The Finney School of Real Life

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors warns that if you can’t get insurance for your house, you’re in big trouble. Mortgage lenders won’t lend on houses that are uninsurable and as a result its value could fall by up to 80%.

It’s a high flood risk that’s most likely to make your house uninsurable. According to a recent survey, 6.5 million homes are already at risk from flooding of which 1.5 million are in high risk areas. The government has completed flood defences in many such areas and protection for a further 80,000 homes is due this year. But concerns have also been expressed about a further 120,000 new homes planned for the Thames Gateway which are potentially in a high “at risk” zone. Yet many areas remain vulnerable. And if global warming continues, by 2030, the 1.5 million at risk could mushroom 3.5 million. Back in 2003 the Association of British Insurers (ABI) agreed the principles which committed UK insurers to offering home and contents insurance for properties in areas which are assessed to be at a flooding risk once in seventy five years or more. The rider was that the flood defences had to be already in place or would be completed by the end of 2007.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has the responsibility of developing and maintaining these flood defences but within the insurance industry there’s widespread concern that insufficient progress is being made. As a result the insurers have has warned the government that there could be widespread withdrawal of insurance cover if progress is stepped up.

In the mean time, those in areas threatened by flood water could find their insurance premiums soaring. Whilst the insurance industry agreed to provide insurance cover, their commitment was simply to maintain premiums at “reasonable” levels. But there was no definition of what “reasonable” means. As a result premium increases of 60% have been common with up 400% increases in bad areas. In a tiny number of cases, cover has been withdrawn altogether, mostly in country areas where DEFRA considers the cost of defending a cluster of a few homes to be uneconomic.

Environmentalists warn that unless DEFRA gets it’s skates on, the UK ’s current bill for flood damage could rise from £950 million a year, to £3.2 billion. After all, the average insurance claim for household flood damage is £30,000 - that’s even higher than fire damage. And localised events like the 2004 flood at Boscastle, Cornwall , can cost the insurers over £15 million.

If you are in any doubt whether your home or proposed home, is in a flood risk area, you should visit www.environment-agency.gov.uk. This is DEFRA’s web site where you can check whether they think your home is at risk of flooding. Their maps were originally designed for planning purposes and provide information on a post-code basis.

Whilst many insurers use the DEFRA information, others like More Than, have their own flood maps. These assess homes individually rather than post code areas. This means that if your existing insurer increases your premium for flood risk and uses the DEFRA information, you may still be able to get a cheaper rate from an insurer using it’s own flood data if its data identifies that your property is beyond the “at risk” zone.

The ABI has recently added to the pressure on DEFRA to accelerate the building and upgrading of flood defences. It has warned that unless the government increases its spending on flood defences, the insurance industry may not continue their commitment to the 2003 principles.

That would be bad news for many homeowners.

Michael Writes for Brokers Online who offer Life Insurance, Life Assurance and Home Insurance all online

This type of specialized medical insurance provides coverage for citizens of
a particular country who live overseas - commonly referred to as expatriates.
For those who do live or work overseas, obtaining comprehensive medical coverage
can be difficult and expensive - particularly so in an emergency.

Many people who move overseas experience one or two different problems: Their
employer’s existing health insurance may not cover them overseas, and they may
not be eligible to be covered under a medical plan that is administered in the
country of residence. Unless they take out health insurance specifically
designed for expatriates they may find themselves uninsured.

It’s also extremely important to make sure your insurance covers any family
members that may go overseas with you. This is especially important if you are
moving to a country with poor medical facilities. If you have what the insurance
companies call a “dangerous” occupation such as being employed by the army,
police or on a sports team, you may not be able to get expatriate insurance - or
you will pay a lot more for it. Participating in hazardous sports such as
mountaineering or skiing may also not be covered.

Check whether your policy includes coverage for emergency evacuation. This means
that if you are taken ill overseas and need to be treated back in the US, the
insurance company will fly you back home, by private air ambulance if necessary.
This procedure can cost upwards of $50,000 if paid for - a recent publicized
case concerned a traveler in Africa who became sick and incurred a bill of over
$120,000 for this service, as he had no insurance.

The policy may also include emergency reunion services - flying family members
to be with you if you are hospitalized. Again, the cost can be prohibitive if
not covered by your insurance. This type of coverage may also include the costs
of various extras such as meals, accommodation and phone calls.

