Spring weather may still be around the corner for some of us, but the threat of tornadoes, hail and damaging winds are still present. With the recent collapse of a portion of Atlanta's Interstate 85 and the upcoming Winter Storm Theseus predicted to affect the northeast this weekend, it’s important for all businesses and families to be prepared for the unexpected. 
 
To help you and your family prepare for severe weather and emergencies of any kind, check out these freely available mobile apps: 

• FEMA App - Preparedness information for different types of disasters, an interactive checklist for emergency kits, a section to plan emergency meeting locations and information on how to stay safe and recover after a disaster.
• Red Cross Mobile Apps  – The Red Cross provides over a dozen mobile apps featuring videos, interactive quizzes and simple step-by-step advice and life-saving information on how to handle the most common emergency situations.

Your Homeowners Insurance May Cover Only Part of What You’d Pay to Replace High-Value Items

Standard homeowners and renters insurance policies include some coverage for jewelry and other precious items such as watches and furs. Like other belongings, high value items are covered for losses caused by all the perils included in your policy such as fire, windstorm, theft and vandalism.

However, there are special limits of liability for certain items, meaning that the insurer will not pay more than the amount specified in the policy. One important limit is for the theft of jewelry. To keep coverage affordable, because jewelry can be easily stolen, standard policies have a relatively low limit for theft coverage, generally $1,500.

If you own valuable jewelry or other items that would be difficult to replace, there are two ways you can increase coverage: by raising the limit of liability, or by “scheduling” your individual pieces through the purchase of “floater” policies. Raising the limit of liability is the least expensive option in terms of insurance premium cost; however, there is generally a limit on the amount you can claim for the loss of any individual piece, say $2,000, when the overall limit is $5,000.
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Scheduling each piece or item may cost more in premiums, but it offers broader protection because the floater covers losses of any type, including accidental losses—such as dropping your ring down the drain of the kitchen sink or leaving an expensive watch in a hotel room—that standard policies do not cover. Before purchasing a floater, the items covered must be professionally appraised. Your insurance company may be able to recommend a local appraisal firm.

HIDDEN HAZARDS IN YOUR HOME
​Falling down stairs, slipping on rugs, choking on fumes-these hazards in a typical home result in thousands of deaths each year. Learn how to minimize the risks and keep your home safe.

The insurance approach for covering boats and boating property is quite similar to what is used to protect cars and homes. Essentially insurance is offered on a package basis, meaning that there is coverage for physical property as well as protection against the legal and financial consequences of injuring others or damaging property that belongs to others.

Property Coverage - Typically a boatowners policy covers:

• Boats - Refers to property designed to travel on water and includes sails, its permanent equipment, spars and fittings.
• Boating Equipment - Includes a wide variety of property that is used in conjunction with boats and it includes accessories. Items considered as equipment are property used for communication (radios), navigation, sonar, radar, outboard motors, dinghies, skis and sports equipment (recreational flotation devices) that are towed by boats and similar property. As a rule of thumb, the more related an item is to the ownership and use of a boat, the greater the justification to classify it as boating equipment.
• Boat Trailers - Trailers used (and designed) for transporting boats (as defined by the policy).

This property must be owned by the person who is named as the policyholder. There are limited instances when such property that is temporarily in the policyholder’s possession also qualifies for coverage.

Items and situations that aren’t covered include boating property that is used in business activity, losses that involve races or competitions (an exception is made for sailboats) and boats that are used, full-time, as residences.

Liability Coverage - Besides protecting boating property, a boat owners policy also responds to claims or lawsuits caused when another person is injured, and /or when another person’s property is damaged or destroyed. An example would be a collision where the owner of a large speedboat collides with a person on a jet ski, seriously injuring the rider and demolishing the jet ski. The policy would handle both portions of such a loss. The liability portion would also provide a legal defense against lawsuits.
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Another important coverage under the liability section is medical payments. This provides reimbursement for, typically, emergency or immediate medical treatment expense. Consider a person who slips on a boat deck and needs transportation to an emergency for treatment of a broken bone or concussion. Such costs would qualify under medical payments.

