Monday, January 27, 2014

Get Your Child To School Safely With These Tips

 
 
Ensuring a child’s safety is a number one priority. Whether your child walks to school, takes the bus, rides a bike or is driven to school, the National Safety Council offers tips parents can use to make sure their child arrives safely.
 
Walking
 
Walking to school is a good way for kids to socialize with their schoolmates and become familiar with the neighborhood. If your youngsters are old enough to walk to school, plan a safe route with the fewest street crossings. Practice the route with them several times until you’re confident they can make the trip safely on their own. If possible, have them walk with friends, since there’s safety in numbers. Don’t forget to discuss traffic safety with your kids and stress the importance of walking on sidewalks.
 
Biking
 
Biking to school is great exercise, but accidents can happen. Before letting your kids ride on the streets, be sure they’re familiar with traffic signals and street signs. Instruct them to ride on the right-hand side of the road with the flow of traffic, rather than against it. To help reduce head injuries, have them wear approved bike helmets – regardless of how short the trip. And if they must ride at night, make them visible with proper lighting and reflective clothing.
 
Taking a Bus
 
Riding a bus can be a fun and convenient way to get to school. Since most injuries occur while getting on or off the bus, teach your kids school bus safety. Have them wait for the bus on the sidewalk, rather than in the street. When the bus arrives, wait for it to completely stop before boarding. Tell them to follow the bus driver’s instructions and remind them not to push or shove. Exit the bus holding the handrails to avoid slipping and falling. Lastly, remind them to walk 10 steps in front of the bus so they can see the bus driver before crossing the street.
 
Getting a Ride
 
While it may seem safe to drive your kids to school, there are measures you can take to help prevent car injuries. If your children are too young to wear seatbelts, place them in age and weight appropriate car seats or booster seats. Allow enough travel time so you don’t have to speed. Never text or use your phone while driving. There will be children going to school along your route that may cross the road unexpectedly. As you approach a school, slow down and watch out for kids darting into the streets.

Monday, January 20, 2014

Are You Protecting Your Most Valuable Asset?

What’s your biggest asset? Your home? Your car? Many Americans don’t realize they have failed to protect their biggest asset: their income.
 
When you do the math, the money you will earn before retirement is probably more significant to your family’s financial well-being than the value of your home or car. What if your family’s income is unexpectedly disrupted due to a death in the family?
 
According to a recent survey by Nationwide Financial, Americans are $1.2 million short on average when it comes to protecting their income with life insurance.
 
Do the math
Consider an individual who makes $50,000 a year with plans to retire in 30 years. This person is likely to earn at least $1.5 million before retirement. Assume this individual has $300,000 in life insurance coverage. While this may seem like a lot of money on the surface, it is approximately $1.2 million less than what this person would have earned for the family. In fact, $300,000 in coverage replaces just six years of income for the surviving family. When the life insurance money is exhausted, the family’s income will be reduced by $50,000 a year for 24 years. If this person’s family can’t generate new income, they will almost certainly be forced to adjust their standard of living.
 
More affordable than you may think
The good news is that life insurance is cheaper than most consumers think. The cost for a healthy 35-year-old to purchase a $1.5 million 20-year term life policy may be less than $65 per month.2That’s enough to erase or at least greatly reduce the average income replacement gap, and it’s less than many people pay to insure major assets like their home or car. Talk to an insurance agent or financial advisor about what you can do to reduce your income replacement gap. Nationwide Financial offers a free life insurance calculator to help consumers figure out how much coverage they need: nationwide.com/life.

Monday, January 13, 2014

Know more about your favorite TV show than your insurance policy?

More than half (57%) of the respondents to a Nationwide Insurance survey said they know more about their favorite prime-time television show than they do about their insurance policy.
 
When asked to describe their insurance policy, consumers said it was too long (53%), complicated (43%), overwhelming (31%) and confusing (29%).
 
The survey also found:
  • Only 40% have read their entire policy (in the past 12 months)
  • 2 in 5 say they completely understand policy details
  • Half say they don’t understand how to file a claim after an incident
Most insurance policyholders want a simple explanation of their policy with the details summarized on a single page.
 
