There are so many choices when it comes to insurance: Health, life, car, renter, homeowner, traveler, and even jewelry insurance. Full coverage, optional coverage, collision coverage, add-ons. Sometimes, it’s hard to know which are most important and where to focus our coverage needs. Especially when on a tight budget, the way to figure out how your insurances are impacting your life, is to look at your finances and lifestyle. Like it or not, all types of insurance impact our lives. If you’re interested in knowing how to read on.
Car Insurance
Not many would argue that car insurance is one of the most important types of coverage drivers can have. These insurance policies protect us from major financial bills should we have an accident. Good comprehensive car insurance will cover everything from damage to our own vehicles to bodily injury of ourselves or another person should we be at fault in an accident.
A car accident is stressful enough. But without coverage, it can mean financial disaster on top of mental anguish no matter what your car’s value. In some cases, your car insurance company will cover minor issues too like cracked windshields; making for easy fixes to what could have been bigger budget repair concerns.
Homeowner Insurance
A homeowners insurance policy is a must for anyone who owns a home. Required to carry a mortgage, it’s important to factor in when managing costs as a homeowner. But this kind of insurance is worth it in that it protects our homes from things like fires and, in some cases or with additional coverage, natural disasters. Without it, we could be out of luck if our home were to burn down, vandalized, robbed, or otherwise damaged.
From covering property damage to food lost in a chest freezer after the power goes out, homeowner coverage is important to our biggest investment — our home. It likely covers more than you think, too. Maybe your dishwasher is leaking. Perhaps you discover not only a wet floor but a wet ceiling. Weeks later, you discover mold. The right home coverage policy will protect you and pay for repair costs for professionals to help clean up your home.
Renter Insurance
Renter insurance is less common than car or home but equally important. This insurance protects your valuables like wedding rings, money in safes, and family heirlooms. Much like jewelry insurance company plans that work to cover our jewelry’s value in the event that it’s stolen, renter insurance works to protect our valuable personal items in the event of a break-in or fire.
Many often assume that their landlords cover insurance for tenants and renters. In general, this is not the case. Landlords carry homeowner policies that protect the building structure itself but not our property. For this reason, it’s important to consider renter insurance if you’re renting an apartment even when it’s in someone’s home. If you aren’t sure, ask someone in your property management company.
Health Insurance
Like car insurance, health coverage is a big one. With it, we can get regular checkups and physicals. Without it, we risk major medical expenses should we get sick, have an accident, or worse. A sudden serious disease like cancer, for example, could happen to anyone without warning. Without health coverage, we’d be on our own with the medical bills. If you’re uninsured, do yourself a favor and call for a quote or, if you’re in the United States, look into the Marketplace now.
Life Insurance
More common as we get older and have beneficiaries to worry about, life coverage is still important to think about. This type of coverage means our family members won’t be stuck with funeral expenses after our passing. It can also provide for educational assistance and more if we have minor children. In that way alone, the peace of mind, this type of insurance impacts our lives but more importantly the lives of the people we love.
In the end, and in the case of life insurance, literally, all types of insurance impact our lives. Whether we have coverage or not could mean the difference between a good night’s sleep and financial disaster. But there’s also only so much we can afford. Take a deep breath, review your life circumstances, and make a list of the insurances you need first. From there, you can gradually work to build up coverage for total peace of mind.
