Choosing The Right Homeowner’s Insurance

Home

Choosing The Right Homeowner’s Insurance

As a homeowner, you are required by law to carry homeowner’s insurance. Unfortunately, many people do not carry the right homeowner’s insurance or the correct coverage amount. When buying a new home, most people are anxious to get the buying process over with to quickly, get settled in. Because of this, sometimes only minimum insurance is purchased, just enough to cover the minimum requirement. However, this coverage amount is never modified so when disaster strikes, the homeowner quickly discovers the coverage was not enough.

The most important thing you can do for you, your family, and your property when buying a home is to conduct in-depth research, and then work with a qualified insurance representative to ensure you never find yourself in this type of disastrous situation. Start by working with a reputable company. Remember, the size of the company is not what matters. Instead, you want a company that underst ands homeowner’s insurance and one that can guide you to the right type and amount of coverage.

If you know someone that is happy with their homeowner’s insurance, you might set up a meeting with that company to see if they can help with your needs. Otherwise, check the local Better Business Bureau, asking for and checking referrals. In addition, make sure the company is financially stable, one that guarantees its services, and a company that offers outst anding customer service to efficiently h andle any questions or claims.

The right representative will help you locate and maintain appropriate insurance. However, for the company or agent to underst and the insurance industry as well as your specific needs, proper training, knowledge, responsiveness, patience, and service are m andatory. As mentioned, availability is another important factor when choosing an insurance representative. When a crisis strikes, being able to get in touch with the representative in a timely manner helps resolve the issue while building a relationship of trust and confidence in the representative’s abilities.

Then, your homeowner’s insurance should be affordable. Obviously, you want to purchase the requirement but also the amount of insurance that would ensure coverage of your home and personal belongings in case of disaster. A good insurance representative would work with you to ensure that you are not paying for something you do not need while also making sure you have coverage where you do need it. The process of choosing the right insurance coverage is an important one so look for a company or agent with whom you can freely discuss your needs.

Just keep in mind that you will find a number of different insurance packages sold each providing different focus. When you shop around for the ideal policy, you want to make sure your policy covers fire, windstorm, tornados, hail, smoke damage, v andalism, and any other damage to your belongings or home. Additionally, if you live in a flood or earthquake zone, while coverage may not be a part of the st andard policy, it might be something you can add on, providing additional protection for your home.

Universal Life Insurance

My introduction to the concept of life insurance came years ago before the Internet made it much easier to educate yourself on all of the intricacies and issues of selecting and buying insurance. As a new father, I read an article in one of the magazines about the importance of life insurance. Coming from a blue collar family, I had never really been exposed to this as a basic financial planning requirement.

At any rate, the article motivated me to check out the issue and I started in the yellow pages. For the youngsters, those are big, cumbersome books printed on yellow paper with all the phone numbers listed. Today I guess strong men still tear them in half, but back then they were an important resource. My search produced several companies I had heard of and I called three of them to get in touch with an agent.

Over the next few months I became somewhat knowledgeable on the ins and outs of life insurance. I learned about term and whole life, cash value, and even a then-new affordable option called universal life. Money, of course, was pretty tight at that time but the wife and I figured out an amount we could afford monthly and started the process of choosing a policy.

I was pretty new to sales myself, but one of the agents filled the bill of the classic professional insurance salesman. I still smile thinking about him. He had a pitch that was as polished as a classic automobile’s paint job. He was confident without being arrogant and it was quite evident he expected to sell us as large a policy as we could afford.

In the end, it came down to him with a whole life policy and another agent that offered both term and universal life insurance options. The older pro simply dismissed both as unworthy options for a young family. Cash value was his theme and he wanted us to buy a policy that would help pay for the new baby’s education when the time came. (Of course, back the, an education at a good college was an unbelievably huge financial burden of around $5,000 for all four years. When the time came, I think we spent that amount just on four years of pizza).

