What you need to know about insurance – 17 things

According to MSN, there are 15 things you need to know about insurance. But we think they miscounted. We found 17:

1. Most people need to be concerned with insuring four areas: their possessions, their life, their health, and their finances.
2. Of these, homeowners insurance is the most important.
3. It’s vital to know what your homeowners insurance covers and what it doesn’t. It doesn’t, for example, cover flood damage. Ask your agent about Flood coverage.
4. If you you have a home office, you have special insurance needs. Read the MSN article and/or check with your agent.
5. Homeowners policies and renters policies have liability limits. Know what they are. Ask you agent about umbrella policies.
6. The state requires you to have auto insurance, but the amount it requires you to have is seldom as much as you really need.
7. If you’re going to try to save on auto insurance premiums, be absolutely certain your cost-cutting is not in the area of liability coverage. Look for coverage of at least $100,000 per person, another $100,000 for property damage, and $300,000 per accident. Add uninsured motorist coverage.
8. Where you can save on premiums is by increasing deductibles.
9. Drive carefully; drivers with good records get better deals on insurance.
10. Insure every car you own with the same company; for one thing, packages that cover multiple vehicles can mean lower premiums.
11. Don’t smoke. Not only does smoking affect your health and life insurance coverage, statistics show that smokers have more auto accidents than nonsmokers.
12. If anyone depends upon you for their support, you need life insurance. But if you’re the breadwinner and your spouse stays at home to mind the kids, you need coverage not only on yourself but also on the spouse to cover child care in the event of that person’s demise.
13. Use something like MSN Money’s Life Insurance Needs Estimator to figure out how much life insurance coverage you need.
14. Term life insurance is cheap and simple, but if you need encouragement to save, cash-value whole life programs are a form of forced savings that have additional benefits.
15. You need health coverage, no matter what your age. If your employer doesn’t provide it, talk to an agent about options for coverage.
16. Health insurance covers only medical expenses. You’ll also need disability insurance to keep income coming in when you can’t work for a time. Some employers offer it, but in many cases, you’ll have to get it on your own, particularly if you’re self-employed. Look for policies whose waiting periods are no longer than 90 days.
17. Long-term-care insurance helps pay for nursing care. Premiums are very expensive – on average, $1,337 per year for those younger than 65 and, for those older than 65, $2,862.