Homeowner’s insurance policies typically offer coverage for your personal property. If your home is damaged in a storm and your furniture is ruined, your insurance company should give you enough money to replace the furniture. Jewelry, electronics equipment, and even clothing are covered, too. Many times, the coverage is written to be equal to a percentage of your home’s value. If you have some expensive, special property, though, be sure to speak to your insurance agent about it. You may need to bump that coverage amount up.

Homeowner’s insurance policies usually include personal liability coverage, too. Let’s say that your neighbor slips and falls on the sidewalk at your house. Of course, you feel horrible that he’s hurt, but you’re financially devastated when he tells you that he’s broken his arm in the fall and needs surgery. Fortunately, this type of incident is exactly what personal liability coverage is for. Your insurance will pay for your neighbor’s medical bills once you’ve paid the deductible amount. Please note, though, that if you have a home business, there may be different rules at play here. Speak to your agent about other insurance needs you may have.

Finally your policy will also include coverage for the actual structure of your home. If a fire ravages your home, your insurance will provide enough money to rebuild your home. You will also usually have a benefit that provides a place for you and your family to stay while your home is under construction. Again, keep your agent in the loop if you make any significant changes to your home. An increase in home size may require you to bump your coverage up to ensure that you can replace your home as it is.

Content provided by Not Made Of Money: What Does a Homeowner’s Insurance Policy Cover?

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Saving on your home insurance is often as easy as making a phone call. Many times, there are discounts available to you that you may not be utilizing simply because you didn’t tell the insurance agent that they applied to you. Talk to your insurance agent and explore the different discounts that will entitle you to lower insurance premiums. Possible discounts may include:

New Home Discounts – Be sure to tell your agent if your home is less than ten years old.

Material Discounts – Homes made with some more durable materials like stone or bricks may enjoy lower premiums. You should also ask your agent about any discounts for damage-resistant roofs made out of materials like metal or tile.

Alarm Service Discounts – Homes that feature monitored alarm services are often eligible for special discounts.

Insured Age Discounts – Older homeowner’s may enjoy lower premiums than their younger counterparts.

Claim-Free Discounts – Homeowners who never, or rarely, file a claim are often favored with discounted premiums.

Besides taking advantage of special premium discounts, you may be able to find another way to lower your insurance premiums. If you can afford to pay a higher deductible in the event of a loss, you can raise your deductible and enjoy some significant savings. Just take care to choose a deductible amount that won’t throw your family’s finances into chaos.

Finally, carrying all of your insurance coverage through the same company will entitle you to many multi-policy discounts. For instance, having your auto insurance and homeowner’s insurance through the same carrier will entitle you to a nice discount. While shopping for insurance, be sure to mention each type of insurance you need and find a carrier who can take care of each one. And, as with all things, be sure to shop around to get the best possible price.

Content provided by Not Made Of Money: Ways to Save on Home Insurance

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Although you certainly don’t want to scrimp on the needs of your new family member, there’s no need to spend more than you have to spend. By getting your hands a little dirty and shopping carefully, you can provide your pet with everything he needs without creating a huge hole in your budget.

When it comes to buying pet food, you can’t beat the benefits of buying food in large quantities. Sure, the large bags of food are a little harder to heft home from the store, but you’ll enjoy a much lower price per ounce if you choose to buy the biggest bag of food available.

You would never dream of spoiling your children with too many toys and treats. Enforce the same principle with your pet. The occasional treat won’t do it any harm, but don’t get too carried away with purchasing toys and food treats. These items are expensive and having a vast quantity of them won’t do a lot to add to your pet’s quality of life.

Save money on pet grooming by taking care to maintain the efforts of professional groomers. Brush your pet’s fur daily and give it a bath if it gets into anything too messy. Learning to use nail clippers for pets is another great way to stretch the amount of time between groomer appointments.

Learning to care for routine medical needs will help eliminate unnecessary and costly trips to the veterinarian’s office. You can learn to administer simple vaccinations yourself and clean out small cuts and scrapes. However, if you feel that your pet’s illness or injury is beyond your capabilities, don’t hesitate to make that trip to the vet’s. You don’t want your frugality to compromise the safety of your pet.

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Kevin McCarty, the Florida Insurance Commissioner, has written an opinion piece that was published today in the Bradenton Herald. He addresses what has been happening on the insurance front, including the fact that insurers are asking for rate increases, because:

While the companies did, in fact, receive savings from the Florida Legislature’s initiatives, the companies did not plan to pass this savings to the consumer as the Legislature intended. Instead the savings would be used to purchase additional reinsurance, even purchasing reinsurance from their own subsidiaries, and to shore-up their financial surplus.

In fact there are no less than 8 rate hearings scheduled with companies asking for rate increases. From the Florida Office Of Insurance Regulation web site, here are the upcoming scheduled hearings from insurance providers:

8/14 – Metropolitan Casualty Insurance Company
8/16 – Hartford Insurance Group
8/21 – IDS Property Casualty Insurance Company/Amex Assurance Company
8/21 – Capitol Preferred Insurance Company, Inc
8/23 – American Southern Home Insurance Company
8/30 – Sentry Insurance A Mutual Company
8/30 – Auto-Owners Insurance Company, Owners Insurance Company and Southern-Owners
Insurance Company
9/18 – Cincinnati Casualty Company and Cincinnati Indemnity Company

So it looks as if the saga continues with no real solution in sight.

Content provided by Not Made Of Money: Florida Homeowner Insurance – Back In The Headlines Again

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1.  Who the homeowner insurance is currently with and where the property is located.  Coastal properties who have seen their rates rise the most, will most likely see some relief, although it remains to be seen just how much.  I do not think that majority of people are going to be seeing a 40% reduction. 

2.  If you reside inland and your property is not insured through Citizen’s Insurance, your rate may only drop by 7% (if at all).

On the other hand, I can foresee the situation where homeowner insurance rates are going to increase uniformly around the state for those who have private insurance (not Citizen’s) due to the fact that all Florida property owners are on the hook to pay for any deficits in Citizen’s.  If we have another bad hurricane season, then we’ll wind up getting more assessments to pay for it.  Assessments were already included in last year’s homeowner insurance premiums under private insurers and will be in the coming year as well.  Even our auto insurance contains an additional 1% assessment this year for the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund. 

 

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