Insurance

What Obamacare Deadline Really Means for Your Money

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If you’re here to complain, debate, inflame, or otherwise argue about whether or not Obamacare is a good or bad thing, let me stop you right there. This is a personal fiance website, not a political forum. Go debate the merits of policy somewhere else. This article is about the finances of Obamacare and the upcoming March 31 deadline. If you have a comment about that, or something I missed, let’s hear it. If you want to say how good or bad this law is, don’t bother, I won’t approve it. Obamacare Deadline March 31 Alright, with that out of the way, let’s jump right in. The law popularly known as Obamacare is actually called the Affordable Care Act. This is strange, because Congress usually goes out of its way to come up with an acronym for every big law it passes. However, this law states that you must be covered by health insurance by March 31. So, now what? First off, if you have health insurance that you get through your or your spouse’s company, stop reading and go have a latte. Nothing in this law pertains to you or your current situation. Second, if you already have health …

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How Much Should Your Home Be Insured For?

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Homeowners insurance sounds like it should be simple. Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case. A lot of that comes from common misunderstandings, but the truth is that homeowners insurance is so much more than just something that pays you when you house burns down. Once you have the right home insurance deductible amount figured out, you need to figure out how much of your house’s value needs insured. Home Replacement Value Many people mistakenly assume that the amount of homeowners insurance they need is equivalent to the market value of their home plus the value of the contents. This is a good thought but not how it actually works. In most cases, no matter what happens to your home, whether it’s a fire, a falling airplane, or an errant bulldozer, the land beneath your house is seldom destroyed along with the home.  That means that there is no point in insuring the value of the land your home sits on. Additionally, the foundation of the home survives most events intact. This can actually make your home insurance cost more or less than a similar value house located elsewhere. In popular locations where land values are high, a $500,000 home may be …

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Right Homeowners Insurance Deductible

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Most property insurance works the same way. Therefore, if you understand your auto insurance, you understand a lot about your homeowners insurance, or house insurance. The basic moving parts of a homeowners policy are much the same as car insurance. There is a property insurance part in case something happens to your home, which is like the comprehensive or collision insurance part of your car insurance. There is a liability insurance component much like the liability part of your auto insurance. There is a premium that you have to pay in order to keep your coverage in both types of policies. And, finally, both types of insurance have a deductible, or an amount that you have to pay before your insurance kicks in. Understanding Homeowners Insurance Policies There is a thing about home insurance that some people don’t know. Insurance companies can sometimes cancel homeowners policies if there are too many claims filed for the insured property. In some cases, it only takes two or three claims over the years to get cancelled. And, almost all homeowners insurance claims lead to higher rates. Even worse, when you apply for insurance with a new company, one of the first questions is …

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Find Best Car Insurance Rates

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There is more to the suggestion to check around every few years for auto insurance rates than just which company offers the lowest rates. Get the inside scoop on why and how to get better car insurance premiums by making regular rate checks.

Quick Money Saving Tip

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home-house Christmas is over, but the bills might not all be gone.  Plus, Uncle Sam is going to want his kickback, that’s taxes to you and me, by April.  Throw in a recession, and it is probably a good idea to look at saving some money.

If you’ve been through your budget and you don’t find anything out of whack (tip: if your cell phone bill is more than $60 and you aren’t a traveling salesman, it’s time to re-evaluate) then we need to pull out some less used tips.

Homeowner’s Insurance Deductible

The dirty secret about homeowner’s insurance is that filing claims will get you and your policy dropped by the insurance company.  Those same claims will keep you from getting a new insurance policy with another company.  Sometimes, as little as 3 claims in 2 years will get you dropped like a hot potato.

Since there is nothing you can do about how insurance companies behave, the next best thing is to work smarter within their system.  Only file large claims and use your savings to pay for the nickel and dime stuff like a few shingles blown off the roof.  Of course, if you aren’t going to be filing smaller claims, then you shouldn’t be paying for the coverage.

Raise your homeowner’s insurance deductible to at least $1,000.  Chances are a $1,500 or $2,500 deductible won’t lower your rates that much more, but check anyway.  Saving $10 a year to raise your deductible $1,000 doesn’t make much sense, but if you can save $50 or $100 then that’s something to think about.

If you are the very responsible type and you have the recommended 3 to 6 months of living expenses tucked safely away in an emergency fund that you never touch, you can even consider a $5,000 deductible which could significantly lower your home insurance.  But, do the math first.  It will likely only make sense if you have a high value home.

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Also, do a homeowner’s review with your company if you have made any improvements or security upgrades.  The new alarm system might be worth a discount.  The same goes for removing anything that raised your rates.  If you don’t have a dog anymore, make sure they know that too.

Be careful that your insurance agent doesn’t use your review to sell you other insurance, or even more home insurance.  You are there for home insurance only, and you don’t want to talk about life insurance, car insurance, or any other insurance, no matter how good of time it is, or how great the deal is.  You especially don’t care if rates are going up next month (a common insurance salesman line). 

Also, there is no need to insure your home for full replacement value.  Laws very from state to state, but generally, a homeowner’s insurance policy provides for 120% or so, of coverage should your whole house need replaced.  But, that kind of event is relatively rare.  Even if you have a fire, chances are you’ll be repairing the house, not rebuilding it from scratch.

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