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Archive for January, 2010

Are you new in business? Or perhaps have been running it for years? Whether it’s a new one or already existing, you need to make sure you know how to protect it. If accidents happen, are you ready? Are you protected?

Commercial insurance is an important protection from theft, property damage and liability. It is your protection against large out-of-pocket expenses. It also provides coverage for business interruption and employee injuries.

There are a lot of types of insurance yet here are the most popular ones: Property insurance, general liability and worker’s compensation. Get to know more about these common types to ensure that the business you’ve started to grow will be protected.

Property insurance pays for losses or damages to real or personal property. It protects against physical damage or loss in the case of theft or other catastrophes. An example, property insurance would cover fire damage to your office space or business. It would also cover damage as a result from earthquakes floods or demolition.

Although it is not limited to these damages, you can also get additional coverage that would suit your growing business needs. These are additional coverage for your business property: Boiler and machinery insurance, debris removal insurance, builders risk insurance, glass insurance, business interruption coverage, ordinance or law insurance, tenant’s coverage, crime insurance and fidelity bonds.

Boiler and Machinery insurance is also known as equipment breakdown or mechanical breakdown coverage. It provides coverage for the accidental breakdown boilers, machinery and equipment. With this kind of coverage you can get reimbursed for property damage and business interruption losses.

Debris removal insurance is exactly what you think it is. It covers for the cost of removing the debris after a fire, flood, earthquake or windstorm. Your regular property insurance may cover for the costs of the rebuilding, but not for the removal of the debris.

Builders risk insurance will cover buildings while it’s on the construction phase. Glass insurance would cover broken store windows and plate glass windows.

Business interruption coverage covers losses that result from property damage or loss. This insurance would pay for salaries, taxes, rents and net profits that would have been earned during the time it was closed.

Ordinance or Law insurance covers any demolition and rebuilding costs if your business comes into violation of code when your building (about 50%) has been destroyed. Tenant’s coverage would cover negligence on the part of your employees on your property.

Crime insurance on the other hand, would cover theft, burglary and robbery of money, securities, stocks and fixtures from employees and outsiders. Fidelity bonds would cover losses due to an employee’s theft of business property and money.

We also have liability insurance. This covers injuries that you cause to third parties. If somebody sues you for personal injury or property damage, this type of insurance will cover you for the cost of defending and resolving the suit that may arise.

There are 4 specialized kinds of liability insurance. They are as follows: Errors and omissions insurance, malpractice insurance or professional liability insurance, automobile insurance and directors and officers’ liability insurance.

Errors and omissions insurance is covered when the act is an accidental error and not just because of poor judgment or intentional acts. Malpractice insurance is commonly known as professional liability insurance, will pay for losses resulting from injuries to third parties when a professional’s treatment falls below the profession’s standard of care.

Commercial automobile insurance covers the cars, vans, trucks and trailers u [removed][removed] sed in your business. This covers damage, theft or if the driver injures a person or damages a property. Directors and officers liability coverage covers any lawsuit against the directors and officers of a company. 

Lastly, there is the workers’ compensation insurance. This covers you for your employees on the job accidents or even death. Some state laws require businesses with employees to carry some type of workers’ compensation insurance. Most of the time, workers comp prohibit the employee from bring a negligence lawsuit against an employer for work-related injuries.

If you would like to take care of your business, make sure that you are covered. Whether its property, general liability or workers compensation insurance. Business and commercial insurance go hand in hand as this is a necessary investment for you and your company. It is also important to know the insurance agent or broker that you can depend on when these trying times arise. Just like any business transaction, buying commercial insurance should be done with care. Check the insurance company or broker if they’re registered with the Better Business Bureau. If they’re graded A+, the better you can rely on them.

The very reason why you continue to strive and earn a living is because of this: Love. When you love someone, be it your wife, husband or children you always think about what would be the best for them. You want to give them the best that life has to offer. Yet sometimes, things won’t happen the way you would want them to be. Especially if it would mean that you would leave them behind. If that time comes, you want to make sure that everything else would be okay for those that you’ll leave behind.

