With the holidays behind us and a full year ahead of us, it is now more important than ever to reassess your insurance needs. With the amount of life events and changes that can occur in just 365 days, reassessing your coverage will allow for you to be adequately covered in the event of a claim.
Whether your 2019 consisted of you purchasing a home, getting married or divorced, having children or sending those children off to college, all are major life events that can alter your insurance needs. Although you may already have an insurance policy, that does not necessarily mean that it is the correct policy. Going over the details of each policy with your ever-changing needs will assist in ensuring that you are not paying largely out of pocket during a claim.
Home
If you added on an addition to your home last year or renovated or updated any rooms, it’s likely that the value of your home increased, increasing the amount of coverage you will need to protect that addition or renovation. By letting your insurance agent know of any major changes to your home, they can assist you with the deciding on how much coverage is the right coverage, as well as assist you with choosing the coverage with the best purchase price.
Additionally, if you bought a second home last year, or are planning on buying one this year, let your agent know, so that the best insurance options can be discussed.
Children
If you added a new baby to your growing family last year, or if you are expecting in 2020, start planning to add them to your health insurance. Many health insurance companies require newborns to be added to your existing policy within 30 days of birth. By adding your new child to your policy, you ensure that they will receive the proper care and protection should they become ill.
If your child moved out of your family home and began living at an off-campus residence at their university in 2019, speak to your agent about renter’s insurance. Many landlords have included in their leases that their tenants must have renter’s insurance.
Relationship Status
If your relationship status changed last year, meaning if you got married, divorced, or widowed, your insurance policies should be updated.
Marriage
Although some couples keep separate auto insurance policies, it is likely that once they are married, they will save money by being on the same policy together, as well as not have to worry about who drives whose car. Additionally, if your spouse is currently moving into your home, you will want to add them to the list of insureds on your homeowner’s policy.
Divorced
On the contrary, if you are going through a divorce, you will want to remove your spouse from polices that currently include them. Your insurance agent can help walk you through this process and answer any questions that may arise out of your new relationship status.
Widowed
Losing a loved can be the most trying event in any individual’s life. If you recently lost your spouse, it can seem like the responsibilities keep adding up on top of each other. Working with a trusted insurance agent during this challenging time can help ease some of your burdens. They will work on updating your current policies to reflect your situation and ensure that you are properly covered for all that comes your way.
Valuable Articles
January is also the perfect time to complete an insurance review, because you can now add any new items that you purchased or received over the holidays to your list of home inventory. Adding new valuables to your home inventory will assist you in the event that your home is ever burglarized or put in harm’s way during a natural disaster or fire. By having a home inventory list during the event that something occurs to your home, you will be able to show your insurance company exactly what is missing or damaged.
Many agents and brokers conveniently offer an online insurance assessment that allows you to see what type of events can impact your insurance needs. Agents receive your results and are easily able to offer you insights on what can be done to help protect you further in 2020. A Risk Assessment provided by a trusted broker will keep you up to date and provide you with the value that you deserve. For more information on how to reassess your insurance coverage and needs, contact the Personal Insurance team at E.B. Cohen at (973)-403-9500.