As is the case with property coverage, there are liability situations that are NOT covered by a boat owners policy, including losses that involve business activity, transmission of communicable disease, unauthorized operation of boating property, intentional acts, and criminal activity.

Boating property is a substantial investment and boat owners coverage is an efficient, affordable way to guard against accidental losses.

​Feel free to contact our office for a no-obligation review of your insurance needs.

Business transactions frequently require the valuable protection provided by insurance. A Certificate of Insurance is a document that is often requested as proof that adequate insurance exists. A certificate is not the same as a policy and certificates do not affect the coverage provided by a particular insurance policy. Therefore, requests to "endorse the certificate of insurance" are inappropriate and misleading. A certificate is a separate document that is used to comply with a common contract requirement to verify certain types and amounts of insurance.

Certificate holders, the entity or party requiring the certificate, often demand that they appear as "additional insureds." This requires an endorsement (change) to the policy and it gives them coverage for injury or damage resulting from the contract.

Example: Tenant A leases a building from Property Owner B. Property Owner B demands that the tenant changes its insurance policy to also show the property owner as an additional insured. If a tenant’s customer is injured on the premises and sues both the property owner and the tenant, the tenant's liability policy would provide coverage for both parties.

Construction contracts require certain forms of insurance, certain insurance limits, a hold harmless agreement and the inclusion on insurance policies as additional insureds. A "hold harmless" agreement is a contract provision that states how much responsibility each party accepts for damages arising out of the agreement.

A certificate of insurance can confirm that the appropriate policies were issued and that other requirements were also met. It is important to have a system for monitoring receipt of certificates BEFORE any sub-contractors are allowed to begin work. If certificates are not obtained or kept up-to-date, when the contractor’s Workers Compensation and General Liability policies are audited, the payroll for the sub-contractors without Certificates will be included with the contractor's resulting in an additional premium charge.

Ask one of our insurance agents to help determine if you should be obtaining or providing certificates of insurance in conjunction with your business. In addition, when you’re required to provide a Certificate, send your agent a copy of the contract. The contract allows the agent to assist you in determining what liabilities you are accepting and what can be done to modify your insurance program to best protect your financial well-being.

Now the real adventure begins!

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Home Business, Small Business, Global Business—Here’s How to Choose the Right Coverage for Your Business

The types and amount of insurance that you need for your small business are based on several factors. What type of business are you in? Where is it located? Do you have employees?

You can evaluate your insurance needs—and start your search for insurance—by first considering the size of your business. These definitions may vary, but are generally based on the number of employees, total sales and earnings. The definitions below can help you determine where your business falls—and your insurance professional can provide guidance as well.

Home-Based Businesses
Many successful business launches start at home. Typically home-based businesses consist of one or no additional employees and have relatively little revenue.

However, that doesn’t mean that the business shouldn’t be insured. Every business—including home-based businesses—should be insured against risk. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), more than half of American businesses are based at an owner’s home—and too many fail to carry appropriate business insurance. While a home-based business is almost always by most definitions a small business, its location may require special attention to insurance coverage. Homeowners insurance alone will not necessarily cover your home-based business against business property loss or liability.

Small Businesses
Do you know all of your employees by name? Does your business make less than a few million dollars annually? If so, you’re most likely operating a small business. Some insurers consider businesses with 50 or fewer employees to be small businesses. The SBA defines a small business concern as one that is independently owned and operated, is organized for profit, and is not dominant in its field.

A common small business policy—called a BOP, for “Business Owners Policy”—is usually available only for businesses with fewer than 100 employees and revenues of up to about $5 million or less. While you can purchase customized insurance to cover your specific type of business, insurers offer standardized small business policies that enable you to affordably protect your company against the most common risks.

Medium-Sized Businesses
If your small business is growing and thriving, you may have graduated into a medium-sized company. Again, definitions of business sizes vary, but if your company has between 50 and 1,000 employees with annual revenues between $10 million and $1 billion, you can seek insurance as a medium-sized business. Insurers have special policies designed specifically for this segment that may combine property and liability coverage. If your medium-sized business owns especially expensive equipment or has locations in more than one state, you may also want to seek special customized policies.

