Life Happens 365 - Are You Managing the Risk?

By Diane Tait Image courtesy Pixabay Now that another couple of named storms have reared their ugly heads, it’s more important than ever that your home is covered by insurance.   All it takes is one lightning strike or some windblown debris to turn a domicile into a mess.   The last thing you want is to have your property sustain severe damage only to find out your homeowner’s policy was cancelled.   What’s even worse is you only have a short amount of time to get your home covered before you face the consequences.   Before your mortgage is called in by your bank for lack of insurance, let me give you a few tips on how to deal with such a situation.

  By Diane Tait Image courtesy Pixabay Poet Joyce Kilmer said it best. “I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree.”   Trees are without a doubt a source of joy and wonder.   They provide a home for songbirds, a source of shade, they help mitigate noise and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, plus they protect property from wind and weather.   A live oak can reach sixty feet in height and have a crown spread of one hundred feet or more.   Festooned with long beards of Spanish moss, live oaks are one of the majestic emblems of the deep south.   That being said, when hurricane season rears its ugly head, live oaks and other large shade trees can do a great deal of property damage should they topple over or shed a trunk-like limb.   To help you keep your chi in harmony with your trees, I thought I’d take the time to tell you ten things you need to consider when it comes to maintaining the trees that adorn your property.

  By Diane Tait Image courtesy Pixabay It’s that time of year again in Florida when the skies suddenly darken midday and it sounds like an artillery barrage.   I’m talking about thunderstorms, which occur with regularity in the Sunshine State from April through September.   While pop-up storms are an all too frequent fact of life during the spring and summer, what’s scary about the flash, bang, boom of lightning is the damage it can do to people, places, and things.   Like it or not, a bolt from the blue can travel up to ten miles to deliver as much as a billion volts from cloud to ground.   Lightning strikes have been known to set a house ablaze or cut a tree in two in a split second.   A single bolt can damage or destroy your car or kill you in an instant.   If you’ve ever wondered what can happen if your home or vehicle is struck by lightning, here’s what you need to know.

By Diane Tait Image courtesy Public Domain Pictures You may have noticed that technology is invading everything these days.   Late model automobiles aren’t so much cars anymore as they are computers with four tires and a steering wheel.   Smartphones are 10% telephone and 90 % computer.   The computer that took man to the Moon had about as much computing power as that in your car’s digital key fob.   The bottom line is   almost everything these days is Internet enabled.   That includes many of the devices in your home.  

By Diane Tait Image courtesy flickr While home ownership is still one of the last bastions of the American Dream, sometimes owning the modern American home is not without a few issues.   While things like asbestos shingles and lead piping are things of the past, one hazard that’s all too current in modern homes is the threat of fire.   I recently read a report by Safeco Insurance that pointed out today’s homes are an even bigger firetrap than those of yesteryear.   That’s because modern homes are more open (which aids the spread of fire), and the man-made material that’s contained therein is more combustible than comparable all-natural material.   Even the stuff that’s used to construct many homes is far more flammable than solid wood, concrete or masonry.   With that in mind I thought I’d dedicate this week’s blog to showing all my readers how to learn not to burn.

By Diane Tait Image courtesy of wikipedia Insurance is like a pit bull on a leash.   You hope to never have to set it loose on an intruder.   But if you do, you don’t want it to turn on its owner.   If you’ve ever read any of your insurance policies, you can appreciate this fact.   While insurance has been protecting individuals and businesses for hundreds of years, understanding the language of insurance isn’t always the easiest of things to do.   Add to it the fact that you’ve no doubt read magazine articles written by writers who are only too eager to point out how someone who bought insurance was denied covered for specified damage they assumed was covered.   When it comes to insurance policies, the devil is indeed in the details.   To make sure you understand what’s what when it comes to your policies, below are some of the terms you could encounter when you peruse your policies.

By Diane Tait Image by Public Domain Pictures While most adults would never consider taking a prescription medication that has passed its expiration date, it’s not at all unusual for them to stick with an insurance policy that is past its prime.   Just as your health changes from year to year, so do many other aspects of your life.   Since an insurance plan can only effectively protect you and your family so long as all the coverage adds up to reflect your current financial status, scheduling a yearly insurance review can be just as important as having a yearly checkup.

By Diane Tait Image courtesy of wikimedia When it comes to owning a home, most of us want to feather our nest from time to time.   That means performing the occasional home makeover or addition.   Whether you’re simply looking to add a garage onto your home, upgrade your kitchen or bathrooms, add a patio or deck, or add a new room or floor, any of these can affect your homeowner’s insurance.   With that in mind, I thought I’d devote this week’s blog to letting you know what you need to do if you’re looking to upgrade your home.