Life Happens 365 - Are You Managing the Risk?

By Diane Tait Image courtesy flickr Recently we shot a YouTube video that dealt with personal auto and renter’s insurance (which you may view below).   So, I thought it would be a good idea to cover the ins and outs of renter’s insurance in this week’s blog.   If you rent a house, condo or apartment, you may assume that everything contained therein is covered by your landlord’s homeowner’s policy.   That assumption could cost you big were your unit to be burglarized, flooded or burnt up in a fire.   Contrary to popular opinion, the only thing that your landlord’s homeowner’s policy covers is the structure and anything like major appliances, rugs and fixtures contained therein that are owned by the landlord.   As far as your personal property and furnishings are concerned, you’re on your own if calamity were to strike and you’re uninsured.    

By Diane Tait Image courtesy flickr So, you’ve decided to augment your income by either picking up passengers, delivering groceries or taking on contract writing assignments.   Good for you.   Working as an independent contractor can have its rewards.   In many cases you get to set your own pace, work when you want to work and avoid the dilemma of having your boss breathe down your neck all day long.   There are also added tax write-offs and other perks involved with running your own business.   The downside is that there can be added expenses and increased liability to deal with anytime you go from working for someone to working for yourself.   Today I thought I’d take the time to help all you indies out there understand the insurance ramifications inherent in dealing with the Gig Economy.

By Diane Tait Image courtesy flickr If you’ve read my blog for any length of time, then you no doubt recall how I always advise you to “Read your policy including the fine print.”   While that’s prudent advice for any contract, what makes insurance policies unique is that they have a language all their own.   Unless you’re a contract attorney or work in the insurance industry, much of what’s expressed in an insurance policy may as well be written in Greek.   Therefore, I decided to dedicate today’s blog into giving you a leg up on many of the terms you’ll find in a typical policy.

By Diane Tait Image courtesy flickr If you own your own home, then it’s probably one of the biggest investments you have ever made.   With an average sales price in the US of $322,600 in April 2020, buying a home doesn’t come cheap.   Neither does maintaining it for years to come.   That’s why most homeowners insure their homes to protect their investment from fire, theft, storm and other acts of God.   That being said, unless you’ve taken the time to read each and every line in your policy, including the fine print, you might be shocked at what the average homeowner’s policy doesn’t cover.   So, I thought I’d take the time to go over what’s included and excluded in most policies.

By Diane Tait Image courtesy pexels Last week I showed you everything you needed to know about accidents involving parked vehicles.   As with all car crashes, before an insurance company will pay to repair your vehicle or cover the medical expenses of anyone injured, it must determine who’s at fault.   In the case of hitting a parked car, determining who’s the at-fault driver isn’t all that difficult, unless the careless motorist who hit your vehicle flees the scene.   In the case of a crash involving two or more vehicles, it isn’t always so cut and dried when it comes to determining fault, as you will see below.