If you currently have insurance coverage for your home or business, there is a portion of that insurance coverage known as liability insurance. Chances are the liability insurance that is included in your policy has limits. This means there is a maximum on what your liability insurance will cover. Sometimes this coverage is not enough to cover all costs of legal issues, and that is where umbrella insurance comes in handy. Umbrella insurance provides additional coverage above and beyond what is covered under your normal insurance policy. In today’s world, it is a very smart idea to carry umbrella insurance on your home or business.

Protecting Your Home

In many homeowners insurance policies, there are gaps in coverage that may pose problems should a claim arise. These gaps in coverage mean that certain things may not be covered under your regular homeowners’ policy. There are likely liability coverage limits on your homeowners’ policy as well. This means that even if a claim arises and is covered under your policy, there may not be enough money available to cover all of the legal costs that go along with it. Umbrella insurance kicks in where your regular insurance policy leaves off, making it an extremely valuable investment.

Say an accident takes place on your property and someone is injured. Will your current insurance policy be able to cover all of your legal expenses, as well as the injured person’s legal and medical expenses? The answer is probably no. That means that your assets and future earnings could be at stake if your current insurance policy is inadequate. The price of an umbrella insurance policy is really not that much compared to the lifelong issues you could face without one.

Also, some houses may pose more of a risk than others. For example, older houses often carry more of a risk than newer ones. This is because electrical systems, windows, and stairs in older homes are often outdated. Additionally, households that have dogs, specifically large or dangerous breeds, may also carry a larger risk than households with small dogs or none at all. Umbrella insurance is a wise choice if you have an older home or dogs that may cause injuries to others.

Protecting Your Business

If you own a business, you know that liability insurance coverage is extremely important. This is because there are so many areas of liability in the world of business. Although you probably have general liability coverage on your business, it may not cover the entire amount if a claim is filed against you. Even if you are a business with product or professional liability insurance, these will not always cover every situation or claim. Umbrella insurance is especially important for businesses to carry because of the increased risks and liability.

For example, your business may use dangerous machinery on the premises. This machinery can pose a major risk to employees or anyone that comes into your business. Should an accident occur, will your regular liability insurance offer enough protection and coverage for the claim? There is a good chance that it will not. This is where an umbrella insurance policy would come into play and offer that extra level of protection.

Even if you have insurance for your home or business, the coverage that is included in your policy may not always be sufficient. Umbrella insurance offers additional coverage and kicks in where many policies leave off. It can be a lifesaver in many cases, and is almost always worth the small amount of money it may cost you.

Guest post from Bailey Harris. Bailey writes about business insurance quotes for BusinessInsurance.org.

Every driver wants to have the best premium rates for his or her car insurance and when the income is fixed and there exists a list of essential expenses and purchases, as in the case of senior citizens, there is a need of discounts over the premiums. Most of the senior people are not aware of the fact that there are various auto insurance companies that offer benefits for mature and older drivers. So if you are looking for tips to aid you in saving money over your car insurance, just keep reading!

If you have been with the insurance company for years, try out some negotiation with your insurance provider otherwise you can switch your auto insurance company after reviewing different insurance quotes and deals offered by different car insurance providers. This will help you in saving a lot over your car insurance and offers you best coverage. Since you are a senior citizen, you are eligible for certain discounts that are offered by the companies over the insurance premiums. It is presumed that the period of driving at old age is less so you do not have to pay more premiums. With age, the premiums may vary and so do the discounts.

Having a good on road record works in favor of the older drivers and can draw them cheaper auto insurance. A well equipped safe car can help the senior people in their driving and thus make them les vulnerable to accidents which directly mean that their chances of claiming for insurance are less. There are few insurance companies that offer discounts to the seniors if a certain amount of driving mileage is over a specific age. With the help of above mentioned tips, you can easily get yourself cheaper car insurance and thus can lead a happy life without caring for your insurance premiums.

