No matter who you are or how old you are, it seems like you always have to figure out which insurance to have and how much to pay for it. With each new life phase, you have to buy a new type of insurance or figure out what to do to be able to pay for everything that you need.
This is supposed to be a type of cheat sheet to help you figure out which insurance that you actually need, what that looks like, and how to go about getting the right policy for you and your family. Hopefully, after reading this, you know which policies you need to purchase and adjust in order to take charge of your financial future again.
Auto Insurance
This is often the first type of insurance that people contemplate and budget for purchasing. You more than likely already have car insurance, but that doesn’t mean that it’s the right car insurance for you. Some agencies will offer you money back simply for browsing new insurance policies and you may be able to find a cheaper rate as well.
If you have had to add multiple cars to your policy, then you especially want to make sure that each driver has the appropriate coverage. For instance, you may need less coverage for hitting other vehicles than a less experienced teenage driver that is also a part of your multi-car plan, so adjust accordingly. Don’t forget to look for a multi-vehicle discount!
You will want to decide if you want full coverage or liability. You can also add roadside assistance and towing to your policy.
Health Insurance
Health insurance is one of the most difficult to navigate with recent legislation and with the confusing wording that comes in both workplace and open marketplace packages. With healthcare, depending on your age, income, and other special conditions, you have options.
- If you are older, you may be eligible to receive Medicare benefits. Medicare can help you cover the costs of things like visits to the doctor and can act as a supplement to your existing insurance plan, however, it may not cover all costs, like unexpected hospital stays.
- Your employer may have a more appropriate healthcare package for you than your current package. If you feel as though this is the case, then speak to someone about changing your healthcare plan to receive the same benefits that come with the job. If you feel that your employer health plan does not adequately cover your needs, then you can also negotiate for better benefits.
Insurance for Children
Your children may be the most important people in your whole life. Keeping them happy and healthy is an absolute must. There are lots of resources that tell you how to tend to your children, however making sure that they are also adequately insured will help ease the burden off of everyone’s shoulders in the unfortunate event that they do fall ill.
Health insurance is a given, but life insurance is important for children as well as adults. The average cost of a funeral is $15,000. That is a large amount that most people don’t have sitting in a savings account. If you do have it, it could drain your life savings.
Specialty Insurance
Specialty insurance can look like a lot of different things. One form of specialty insurance may be flood insurance for individuals that live in a floodplain, since home or renter’s insurance may not adequately cover the water damages that would happen in a flood. If you live in specific regions, you may want to look into the specialty insurance packages that some other neighbors have, like fire insurance or other packages.
Another specific type of specialty insurance is industry specific like disability insurance for dentists and other professionals. It is always worth looking into because this insurance protects your job so that you can focus on recovering from a severe illness or injury, which is always nice.
Have No Fear of Insurance
Insurance does not have to be a scary place of confusing jargon. Rather, it should be a marketplace like any other where you go shopping for products that meet a need that you have. This may mean that you have to shop around and talk with others to figure out what those needs are, but you can do it with ease and find the right plan for you after you do it.
After you have decoded these tips and tricks or talked to an insurance agent, shopping for insurance becomes so much less of a hassle and you can feel in control of your life and in control of your finances again, and there is nothing more empowering than being in charge of your own life again.
