5 Tips for Cheap Home Insurance

5 Tips for Cheap Home Insurance

Home insurance is a general term for two different insurance products. Buildings insurance to protect your property’s construction and home contents insurance to protect your moveable household objects and valuables.

The problem is that not all home insurance policies are created equal making it difficult to compare like with like. The areas and level of protection offered vary from policy to policy along with the price. So having a definite idea of what you need to insure and for how much will help minimise the overall time and money spent buying it.

TIP 1: Cut the risk and cut the premium

All insurance protects against the risk of financial loss. So to cut the cost, cut the risk to the insurance company and you’ll be rewarded with a lower premium. Here’s a quick summary of the most effective measures.

o Call your home insurance company or local neighbourhood watch scheme and they will send you a list of steps to take to make your house more secure.

o Fit locks to all windows and level 5 (BS3621) mortise deadlocks locks to the doors. Most insurance companies will give you up to 10% off your contents insurance if you have these kind of locks fitted.

o You can also have an alarm fitted by a recognised alarm fitter, which your insurance company can recommend, and again this can give you up to 10% of your policy. Bear in mind that these are expensive alarms which require an annual check-up.

o Increased policy excess. You will usually have to pay the first £50 of any claim, but if you’re willing to pay more, your premium will fall.

o Neighbourhood watch. Some insurers offer discounts if you live in a neighbourhood watch area; however this is becoming less common.

o No claims bonus. Just like your car insurance; a record of no previous claims will reduce your premium substantially. If you need to make a claim, consider whether it may be cheaper to pay for the loss yourself to avoid an increase in premiums.

o Your age. Statistically, the older you are, the less likely you are to make a claim. So if you’re a lower risk this will be reflected in your premiums. Some companies offer extra benefits to those over 50 such as Saga.

o Special precautions. Declare any special safety precautions you’ve made for your valuables such as a home safe.

o Your lifestyle. If you have a dog, are teetotal and don’t smoke, be sure to declare this as such factors are used by some insurers to reduce premiums.

o Occasionally applying to your existing insurer as a new customer can reduce your premiums. Many insurers offer discounts to new customers which won’t be repeated when you come to renew.

o If you apply online you will normally get a discount of around 5%.

Before you carry out any security improvements to your home, always check with your home insurance company first. They will confirm which improvements will have the biggest cost cutting impact.

TIP 2: Only pay for the home insurance you need

Calculating an accurate figure for the buildings and contents insurance value can be awkward, which is why a lot of homeowners are either under insured or paying for levels of cover they don’t really need.

Buildings insurance covers the re-build cost of your property not its market value. The re-build value of your home is the cost of re-building it in the event that it is destroyed by fire or subsidence for example. The re-build value of your home can usually be found on your mortgage agreement, or property deeds. The Building Cost Information Service (BCIS) of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) produces a range of detailed guidance on the cost of rebuilding houses and flats together with a re-building cost calculator.

Alternatively, you can opt for a policy that has an unlimited or high standard buildings sum insured so you don’t have to be concerned about insuring the right amount.

Home contents insurance covers almost everything else you would take with you if you moved house. Make a list of the rooms in your house and write down all the items contained in each with its value. Once you’ve done this, total the individual amounts to see what contents insurance protection you need. Remember to value items such as CD’s, videos and clothing as their collective cost is often under insured. Whether your wardrobe is full of jeans or designer labels, make sure you include the cost of replacing them.

TIP 3: Consider separate buildings & contents insurance

If you need both buildings and contents insurance, get quotes for separate policies for maximum potential savings. Most insurers do provide them as separate policies and just because one is cheap for buildings cover doesn’t mean they are equally competitive to insure the contents. Find the cheapest providers for each component and consider buying each from different insurers.

TIP 4: Shop around for home insurance

As with any other retail product, the biggest savings are revealed by shopping around.

Firstly, don’t simply opt for the home insurance supplied by your mortgage lender. They can be convenient when your busy sorting your mortgage but they’re often over priced and chances are they won’t have been compared against other policies on the market.

When shopping for insurance you basically have three options; go direct to the insurer, browse the web or use a broker. If you have the time and commitment you can do all three, but the fastest and most effective route is to log on and use the reach of the internet.

The best insurance websites compare dozens of brokers and home insurance companies in minutes. You only have to fill in one form to get a list of premiums displayed on your screen from major insurers and brokers. However, if you have unusual or very specific requirements the final premium may increase when confirmed direct with your chosen insurer.

TIP 5: Haggle & Save

Like every other product, insurance has a margin of profit built into it which can be negotiated down if you’re armed with the right information. Not every insurer will buckle and concede an additional discount but if you don’t ask you won’t know.

o Firstly, find the cheapest quote after using internet comparison sites and phoning a few brokers.

o Take the cheapest quote and contact your existing insurer first asking them to beat it. If they won’t budge contact the second cheapest insurer and do the same.

o If after all that the insurer won’t cut the premium, ask them to throw in some extra cover to sweeten the deal or move on to the next home insurance company.

5 Tips for Cheap Home Insurance

5 Tips for Cheap Home Insurance

Copyright ? UK Home Insurance Company Indexhttp://www.uk-insurance-index.co.uk All rights reserved. Please feel free to publish this article online provided that the article and this copyright statement remain unchanged with live links.

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Insurance – All the Basics

Insurance – All the Basics

What is insurance?

Insurance is a means of providing protection against financial loss in a great variety of situations. It is a contract in which one party agrees to pay for another party’s financial loss resulting from a specified event.

Insurance works on the principal of sharing losses. If you wish to be insured, against any type of loss, agree to make regular payments, called premiums, to an insurance company. In return, the company gives you a contract, the insurance policy. The company promises to pay a certain sum of money for the type of loss stated in the policy.

History

Insurance is thousands of years old. The Code of Hammurabi, a collection of Babylonian laws of 1700BC, is believed to be the first form of credit insurance. A borrower did not have to repay a loan if personal misfortune made it impossible to do so. Insurance as we know it today can be traced to the Great Fire of London in 1666, which devoured 13,200 houses. In the aftermath of this disaster, Nicholas Barbon opened an office to insure buildings.

