Step Three: Insurance: What kind and How much do I need?

This is step three of our five part series in building your financial empire
Now that you have your savings underway, this can be a good time to start looking for insurance.
What kind of Insurance do you need?
Life (if you have dependants)Disability (if you draw an income)
Auto
Home
Medical
Umbrella (if applicable)
Depending where you are in life, there are various insurance that you may need. Insurance can be a good buffer to protect your Savings
If you have children or anyone depending on your income, Life insurance is essential. I recommend Term Life Insurance, because it is cheap and affordable for most households.
How much Life insurance is acceptable?
I prefer you to get 8 times your income. So if you earn $40,000 a year, $320,000 in term life insurance is more than enough.
Disability insurance can be used if you have any sort of illness or condition that will cause you not to work.
Women that may become pregnant and need to be put on bed rest may be able to also use their disability income.
Disability insurance usually pay 60% of your income and need a doctor’s note to verify your illness.
So instead of eating up your saving, having a good insurance plan can avoid you from dipping in your savings. I prefer you to get Long Term disability. You can go here to compare various companies that offer disability insurance. If you work for an employer, you may automatically have long term disability insurance.
Auto insurance can be full coverage or just liability coverage. If you own your car, you’re only required to have liability insurance. However, if you do not have enough cash savings to self insure your car; you may want to get full coverage. When you are financing a car, you are required to have, buy law, full coverage auto insurance.
State Farm, Progressive, Allstate and Direct auto insurance are all good reputable companies to start with. Go to their websites and compare rates.
If you own a home and a car, most insurance companies will give you a discount by having both products insured under the same company.
Umbrella insurance is for mainly business owners. If you want all your assets insurance under one policy having to umbrella insure is a great start. Umbrella insurance covers all assets, including your home, business, cars, life, health etc.
Go to www.insweb.com to compare rates.
Medical Insurance is essential whether you work or not. This can help as buffer to pay for accidents and emergencies that occur. If you have kids medical insurance is vital. Once again if you are employed by a company, you may have the option to join a health insurance plan. If you are self employed you may want to go to a broker and check different companies rates.
In Step Four, we will discuss Wills and estate planning!



February 5th, 2010 at 2:51 pm
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February 16th, 2010 at 4:02 pm
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