Nationwide Insurance believes changes in insurance laws would make it easier for policies to be more simple and understandable. Such changes include:
  • Having an easy-to-read summary of coverage at the top of the insurance contract.
  • Allowing insurers to use simpler language in the written communications with customers.
  • Using electronic notifications and signatures on documents so consumers can more easily do business with insurance companies.
Nationwide has already made changes to its products and services to simplify the insurance experience for its members, including:
  • Making members’ insurance information available to download on mobile devices through the Nationwide mobile app.
  • Leveraging its exclusive agents to conduct On Your Side® Reviews with members so they can choose the coverage that meets their needs.
  • Providing members with customer worksheets to use when working with agents to determine the type of coverage they want to buy.
Learn more about solving the insurance mystery in our infographic or contact a Nationwide Insurance agent to have an On Your Side® Review.
 
*Methodology
The Simplification Study was conducted between February 22 and March 5, 2013. The respondents were comprised of 1,594 adults ages 18+ who currently own property and casualty insurance. Results are weighted as needed for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online. Individuals for this research were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. Because the sample is based on those who were invited to participate in the Harris Interactive online research panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

Monday, January 6, 2014

10 Tips For Buying Insurance In 2014

2014 marks the biggest change in health insurance since Medicare. For the first time ever, health insurance is mandatory for most Americans under age 65. The biggest change is that those people with pre-existing medical conditions will now be able to buy quality health insurance without fear of being declined, or facing a surcharge or a waiting period for pre-existing conditions that won't be covered.
 
The second biggest change is that those who earn less than 400 percent of the federal poverty level -- $45,000.00 for individuals or $95,000.00 for families of four -- will now be able to qualify for premium discounts on health insurance costs. The requirement to qualify for the discount is that insurance must be purchased on one of the new health insurance exchanges, aka marketplaces.
 
1. Work with a knowledgeable health insurance agent.
Eliminate about 80 percent of the difficulties of buying insurance online. A good agent can help you navigate the exchange site, help you determine whether you qualify for a discount and, if you do qualify, help you choose from among the various plan options and even help you enroll. They will be able to answer your questions as they come up. Best of all, having an agent help you doesn't cost a dime extra.
 
2. Don't buy insurance on an exchange if you don't qualify for a discount.
Insurance companies that participate in the exchange in most cases offer many more options for qualified health insurance beyond what they make available on the exchange. You can go to individual insurance company websites to see what each company has available. Or, you can have your agent do that for you (see Tip 1).
 
3. Work with an insurance agent to plan health coverage for your family if dependents aren't covered adequately by your employer plan.
If you have dependents covered under your group health insurance plan at work, unless the employer is paying for some of the cost, work with an insurance agent who will help you determine if you can get better coverage for less money on your spouse and/or children. Chances are if you have employer paid group insurance on yourself, you won't be eligible for an individual plan. But that doesn't preclude your spouse and children from having one, especially if the employer doesn't contribute anything toward dependent coverage costs.
 
4. Before choosing a health plan, be sure the doctors are "in network" and you can see specialists without a referral.
Less costly plans often don't let you see specialists without a referral from your primary care doctor.
 
When you are considering plans, don't just choose the cheapest. Pay attention to who is and is not in network. About 90 percent of the time, it probably won't make a difference. But, that 10 percent can be a life-and-death situation.
 
In Minnesota where I'm from, the gold standard of choice is the Mayo Clinic. I won't pick a plan myself or recommend a plan that doesn't include the right to go there without begging for a referral.
 
5. Hire an expert insurance agent or consultant to audit your insurance program.
Look for someone to make sure that all the major risks in your life are well-protected – for risks such as major lawsuits, major damage to or destruction of your residence, premature death, long-term disability and, of course, major medical expenses.
 
An expert can help you identify where the gaps are and recommend custom endorsements to plug those gaps. I have done several hundred audits over the years and typically find at least 15 to 20 coverage shortfalls or inconsistencies.
 
6. Protect your income with long-term disability insurance.
Some employers provide it. However, benefits that you receive while disabled usually are taxable income. So, if the benefit is 60 percent of your salary, you will be lucky to yield 45 percent after taxes.
 