Types of Insurance

Insurance generally covers situations involving pure risk – that is, situations in which only losses can occur. Such situations include fire, floods and accidents. People also buy insurance to cover unusual types of financial losses like, a dancer might insure her legs against injury. There are mainly three types of insurance policies sold:

1. Life Insurance

A life insurance policy provides that the insurance company will pay a certain amount when the person dies. This may be paid in a lump sum or in installments to the beneficiary [people named by the policyholder to receive the death benefit]. Some types of life insurance policies also enable policyholders to save money. Such policies have a cash value. A policyholder may borrow money against the cash value or surrender the policy for its cash value.

Annuities

These are savings plans sold by insurance companies to provide a fixed and regular retirement income. If the annuitant [owner of the annuity] dies before receiving the guaranteed number of payments, the insurance company must continue the payments to the beneficiary.

Dividends

Some insurance policies refund part of the premiums in the form of dividends. Such policies are called participating policies. An insurance company pays dividends if the money it collected in premiums exceeds the amount needed to pay benefits and administrative costs. Dividends may also include a share of the profits the company earned on investments made with premium funds. Dividends are most commonly paid on life insurance.

2. Private Health Insurance

Health insurance pays all or part of the cost of hospitalization, surgery, laboratory tests, medicines, and other medical care. The rising cost of medical care has increased the need for adequate health insurance. You could suffer a major financial hardship without such coverage, especially in case of a serious illness or accident.

Dental insurance is one of the fastest-growing types of health insurance. It helps pay for a wide variety of dental services.

3. Property & Liability Insurance

Individuals and businesses buy property and liability insurance to protect their assets against financial loss. Property insurance provides direct compensation if a policyholder’s possessions are damaged, destroyed, or lost as a result of perils. Liability insurance protects individuals and businesses against possible financial losses if their actions result in bodily injury to others or in harm to property owned by others.

The main types of individual coverage are:

o Homeowners Insurance

This provides protection against losses from damages to an owner’s home and its contents.

o Automobile Insurance

This is the most widely purchased and most important kinds of insurance. Drivers are legally responsible for any costs arising from accidents they cause. This insurance protects a policyholder against financial losses from accidents.

Financial viability of Insurance Companies

Financial stability and strength of the insurance company should be a major consideration when purchasing an insurance contract. An insurance premium paid currently provides coverage for losses that might arise many years in the future. For that reason, the viability of the insurance carrier is very important. In recent years, a number of insurance companies have become insolvent, leaving their policyholders with no coverage (or coverage only from a government-backed insurance pool with less attractive payouts for losses).

How Insurance Is Sold

Most insurance companies sell policies through agents. Exclusive agents are employees of an insurance company who sell only that company’s policies. Independent agents sell policies for several companies.

Insurance – All the Basics

Insurance - All the Basics

David Dugan is a contributing author to the insurance information site http://insurance.divinfo.com/, a site that has information on auto, homeowners, life, pet and many other kinds of insurance as well as the retirement site http://retirement.divinfo.com

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Six Myths About Pet Insurance

Six Myths About Pet Insurance

We’ve spoken with lots of pet parents who have heard about pet insurance but who have avoided looking at it in any detail. More often than not this is because they weren’t given the fully story about how it worked or why. We’re going to look at six myths that we hear frequently.

Myth #1: You can’t get pet insurance for an older pet.

Fact: Just because your pet isn’t a puppy or kitten anymore doesn’t mean you can’t insure him! Pet insurance companies will usually issue a new policy to pets up to 8 or 10 years old, sometimes older if you get your veterinarian to do a health checkup. Your premium might be higher than on a younger pet and some pre-existing conditions may be excluded. Of course the best thing is to enroll your pet when he’s young and healthy so you can avoid pre-existing conditions.

Myth #2: Since my pet is well now there’s no point buying pet insurance. Fact: Precisely because your pet has been well means that now is actually the best time to buy pet insurance because your pet probably has no pre-existing conditions. Remember, pet insurance is the one thing you can’t buy when you need it the most! Why wait until after your pet becomes sick and you wish you had pet insurance? Why wait until your pet gets a pre-existing condition that pet insurance won’t cover? No matter how well your pet is today, there is always a chance that your pet could fall sick or get injured. Pet insurance is designed to protect you against the unknown but you have to plan in advance.

Myth #3: I have to wait until my pet’s current medical condition has resolved itself before getting pet insurance.

Fact: Your pet’s current condition may be considered a temporary pre-existing condition but that doesn’t mean you can’t get pet insurance to cover everything else. For example, if your pet recently cut its leg badly and is still undergoing treatment, conditions relating to this cut may be excluded for your first year of insurance but if everything resolves and clears up you will usually be eligible for full coverage again in the second and subsequent years. The best thing to do is to talk to the pet insurance company and find out for sure.

Myth #4: Pet insurance is only worthwhile if you have a very active pet or an older pet that is likely to develop problems.

Fact: While it is true that an older pet is likely to require a greater level of medical attention than a younger pet that doesn’t mean that younger pets can’t get sick or injured. And just because a pet isn’t highly active doesn’t mean it can’t get sick. The reality is that, just as in humans, illness can strike even the healthiest pet and having pet insurance means you’ll always be able to get the best care for your pet, not what you can afford.

For example, our company recently handled a claim for $3,565 for a 3-month old Akita that was attacked through the fence by a neighbor’s dog. And the recent pet food recall reminds us all that sometimes things come completely out of the blue.

Myth #5: Pet insurance just doesn’t pay. Fact: Sadly, there is (or was) more truth to this than not. For the longest time most pet owners only had the option of choosing from from a few pet insurance plans. These plans often capped claim payouts at ridiculously low levels that left pet parents substantially out of pocket. But today pet parents have more choices and many plans now pay based on the actual vet bill which means you get much more back at claim time. Just make sure you ask how claims are reimbursed.

Myth #6: I don’t need pet insurance because I can save a small amount each month to pay for anything that might happen.

Fact: Setting aside a small amount each month can definitely help. But there are two downsides to consider: one is that many of us find it hard to save something every month, the other is that you may need to wait a long time before you’ve built up enough savings to pay for a serious illness or accident. For example, if you save $25 each month at 4% interest (paid monthly) after 5 years you will have saved $1,657. Your cat or dog is not going to wait until you’ve got enough money saved up to get sick! That same $25 could get you instead.

We hope that these answers will help you make wiser decision about whether pet insurance is right for you and your pet.

