Life Happens 365 - Are You Managing the Risk?

By Diane Tait Image courtesy flickr With the cost of vehicles today approaching what starter houses cost just a few decades ago, more and more people are opting for ridesharing.   And why not?   Ridesharing allows you to not only pay only when you need a ride, it also eliminates the costs associated with fuel, maintenance and auto insurance.   Whether your rideshare company of choice is Uber, Lyft or the local cab company, if you put precious little miles on your current vehicle, the rideshare concept could well be something you’ve been thinking about for quite some time.   Before you place a for sale sign on your current ride, you need to know the full story of the fledgling rideshare industry.

By Diane Tait Image courtesy Pexels I can still remember the day I first opened my insurance company.   Back then, I was the chief, cook and bottle washer.   By that I mean I was the sole employee of A&B Insurance in Jacksonville, Florida.   Of course, back in 2000, the insurance game wasn’t all that complicated, unless you factored in how I was forced to manually search through the couple dozen insurance carriers I worked with to help find the best coverage at the best price for my customers.   Back then, there was no integrated database that did the work for you.   That meant a lot of my time was spent reading, then writing up proposals.   Today, all I have to do is feed in some data and hit a button to generate a report that takes into account 93 A-rated carriers.   Not only does this produce more precise results for my customers, it also saves me a ton of time that I can use for service instead of research.

By Diane Tait Image courtesy flickr Living in the Sunshine State means enduring a lot of water.   Whether we’re talking about the popup thunderstorms that occur most every day during the summer, or whether we’re talking about the frequent named tropical storms and hurricanes that come our way, dealing with rain squalls and street flooding is a way of life in Florida.   While most of this rain isn’t of biblical proportions, if you were forced to survive a direct hit by Hurricane Andrew, you might think differently.   Unfortunately for all too many homeowners, they only think about flooding after the fact.   If you don’t believe me, go talk to the New Yorkers whose homes were destroyed by Hurricane Sandy, or the Texans where entire towns were submerged by Hurricane Harvey.   While most of the homeowners in both locales were covered by homeowner’s insurance, many didn’t carry flood insurance.   That’s because they assumed their properties would never flood.   Before you get caug

By Diane Tait Image courtesy pxhere I’m a dog person.   As such I have always had one or more dogs in my household.   While they’re great companions and protectors, what isn’t great is when they get sick or injured.   That’s because where veterinary care used to be relatively inexpensive, in the past 10 years, the price charged by vets is starting to approach those of general practitioners.   As a result, I have to dig deeper and deeper into my pocket for everything from routine visits to the vet to doggy medication and emergency care.   With the rise in veterinary costs has come a rise in pet insurance policies that claim to cover a myriad of issues for a fixed monthly premium.     What I thought I’d do this week is take a look at the pros and cons of pet insurance.