Have you ever asked yourself this question? If I die, what would happen to my family? Will they be able to cope up with life’s hardships? The answer, one thing is for sure. Life will still go on for them no matter how painful, no matter how bitter it may seem. Yet, you can make it easier and simpler for them. How? By having life insurance, your family and loved ones will be able to go through life’s financial difficulties with ease.

What exactly is life insurance? Life insurance is a type of insurance that pays money when the insured person in the policy dies. It is a contract between the person insured and the insurance company where the insurance provider would pay a certain amount of money to the beneficiaries of the insured person so long as the insured person’s premium are current and up to date.

The next question you might be asking next is, do I need insurance? Usually people with families and loved ones that they want to provide comfort when sudden situations or emergencies arise would say yes. Having life insurance is a form of relief from financial troubles when a major turn around in life takes place. You may think that life insurance is for old people who would have the tendency to use it more than the younger generation does. Unfortunately, accidents and sickness that eventually leads to death can happen at any point in life regardless of age.

The reason why people need life insurance is to care for your loved one when your partner or loved one dies. Life insurance is a way of continuing support and care for your loved ones left behind, making the financial difficulties of living without you a little easier to handle. Life insurance is not only for those people who have families to take care of. Even single people should have life insurance as it would ensure that all your expenses in connection with hospital and burial are well handled. Having beneficiaries doesn’t mean they have to be blood relatives. Beneficiaries can be your best friend or even a charitable institution. 

As well, there are certain types of life insurance that carry a cash value. This type provides you with a valuable asset that can be used as a bond on loans or even against the policy itself when the need arises. There will be times in your life that having a cash value in your life insurance would be a great help to tide you over during these hard times.

There are four basic types of life insurance. They are term life insurance, whole life insurance, universal life insurance and variable life insurance. Familiarizing yourself with these four types would let you choose the best type of policy for you.

Term life insurance is a direct or clear-cut type of policy. This type of coverage lets you pay for a specific period of time. During that particular period, any beneficiary you choose will receive the benefits of your policy when you die. There are subcategories that fall under term life insurance. An example is you have the option to renew your policy every year.

However, since the price of the policy and premiums may go up higher every year as you get older, you may want to choose the guaranteed level term life policy. As this type of policy would have the same price range from 5 to 30 years depending on what you choose. There is also another type of term life policy called return of premium life insurance or ROP. This type of policy would pay you at the end of the term, provided you are still alive. Upon your death, the term of the funds will go to your chosen beneficiary.

Whole life insurance is another type of insurance that you may want to check out. As the name suggests, it covers you for your whole life instead of a specific term only. Although a whole life insurance policy would cost more than term life policies, the investment power and coverage are more attractive to some insurance shoppers.

Universal life coverage is when an insured can add a preferred amount to the minimum price o the premium.  The insurance company in return would invest the money with returns that are put back into the premiums or can also be left to build up. A subcategory of universal life insurance is universal variable life that gives the insurer to choose what they want to invest in rather than the insurance company deciding for them.

Variable life insurance coverage gives you more opportunities to invest including stocks. This policy is similar to universal life coverage because the returns are either used towards your premium payments or allowed to add up in an account. Your beneficiary will either receive the value of the policy, or the value of the policy in addition to a portion of, or the full cash investment returns account.

Remember, life insurance policies should offer you protection and security to you and your family as well as provide ease of mind and comfort when you need it. To choose the best type for you, always speak with a reputable insurance agent or provider that would answer any queries you may have.

Are you getting sick of your Texas home insurance premium increasing with no idea why?

This article explains some of the factors that can affect your homeowners insurance in Texas.

There is going to be a surprise waiting for you in your mailbox and it is not the kind of surprise that you are going to like. Texas home insurance premiums are going up this year at a pace I have not seen for more than 20 years!