Six Myths About Pet Insurance

Six Myths About Pet Insurance

Alex Krooglik is the co-founder of Embrace Pet Insurance (or read our blog) in Cleveland, Ohio. Embrace Pet Insurance was founded in 2004 and its mission is to convince responsible pet parents that pet insurance can and should be an integral part of every pet’s health care. Alex’s family has a cheeky black cat named Milla rescued from the Geauga Humane Society.

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Pet Training and Insurance for the Obedient and Healthy Pet

Pet Training and Insurance for the Obedient and Healthy Pet

We all love pets and most of us have had a pet sometime, somewhere, right? Then you must have also faced problems with pets pooping around, nibbling at household things sometimes even hurting your kids!

This can be easily avoided by helping the pet to a pet training course. Expert trainers who know how to teach pets to behave in various household situations conduct these courses. There are a number of obedience schools that provide pet training courses (particularly dogs). Pet Training usually takes place in small groups. In addition to training pets themselves, pet training schools also teach pet owners how to become a pet trainer. Professional dog trainers more often than not do not train the dogs, but actually train the owners how to be pet or dog trainers.

Training Schools

Even thought some schools take the pet from your home to train them, the pet owner still must at some point learn what the pet has learned and how to use it and reinforce it. Owners and pets that attend class together have a prospect to learn more about each other and how to work together under a trainer’s guidance by getting a number of dog training tips. Pet Training is most effective if everyone who handles the dog takes part in the training to ensure consistent commands, methods, and enforcement.

Prescribed training in course is not always available until the puppy has fulfilled all its vaccinations at around 4 months; however, some pet trainers suggest puppy socialization classes in which puppies can enroll immediately after being placed in their permanent homes as long as infection risk is minimal and puppies have received initial vaccinations. As a general rule, basic training classes accept only puppies that are at least 3 to 6 months old.

Pet insurance

Pet insurance is another important thing to consider when you have a new pet. After all your new pets veterinary care can cost a fortune.

Pet Insurance is for covering the cost of the veterinary costs if your pet is ill or has an accident. The pet owner will have to make a payment towards any claim. Pet insurance will not pay for preventative veterinary care (vaccinations) or elective veterinary care (neutering). Although known as Pet health Insurance, insurance is normally only available for cats and dogs. There are some specialist insurance schemes available for derby horses.

The modern era: Robotic Pets

Now in the modern arena there are robotic pets like the tamagotchi. These are sold self-contained on a simple and hand-sized computer. A small screen has an image of the pet, in case of these robotic pets and buttons on the case of the device let the user perform different tasks. These tasks are like feeding the pet, playing with it, washing it, and so on. Beeps are emitted by dissatisfied pets. A massive fad was created in Japan by digital and virtual pets. They were originated here and also to a lesser extent in the United States around the late 1990s. This idea of an actual animal comprised of technology rather than skin and flesh inspired a number of people.

Pet training [http://pets.blogtastic.com/tag/pet-training] and health is as important as bringing up your kids. Hence great care and love needs to be given to them. After all they are your best friends. Aren’t they?

Pet Training and Insurance for the Obedient and Healthy Pet

Pet Training and Insurance for the Obedient and Healthy Pet

Mike Sanders is an established writer and a pet enthusiast. He regularly writes for pet journals and [http://pets.blogtastic.com].

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Mexican Tourist Auto Insurance – Tips on How to Purchase Insurance For Mexico

Mexican Tourist Auto Insurance – Tips on How to Purchase Insurance For Mexico

Congratulations – you are embarking on an exciting road trip adventure to Mexico. You have your vehicle tuned and all of your gear packed, and now it is time to purchase your Mexican tourist auto insurance. Your Mexican auto insurance coverage decision could be the most important decision you make, but unfortunately it is often one of the most rushed and least researched decisions that many Mexico travelers make. Do not make the mistake of assuming that all Mexican insurance is the same, because the differences in insurance coverages and benefits can vary tremendously between Mexico insurance companies. Even though researching insurance coverage is not very exciting for most people, this article will show you how 5 to 10 minutes of research on the internet could save you thousands of dollars and many frustrating hours if you were to actually need to use your Mexico insurance to pay for a loss.

Use the internet to quote and purchase Mexican tourist auto insurance

The vast majority of Mexican auto insurance is now purchased directly from the internet. There are a number of websites that sell Mexico insurance, and buying your insurance from the internet makes a lot of sense for the customer. Would you rather wait till the last minute to buy your insurance at the border, or would you prefer to buy your insurance from the convenience of your own computer before you leave on your trip to Mexico? Most customers prefer to get their insurance taken care of ahead of time.

The best websites to buy your Mexico insurance from are ones that offer multiple Mexico insurance companies. This allows you to do comparison shopping through one website instead of filling out multiple quotation forms on multiple websites. One good Mexican insurance website with a comparison insurance rater will save you a lot of time and confusion.

Which websites can be trusted?

Before getting your insurance quote, make sure to look for a valid insurance license and contact information. Also, you may want to look for a ‘Surplus Lines Broker’ license number. A surplus lines broker is an insurance broker who has a direct contract with the Mexican insurance companies and is licensed to sell foreign insurance coverage within the United States. A surplus lines broker license is a good sign that the website is run by a company who specializes in Mexico insurance. If the insurance license is not a surplus lines broker license, this means the website is most likely run by an insurance agent who is selling through a surplus lines broker. This does not mean the products on the website are not valid, but you may not receive the same level of customer service as you would from a surplus lines broker who specializes entirely in Mexican insurance. You may also want to look for a Better Business Bureau listing and some sort of internet security approval such as Hacker Safe or McAfee Secure to ensure that your information will be secure during your internet transaction.

Mexico insurance coverage to look for

Once you have selected a website that sells Mexico tourist auto insurance, you will fill out the quick insurance quote form. Within a minute, you should be able to get a firm quote and begin researching the benefits of the insurance products offered. Remember, this will be a much quicker and streamlined process if you use a website that offers multiple competing insurance companies all under one quoting system (a comparative quote rater).

