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Home and auto insurance policies may not have high enough limits for certain claims. That is why personal umbrella insurance exists. Consider a few real-life examples of where a personal umbrella insurance policy would have been a benefit: The Clumsy Plumber A client had a plumber and trim carpenter working on their house at the same time. The plumber was walking down the stairs after finishing a job and grabbed the handrail that the carpenter was working on. The handrail wasn’t secured yet, gave way, and the plumber fell, severely injuring himself. He sued the homeowner for injuries and lost pay…
Getting ahead financially isn’t merely about earning more. It’s also about what you do with that money once you receive it. Investing can help your net worth grow, but debt can eat away at it. That means most people understand they need to invest and pay down debt. But it leaves a lot of people asking what they should do, pay down debt, or invest first. There are important considerations to make when it comes to canceling your debt or investing more of your income. To help you make the decision that’s best for you, let’s explore these considerations,…
When I look back at my investing life, one of my biggest regrets is just not getting started sooner. It’s really kind of a shame when I think about it. I didn’t start investing until I was 27 years old, almost a decade after I had graduated from high school. That’s years of potential growth that I can never get back. It gets worse when you consider that I graduated from college in 2009, right when the market was at its bottom. If I had started investing back then, even just a little bit, I could be killing it right…
Our situation was not unique. Fewer than half of all U.S. homeowners receive enough from their insurance policy to fully rebuild their home after it is damaged. According to Marshall & Swift, 60% of homes in the U.S. are undervalued for insurance by an average of 17%. That means that for every $100,000 of home value, most owners fall short by $17,000 in protection. Many homeowners don’t check to ensure their home is appropriately valued or that their insurance coverage keeps up with inflation, but for what reason? Why Would Someone Underinsure Their Home? False Savings Some homeowners choose to…
A question I often get from people beginning their working careers is whether they should wait for the market to cool off a bit before they get started investing. For the new investor, my response is always the same – ignore whatever the market is doing and just get started now. Of course, I totally get the concern. Since the great recession, other than the occasional bump in the road, we’ve pretty much been on a never-ending upward climb. Assuming we’re due for a correction at some point, it seems like it’d make logical sense to just wait a little…
Insurance should not be boxed and sold as a standardized commodity. Why? Because it protects individuals, and just as each person is unique, so is their need for insurance. As alluring as the idea of cookie cutter coverages may be to more easily shop and compare, they will never meet everyone’s needs. One client may be renovating a portion of their home and need protection for work in process. Another may use the family van to drive their child’s class on a field trip. Still another may run a business from their house. Life is beautiful and gives us such…
The government allows you to put a ton of money into tax-advantaged accounts – you just wouldn’t know it at first glance. Technically, a traditional or Roth IRA is the only tax-advantaged account that every working person in the US has access to. As of 2021, the max contribution per person to those accounts is $6,000 per year. It’s a start, but someone saving only $6,000 per year will likely be saving for a long time. Luckily, there are many other ways to save money in tax-advantaged accounts beyond the IRA or Roth IRA. You just need to think about…
Part of the duties of my current day job involves going to a bunch of lawyer conferences. As a result, I’m often surrounded by really successful lawyers. These are lawyers who have done pretty much everything right in their legal careers – top grades, good law schools, big-name law firms. One thing they all definitely have in common is a high level of prestige. I have a weird relationship with prestige. If you’re a follower of this blog, you know that I followed a fairly traditional legal path to start off my career – I went to a good law…
Make no mistake, insurance companies need clients and don’t want to non-renew or cancel any of them. However they sometimes find it necessary to do so and insurance policies can be non-renewed or cancelled for a variety of reasons. Because shopping for new insurance coverage on the fly can be a hassle, avoiding the situation in the first place is the best solution. Knowing why insurance companies are compelled to non-renew or cancel an insurance policy is the first step, and the five leading factors are: Filing excessive claims, even zero-paid claims Failure to make payments on time Increased location…
On November 2, 2017, Kidde, a producer of commonly-used fire extinguishers, recalled nearly 40 million of these devices because they may not function in the event of an emergency. This recall includes two styles: plastic handle fire extinguishers and push-button fire extinguishers. Please check your home and workplace to see if you have been affected by this Kidde fire extinguisher recall. If so, we encourage you to contact Kidde immediately to request a free replacement fire extinguisher and information on how to return the recalled item. To determine if you have an affected model, view the following fire extinguisher ID guides:…