Making Sure You Have The Right Kind Of Auto Insurance Coverage
The biggest mistake that people make when it comes to auto insurance is putting price ahead of coverage. While it is very tempting to go with a low-cost auto insurance option, like the kind that you see on afternoon television, it may be a decision that you come to lament later. While you want to be within the law and have auto insurance each time that you head onto the road, if you have a low-cost option that only offers the most basic of coverage, you are not going to be properly covered if you do get into an accident. Remember: your auto insurance is not just about coverage, it is about the kind of coverage that you have. Spending a few extra dollars for insurance that will actually cover what you need is vitally important to your long-term finances.
Nobody ever plans to get into an accident. If given the choice, nobody would ever find themselves in the middle of a pile-up. Of course, you don’t have a choice, which is why we have insurance in the first place. Whether you technically caused the accident, or you were the “victim” who was hit by someone who was not paying attention, you need a good insurance policy behind you. When you have a low-cost policy, you will soon find that you won’t just have issues getting in touch with your company, but also that the payoffs that you get are much lower than you would like, or expect. If you don’t receive enough money to pay for the repairs on your cars, or to get the medical help you need, what good was having the insurance in the first place?
The best thing that you can do in the insurance world is to set up consults and ask questions. While it is nice to live in the “digital age” and do your research online, if you don’t take the time to get your questions answered by real life human beings, well, you can’t be sure about the kind of policy you are getting. Remember that different states have different laws for the minimum required coverage. Shopping for minimum coverage auto insurance in Florida is going to be different than minimum coverage in Iowa.
Don’t ask for the cheapest policy that a insurance company offers, ask for one’s that fit your car and your lifestyle. Different cars and different drivers need different types of policies, which is why you need to ask. It is important to remember that the best way to keep your insurance costs down is to be a good driver and to not make any dumb mistakes behind the wheel.
Term Life Insurance
Term life insurance is the most affordable way to ensure that your family will be alright following your untimely passing. Many insurance salespeople want to sell the benefits of whole life plans, but they do not offer you a comparable value.The keys to buying insurance are knowing what you need.How Much Insurance do you Need?
A single person with no dependents should not get too wrapped up in life insurance because the whole point of insuring oneself is to protect those you love. To do this, you merely need enough to handle the carrying out of your wishes when it is all over. This would require no more than $10,000 to $20,000 worth of insurance, barring your final wishes don’t involve anything too extravangant.
For those who will be leaving loved ones behind, the rule used by Dave Ramsey, author of The Total Money Makeover and Financial Peace, is to have enough term life insurance to make up for a minimum of ten years of income. So, if you earn $50,000 a year, then you will need to attain coverage of $500,000 to support your family.
The beauty of the term life policy is that when it is compared to a whole life policy, it is impossible to beat.
Comparing a Whole and Term Policy
A term policy of $500,000 will cost a healthy person around thirty years of age between $400 and $500 per year. A whole life policy can cost this much per month!
Whole life insurance agents will work to sell you on the “cash value” you will build that can be borrowed against or withdrawn from after death, but they neglect to tell you that while you pay thousands of dollars per year to insure yourself, much of it is going towards fees and commissions that will enrich the insurance agent. You could have put that money into an investment, such as a 401(k) or your home, but, instead, you paid it toward an overpriced insurance plan.
A term policy is the best way to go when it comes to purchasing life insurance. Not only is it easy to understand, but it is also not difficult to find cheap term life insurance. It is nothing more than paying a little money toward a large payout in the unlikely event that you will die young. A whole life policy is complicated and not worth the cost.
What Is Medigap Coverage, And Is It Right For Me?
In a nutshell, Medigap insurance was designed to cover what medicare will not. Unlike medicare which you receive from the federal government, Medicare gap insurance is purchased for a commercial insurance company. There are twelve different policies which are standardized for Medigap. This means that no matter who you purchase the insurance from, you will receive the same coverage. This is great because it protects you from being confused over what one company may or may not cover.
The coverage may be the same between each provider, the cost of the coverage is not the same. This means that you should search around a lot before choosing a company, because the cost can vary greatly. You may want to start with one of the leading providers like American Continental Insurance who specializes in Medigap insurance. In order to purchase Medigap insurance, you must first have both part A and part B medicare coverage. There is a premium involved with this coverage, but as long as you pay it, your coverage will continue to be renewed.
If you live with someone else who also needs this insurance, you both must purchase separate policies. It is also important to note that this insurance does not cover things like dental and vision. It also won’t cover for things like private nurses to come to your home.
Medicare gap insurance may not be available in your state. It is important that you know all the policies related to this to see what is covered in the state in which you live. Buying your Medicare gap insurance during open enrollment period is of a great advantage to you. This period starts the month that you turn 65 and it lasts six months. If you apply during this period, an insurance company cannot deny your coverage.
If you choose to buy Medigap insurance after this period, an insurance company can deny you coverage. If they do not deny you coverage, they can still decide to charge you more for the coverage. This is why it’s vital that you apply for it during open enrollment.
Closing Medicare Coverage Gaps
The coverage gaps in Medicare are pretty easy to identify. What is usually hard for people to understand is how to fill those gaps. Depending on which insurance agent you talk to you may get different answers. The key is to know the coverage gaps and know the options that you have.