Not every one is going to get hit with big rate increases, but if you do get hit, there are ways for you to minimize the overall impact to your budget and still keep your coverage. But before we get into that, lets try to figure out what is happening here.

Providing the best Texas insurance quotes online.

Are the Rate Increases Caused by Natural Disasters?

To a certain degree, yes. I have to believe that some of the increase can be traced to the catastrophic losses of 9/11 Attack on the World Trade Center. It is estimated that the total losses from the tragedy will go over Billion Dollars, that is ,000,000,000. There is no question that the money necessary to pay for the destruction and losses will come from almost every insurance company in one way or another. But the premium increases forhome insurance had started long before that fateful day.

Insurance Premiums on Homeowner Policies Have Gone Up Less Than 2% Per Year the Past 10 Years.

I am sure you are saying, How can that be, it seems that my rates have gone up every year? You are partially right. The total premium may have gone up, but the amount of coverage has also gone up to keep pace with the increasing cost of construction and materials used to rebuild houses. Inflation has continued to increase and push the cost of replacing homes and property higher year after year. Your policy adjusts the coverage on your home each year in an attempt to make sure you have enough coverage in the event of a catastrophic loss.

It’s a Fact: Insurance Companies Made a Lot of Money in the Stock Market During the 1990s and That Was Good For You.

Insurance companies invest their money just like everyone else. During the 1990′s they made money on their investments just like everyone else. In fact, many home insurance companies were willing to write insurance at a loss because they knew they could make it up on investment income.

For most of the 1990′s, insurance companies were able to keep your premiums lower than they would have been because investment income they earned more than offset the losses they paid out. As consumers, we really shouldn’t have a problem with that, part of our premium is offset by the insurance companies investments, resulting in lower premiums.

Then…the Stock Market started to fall apart in the middle of 1999.

All of a sudden, the investment income fell off, but the losses didn’t. Insurance companies were now faced with the prospect of mounting losses if they kept the rates at the low level. One of several options was to increase premiums across the board and increase they have.

No Loss Discounts and Loss Surcharges Affect Your Premium

Clients that do not turn in claims make insurance companies lots of money and should be charged lower rates.

Sounds pretty simple doesn’t it? Unfortunately, the rule works the other way, too. Insurance companies are going out of their way to give clients without losses discounts and premium credits to reward them for not having a claim.

If you have a claim or two, you can expect to pay a higher premium for a few years. We know no one plans to have a claim, in fact it’s a real pain to go through the process, but it’s no different than auto rates going up if there is an accident.

One other problem is the size of losses have gone out of sight! We have seen the average size of closed claims in our office go from ,350 in 1993 to over ,425 in 2002. The fact is that it just costs more money to make repairs to houses today than it used to.

Big changes are happening in the insurance market.

Deductibles Can Save You BIG Money!

Back in the days when I first started in the business, homes were insured for ,000 and the policies had a deductible. In the late 1970 the value of homes headed towards ,000 and the deductibles went to 0. By the end of the 1980′s a 0 deductible was standard on almost all policies written for homes valued over 0,000. Today, with the values of many homes costing more than 5,000 many of our clients are using 0 to ,000 deductibles to keep the cost of their insurance down.

If insurance companies want to reduce your premium for not turning in claims, you might as well save even more money by increasing your deductible. While you wont save enough to make up the deductible in one year, you will be surprised how much you do save over a few years.

How Much Homeowners Coverage Should I Have?

So how much insurance should you have? Basically, unless you want to pay some of the costs yourself, you should insure your home for what it would cost to rebuild it if your residence were destroyed.

How do you find this out? In the home construction world, building costs are calculated on a square foot basis. We can calculate the estimated replacement cost for your home. Give us a call and we will be glad to update our records and send you a copy for your review.

Your possessions are also insured on a replacement cost or actual cash value basis. Again, unless otherwise specified, the coverage in your policy is actual cash value.

