Comprehensive Property and Casualty Review
Risk management is one of the main keys to effectively build and protect wealth. This is why we do a property and casualty review for each financial planning client we work with. Most people think their car insurance is there to protect your car. It is really there to protect the wealth you have worked to create, and will create in the future. Until these coverages are coordinated with your overall situation, you could be paying too much and getting too little actual benefit in return, leaving you vulnerable.
Many people feel “insurance poor”. This is usually a result of over paying for their risk management. This review finds areas you might be over paying, or coverages you are missing, or even coverages you might not need. Risk management is important, but so is cost. After this process, most clients don’t dislike their insurance companies so much anymore. They now understand what risks they can accept and which they want to “reinsure” with a policy. They also know they are only paying for coverage they really will benefit from.
When doing a proper review we take the following steps:
- Identify potential risks. This involves looking at how you live and work, then making sure your coverages are consistent with your lifestyle.
- Taking the time to show you the real reasons you own the policy or strategy. For instance, your car insurance isn’t primarily to insure your car, but to insure your wealth. This is very important to understand.
- Looking for consolidation opportunities. Often carriers will give large discounts for combining coverages with one company.
- Do you have the correct levels of coverage. For example; how much would it cost to rebuild you house today and is there enough benefit to do that?
- Do you have an Umbrella Policy? This important coverage is often overlooked, even though it has a very low cost.
- Are the coverages you have worth the cost? Many coverages lose value to us over time.
- Does your policy actually provide benefits for the things you think are insured. For example, most policies only cover home electronics and computers to $1500 maximum. I know a lot of people who spent more than that on one television or computer.
- Do you have collections or jewelry? Again the coverage limits can be very low, so you may not be insured if you are robbed.
- Is there replacement cost coverage? Without that, you will likely be disappointed at what you get paid from your claim. Lots of things lose value rapidly after purchase (like computers and other electronics).
This is a partial list of some of the things that we are looking at when reviewing your property and casualty review. We are always looking to save money on insurance and other risk management strategies. Remember, there is no need for risk management until there is. Insurance is annoying until we have a claim. Make sure your coverages are set up properly, you will be glad you took the time.