If you are renting a place and don’t have renters insurance, you should really look into getting a policy. Besides helping out when you lose some or all of your possessions, it can help you with temporary housing should the need arise.

Shop around to find a good deal on renters insurance.

How Much Renters Insurance Do You Need?

You want enough to cover your needs, but you don’t want to pay too much either. Start off by doing an inventory of what you have and deciding a ballpark figure of how much it would take to recoup what you could lose if there was a fire. According to MSN Money, expect to pay $150-300/year for coverage of around $30,000.

You may also keep in mind that you have to get separate riders for earthquakes and floods if you live in high risk areas for those. Double check with the agent that you’re getting replacement value with the policy and not actual cash value. Replacement value will cover the price it takes now to replace an item, not the depreciated value of the item.

Companies to Shop Around and Compare

It really does pay to shop around for insurance. I managed to save half of my old car insurance premiums by calling different companies and comparing rates.

Discounts You May Get

In addition to finding good prices on premiums, you should work on getting as many discounts as you can qualify for. Some things that may lower your premiums include:

• Security/Alarm system
• Smoke Detector
• Sprinkler System
• Non-smokers
• Credit score

Your Take

What tips do you have on finding affordable renters insurance?

Photo Credit: striatic

When Should You Consider Getting Life Insurance?

Coffee insurance - something my husband might look into.

If you have dependents that need financial support if you pass away, then you should get life insurance. Even if you are a stay at home parent, you should consider purchasing life insurance. Life insurance should not be considered an investment.

How much life insurance coverage should you get?

This will vary person to person. I  used MSN’s Life Insurance Needs Estimator to get an amount that would fit for our circumstances. I entered some data and was given the ballpark figure of $100,000. Please use MSN’s helpful tool to get a ballpark figure for yourself.

Some questions you should ask yourself:

• How many years before you retire?
• Are you financially responsible for anyone other than yourself?
• In the event of your death, how much annual income would your spouse or partner be able to provide to compensate for the loss of yours?
• What is the approximate balance owed on your mortgage?

Deciding on Which Type of Life Insurance

What’s the difference between term and whole life insurance? Term life insurance is  insurance that pays the face value of the policy to the beneficiary when the insured dies. Term insurance can be for a set amount of years (typically up to 30 years).

Whole life insurance, on the other hand, involves investments that can increase in cash value. Some people, including a boss if mine, have mentioned borrowing against their whole life insurance policy. When you die, your family also receives the face value of the policy, not the money earned.

While term life insurance can be a smart choice if you choose to invest the savings, a reader made the following observation:

In all my years selling life insurance, I have not seen one person who purchased term with the idea of banking the difference between term and whole life continue their savings program longer than a year.

It’s a great idea, in theory, but you’re bucking up against human nature to spend money if it’s available. I do know many people who, in this recent financial debacle, find comfort in the fact that their whole life policies were unaffected and remain the best “investment” they have today.

I think the reader has a point, but there is a solution to that. Automate the money saved into your investments.

Your Thoughts

If you have life insurance, how much coverage do you have? How did you determine the amount?

Photo Credit: quinn.anya

Looking for a Better Deal with Our Car Insurance Premiums

Last night we canceled our car insurance with Progressive and went with Ameriprise through our Costco membership. Progressive was $118/month. It jumped about $20 this last term.

We called to see if we could do something to lower our auto insurance premiums, like adding rental insurance with them or increase our deductibles. They said it was the lowest they would go.

I shopped around for car insurance rates and Amerprise offered a little bit more for insurance coverage for $58/month.

We price different companies’ policies when our car insurance renewals come around. Last time, I didn’t have a Costco membership and I didn’t ask around at some smaller insurance companies to look at.

How to Shop For Affordable Car Insurance

1. Have a copy of your current insurance policy. You want to know what exact coverage you have and how much you’re paying for it. This will important later.

2. Shop around online to see what’s a ballpark figure for your insurance. As I’m comparing with other companies, I use my current policy to enter in what coverage I’m looking for. Some websites to check out: NetQuote, Geico , Esurance, or Progressive.

3. Check out your AAA, Costco, or other membership club’s connection. We found our current car insurance policy by checking out Costco’s benefits. We requested a quote and found a great deal.

4. Examine your top choices’ complaints at your state’s insurance department. It’s important to check the company out for their customer service. It does you no good if they don’t cover you well or offer bad service.

5. Call the insurance companies and review exact policy coverage. Have your current policy out and compare line by line the coverage amounts.