Unless you can live on that 45 percent, contact your employer. Request that the company include the premiums it pays you for long-term disability insurance in your taxable income. By doing this, you will have paid income taxes on the relatively small premiums so that if you become disabled, you can collect those benefits tax-free.
 
If your employer can't or won't do that for you, buy a supplemental individual policy that will cover at least the income taxes that you will have to pay on your group benefits.
 
If you don't have coverage at work, talk to a knowledgeable agent to help you qualify for and buy a privately owned long-term disability insurance policy. Because you're buying this policy with after-tax dollars, benefits will always be tax-free to you!
 
7. Buy an umbrella liability policy to cover insurance gaps in your primary policies.
All umbrella car or homeowners insurance policies cover lawsuits. Typically, these policies will provide a base layer of coverage, usually $300,000 or $500,000 per claim. Then, if you're sued for more than those limits, an umbrella policy will pay excess amounts up to the umbrella limit of $1 million or more.
 
The real advantage of an umbrella policy is that it will defend and pay some judgments against you from personal lawsuits not covered by your primary auto or homeowners policies.
 
Never worry about the price of an umbrella policy. Instead, focus on whether it is broad enough to cover those uncovered risks in your life not covered by auto or homeowners insurance.
 
Here are just a few examples of lawsuits not covered by auto or homeowners insurance that can be covered by the right umbrella policy:
  • Damage to rental cars in the U.S. or abroad.
  • Injuries you cause to a water skier while renting a powerboat on vacation.
  • Liability that you agreed to in a contract such as a wedding reception contract, making you responsible for all injuries and/or property damage caused by wedding guests.
  • Injuries you cause to a co-worker while driving a company-furnished car.
 
8. For a townhouse or condo unit, be sure you get the "deductible assessment coverage."
The rates for condominium master policies have been on the rise. To keep the premiums affordable, many associations have opted for higher deductibles of $5,000, $10,000 or even $25,000. Not only does that keep the premiums affordable, it also minimizes the number of claims made against the master policy, which helps keep the rates low.
 
Here's the problem: If the loss is caused by you from, say, a kitchen fire or dishwasher overflow, or is confined to your unit, most associations will require you to pay the deductible on the master policy.
 
"No problem," you say proudly. "I have loss-assessment coverage on my homeowners unit-owner policy." Virtually all laws on assessment coverage limit deductible assessments to $1,000. If that wasn't enough bad news, it also requires that the assessment be against all unit owners.
 
The bottom line is that you will need to get a relatively new coverage -- separate coverage -- called "deductible assessment" coverage. Find out what your association master policy deductible is and buy deductible assessment coverage for that amount from your insurance agent.
 
9. If your home is for sale, watch out for vacancy exclusions.
With the housing market in the dumpster the past few years, this common problem has arisen. A couple buy a new home before their existing home sells. They move into the new house, leaving the old house empty. Three months later, vandals break into the old home, have a wild party and completely trash the place, causing $50,000 in damage, and the owner has no coverage.
 
Homeowners policies exclude glass breakage and vandalism damage if the house has been vacant, that is without enough furniture to be lived in, for 60 days or more. There are high-risk policies you can buy to cover a vacant house, but the coverage is watered down and the premiums are three to four times greater than what you've been paying for homeowners insurance.
 
The better way to keep your homeowners policy and still have vandalism coverage is by keeping enough furniture in the house so it can be lived in, such as a kitchen table, a couch and a lamp in the living room, and one bed.
 
10. For all of your insurance needs, pick an insurance agent with great expertise.
What most people don't realize is that you can get an insurance expert for the price of an intern. Since all agents work on commission, an agent with a lot of experience costs exactly the same as a less knowledgeable agent.
 
The biggest mistake that people make when they buy insurance is that they shop based on price and end up with the agent who gave them the best quote, often with very little expertise. In fact, they would be much better off coverage-wise and price-wise if they shopped for the expertise of an agent first, then had the expert design insurance coverage with the right specifications and had the expert shop for that coverage.
 
Shopping for the best price first leaves you with a good deal but the wrong coverage. Shopping for expertise first leaves you with a competitive price for the right coverage.
When you have a serious claim, which choice would you make?