Since that time, I have learned about residual incentives and all the other insights to insurance sales. Back then, however, it was a struggle to dismiss the fatherly insistence of the Pro over the clear advantages presented by the younger agent. Finally, however, we settled on the more flexable universal policy. Well, when I called our whole life guy to let him know, he absolutely insisted on a meeting before he accepted my no.

It was impossible to not grant a final sit down so he came over and we spent an hour or so reviewing all the facts and information again. When he finally accepted that I wasn’t going to be swayed, he sighed in a very sad manner, pulled out a sheet of paper and slid it to me across the table. When I asked what it was, he explained that he almost never lost a sale but when anyone failed to follow his advice, he asked them to sign this letter. It allowed him, he said, to come back to any new widows and explain he had done his best to make sure they were provided for, but the fault was with me, not him.

To this day, when I encounter or think of a truly persistent salesman, I remember our insurance pro and smile.

Life Insurance is Magic

I think life insurance is pure magic. I bought life insurance for myself several years ago so I could better protect my family in the event that I should die. Some life insurances do not have an accumulation of cash benefit and others do. I have been paying into my life insurance policy for some time now, and when I need extra money, there it is, just like magic.

I knew that after I have had the policy for a while, I could make a loan against this life insurance policy. The money from my life insurance policy is there when I need it. I do have to pay back the funds I borrow or I will get less when I really need the policy.

• Funds for a new home

• Funds for home repairs

• Funds for the kids for college

• Funds for emergency medical bills

• Funds to pay off the home

• Funds for a trip

Life Insurance is like magic.  One minute there is no money the next there can be a TON of it!
Life Insurance is like magic. One minute there is no money the next there can be a TON of it!

The extra funds from my life insurance policy show up just like magic to take care of immediate needs. Life insurance policies are not just for the end of life. A life insurance policy can protect you when you need extra cash.

Just like magic, it is there to pay for the end of life expenses.

Why I love whole life insurance

If you are looking into life insurance, you have two basic choices. You can choose term insurance or whole life insurance.

Term insurance offers cheaper premiums. With that in mind, why do I love whole life insurance? It may have something to do with the reason I love getting a big tax refund. You see, I know I could change my deductions and get more on each pay, but I kind of like getting that big tax refund. I pay a little more every payday but it pays off each April.

It is the same way with whole life insurance. I may pay more in monthly premiums, but there are two VERY big plusses for me. One is that whole life builds cash value, making it virtually a savings account for me. The other reason is that I know my premiums won’t ever rise. Those are two pretty good reasons. But there’s more.

I have a tough time saving money, so whole life has that built in feature. I pay the premiums and a portion goes into a cash value. It also allows me to access to my built up cash value via policy loans. If I ever need some extra cash on the cheap and don’t want to go to a bank, a whole life policy could be the ticket.

Yes, I’ve heard the expression “buy term insurance and invest the difference.” For me, I love whole life insurance because I am more likely to spend the difference. Whole life helps me save it.

Leave Cash To The Kids With Your Life Insurance Benefits

The topic of getting life insurance may be broached by your children in the near future, like a bad infomercial parody where everyone gathers around the kitchen table as the oldest child places her h and on yours, stares you straight in the eye, and asks, "Have you considered life insurance in case something happens to you? Who will take care of us when you are gone? How will our childcare costs be paid?"

In response to such a serious question, you may nod your head and answer, "Get your lazy 40-year-old butt of the couch and get a job! You can’t expect me to pay everything for you for the rest of my life and into the afterlife! It’s bad enough you spend all day playing that stupid farming game on that social media site as you waste real money to buy fake money to raise fake livestock you can’t even eat!"

Once your 40-year-old moves out and finally gets a job to start her new life, you may once again consider the topic of life insurance. Insurance benefits can help pay for your funeral costs and be extra income for your kids where they won’t write something bad about you in the obituary section of the newspaper. It is also a huge benefit if you have young children in the family, as the life insurance payments can help them buy all the necessities of life: like real video games that won’t ask for an online payment account.

So talk with a life insurance representative when debating about leaving a hunk of cash to your kids when you die.