Coverage Gaps in Medicare
There are a total of nine coverage gaps in Medicare. For Medicare Part A there are the gaps of the insurance deductible, the coinsurance, and coinsurance and copays for skilled nursing care, hospice care, charges for foreign travel emergencies, or the first three pints of blood if you need a transfusion. For Medicare Part B it does not cover the coinsurance, deductible, or any excess charges over the Medicare approved amount. As you can see these charges can add up if you hit the right combination of ailments. To take care of these coverage gaps you have two options
Medicare Supplement Plans
Medicare supplement plans cover varying amounts and combinations of the nine coverage gaps listed above. These plans are regulated by the government. No matter which provider you seek coverage with, you will get the same coverage. They are also identical state to state. So if you purchase a Pennsylvania Medicare supplement, you will have the same coverage as the same plan in Idaho. The only exception is if you live in Massachusetts, Wisconsin, or Minnesota, where they have chosen to adopt their own supplement plans. If you go with Plan F you will be completely covered and have no additional out of pocket expenses. They are taken everywhere that Medicare is accepted and can insurance that you will not have a nasty surprise should you need medical services. Overall this is the simplest way to insure the coverage gaps in Medicare.
Medicare Advantage Plans
Medicare advantage plans were designed to replace traditional Medicare with private health insurance. They are available and are discounted by using what the government would have spent on your Medicare coverage and applying it to the premium on your Medicare Advantage plans. These plans are required to cover everything that Medicare covers, but you can get plans that also cover more. While they can be very inexpensive the problem is you have to know exactly what coverage you are getting and if it covers all your needs. The easiest way to know you have comprehensive coverage is to keep traditional Medicare and get a Medicare supplement plan.
Get Your Finances In Order
Getting your finances in order is one of the best decisions that you can make to secure your long term future. Following these two simple steps can help you make the most of your money.
Step 1 – Get a Budget
Most people hear the word budget and they think, “A big piece of paper that is there to tell me no!” The truth is a budget is nothing more than a plan on how you are going to spend your money. Instead of waiting for bills and expenses to pop up you plan out how your money is going to be spent before the month begins. By doing this you have set yourself up for success. This may not seem clear at first but planning your money before you spend it allows you to make adjustments as life’s unexpected expenses come at you. So if you plan to save $100 for car repairs and your kid comes up with another field trip that costs $20 you are ready for it and only save $80 this month for the car. So the budget is not there to restrict you but to free up your finances so that you can have the maximum impact on your life.
Step 2 – Save Up and Emergency Fund
An emergency fund is just a sum of money that you keep in a savings account or money market account that is set aside only for emergencies. Most people will need between three to six months of expenses. This means you need to figure out what the bare minimum you need is to survive while paying all of your bills. If you are wondering how to do this refer to step one. The next step is to define what is an emergency. For instance, new tires are not an emergency. We should be saving a little money each month for new tires because we know that our tires are eventually going to wear out. The same thing goes for school expenses, auto repairs, and Christmas presents. Things wear out and Christmas comes every year so it should not be a surprise when that happens. An emergency is something unexpected like a car that is relatively new all of a sudden dying or your child deciding that he can fly, jumping off the roof and breaking a leg. Once you start using a budget and get a proper emergency fund in place you are well on your way to maximizing your finances.
The Truth about Whole Life Insurance
Nowadays, truth is a scarce commodity. It’s difficult to know when you’re being given the salient facts, and when the information that you need to know the most is being hidden from you.
This could not be more true than in the sale of life insurance coverage.
Agents of the largest insurance companies would have you believe that whole life policies are a good investment in the future of your family. The truth is that they are not.
In this article, I want to expose the truth about whole life insurance. It is my hope that by doing so, you will be equipped to make the better choice.
Here are three lies that whole life insurance companies tell you.
1. You lose control of you money when you buy a whole life policy.
If you buy a whole life policy, then you are forced into a savings program.
This is a savings plan over which you have no say and no control.
If you want their policy, then you must accept the so-called savings program. They set the interest rate, and they decide the terms for withdrawing the money you have put in it.
Although you can withdraw it, almost all of what you pay for the first ten years at least goes towards their fees and the agents’ commissions. And so, there really isn’t much to borrow in your alleged savings account for a considerable period of time. You know this from the cash value of your policy.
2. Whole life polies threaten your financial independence.
It stands to reason, that if you have to buy a second product when you buy the first, that it will cost you more. Instead of buying one and getting the second free, as is often the case in other retail purchases, in this one you are obligated spend additional money as well.
Would you buy a car, for example, if the dealer said you couldn’t have it unless you also bought your insurance from them?
When you are bound to one purchase because of another, your discretionary income is reduced, which prevents you from spending that money elsewhere.
One of the cherished tenets of a democracy is the freedom to choose. That liberty is taken away when you’re forced to buy something you don’t want in order to get something else that you do.
3. Whole life insurance companies steal your money.
They take more from you than they need to.
When you buy a policy, you do so in good faith. You decide how much insurance you think you need, and then they tell you what the premium will be, which is fair enough.
In return, you expect the accumulation of those premiums to pay out a fixed sum on your death, which it will; but the amount of money required to actually do that is far less than the sum that they demand from you.
And that means that they are stealing the difference.
Follow Dottie