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Finances & Money

Fixing your money mistakes: Be sure to insure

April 22, 2007
By Clever Dude
- Leave a Comment

Continuing my discussion of 5 common money mistakes, we’ve already discussed creating a budget and saving for emergencies and retirement. Now, we’ll talk about something only Actuaries care about: Insurance

Types of Insurance

Excluding the really weird types of insurance like insuring your armpit if you’re a professional deodorant sampler, you still have a wide range of choices to wade through such as:

  • Homeowner and Renter insurance
  • Auto insurance
  • Flood, Fire, Wind and other catastrophe insurance
  • Life insurance
  • Disability insurance (short- and long-term)
  • Health insurance

How to choose the right insurance for you

When I was fresh out of college, I was clueless about insurance. My employer had great benefits, and I ended up overbuying on some and underbuying on others.

For example, I was a young, healthy male with little or no history of chronic illness to worry about. I had a few options for health insurance that ranged from $50 per month for a relatively low deductible, 80% reimbursement PPO to about $100 per month for a no-deductible, no-copay, 100% reimbursement HMO. I chose the HMO and ended up paying double of what I needed because I didn’t choose to inform myself about my risks, probabilities and requirements.

Another example is when I had to choose life insurance. I came out of college with about $75,000 in debt (student loans, shiny new car, credit cards). I wasn’t married, so my parents would have been responsible for my debts had I died prematurely. Do you think I bought enough term life insurance to cover my debt? No. I chose what my employer offered by default, which at the time was about $25,000 in term life. You may know from my past articles that my family is in no shape to pay for their own debts, much less mine.

There’s no clear-cut amount of insurance that you should buy, because everyone has a different life situation. A few factors that will affect your insurance purchase decision include:

  • Do you have children or other dependents? Obviously you wouldn’t want to leave your family in peril if you are the sole or majority breadwinner and you become disabled or die prematurely (is there such a thing as dying prematurely though?).
  • Do you have stuff? That’s a very broad question, but if you have stuff, you’ll probably want to insure it. You don’t want your life’s possessions to be lost in a fire, flood, burglary or other catastrophe and be left with nothing. At least you could have some money to buy a new home or rebuild, refurnish your home, or replace your business equipment.
  • Do you have a history of chronic illness in your family? Certain medical problems can hit any time, such as Crohn’s or colitis, heart attack, diabetes, and cancer. If you know you have a high probability of getting hit with a chronic illness, don’t wait until you have it to try to get insurance!

Tips for Buying Insurance

Just from my own experience, as well as reading 100 personal finance sites daily, here are a few tips to help you buy insurance:

  1. Buy Term Life, not Whole Life insurance. Term is MUCH cheaper than whole life, but it does expire. If only we knew this when we bought our own whole life policies a few years ago, we wouldn’t be spending hundreds per month in premiums!
  2. STOP SMOKING NOW! If you want a sure-fire way to get charged more or even denied for insurance, then smoke.
  3. If you’re obese, LOSE WEIGHT NOW! Just as with smokers, insurers don’t want to get stuck with your expensive insurance bills when you get heart disease or diabetes. I know I need to lose about 30-40 lbs to be considered healthy, and it’s hard, but I’d rather not get a preventable disease if I can help it.
  4. Before applying for auto insurance, check your driving record. In Maryland, we can order our driving record for $9 online. I get to see most of what the insurer gets to see, and I’ll know my chances of lower rates before applying.
  5. Be honest. Don’t lie about your medical history, driving record, or whatever else you’re asked on an insurance application. You’ll be committing something called “insurance fraud“.
  6. Assess your financial requirements closely before making a decision. Just as I didn’t think to buy enough life insurance to cover my debt, you don’t want to underbuy or overbuy insurance. If your car is worth $1000, then why would you keep anything but your state’s coverage requirements (usually just Liability)? If you have 5 young kids and a $1 million home, then why wouldn’t you have over $2 million in coverage?