Look for a chart below or above the insurance prices that clearly explains exactly what the Mexico insurance limits are and what is actually covered. In this chart, you will want to look at the following categories:

Deductibles: The best Mexican insurance policies will offer fixed deductibles, meaning the deductibles will be locked at a set amount regardless of what the value of your vehicle is. Some of the less expensive policies will base deductibles on a percentage of the vehicle value. If the vehicle’s value is less than $20,000, percentage based deductibles may be fine, but when vehicle values get up in the $30,000 range or higher, the percentage based deductibles can get very high. If the website does not specifically list the deductibles, you should not use that website!

US Hourly Labor Rates for Repairs Made in the US or Canada: In the old days, most Mexican auto insurance companies tried to make customers repair their vehicles in Mexico. Repairs made in Mexico instead of the US were often much less expensive for the Mexican insurance companies, and many customers were unwilling to leave their car in Mexico, so the company got out of paying these claims. Today, many of the better Mexico insurance programs allow you to fix your vehicle in the US or Canada if you wish. The catch is that some of the less expensive Mexican insurance programs will only pay a limited hourly labor rate for repairs made in the US (some as low a $20 per hour). This means the customer would have to pay the difference in hourly labor rates out of their pocket. The best Mexican insurance programs will pay very high US labor rates such as $70 per hour or state that they will pay whatever the current US hourly labor rate is. These policies could significantly minimize your out of pocket expenses in the event of a claim. If the Mexico insurance website does not specify if repairs in the US are allowed or what the hourly labor rate is, do not use that website to purchase your Mexican insurance!

Vandalism and Partial Theft Coverage: Vandalism and partial theft (meaning only part of the car is stolen such as the tires, door panels, etc) is typically not covered by standard Mexican auto insurance. In the past few years the higher quality Mexican insurance programs have started to offer this coverage in their enhanced coverage programs. If you want to protect yourself against as many types of losses as possible, you should look for this coverage.

Liability Limits: This is the portion of the Mexican insurance policy that pays for damages you cause to third parties. This coverage is essential when traveling in Mexico. Most people in the industry feel that $50,000 worth of liability insurance is probably the minimum you should consider. Some of the best Mexican insurance programs will go up to $300,000 combined single limit (a lump sum for property damage or bodily injury damages), but it will also increase the insurance premium. Some customers wish to carry these higher limits to work in tandem with their US umbrella liability policies. You may want to ask your US insurance provider if your umbrella insurance will recognize your Mexico auto insurance as a primary coverage.

Medical Payments: This is the portion of the Mexico insurance policy that pays for medical costs for you and your passengers (people inside your vehicle). $2,000 per person with a total of $10,000 per accident is the lowest limit you should consider, but many policies will offer much higher limits. Some of the better policies will also increase this amount if you are hit by an uninsured motorist who is at fault. You may want to check with your US or Canadian health insurance provider to make sure they will cover you for medical costs incurred while traveling in Mexico. If not, you may also want to research an international health insurance plan – but that is a different subject.

Legal Service: Make sure your Mexico insurance includes legal service or legal assistance. This coverage will pay for any court costs, attorney fees, or bail payments that are a result of a traffic accident in Mexico. The service will also dispatch a legal representative to hold your hand through any legal procedures. This coverage is absolutely essential, so do not purchase any Mexico auto insurance that does not include this coverage!

Road Assistance: Most of the better Mexico insurance companies will include some level of road assistance that will cover towing expenses, flat tires, locksmith, and other services. This is a great coverage to have, so make sure this is included with your Mexico insurance policy.

Medical Evacuation: As the market for Mexican insurance becomes more competitive, many Mexico carriers are now bundling in extra special coverages to make their products stand out. When medical evacuation is automatically included with your Mexico auto insurance, it is an incredible value and convenience. This coverage will coordinate and pay for air or land ambulance services in the event of ‘grave illness or injury’. This means life threatening or very serious illnesses or injuries. Purchasing a medical evacuation program on your own will often cost hundreds of dollars per year, and can often have many limitations. The quality Mexico auto insurance programs that bundle in the medical evacuation coverage will usually cover multiple people in your travel group automatically up to four or more people. Make sure to look for how many people are covered by the medical evacuation. If the amount of people covered is not listed in the insurance quote details, you can assume that the medical evacuation may only cover the driver. Other websites do exist that specifically cover 4 or more people in your travel group, so it is highly recommended that you look for websites that offer this broader medical evacuation coverage.

Plane Tickets Home: Another great benefit that many of the better Mexico insurance websites are offering is plane tickets home in the event that your car is stolen or not drivable. This can save you thousands of dollars, and alleviate the nightmare of needing to coordinate your transportation back to your home from Mexico. If this benefit is offered, make sure to see for how many people the policy will provide plane tickets home. If plane tickets home is not listed, or the website does not specify how many people are covered, you should check a different website. A few websites do offer coverage for four people or more in your travel group.

When in doubt, call the website customer service phone line for help

The reputable Mexico insurance websites will encourage you to call their customer service departments if you have questions about the Mexico insurance. If nobody answers the phone, or does not call you back within a few minutes (during normal business hours), you may not want to purchase your insurance from that website! Most Mexico insurance websites are like ATM machines. The website is there for your convenience if you want to write the policy yourself, but you are also welcome to call the website customer service insurance agents and have the agents write the policy for you over the phone.

If you check for each of these insurance coverages and website features while shopping for Mexican auto insurance on the internet, you are guaranteed to purchase the best insurance for your situation. Five to ten minutes of research could save you thousands of dollars and hours, if not weeks, of headaches in the event that you need to file a Mexican insurance claim. Be safe, and have fun in Mexico!

Mexican Tourist Auto Insurance – Tips on How to Purchase Insurance For Mexico

Mexican Tourist Auto Insurance - Tips on How to Purchase Insurance For Mexico

Jeff Nordahl has over 10 years of experience in the Mexican auto insurance industry. He is currently President of Adventure Mexican Insurance Services, which is a California based surplus lines broker that specializes exclusivley in providing Mexico insurance products.

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Computers and Technology Can Help You Find Health Insurance

Computers and Technology Can Help You Find Health Insurance

In today’s advanced world of computers and technology, it seems like just about everything is simpler than it was 20, even 10, years ago. We can do many things much faster and easier thanks to computers and technology. We can avoid the cost of phone bills and postage by talking for free through instant messengers and emails. We can save on gas money (and our own energy!) by keeping up with our bank accounts, and even paying bills or shopping using our bank accounts, online. We can save the time it takes to head down to the local library to search for the books we need for a research paper by using the resources of the Internet to study and explore every topic under the sun.