Large Businesses
Large businesses have at least 500 employees; revenue requirements are dependent on the type of business.

Large, complex businesses have multi-million dollar risks, and commercial insurance is customized to meet a company’s specific needs. Large companies even have employees dedicated to analyzing the potential causes of accidents or loss, recommending and implementing preventive measures, and devising plans to minimize costs and damage should a loss occur, including the purchase of insurance and managing claims. This practice is known as risk management.

If you run a small business, you generally have to act as your own risk manager. Sometimes a small business will hire a risk management consultant.

If you’re unsure, ask one of our insurance professionals to help assess the risk for businesses of all sizes.

Making sure that your condo or co-op is properly covered begins with a thorough reading of your condo or co-op documents (i.e., by-laws, provisions, regulations, etc.). It may help to have your agent review the papers, paying close attention to items such as:

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• What property is your responsibility to insure - the internal walls, appliances, your detached garage?
• What is the potential for loss assessments?
• Does the association or corporation insure common property at its replacement value?
• What is the association's deductible?
• Are you obligated to add any extra coverage or limits?

Condo/co-op policies generally cover the following:

Real property–coverage for the structural part of the condominium or co-op you individually own such as interior walls, appliances, fixtures, plumbing, ductwork, wiring, carpeting, flooring, possibly private garages, and permanent improvements you make to the property.

Personal property–possessions that are portable, such as clothing, furniture, toys, books, objects of art, home electronics, computers, etc.
Loss assessment–required contributions that members make for the repair or replacement of property that is owned in common.

Additional living expense–covers the additional cost of temporary housing, food and other increased costs of living when you are forced from your condominium or co-op by a fire or other covered cause of loss.

Liability coverage–covers you for your negligence in injuring other people or property on your premises (those accidents for which the condo association is not responsible) or through actions related to many personal activities or hobbies. The policy also provides defense coverage, including hiring and paying for a lawyer (if necessary) and paying most court costs.

Medical payments–coverage is for minor injuries to people other than residents of the household and the payment does not require a lawsuit.

Do you need answers about whether you have proper coverage? Get in touch with one of our insurance professionals!

There are two major types of life insurance—term and whole life. Whole life is sometimes called permanent life insurance, and it encompasses several subcategories, including traditional whole life, universal life, variable life and variable universal life. In 2003, about 6.4 million individual life insurance policies bought were term and about 7.1 million were whole life.

Life insurance products for groups are different from life insurance sold to individuals. The information below focuses on life insurance sold to individuals.
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Term
Term Insurance is the simplest form of life insurance. It pays only if death occurs during the term of the policy, which is usually from one to 30 years. Most term policies have no other benefit provisions.

There are two basic types of term life insurance policies—level term and decreasing term.

• Level term means that the death benefit stays the same throughout the duration of the policy.
• Decreasing term means that the death benefit drops, usually in one-year increments, over the course of the policy’s term.

In 2003, virtually all (97 percent) of the term life insurance bought was level term.
For more on the different types of term life insurance, click here.

Whole Life/Permanent
Whole life or permanent insurance pays a death benefit whenever you die—even if you live to 100! There are three major types of whole life or permanent life insurance—traditional whole life, universal life, and variable universal life, and there are variations within each type.

In the case of traditional whole life, both the death benefit and the premium are designed to stay the same (level) throughout the life of the policy. The cost per $1,000 of benefit increases as the insured person ages, and it obviously gets very high when the insured lives to 80 and beyond. The insurance company could charge a premium that increases each year, but that would make it very hard for most people to afford life insurance at advanced ages. So the company keeps the premium level by charging a premium that, in the early years, is higher than what’s needed to pay claims, investing that money, and then using it to supplement the level premium to help pay the cost of life insurance for older people.

By law, when these “overpayments” reach a certain amount, they must be available to the policyholder as a cash value if he or she decides not to continue with the original plan. The cash value is an alternative, not an additional, benefit under the policy.

In the 1970s and 1980s, life insurance companies introduced two variations on the traditional whole life product—universal life insurance and variable universal life insurance.

For more on the different types of whole life/permanent insurance, click here.

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