How to Save Money on Car Insurance

It doesn’t hurt to ask to see if you can get a discount on your car insurance premiums. You want to

• Maintain a good driving record. It’s obvious, but helps. Our last six month’s premiums went down because an old accident went off the record after 3 years.
• Develop and keep a good credit history. Another reason why being smart with your bills helps out.
• If you’re a college student, see if your grades qualify you for a discount. It’s usually a GPA of 3.0 and higher. Check your company to what their discount is for good students.
• Increase your deductible. Only do this if your emergency fund is in place. Don’t get a $1000 policy if you only have $500 in your emergency fund.
• Pay in one or two installments. Insurance companies tend to give a discount if you pay your premiums up front.
• If your commute has shorten a bit, let them know. It can lower your expense. Even if they don’t drop it as low as you want, you save on gas money.
• See if you can add home insurance with the company. Some companies, like Nationwide, have a discount for using them for both policies.

Your Take

What tips do you have on finding affordable auto insurance? Please let me know how you save on car insurance by leaving a comment. We can share our tips together.

Photo Credit: Team Dalog

What is Term Life Insurance and Whole Life Insurance?

You’ve been working full time for a few years now and you keep saying to yourself that you need to get some life insurance to cover your family. You’ve just been so busy you haven’t had time to get a policy. You may have heard about term life insurance and whole life insurance and don’t know the difference.

Term life insurance is basically insurance that pays the face value of the policy to the beneficiary when the insured dies. Term insurance can be for a set amount of years (up to 30). When you die your family receives the face value of the policy.

Whole life insurance involves investments that can increase in cash value. Some people borrow against their whole life insurance policy. When you die, your family also receives the face value of the policy, not the money earned. Term life insurance premiums are typically much lower than whole life premiums.

Some Information to Consider on for Coverage Amount

How much coverage should you get?  I personally used MSN’s Life Insurance Needs Estimator. I entered some data and was given the ballpark figure of $100,000. Some questions you should ask yourself:

• How many years before you retire?
• Are you financially responsible for anyone other than yourself?
• In the event of your death, how much annual income would your spouse or partner be able to provide to compensate for the loss of yours?
• What is the approximate balance owed on your mortgage?

Use MSN’s tool to get a ballpark figure for yourself.

How would this breakdown with term and whole life insurance premiums?

Term life insurance for me would be $9-12/month while whole life is around $30-40/month.  If I got term life insurance what could I do with the difference saved? Many suggest investing the money and build your own assets.

Tips When You’re Looking into Life Insurance

MSN offers some tips for those looking to get insured:

• Look at your budget before committing to a premium.
• Don’t let a policy lapse if you plan to buy another one at some point.
• If you are single and simply don’t want your relatives burdened with the cost of a funeral, consider contributing to a Totten trust savings account.
• Clean up credit issues before applying for insurance, because most companies base rates partly on credit history.
• Watch for hidden fees, including those for paying premiums by direct withdrawal from your checking account.

As with everything financial, you should check the company you’ll be insuring with to make sure your money is safe.

How many of you have life insurance? What kind do you have and why?

Photo Credit: woodleywonderworks

I think my sister got a lemon of a car. She has had her car for a little over a year and she constantly has had to have repairs. She keeps paying out of pocket because these issues aren’t covered with her warranty. The last issue was about $500 and it would’ve been more, but she couldn’t afford the other repair.

A friend mentioned to me the other day about the lemon law for this state and I passed it on to my sister to checkout. I’m including some information for others who may be in the same predicament.

What are lemon laws?

Wikipedia describes lemon laws as

Lemon laws are American state laws that provide a remedy for purchasers of cars that repeatedly fail to meet standards of quality and performance. These cars are called lemons. The federal lemon law (the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act) protects citizens of all states. State lemon laws vary by state and may not necessarily cover used or leased cars. The rights afforded to consumers by lemon laws may exceed the warranties expressed in purchase contracts. Lemon law is the common nickname for these laws, but each state has different names for the laws and acts.

What are my state’s car lemon laws?

I found a site with links to all 50 states’ lemon laws, so you can find the appropriate resource. I know that I have international readers and I’m still looking for some resources. If you find anything, please leave it in the comments and I’ll update the posts and give credit to you for the link.

How much is this going to cost me?

From what I gathered it’s free to ask if your car qualifies as a lemon. Each state has its own rules and it involves proving that several repairs have to be made.

Here’s an example sent by someone who has gone through the lemon law process (Thanks Paul!):

In Virginia, within the first 18 months of delivery, the manufacturer has three attempts to fix a significant problem with the vehicle, and one attempt to correct a life-threatening condition of the defective vehicle. If the problem isn’t fixed after these attempts, the consumer, with a seasoned attorney’s guidance, can invoke his or her rights under Virginia Lemon Laws to quickly obtain either a full refund or another vehicle of equal value.

• What do you have to lose? A small bit of your time.
• What can you gain? A chance to get a better mode of transportation.

If you know someone with a lemon, pass the links on and hopefully, it will point them in the right direction.