And, best of all for some of us, we can even work from home thanks to computers and technology.

Whether we’re freelance writers, graphic designers, editors, data entry workers, or even photographers, because of the advances in computers and technology, we can set up shop right in our own homes. No more commuting, no more annoying co-workers, and no more bossy bosses!

However, despite all the perks of using computers and technology to work from home, those of us who do work from home usually lack one thing – health insurance. When we’re self-employed, or contracted by a particular business, health insurance packages aren’t usually one of the perks of using computers and technology to work from home.

Therefore, it’s up to those of us who do use computers and technology to work from home to search for our own health insurance policies. There’s good news – the same computers and technology we use to work from home can help us search for health insurance companies that sell affordable health insurance policies for individuals.

So, the next time you log on to start work, remember to take a few minutes to find a health insurance policy.

Computers and Technology Can Help You Find Health Insurance

Computers and Technology Can Help You Find Health Insurance

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Insurance Coverage at a Glance

Insurance Coverage at a Glance

Insurance:

The word “Insurance” refers to the promise of repayment of the money in the case of any loss to the insurer. The insurer may be an individual or a company who have made prepayment to an insurance company for a secured life. Insurance also provides “security against future loss”. We cannot predict the timing and the occurrence of loss. So we need insurance plan in order to protect ourselves from the future loss. An insurance policy provides financial assistance to support medical, personal and social services.

Types of Insurance:

Different types of Insurance plans are offered based on your needs. Some of them are

Life Insurance

Health Insurance

Dental Insurance

Property insurance

Automobile insurance


Life Insurance

Life insurance policy is sometimes referred as life assurance, provides reimbursement of money to the decedent’s family or other designated. Life insurance gives security for you and your family. The life insurance may be permanent insurance or term insurance. The term insurance is somewhat expensive and complicated. Since the duration of this term insurance is limited to 1 to 10 or 20 years. If something happens to the insurer during this course of time, the death benefit is given to the recipient. If nothing happens at the end of term, they will not be benefited fully. Whereas the permanent life insurance is more secure and gives protection throughout the lifetime. If you cancel the policy then the accumulated cash will be yours and you can make use of it.

Health Insurance

Health insurance is a type of insurance, which covers medical costs of the insured when the insurer becomes sick or injured. Health insurance plans offered in two categories. They are individual and group insurance policy. The individual plans covers health costs for a single person whereas the group health insurance plan covers medical coverage for the entire family.

Dental Insurance

Like health insurance, dental insurance covers dental costs for an individual or group. The costs include normal dental care cost as well as damage to teeth in an accident. Most people in the United States are getting along with their health insurance plans from their employer. Whatever may be the type of policy, it provides you a financial aid for you and your child in future. Dental insurance covers both individual and group. The group dental is more economical and beneficial than the individual

Automobile insurance

The insurance which legal liability against driver or incase of loss and damage to the vehicle.

Property insurance

Property insurance gives protection against your property. This includes specialized forms of insurance like fire insurance, flood insurance, earthquake insurance, home insurance etc.

Need for Insurance

For secure life, we require insurance plans. Because anything may happen tomorrow, the things are unpredictable. Insurance makes you to prepare for future. The health insurance plans are provided to in order to meet the expense of any health problem.

Now a day’s health and dental coverage for an individual/family becomes more expensive. So it is advisable to have a health insurance plan. You can get reasonable price on your individual health and dental plan through an employer.

Whatever may be the insurance plans it provides “protection against future loss”.

Insurance Coverage at a Glance

Insurance Coverage at a Glance

Tamil Selvi is a SEO copywriter for forhealthplans.com, She has written many articles in various topics. For more information visit http://www.forhealthplans.com. She can be reached at tamil@searchenginegenie.com.

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Vacation Insurance… Saves Your Money, Time And Frustrations!

Vacation Insurance… Saves Your Money, Time And Frustrations!

Don’t forget your vacation insurance before you take off for any travel.

I am very serious when it comes to insurance, I do not want to take any chances, I grew up in a family with my mother as a sole bread winner, my Dad passed away when I was 10 years old without any insurance. Life was very very difficult then.

So the same goes with vacation insurance too!

It can cost you an extra few thousands of dollars if the cruise or tour operator goes bankrupt, or if you need to shorten your vacation due to sickness or injury.

Quick Tip

The biggest myth would be that your normal health insurance covers you when you are away, or that since many travelers visit an area or region, access to medical care is easy or affordable.

Here’s a quick guide to understanding what a good vacation insurance should cover for any travel.

1. Travel Curtailment

If you or an immediate family member becomes seriously ill or is injured during the vacation most vacation insurance companies would reimburse you for the unused portion of the vacation.

2. Travel Cancellation

You would be reimbursed if the cruise line or tour operator goes out of business. It would also reimburse you if you have to cancel the vacation due to sickness, a death in the family or other calamity listed in the insurance policy.

Travel cancellation is very different from a Cancellation Waiver that many cruise and tour operators offer. Waivers are relatively inexpensive. They provide coverage if you have to cancel the trip, but they have many restrictions.

They must be purchased when you book the trip and will usually not cover you immediately before departure. Most importantly, waiver is not insurance.

2. Personal liability

Personal Liability is important in case of legal liability, arising out of one’s negligence in causing a third party injury (or death) and/or third party property damage.

Some traveler insurance companies even insure against the loss or theft of golfing equipment and laptops.

3. Luggage/Baggage/Flight Delay

This feature comes along with a “Time” excess, meaning that the traveler insurance companies only compensate when the delay exceeds a certain time frame. The limit for loss of luggage/baggage/flight varies, usually with a cap for individual items.

4. Emergency & Medical Assistance and Information Service

Look for those 24-hour services that offer information on visa requirements, foreign exchange, weather forecasts and medical advice et cetera.

Emergency evacuation is very helpful indeed for inexperienced travelers or travelers with medical conditions or for those who are traveling to more remote and less traveled places.

These service centers may also offer emergency assistance in the form of embassy, legal, interpreter and medical referrals.

Most vacation insurance policies would compensate a couple of hundred dollars for each day of hospitalization up to the maximum limit indicated in their respective packages.