Future articles will cover each type of insurance in more detail. For now, think about reviewing all of your insurance policies, and consider policies you don’t currently own but need.

Be sure to insure!

Be sure to check out the rest of the series Fixing Your Money Mistakes:

  1. Create a Budge
  2. Save, Save, Save
  3. Be Sure to Insure
  4. Research, Wait, Repeat
  5. Don’t Fall for those Scams

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. debt kid says

    April 23, 2007 at 4:43 am

    I am 23. Self employed. My health insurance is $160 a month. Decent plan. I’ve only gone to see the doctor once though in the last year. I have over 300K in debt right now, and am trying to cut my expenses. I don’t smoke, drink, and am pretty fit. Do you think I could get a cheaper, plan? Even drop my coverage? (that doesn’t seem like a great idea…but if I could save $100 a month, that would be huge right now!). Any suggestions?

    Reply
  2. realist says

    April 23, 2007 at 6:18 am

    look for a new line of work?

    Reply
  3. Clever Dude says

    April 23, 2007 at 6:47 am

    Debt kid,

    $160 per month isn’t much at all. I pay about that much for myself and my wife for a great plan which is mostly subsidized by my employer.

    I would highly recommend keeping your health insurance. $100 per month is NOTHING when you think about how much injuries from a car accident could cost you. Keep the insurance.

    Reply
  4. TF Miser says

    April 23, 2007 at 3:37 pm

    Why would your parents have been responsible for your debt? I don’t think the law in most states hold parents responsible for their adult children’s debts. In that case you wouldn’t have needed life insurance at all.

    Reply
  5. samerwriter says

    April 23, 2007 at 3:38 pm

    Why would your parents be liable for your credit cards and car loan if you passed away?

    That should only be a problem if they co-signed on them. I can see that being an issue for student loans, but for credit cards and car loans?

    I suspect that the rates we pay for loans already take into account that the loan may be written off entirely in case of death.

    Reply
  6. AgentSully says

    April 25, 2007 at 12:09 pm

    Insurance is a great topic. If you ever write an article on elder care/nursing home care insurance, I’d love to see that. I’d love to know if this is worth it.

    Reply
  7. ana says

    May 14, 2007 at 1:47 am

    It’s ok to make mistakes before like when you forgot to provide your insurer about the health risks that you have.

    The important thing is that you learned from your experience and that made you someone better today.

    Reply
  8. samboy says

    May 14, 2007 at 1:49 am

    Just like what Ana said, the most important thing is that you really learned from your experience and that makes you a better person to lean on to….specially with regards to auto insurance matters. thanks for the information.

    Reply
  9. gelu says

    August 22, 2007 at 7:31 am

    Thanks…but what for dental insurance?

    Reply
  10. Clever Dude says

    August 22, 2007 at 8:47 am

    Gelu, I just figured in dental along with health since they’re similar.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Carnival of Personal Finance #98 → We’re In Debt says:
    April 30, 2007 at 11:46 am

    […] Clever Dude tells us how to fix a money mistake, by getting some insurance. […]

    Reply
  2. Finance Picks: Here’s Another Reason To Raise Your Credit Score » Silicon Valley Blog About Money says:
    May 2, 2007 at 11:26 am

    […] Dude has this reminder: Fixing Your Money Mistakes: Be Sure To Insure. I was about to give my own spiel about insurance with a nifty list on the subject, but I guess […]

    Reply
  3. Carnival of Personal Finance #98 Roundup at Clever Dude Personal Finance & Money says:
    May 2, 2007 at 3:32 pm

    […] This week, We’re in Debt hosted the Carnival of Personal Finance #98, where I contributed my own article “Fixing your finances: Be sure to insure“. […]

    Reply
  4. Postponing financial responsibility until you grow up at Clever Dude Personal Finance & Money says:
    June 22, 2007 at 7:01 am

    […] financially. That means monitoring your spending, creating a reasonable budget, saving and buying insurance. Oh, and investing, but make sure you buy the right stock! Again, this isn’t a jab at my […]

    Reply

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