How to Be Well-Insured Without Overspending
Jay Calangi
Technical Recruiter at Thakral One | Ateneo BS Management Engineering 2020 | Let's connect!
Insurance plays a huge role in our lives as some are regularly useful while some are hopefully not used. You can regularly use some insurance, while others are just one-time use then need renewal. And so sometimes we need to do the adult thing and buy the insurance despite it not being a fun purchase.
One insurance to avoid is extended warranties because you’re insuring a rapidly depreciating asset. Also, the warranty may not be needed anyway given that the product rarely breaks. And so when you buy many extended warranties, you’d be spending more money than you save from repairs. Unfortunately, we only remember the times when the extended warranty was useful so we think it’s important. Instead of the warranty, you can just invest in protective gear for it like phone cases for phones. If you truly want to extend your warranty, you can simply use a credit card that may have a promo that extends it. You can also look up the products that are most reliable to gain the ease of mind in purchasing.
Pet insurance should also be avoided unless the pet is older or more prone to diseases. Oftentimes, it’s better to just have savings that will cover the veterinary expenses for the pet. Also, people usually just get the insurance because of guilt anyway so it’s not a very logical reason.
Since life insurance should be obtained to replace income, it may be useless for children. Usually, these get sold because of guilt and the notion that you do not love your kid if you do not have this. And so once again, it may be wiser to save money for their future rather than get insurance for them.
However, unemployment insurance should also be avoided as savings handle expenses anyway. Also, sometimes, companies or governments already give this to you anyway so best to do your research.
There are specific kinds of insurance that are offered today that is not very reasonable to get. Thus, saving would be better to do instead of increasing your insurance expenses progressively further.
But you do need insurance that is broader like life insurance for adults, especially if they are bread-winners. As a rule of thumb, you need to get the life insurance policy that is 10x worth your annual income. And so when income increases, it helps to revisit and modify the policy to fit your situation. It also serves well to have life insurance for a life partner who may not earn but do so much for the home. And so it’s wise to research the available life insurance options to make sure you get the best deal.
Disability insurance is also very valuable as illnesses can cause disability to work. Employers may offer short-term disability insurance, however, long-term insurance is best for this. It also serves well to have private insurance as leaving the employer may have you lose the insurance.
In terms of protecting your assets, many insurance policies can protect the more expensive ones to prepare. Renter’s insurance can be very useful as this can be required by landlords and protects the property. Home and automobile insurance is also useful to have but make sure your insurance amount is sufficient. This is because it may be very expensive to fix certain things in the home or your car. But you don’t want to use this for minor repairs because then the renewal will get very expensive.
Other insurance is useful because you can use them for a wide array of unfortunate scenarios. Health insurance is important as many people go bankrupt from their medical bills. An umbrella policy would also be very useful as it is tapped when exceeding your other insurance’s pay-outs. The umbrella policy is especially useful for those in the real-estate business as they have many properties.
Source: How to Money