This is solely to compensate the traveler for the number of days spent in a hospital overseas and should not be mistaken as hospital or medical reimbursement, which takes care of the hospital and ward charges.

4. Accidental Death insurance

Personal accident coverage, which is to compensate the insured for permanent or temporary disablement or death as a result of an accident.

2 Main Types of Vacation Insurance

Annual Policy

Most traveler insurance companies offer vacation insurance on annual basis as well as per trip basis. Annual policies cover unlimited trips made by the insured during the entire year provided that each trip does not exceed a certain number of days, usually 90 days.

No declaration is required.

For frequent flyers, this type of cover would be most ideal in terms of cost and convenience.

Family Vacation Insurance

Family packages are also designed to cater for immediate families traveling together. Definition of immediate families would mean you, your spouse and your children.

Family vacation insurance are usually priced lower premium than if individual insurance policies were to be taken up for the whole family.

Special Features ALERT!

Go for vacation insurance policies come with higher deductible and this translates into lower premium.

The worst case scenario is you may end up having to bear the first $40 or $50 of every claim that you make.

Deductible: (Also known as Excess in UK, NZ, AU) This is the amount that the insured must pay before the vacation insurance starts paying for your claim.

This may be an annual amount, an amount for the duration of the policy, or an amount for each incident. Choose the latter.

For those of you who intend to engage in water or winter sports during your vacation, it would be wise to take up your insurers who offer free coverage for such activities.

Some traveler insurance companies may charge an additional premium for this extension, so it is better to check this point before you effect your cover.

Unfortunately, the definition of water sports in the typical travel policy does not include scuba diving.

Not surprisingly, bungee jumping is excluded from most policies. Watch out for age limits imposed by some traveler insurance companies, meaning that persons exceeding a certain age are excluded from their coverage. But if you belong to this elderly group, fret not.

There are traveler insurance companies that do not impose any age limit and offer the same coverage at no additional premium loading.

A unique coverage that is being offered in the traveler insurance market is the “Car Rental Excess”. This feature takes care of the excess amount that the insured normally has to bear (under the motor policy taken up at car rental companies) in the event of damage to the rented vehicle while driving overseas.

Price of Vacation Insurance also known as Premium – Premium Computation

For “per-trip” policies, the premium payable hinges considerably on the number of days of travel, the country of destination and choice of plan.

For example, if you are from Europe, a vacation in USA warrants a much higher premium than a trip within Europe for the same number of days.

Some traveler insurance companies provide the option of higher limits of coverage at of course, a higher premium.

If price is of concern, it is advisable to keep on hand the premium schedule from a few traveler insurance companies for comparison before you activate your insurance before each trip.

Claim Procedure

I consider this the most important aspect of buying a vacation insurance.

All traveler insurance companies will require you to lodge your claims within a certain time frame. You would be required to complete and submit a claim form, which can be obtained from the traveler insurance company.

In almost all instances, your claims must be accompanied by relevant documents, such as medical receipts for medical reimbursement or hospital cash; a police report for loss of money or personal documents; an official letter from the airline in cases of flight or lugguage delay and loss of lugguage if within custody of the airline.

In all cases, call up and inform your traveler insurance company immediately for necessary advice.

There you are… now with a basic knowledge of vacation insurance, you are equipped to choose the best suited to your travel needs and you are all set to fly!

Vacation Insurance… Saves Your Money, Time And Frustrations!

Vacation Insurance... Saves Your Money, Time And Frustrations!

About The Author

As a business traveler, Jonathan has traveled extensively within America, across Asia and Europe. Last minute travel is the norm for him, you can check out his Last Minute Vacations Guide at http://www.last-minute-vacation-guide.com

jonathan@last-minute-vacation-guide.com

Contents About : Vacation Insurance… Saves Your Money, Time And Frustrations!

Alternate Risk Transfer (ART) – Insurance Strategies

Alternate Risk Transfer (ART) – Insurance Strategies

Risk Management

Alternate Risk Transfer is a fancy way of saying alternate methods of insurance and risk management, of which there are many. From the most basic alternative of going without insurance (self-insuring) to so-called “program business captives”, there are a wide variety of strategies from which to choose.

To understand why ART strategies are so popular it is important to understand a few facts about insurance pricing.

►Insurance Premiums are related primarily to economic cycles NOT primarily to claims.

“The claims that recent increases in medical malpractice liability insurance premiums in Connecticut are attributable to overly generous jury verdicts are unfounded. The more likely explanation for the sudden rise in rates is the decrease in investment earnings of the medical malpractice insurers…” Professor Tom Baker, Director, Insurance Law Center, University of Connecticut School of Law

Every time insurance industry profits decline sharply, the industry declares an “insurance crisis” – rates go up sharply, deductibles rise and underwriting guidelines tighten.

►Insurance Premiums have risen much faster than claims.

Median medical malpractice payments rose 35 Percent from 1997 to 2001 (an average of 8.5% a year).

Average premiums for single health insurance coverage increased 39 percent over that time period (9.5% per year). (Source: National Practitioner Database)

►A small number of insured may be responsible for a large percentage of losses.

National Practitioners Database:

For example, in Florida, 6% of the doctors were found to be responsible for 51% of the malpractice claims. 2,674 out of 44,747 doctors have paid two or more malpractice payments. These doctors are responsible for 51% of total malpractice payments.

24 Florida physicians have paid 10 or more malpractice settlements since 1990.

Needless to say, the 94% pay for the poor claims experience of the 6%.

ART Strategies

Conventional insurance markets are one-year indemnity contracts designed to transfer specific hazard risks. Typical features of an ART strategy are:

►Multi-year, multi-line coverage

►Coverage tailored to special need of insured

►Provides coverage not generally available in the marketplace

►Risk retention by insured

There is a multifarious trade-off between risk retention, complexity and cost among the various different ART strategies. Not surprisingly, the plans with the least risk, complexity and expense generally provide the least benefit. As more risk is retained, the greater and greater benefits can be obtained. Of course, complexity and administrative expenses grow as well. Windward Harbor can help you find, execute and manage the right strategy for you. We have listed the basic ART strategies below.

►Guaranteed Cost Insurance Plans

Traditional insurance coverage.

►Loss Sensitive Insurance Plans

Insurance coverage for a specific insured where the final premium is based on the insured’s losses.

