FACT: After you have an accident is not the time to find out if you have enough car insurance coverage.

Most of us don’t spend a lot of time pondering whether or not we carry enough car insurance coverage. When you originally purchased your current policy, whether online or through an agent, you probably just made the assumption that your previous coverages were enough and rolled them into your current policy. With the popularity of buying car insurance online, the danger of carrying too little car insurance coverage is becoming more of a reality for many consumers.

Buying car insurance without a complete question and answer session with a license agent, or at the very least with a company representative over the phone, is like playing Russian roulette with your financial future. Read the rest of this entry

The stock market has sank 40% in the past year, your 401K has probably fell a similar amount. You hear about how bad things are every day in the news, but one positive thing you can do to help your personal financial situation is to review your home and auto insurance coverages. There isn’t much you can do to bring the markets back, but you can make sure you have adequate coverages at the lowest rates available on your home insurance and car insurance policies.

People have a tendency to put off the occassional financial tuneup, thinking their coverages are adequate. But with increases in construction costs over the last few years, your home may be underinsured and you may not know it. It’s important to recalculate the replacement cost of your home every few years. Your home insurance policy may have an annual cost of living increase, which bumps up your home’s insured value automatically. If it doesn’t, however, then you need to make the adjustment yourself by increasing the insured value by an amount you are comfortable with. You agent or insurance company can help you calculate the replacement cost of your home using sophisticated replacement cost software that is continuously updated by the software provider. Read the rest of this entry