Homeowners policies also have limits on coverage for such items as jewelry, fine art or collectibles.

For example, the standard policy will provide a maximum of ,000 coverage for your jewelry if it is stolen. If you have lots of jewelry, fine art or collectibles, you should consider purchasing a special personal property endorsement or floater that provides the coverage you need.

8 Ways to Save Money on Your Insurance Year After Year

Now that we have given you the bad news, here are 8 ways you can pay less for your texas home insurance.

In many cases, you can get the same level of coverage for fewer dollars.

Take advantage of multiple policy discounts! Do you have a Houston auto insurance policy?
Texas home insurance policies.
If so, is it with the same insurance company that provides your homeowners insurance?
Many insurance companies offer multi-policy discounts.
Usually, these discounts are at least 10% and at the most 27%.
some insurers apply the discounts to both the auto and the homeowners or any other Texas property insurance policy.

Raise Your Deductible The deductible is the amount you pay before insurance kicks in if you have a claim. For example, if you have a 0 deductible and you file a claim for ,000 in damage to your home, you pay the first 0 and your insurer pays the balance, 0.

The higher the deductible you choose, the more you pay out of your pocket.
However, the higher the deductible, the less you have to pay for your policy.
Depending on the insurance company, you can save between 12% and 37% if you change a deductible of 0 to ,000.

Newer Homes Are Rated Better Insurance companies really like newer homes.
Recently built homes equals lower premium because there is less likelyhood something will go wrong with the electrical, heating and plumbing systems.
In addition, the structure itself is in better shape.
Insurers offer discounts of as much as 8% to 15% if your residence is new.

Insure the replacement cost of the house itself not the land. There have been times when mortgage companies want us to increase the amount of insurance to be equal to the mortgage on the property.
You want to insure the rebuilding cost of the house and without including the value of the land in the in the total replacement cost.

Don’t insure more than you own. If you have made a major purchase, you will want to increase your limits of coverage, but what if you sell something? You don’t need as much coverage.
Pay particular attention to items that are covered by endorsements or added floaters to your policy, items such as jewelry and computer equipment.

Do not leave your house unprotected. Smoke detectors, burglar alarms and deadbolt locks are usually worth discounts of at least 2%.
You can get even bigger discounts, 8% to 10%, if you install a sophisticated sprinkler system or an alarm system that rings at the police station or a security company.
Before you install one, check with your insurer to find out what type of system qualifies for a discount and how much you would save on your premium if you installed the system.

If your dog bites, beware of lawsuits. If you have a dog or dogs, particularly if it’s a more vicious breed, you will pay more for Texas liability insurance coverage.
More and more dog bite claims are being presented, which has some insurers not exactly eager to provide coverage to homeowners who have. for example, Rottweilers, Pit Bulls and Dobermans.

If you are considering getting a dog, keep this in mind: If you own dogs of certain breeds, your premium will probably go up.
Your insurer could decide to cancel or non-renew your policy.
For that matter, if your dog is likely to bite someone – of any breed – you are risking higher premiums and cancellation

Keep Your Credit Score in Top Condition Insurance Companies are relying more and more on credit scoring to determine insurance premiums.
They have found that people with low credit scores have almost three times the losses than people with top credit histories.
Get rid of unused credit cards and pay your bills on time. It will pay off in the long run.

I wont kid you. There is more to this insurance game than saving money. In fact, while it’s nice to lower your insurance costs, it’s probably even more important to make sure you, your loved ones and your assets are covered adequately. It’s not a pleasant thought, but insurance is about worst-case scenarios. It’s also about peace of mind, knowing that you have the worst-case scenarios covered.

Do you have Texas insurance questions?

We are here to help you manage your insurance protection. We promise that we will be honest with you and try to get you the best insurance coverage for your dollar. We cant always have the cheapest rates around, but I can guarantee you that we will do everything possible to make sure that you are getting all the discounts you deserve and have your insurance with one of the top insurance companies doing business today.