Protecting My Family, My Health, My Automobiles, And My Stuff
I just finished sending a payment to my automobile insurance company. As with most things related to “personal finance”, sending the payment got me to thinking about the blog. I realized that I’ve never written a post specifically about the types of insurance I have. So, here goes:
Health Insurance: My wife is an educator, so our entire family is covered under her insurance policy. United Health actually administers the plan and it’s a pretty good plan, considering the cost and the ease-of-use.
Dental Insurance: My wife and the kids are covered by her plan at work. I’m not covered. I just pay for a dental visit. The insurance costs more than I’d like, but it will payoff if one of the kids needs braces or other dental work.
Long-Term Disability Insurance: I have a long-term disability insurance policy that is attached to my 403b account. It provides a very modest amount of monthly income, should I become disabled for more than 90 days. My wife has a similar long-term disability policy. We do not have short-term disability insurance… we have an emergency fund!
Renters Insurance: My employer provides our housing. So, I have a renters insurance policy in place to cover our “stuff”. The policy is relatively inexpensive, considering the amount of the coverage.
Term-Life Insurance: I have two term-life policies. My wife has a single term-life policy. Together, our policies amount to about 20 times our combined income. My policies are actually a little smaller than hers. Why? I signed up for my policies when we were making less money. I will be increasing the amount of term-life insurance that we have at the end of 2007. I do not have a whole-life policy.
Automobile Insurance: All three of our automobiles are insured with the same company. In fact, I’ve been with the same automobile insurance company for more than 17 years! I’ve shopped around from time to time, but I like my broker and the rates are competitive. One change I have made: I now pay my insurance once every six months instead of once every month. I have “full-coverage” on all of my automobiles.
There you have it, a list of my various insurance policies. Have I missed anything? Any thoughts or ideas? Leave a comment…
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Re: Term Life…my dh has been an insurance agent for several years now and, while it’s probably been around awhile, *I* just discovered a product that is out there that has a “return of premium” which he and I both think is fantastic. The bottom line on it is that you pay your premium (which is only a few dollars more than a standard policy) and at the end of your term, if you haven’t died, you get ALL your money back! So, you might ask your insurance agent if he has a product with “return of premium”. Just an fyi.
I know it’s not technically insurance, but it serves a similar purpose: a will.
A will is one of the single best things you can do for yourself when it comes to protecting your family and stuff. You can have great life insurance and other wonderful coverage, but if it’s not clearly expressed how your family is to be taken care of financially in your will, there could be huge tax issues and other obstacles to getting your family your money when you die.
Just a thought, since a will only take a few minutes to accomplish and could save thousands of dollars and a lot of headaches at a very difficult time.
What Nick says, but my wife and I have a Trust set up in our name. No need for it going through Probate court that way.
You might want to look into more long-term disability coverage - you are more likely to need it than life insurance!
In Australia, employers don’t provide insurance as part of your package. Even more amusingly, if you earn over $50k, you’re taxed an extra 1% if you DON’T have health insurance!
Anyway, I have private health insurance, car insurance and contents insurance (like your renters insurance).
I used to have life insurance but gave it up a while ago as my retirement fund offers both life insurance and permanent disability insurance as part of being a member.
I belong to an insurance company that gives you a cash-back on the premiums you pay if you don’t make any claims in a 3 year period. How neat is that?
You mentioned in an earlier post that you drive your truck to the dump and to the store to get bigger items. Why not just have collision on that vehicle and save a few dollars more. You do have an emergency fund, should you get into an accident. I am guessing that the truck doesn’t have a very high value, but maybe not and that’s why you carry full coverage on it?
We have long term, short term disability. Life insurance. Automobile and home insurance. We also have dental and vision insurance.
You might want to make sure your dental coverage covers braces - I found out that mine doesn’t. The orthodontist has a half now, half in payments for a year, no interest deal. Good thing we had an emergency fund to dip into - thanks to ncn!
Good suggestion with the “renters” insurance. Many who don’t own their own place don’t have it. I had a very close friend who did, thankfully, because their house (provided by their employer, like you) burned down, and almost nothing was saved.
If you don’t have insurance on your “stuff,” you need it!
“If you don’t have insurance on your “stuff,” you need it!”
You are right
Just an add on to the renter’s (or homeowners) insurance. Get a video camera and spend 15 minutes recording all of your possessions. Save the recording in a safe place NOT in your home. If your house ever gets burned or demolished you will have an accurate record for the insurance company. It will serve you much better than your memory would.
Enjoyed your site and added your link to my blogroll.
I read your post from January about updating your life insurance. Haven’t seen an update, hope you followed through.
I’ve noticed most finance related sites talk about policies but not-so-much about coverage. I hope the policies you have protect your rapidly growing net worth. Good luck and may a thousand nervous twichers visit your site.