And be sure to ask whether your expatriate insurance covers pre-existing
conditions and exactly how you would be covered in the event of giving birth
overseas, or a pregnancy complication.

If members of the public or customers come to your premises or if you go to their place of work you might consider thinking practically about buying business insurance. This sort of insurance should cover numerous circumstances, all awards or money given to a member of the general public because of injury and damage to their workplace caused through actions by you or your business. Insured Risks will give you Public Liability Insurance at fantastic prices.

There can be found tons of situations, omissions and warranties that may be applied to business public liability insurance policies. It is so fundamental that you converse with your insurance advisor any that are applicable to your policy.

A amazing enterprise who specialise in this are Insured Risks. The business insurance corporation advertise business public liability insurance at an unusually reasonable price. The small business insurance organisation can often guarantee that you and your corporation take out the precise business liability insurance policy that is suitable for you and your corporation. Owning small business public liability insurance is not a mandatory requirement still it does however make pleasant business sense. Local authorities can often generally demand a minimum level of £1 million public liability insurance for works to be undertaken at the client’s workplace and on the client’s behalf.

Insured Risks business liability insurance cover is available for in excess of one hundred and ninety contracting trades & professional occupations. Cover is available on stagnations of £1m, £2m and for the majority of cases £5m. The business insurance corporation is specially designed to cover self employed trades men, professionals & start-up businesses up to a total of 20 workers, with or without limited company status.

There are many insurance companies in the world giving their life insurance quote.

It’s pretty difficult to pick which one is the best. What should you do? One strategy that’ll work is to keep switching insurance companies. Any company will make more money by selling to people who are more price sensitive.

A person needing an insurance may be willing to pay high. A person who keeps switching insurance shows that he is price sensitive and hence, he will get a lower price.

Your life is not the only thing you can insure. You can also insure your house and your car. There are many websites offering free car insurance quotes and home insurance quotes.

There are usually two types of life insurances.

Term Insurance

Term insurance is paying the life insurance while betting that you’ll die. You bet $2,000 per year. If you die during that year, you win, say, $1 million dollars. If you don’t die, there goes your $2,000.

Life insurance has a major drawback — You get to die first before you can get your money. So many insurance companies combine life insurance with some form of investment. Is this a good idea? Most of the time, it is not.

Permanent Insurance

Permanent insurance is insurance with savings. Say, you paid $20,000 per year for 10 years. If you die within that10 years, you’ll get $1 million. However, at the end of the 10 years, if you fail to die, you still get your $200,000 back, often with interests.

Your insurance agent will usually encourage this. Why? Because they get more commission out of this. Why? Because insurance companies make more money out of this arrangement. Why? Because it’s not good for you, at least usually.

First of all, this is not an apple to apple comparison. Say you pay your life insurance to get $1 million dollars. Maybe you got to pay $2,000 per year. With compound insurance, to get a $1 million dollar settlement, you need to pay $20,000 per year, but only for 10 years. Usually, the insurance agent will make things even more confusing for you by offering $100 million dollar compound insurance for $2,000/year.

So how do you make it apple to apple? You compare the permanent insurance with regular term insurance plus regular investment. So, the permanent insurance of $20,000 per year is equivalent with $2,000 term insurance and $18,000 per year investment. If you buy the $2,000 term insurance and invest the $18,000 per year, how much money you’ll make after 10 years? A simulation shows that you’ll make $286,874.

Now, is permanent insurance a good insurance? Well, just compare that $286,874 with what you’ll get back under the term. Usually you’ll get less. When you get less, the insurance company makes more. So insurance companies provide greater intensives for the insurance agent to sell permanent insurances.

However, permanent insurance have one advantage. Tax benefit. Your assets can accumulate free of tax. Also, regular investments will often be subject to inheritance tax while insurance may not be.

So a good strategy is to simply buy permanent insurance with $0 coverage. They’ll compare the ROI of the permanent insurance apple to apple. Hence, all mutual funds will turn to insurance company providing effectively the same service. It’s good, it works, it’s productive, and hence governments prohibit that, of course.

You can check out whole life insurance quotes on the web.

Jim Thio is a silver medalist in International Physics Olympiad. He uses his Math skills to provide free financial, business, and marketing advices in FasterFinancialFreedom.com/art.390.0.html