This morning, my health insurance company sent me a very nice note with a very ugly truth inside: my premium went up because 55% more people in 2009 than in 2007 received surgery for obesity.

Health Insurance Premiums and Weight on the Rise

The estimated annual cost for treatment of obesity is $200 billion, but 70% of disease is preventable and 87.5% of claims made are due only to the individual’s unhealthy lifestyle choices, to include but not limited to poor diet, over eating, smoking, excessive drinking, lack of exercise, and more.  One of every five healthcare dollars are spent on treatment of diabetes.

As stated in this web site’s February 3rd post of 2009, many health insurance holders are provided insurance by their own workplace; because healthcare costs are only rising, businesses are pushing expenses toward their employees.  Even those of us who are physically fit must pay for the irresponsible lifestyles of others.  This is part of being a citizen of the United States; rather than complaining about health insurance premiums and healthcare reform (not that criticism isn’t warranted), we must ourselves take action by living more healthful lives.

A Little Known Truth About Dieting

The known tips and tricks are old and known, even trite: don’t eat fast food, don’t eat lots of sweets or salty snacks, exercise three days a week, diet, diet, diet.  How, then, is a nation so obsessed with dieting— the American diet industry makes close to $40 billion annually selling pills, foods, cookbooks, DVDs, clothing, etc—also known as the fattest nation on the planet?

The answer is more obvious than we think.

Dieting

Clinicians at eating disorder treatment centers—commonly believed to be filled only with “skinny” folk like anorexics and bulimics—know that dieting is the biggest trigger of eating disorders.  In truth, eating disorders are not limited to “skinny” diseases but include habitual overeating, stress eating, mindless eating, binge eating, and more.  These are the diseases causing our health insurance premiums to rise.  In fact, about one in two individuals enrolled in dieting programs suffer from BED, or Binge-Eating Disorder, which inevitably leads to weight gain and even, in some cases, heart disease and diabetes.

How Dieting Is Making America Fat

Here is the logic behind this paradox: If a parent tells a child to not eat a single “bad” food like a cookie, a candy cane, an ice cream cone, a donut, or a bag of chips in an entire emporium of “bad” foods, what will the child do?  Want the “bad” foods more and eventually cave in and eat all the “bad” food the child’s stomach can take.  Then, the child feels bad for disobeying his or her parents and vows to never do it again . . . until the next time he or she caves and binges on “bad” foods.  The child in this case is any dieter, the parent is society (run by the diet industry and media, hand in hand), and the emporium is any American fast food restaurant or grocery store.  We are daily surrounded by stress that makes us seek comfort food by which we are surrounded, and the more we are told by society to not eat “bad” foods, the more we want them.  Eventually, we all cave.  “For every diet, there is an equal and opposite binge,” according to Geneen Roth, a disordered eater for nearly twenty years and now a Good Housekeeping columnist and advocate of natural health and weight.

So, for the sake of our own health and the health and happiness of our wallets, let’s rethink diets and dieting and seek, instead, balance.

Bio: Maria Rainier is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident blogger at First in Education, researching various online degree programs and blogging about student life. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.

With the national uninsured rate rising at a steady pace, having adequate auto insurance coverage has become more important than ever. If you get into an accident with someone who is either underinsured or driving without insurance, you could suffer both fiscally and physically. On the other hand, you don’t want to buy too much insurance. Auto coverage isn’t cheap, and you could end up spending way more than you have to if you purchase coverage you don’t really need. The following info will help you sort through coverage options, required minimums, and recommended asset protection.

Coverage Options

Every auto insurance policy consists of a collection of coverage options that protect you from different things. You can choose to purchase all of these coverage options or a select few.

