Personal Finance Tips

In this article I will just break down insurance so as to take the confusion out when shopping for one:

Insurance covers 4 key components:

-Life

-Property

-Income

-Health

Depending on your age, income statues, and life stage you may need anywhere from two to all four types.
An insurance policy has 3 major components you should look at when purchasing it:

1. The Premium

This is your most recognizable and easiest part to understand. Your premium is the payment you pay for that policy whether you pay for it yearly, semi-annually, or monthly. The size of the premium determines the type of coverage you will receive with your policy

2. Coverage

The coverage determines what the policy covers or does not cover in case you will ever file a claim, such as a health emergency, or property damage (accident).

3. The deductible

The deductible states how much money you will have to pay before your insurance starts their coverage, whether it is $500 or $3000, you have to put this money down first on an expense before the insurance coverage kicks in (except life insurance policies).

Sometimes the deductible is a percentage, such as 10%, and comes in various forms and added terms such as you will be covered up to $1 million in expenses, or after you pay $500 you will pay only 20% of your bill.

So the deductible comes in various shapes and forms and you must look at these more carefully than the premium, to see what kind of cash you will have to fork in order to coexist with the insurance payments.

The most important part of your insurance policy is your coverage and then the deductible. For your purposes you must examine what is covered and what is not (such as car theft). You don’t want to be happy only paying $60/month on your car insurance, only to find out when it’s stolen that it was not part of your coverage.

I will add one last segment to this article which is how you can buy insurance.

You can do so in one of the following ways:

-from an insurance agent that is not associated with the company

-an agent of the company

-directly from the company

A perk of buying directly from the company is that the policy will probably be cheaper as there will be no commission if it’s online. However, independent agents can offer you more choices because they are not bound by one insurance company.

The best way to go is based on your needs. If you need very simple car insurance you can probably go online directly to the company, but if you need a more complicated policy that you have never encountered before, it will be wise to speak with a good agent.

How do you find a good agent? Well, that’s a big mystery; you can find a good agent just like you can find a new mechanic: by asking for referrals from friends and coworkers. If they have been with an agent for a long time and can relate a good story where the agent provided them with a really good service, that’s probably a good bet.

These are the top and most famous tips for everyone who wants to buy insurance of any category whether it is related to health insurance, car insurance, home insurance, travel or any other. Just remember these insurance tips and you will be safe:)

Top 5 Insurance Tips

1. Try to buy enough cover but don’t overdo it. Cover all of the bases, from house mortgages to health plans to every single child’s education, but don’t overspend on coverage that you won’t ever need or those that are easy to cover on your own.

2. Always read the fine print. If you are having trouble understanding all of the terms and rules, get help from someone else or a lawyer. You don’t want to be caught in a loophole somewhere down the line just because you didn’t read the fine print, or did not understand everything that was written.

3. Research and shop around. Don’t buy insurance from the first agency that you encounter. Look around and shop for lowest rates and the best support they can provide. If an insurance agency realizes you are comparing, you may end up being offered special rates or discounts just because they really want to get your business. Agencies are also less likely to trick you if they find out that you know what you want and are not afraid to look in different places.

4. If you already have other insurances, make sure you have a reliable record before shopping around for new ones. If you are spotty with your monthly or annual payments, you may have trouble finding low rates or even insurance agencies willing to entertain you.

5. Use the Internet to your advantage. Get free assessments and compare rates online, look for feedback from past clients just to see if an agency treats its clients well.

Do you remember the Blues Brothers? They were unstoppable. They were “on a mission from God”. Seems like almost everyone standing behind the counter in the rental agency is a Blues Brother when you come into collect the vehicle. They always want to sell you something, usually additional insurance. The most common special offer is loss damage waiver (LDW). It sounds such a good idea to have complete cover against any loss caused to the vehicle while under your control. The magic word is “waiver”. You are excluded from liability even if you drive the vehicle off the end of a pier and it sinks without trace (hopefully without you still inside it). The only problem is this good idea can seriously damage your bank balance when the final bill comes in. That hourly or daily rate just got heavy. So when should you add LDW? The answer is deceptively simple. If you do not own another vehicle and have no insurance cover in place, it may be a good buy. But most insurance policies on your own vehicle cover you while driving a rental. So it all comes down to the extent of that cover on your own vehicle.

To get the maximum discount in these hard economic times, most people have been pushing up the deductibles. In many cases, the potential losses can be managed to keep to the low end. It’s your vehicle. You can talk to the repair shop and get all the work you want done at the best price. But when it’s a rental vehicle, everything is out of your hands. The rental company has no interest in protecting your bank balance. It pays top dollar to get the vehicle repaired and sends you the bill. No searching around to find the cheapest replacement parts and lowest price body shops. Everything is top of the range and then comes the kicker. It’s called the “loss of use” charge. You are expected to cover their estimated loss of profit while the vehicle is off the road. And guess what. If you are paying their loss of profit, they have no incentive to rush the repairs. They can take their own sweet time and, in most cases, you pay – most private policies do not cover loss of use charges. Some credit card companies offer limited cover, but read the small print before relying on it. Limited cover means very little actual money will ever be paid out.

If you are only renting for a few days, it’s probably worth paying for LDW. It may not be cheap auto insurance, but it protects you. But if the end bill is going to be too high, trust to luck and your own insurance policy. Hopefully, your own cheap auto insurance policy will give you enough of a buffer against claims Remembering, of course, that only the best private policies cover you against the dreaded loss of use charges. If nothing else, all this bad news should give you the incentive to drive like your wheels are passing over egg shells. Drive as safely and carefully as possible. If you are going to break some eggs, make sure the damage is minor and the losses are small.