If you own a car, a house or just rent an apartment, it is important to have insurance. It is also important to have health and life insurance. If you own or want to buy and drive car, you are required by law to have at the very minimum, liability insurance. If you want to take out a loan to buy a car or house, the bank or Mortgage Company will require that you purchase insurance to cover the amount you are borrowing for your car to pay for physical damage to your car, or for the value of the house you are purchasing. Some landlords require you to have renter’s insurance when you sign a lease. Health insurance is invaluable, especially when you are in an accident or have a major health issue, and you should have at the very least a life insurance policy to cover the cost of a funeral.
If there is a fire in your apartment house, only the building and anything the landlord owns will be covered by his policy. Your furniture, clothes, television and other electronic equipment, your kitchen appliances and cookware and even your food, will be gone. If you don’t have your own insurance you will have nothing.
RENTER’S INSURANCE will replace your personal property that is lost in a fire or other covered loss to the building. It will also pay for you to live elsewhere when the building is repaired and pay for an emergency room visit if someone comes to visit you and gets hurt in your apartment.
HOMEOWNER’S INSURANCE should provide replacement cost coverage, if you choose a good policy on your home, which is very important, but it should also give you replacement cost coverage for your personal property. Most package policies also provides for a place to live if you home is damaged, pay for fire department charges, debris removal if the building needs to be torn down and even will pay for trees and shrugs that are damaged. The liability part of your policy will pay for any law suits that are taken out against you, for instance if someone falls on your property and decide they want to sue you or if you husband damages the neighbors lawn when he is plowing snow.
AUTO INSURANCE: Yes, you have to have it, but the law only requires liability and in most states medical payments. The liability part will pay for the damage you do to someone else’s car, house, mailbox or anything you hit with your car. It will also provide for payment for the medical bills for someone who is injured as a result of an accident that you cause. The most important part of this coverage is the liability, which also pays for pain and suffering if someone decides to sue you. You would be wise to purchase more than the state required limits because they are usually very low.
Unless you are borrowing money to buy your car, you do not have to have physical damage insurance for your car. BUT, if you pay even $2000 for your car, can you afford to replace it if you wreck it? The only time you will get paid for your car damage without carrying your own comprehensive (this pays when your is damaged as a result of hitting an animal, get a broken windshield, or drive through a flooded intersection) and collusion (you have to hit something) on your car is when someone else is responsible for an accident. If you put your car in a ditch, it is your responsibility.
HEALTH INSURANCE is of course very important. If your employer does not provide this as a benefit, explore the plans available through your state. Some states have plans to cover at least your children when you meet income guidelines. There are also plans you can purchase yourself that will cover catastrophic situations that result in large hospital bills.
LIFE INSURANCE: Their many types of Life Insurance policies available. Unfortunately some people do not think about buying Life Insurance until they have a life threatening illness. At this point it is too late to buy Life Insurance. So look into the various options while you are still healthy. There are a wide variety of different plans, and premium options. This is something you do for your family so that you are not adding a large financial bill to their grief at your loss. Young families need to explore term life insurance to provide for the financial impact one of the parent’s death will have on the family.
Insurance is important to protect yourself from a lawsuit.
Insurance is important so that you will have a place to stay if your home is severely damaged.
Insurance is important for your medical issues, and in the event of your death.
Remember- the time to think about buying insurance is BEFORE you need it!