• Liability - Liability policies cover other people’s expenses when you are at fault in an accident. There are two types of liability coverage: bodily injury liability, which pays for other people’s medical expenses, and property damage liability, which pays for damage done to the other car.
• Personal Injury Protection – Also known as Medical Payments or Med Pay in some states, PIP covers your medical expenses regardless of fault. PIP also covers the medical expenses of your passengers. Other costs that may be covered include lost wages due to injury and funeral expenses.
• Uninsured or Underinsured Motorist – This type of auto insurance coverage is designed to help cover costs that may be incurred by you if you are hit or injured by someone who either has no insurance or has only minimal coverage.
• Collision – Collision covers damage done to your car in an accident.
• Comprehensive – Comprehensive covers costs if your car is stolen, vandalized, or damaged by something other than a traffic accident, such as fire or falling objects.

Required Minimums

Every state in the nation requires motorists to have liability insurance. Minimum liability limits can vary from state to state. For example, in Alaska, the minimum requirements are $50,000 of bodily injury liability for one person, $100,000 bodily injury liability for all people, and $25,000 property damage liability. In Florida, minimum requirements are much lower–$10,000 of bodily injury liability for one person, $20,000 bodily injury liability for all people, and $10,000 property damage liability.

Some states also require motorists to carry personal injury protection and uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage. Additional requirements may also be set forth by your lender if you lease or have a current loan on your vehicle. The amount of insurance or types of coverage your lender will ask you to buy may vary but will almost always cover the actual cash value of the vehicle or the amount of the loan.

Deciding How Much Insurance to Buy

The amount of auto insurance you need is very dependent on your individual situation. First and foremost, you will need to purchase the minimum amount of insurance required by the law in your state. After doing that, you will need to decide how much your vehicle is worth and whether or not you need to protect your assets in the event of a lawsuit.

If you are driving a junky car you may be able to get by with minimum coverage. If you drive a nice car, you will want to make sure you have enough coverage to recoup the full cost of repairs or replacement of your vehicle after an accident.

You may also want to consider protecting your assets in the event of a lawsuit. The minimum amount of liability insurance required by law may not be enough to cover someone else’s medical expenses. If the accident is your fault, the injured party could come after your assets.

Many insurance experts recommend purchasing 100/300 limits of bodily injury liability for additional asset protection, but this is just a general rule of thumb. To determine your individual needs, you should calculate your net worth and make sure you are covered for an amount equal to the total value of your assets.

Guest post from Bailey Harris, financial writer and Homeownersinsurance.org contributor.

Above is a video about the basics about life insurance.   Most people don’t think about getting life insurance until its too late.  The video does a good job of explaining the basics.  Get Life Insurance quotes HERE.

Did you know your employer could take out a life insurance policy on you without you knowledge or consent?  The practice is called “Dead Peasant Insurance” where secret life insurance policies are taken out for low-level employees with the benefits paid to the company upon the employee’s death, regardless if they still work for the company.  The practice was highlighted in Michael Moore’s recent movie, “Capitalism, A Love Story”.  The video below is a report from ABC News regarding this practice.

Video: ABC News on “Dead Peasant Insurance”

Progressive has a program called “MyRate” that offers safe and/or occasional drivers to chance to lower their car insurance. MyRate is a one-of-a kind, behavior-based car insurance program that lets drivers save money based on how they drive. Drivers who choose to sign up for MyRate receive a small wireless device that plugs into a port in their car and measures how, how much and when the car is being driven.

Cars driven less often, in less risky ways and at less risky times of day could receive a lower premium.  Progressive’s MyRate Program lets drivers pay based on how, how much and when their car is driven.  The service is available in several sates that purchase policies from Progressive online, by phone, or through its more than 1,100 independent insurance agencies in the state.  The MyRate program will continue to be rolled out to more states in 2009, pending state regulatory approval.

So how does it work? When you enroll a vehicle in the MyRate, Progressive will send you a MyRate device that plugs into your car.
Drive as you normally would. The MyRate device wirelessly and securely sends information about when, how much and how you drive your car to help determine your rate at renewal. You can log into your account and see how well you’re driving.  You can also track your projected renewal rate based on your driving behavior by logging also logging into your account at progressive.com.

For more information visit Progressive.com/MyRate.

Related Article: 8 Ways to Save Money on Auto Insurance