►Risk Purchasing Groups (RP’s)

Risk Purchasing Groups were created by the Liability Risk Retention Act of 1986. The purpose of the act was to break through the myriad of state insurance regulation in the hopes of making it easier for groups to purchase liability insurance. The act allows groups of individuals combine to purchase liability insurance while prohibiting states (regulators) or insurance companies from discriminating against them.

►Self-Insured Retention Plans (SIRS)

The primary difference between a deductible and a self-insured retention is that a deductible amount counts against the total limits of the policy, reducing total coverage, whereas a self-insured retention plan provides limits of coverage in excess of the self-insured retention so that the amount payable under the policy is not reduced by the amount of the retention.

►Protected Cell Captives (Segregated Portfolio Companies)

PCCs (SPC’s in certain domiciles) are essentially rent-a-captive companies that ensure complete separation among program participants. According to the laws of specific domiciles, PCCs or SPC’s generally guarantee complete separation of each cell’s assets, capital, and surplus from each other. Because they can achieve economies of scale, rent-a-captives make captive insurance affordable for companies that would not otherwise be large enough to profitably own and operate their own captive.

Windward Harbor LLC owns a BVI licensed Segregated Portfolio Company – Windward Harbor SPC Ltd, which provides rent-a-captive services for selected clients on an annual fee basis. Each segregated portfolio has its own economic ownership, tax Id number and files a separate tax return.

►Self-Insured Groups & Pools (SIG’s)

While the concept differs slightly from state to state, SIGs work similarly in the nearly 40 states in which they are legal. A group of employers form a nonprofit corporation or trust and hire a professional to manage it. This new entity then purchases the insurance, meaning the SIG members essentially “own” their own workers’ comp company.

The group pools the money it otherwise would pay an insurer, earning investment income on funds held in reserve. If a SIG program cuts down on workplace injuries and claim costs, the surplus, or “dividend,” from premiums is returned to members.

Of course, if a company or the group as a whole has catastrophic losses, members pay the difference, up to a limit. Above that point, the group buys excess insurance to offset a single large loss or a combination of losses.

►Captives (See Captive Services)

A captive insurance company is an insurance company that is owned and controlled by its insureds. According to Captive Insurance Companies Association (CICA), the first captive ever formed was in the late 1800s, and was designed to write more cost effective fire insurance policies for New England textile manufacturers that were hit hard by increasing market rates.

Captives gained popularity in the 1980s as a result of the US liability crisis, particularly in the medical arena.

As captives have continued to grow over time, employers are considering employee benefits as a new or expanded coverage. The more recent hard market and changing economy is expected to spur even more and rapid industry growth yet this year.

Single Parent (Pure) Captive: A single parent captive is owned and controlled by one owner, typically the parent organization, and is formed as a subsidiary company. The captive subsidiary underwrites policies for the parent, and solely bears the risks of the parent.

►Group Captive: A group captive is owned and controlled by multiple insureds. They may or may not be related entities or a part of a homogeneous group like industry or trade groups. Typically, companies of similar size pool their risks in an industry captive with customized insurance plans. Similarly, companies of similar size in different industries can also form group captives to enjoy the benefits of a captive model. More recently, associations have been forming association captive insurance companies to offer captive services as part of their membership benefits.

►Agency Captive: Agency captives are companies typically owned by groups of brokers or other insurance intermediaries and are typically structured like rent-a-captives.

►Risk Retention Groups

Risk Retention Groups were also created by the Liability Risk Retention Act of 1986, which provides for streamlined regulation. A RRG is an insurance company in every regard but has one very important regulatory distinction. Every RRG chooses a single state in which to be domiciled and regulated. The act provides that the RRG is then eligible to do business in all states.

►Program Business Captives

Associations, regional producers and corporations who desire to assume some selected third-party exposure.

Alternate Risk Transfer (ART) – Insurance Strategies

Alternate Risk Transfer (ART) - Insurance Strategies

Wayne Walker, Windward Harbor Insurance Management LLC ?Windward Harbor LLC 2004

Windward Harbor Insurance Management LLC is a licensed insurance manager in the British Virgin Islands with office in Pinehurst, NC, Atlanta, GA, and St Petersburg, FL.

Contents About : Alternate Risk Transfer (ART) – Insurance Strategies

Free Insurance Quotes – Cheap and Simple Way to Manage Our Savings

Free Insurance Quotes – Cheap and Simple Way to Manage Our Savings

Have you checked your insurance for better insurance rate quotes lately? Many people ignore this just because they don’t want to go through all the troubles looking for insurance rate information or comparing rates, and decide to stick with the old companies which they think have already given them the best rates and coverage even if the rates are raised by the companies. If that is what happen, they might have missed the chance of getting better rates and coverage offered by other insurance companies on the market.

In every insurance company, insurance rate is dynamically changed through time. There are so many aspects that can influence the rate changing whether it is an external or internal factor.

Government rules and policies, political and economic situation, business atmosphere such as number of competitors, or even a natural disaster could be considered as external factors that give effect to an insurance rate as well as the coverage. For example when the political situation is getting hot which might trigger some riots or civil commotions insurance companies will raise their rates since the risk factors are increasing, and they might lessen the extend coverage for RSCCTS (riot, strike, civil commotion, terrorism, and sabotage) or give an extra charge for the items. But if an insurance company finds a lot of competitors on the market selling the same insurance product, this could make the company lower their rate and sometimes offers a better coverage and service.

While the internal factors usually have something to do with the loss and profit of an insurance company. Let’s say insurance company A provides auto insurance and homeowner insurance. Due to a catastrophic in one area, they have to pay out a large amount of homeowner insurance claims. To cover the loss over the homeowner insurance claims, the company may raise premiums for their auto insurance customers. But if the company is in a profitable year they might lower their rates to attract more customers. Beside that, certain record of costumers might also affect the insurance rate like credit history or driving record in the case of auto insurance.

Since there are so many factors that could affect the raise or decrease of insurance rates, we can be sure that there is no guarantee we will continue to receive the best rates from the time we signed with an insurance company. Like I said before, insurance rate is dynamically changes through time, so even if we still pay the same rate like the first time we signed with an insurance company or even lower than that, we still have a chance of getting a better insurance deal on the market.

