance is about managing Risk.  Its like the old Fram auto parts commercial  You can pay me now or ...pay later (even more).   The risk is you loosing  assets that you can not afford to lose.  I mean if you own a super old car that just gets you there whats the impact of another ding to your car ?  Not much. When you buy the car you talked about in last weeks DB post  now that's a different story.

If you work  with a professional they will help you understand your risk and your  choices.  There is no hard and fast rule.. it's a balancing act.  But there are some general guide lines.

Renters Insurance Contract

1- Protect yourself from the big risks.  Example this is why I push hard for renters to have renters insurance.  If you lost all your things you would not be happy but you'd survive.  However if your so-called  friend is clowning around, falls  and  then sues you, you could lose  all the money you are saving for your house.   So a small cost but a big risk.

2- Plus coverage can be confusing.   You have homeowners insurance  for your home
Are you covered for these type of water damage.

1. A Flood,  we have rains in the fall and the Santa Ana River overflows and floods your home.
2. You have a small leak  in a pipe behind a wall  you don't see it and go on vacation.   When you come back your floor is ruined and soaked.
3. A pipe bursts in your home.
4. Your neighbors sprinkler runs all weekend and floods your home.

Answers and of course this depends on your policy.

Drying out  room after a pipe has burst

1. Flood,  probably not  usually an exclusion and requires a separate flood policy.  If you are not in any kind of flood plain ask your agent
2. Probably not  the leak was not instantaneous and sudden good chance you are not covered.
3. You used to be but water damage has become a big expense and many policies have changed you may have to pay a little extra to get covered with this. 
4. It the neighbors fault right .. guess what it's your policy that you have to look to.  If he wasn't negligent   well talk to your agent ...

Price, quality. service..pick any two

Learn the details of your policy know what it covers and it doesn't and see if  its worth adding additional coverages to share your risk.

 When a problem happens you need service.  State Farms has two sets of ads.   Price ..discount double check... and service ..state farm is there.   These actuality speak to what you should think about balancing... price ...risk and service. 

In case you wondered about life insurance.  We will  touch on that in the last week in estate planning.