To ensure we are getting the best rate, best is to make a regular review of our policy and then make a comparison against the offerings from other competing insurance companies. Not like in the past, when to obtain insurance quotes could take a lot of time and waste so much energy since we have to spend hours on the phone and having lots of meetings with different insurance agents, today we can easily get free insurance quotes from the internet. This could be done in a very short time, only by filling out the online questionnaire and without lifting the phone or leaving home, we already can obtain free insurance quotes from many different insurance companies.

We can get free insurance quotes from insurance company websites, insurance broker websites, or from any other insurance websites that have free insurance quotes tool. If we’d like to have a more detail information on coverage and services of an insurance product beside the rate, we can get a free insurance quote from insurance company websites. But this way, we’re going to have to travel from website to website to get quotes from other insurance companies and also we have to fill the questionnaire form again and again. So if we’d like to save a little time and energy, we can get free insurance quotes from insurance consulting websites that offer free insurance quotes. We can easily find these websites by simply type “free insurance quotes” on the search engine, and we’ll find hundreds of websites offering to give free insurance quotes. The best thing is we don’t have to visit another websites to get insurance quotes from different insurance companies and usually we only have to fill the questionnaire form once. These kind of websites usually also give tips on how to get the best rate, coverage, and other insurance services.

To obtain sufficient information from free insurance quotes to be able to help us in making comparisons and determine which insurance company will we choose, here are some things should be noted:

o We must determine from which site we will ask for an insurance quote based on our needs. If we want more detailed information about coverage and services provided by an insurance company is better to directly ask for quotes from the insurance company’s website. We should also do this if we want an insurance quote for specific types of insurance such as the antique car insurance which has many different aspects from the general car insurance. But if we wish to make a quick comparison and intend to more detailed information later on, we can go to any insurance site which provides a free insurance quote for many different insurance companies, and be sure we pick the site which has a large amount of insurance company database so we can have a lot of choices to compare.

o Determine what kind of coverage we really need and how much money we prepared, and what amounts of coverage needed to protect us. Because the insurance market is sometimes like a shopping mall that often tempt us with products that are irresistible, so we often fall and spend money on something that we don’t really need.

o Fill the questionnaire form with accurate data, if we do not feel confident about what we have to fill in one column, it’s better to ask or look for documents that can help us fill, in case of auto insurance maybe we can prepare the vehicle documents, driver license, and any related documents. If the insurance object is under insured, the policy’s declarations page can help you a lot in filling the form. Answer all the questions in the form truly and don’t hide anything, this is the only way for us to obtain an accurate quote.

o Ask free insurance quotes from at least three different companies to be able to get more alternatives. If we ask for quotes from different sites, make sure to enter exactly the same information so that we can get a balanced comparison.

o Do some experiments by changing information or value in various fields that can affect insurance rates and consider the results of the calculation to see which one best suits our needs and budget, then do the same thing with quotes from other insurance companies in order to make comparisons. For example, generally if we increase the deductible value and decrease the amount coverage then we shall have a lower rate. Or in case of auto insurance, number of drivers and average mileage can also affect the rate. But please notice that there are some fields which also affect the rate that we cannot change like driving record in case of auto insurance or health record in case of health insurance otherwise we won’t get an accurate quote.

After getting a rate quote that suits our needs and budget, we can continue to do a further check to the insurance company and the insurance plan. Remember, that the cheapest quote doesn’t necessarily mean you will get the best value on your coverage and good coverage doesn’t always come from a big company. Here are what we have to do after getting rate quotes:

o Look beyond the amount of money to what the coverage actually covers. Pay attention to the several other factors that could affect the claim process and payment as well as the length of the claim process, also find out what is not covered in the policy exclusions. We can get the information on the website if it’s available there or best is to contact the insurance agent to get more sufficient comprehensive information.

o Check the history and reputation of the company, since having insurance covers from an experienced and reputable company can give us peace of mind. Find out whether they provide high quality costumer care or if there were complains about the company performance. we can find testimonials or experts review on an insurance company concerning these issues.

o There’s nothing wrong to follow our instinct as long as we also use common sense in deciding which insurance company we should choose. We can go with the company that makes us feel most comfortable as long as it gives a nice rate and coverage based on the insurance quote. Pay attention if the agent or company representative able to answer all our coverage and policy questions or whether the agent treat you with courteous and respect. After all, we always want to have insurance protection with the best rate and service.

After we have made our mind and choose one insurance company to insured us, we shouldn’t stop trying to get more discounts or lower rate. Besides raising up the deductible amount which can give us up to 15-30% lower rate, there are still many other things that can lower the insurance rate such as:

o If the insurance company handles a wide range of insurance products consider having all our insurance provided by this company, this will give us a great discount on our premiums.

o In the case of auto or homeowners’ insurance, ask the company about multi-family price reductions for coverage. If there is a price reduction, consider to purchase multi-family over a single type of insurance from the company. We can also get discount by having well-security system for the vehicle / house.

o We can also choose to make annual premium payment to save money. That’s because most insurance companies do charge a service fee if we make quarterly or monthly payments since this increases the risk that we won’t pay the next month. Some insurance companies don’t charge these fees but do give us a discount if we pay our entire premium in one lump sum. While that might seem too expensive of a bill to pay at once, we could always put back the amount of the monthly premiums into a savings account each month then we’d have the full amount to pay the yearly premium

After we have got the best coverage with the best rate, all we have to do is to keep it that way by avoiding things that can cause us to lose some protection and rate increases. For example, in case of auto insurance, we should be a safe driver, avoid accidents, and try to avoid making too much claims. As for homeowners’ insurance, we can try to minimize our liability risks by placing fence around the pool or having adult supervision when anyone is at home. We might also consider small repairs yourself without making a claim.

This way we can maintain the coverage and the low rate we already have although it’s not 100% guarantee it will stay that way for a very long time. That’s why we still have to make a regular review of our policy especially at the end of an insurance period to get the best deal on the market by taking advantage of free insurance quotes available, since the rate might easily changed every time.

Free Insurance Quotes – Cheap and Simple Way to Manage Our Savings

Free Insurance Quotes - Cheap and Simple Way to Manage Our Savings

Get more insurance tips at http://einsurancer.com Original post at einsurancer.com.

Contents About : Free Insurance Quotes – Cheap and Simple Way to Manage Our Savings