“But my investment guy said I would make a killing on this.” Sterile voice responds, “Well he quit last week sir and there is nothing we can do, did you not read your contract?”

Who in the (*&^) can read that stuff? If you cannot understand the contract you are supposed to sign don’t sign it, no matter how much money they tell you, you are going to make. There is an investment that is in 70% of homes in North America. It is guaranteed to earn no more than 3% and more than likely a lot less. But it earns an investment industry billions of dollars. It is perfectly legal, certainly not moral but when you have a lobby group with this much money; changing the laws is difficult.

It is much easier to teach you what to look out for and here it is. First lets prepare you; in a few more words I am going to tell you what this investment is and most of you will stop reading. Why? Do you what to retire broke? No, it is just this industry has done such a good job of convincing us of two things. One; we need this investment. Two; this investment is so complicated you are lucky they are there to explain it to you.

When I tell you what it is, fight back the temptation to stop reading and stay focused on the goal of your financial freedom and not making a big companies a lot more money. Okay here it is, life insurance. Yep, it is one of the biggest tools people use for investing. You get these really cool “projection sheets” that have huge numbers on them of “cash value”. As you are unlikely to die by 65 you will need money and these “projection sheets” tell you by 65 you will have a million or more. Wow, what a good investment.

The only problem is at the bottom of these sheets is a little line that says something like. “These are only projections and do not represent a future value. The future value is dependent on market conditions.” What does that mean? It means you have nothing, absolutely nothing. Those sheets are fantasy, they will never come true and they never have.

The regular insurance industry has always wondered how the life insurance people get us to invest in an insurance policy. Can you imagine having an investment component in your house insurance, or car insurance? Most (over 70%) of life insurance has two parts: a life insurance part and a cash savings part. The second you put them into one contract you are going to lose so much money it should be criminal.

I was sold one by a good family friend at age 18. I actually read the contract and did not understand it but hey, she was a friend of my moms for years. Five years later I was at an investment seminar and was shown how these “cash value” and “universal life” policies really work. They work great for the insurance company. Just look at who owns most of the big downtown buildings, and think where do they get all that money.

It is true that if you have dependants, debts and people that would suffer financially if you died, you then need some life insurance. Just never buy it with an investment component and you will avoid one of the biggest traps to keeping you poor.

Not everyone is poor because of overspending some got poor by bad investing. Avoid this number one bad investment. Keep your life insurance in a “term” only policy and take your investments somewhere else. Be smart, be wealthy.

Larry, Alan & Ward are the Three Amigos who developed simple strategies for debt management. Learn their strategies at http://www.winthedebtgame.com.

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Home insurance policies are helpful when you own a home. Most times when people take out mortgage loans, the lender will expect the buyer to purchase coverage. The mortgage lender may ask the buyer to opt for minimal coverage; however, is the minimal coverage enough. At any time, a natural disaster can sweep a home from its roots and sling it across the region. Statistics have shown that floods alone have targeted “25%” of low risk and moderate risk neighborhoods, therefore, at any time your home could be at risk.

When you have invested large sums of money on a property, the last thing you need is to put your home at risk. The home is not the only issue to consider, since homes often have valuable property. Thus, insurance companies’ are designed to protect both your home and its contents.

Most insurance coverage will offer flood insurance upfront, however few companies fail to make the offer. The insurance companies’ that present flood coverage will often ask the client to join in the “National Flood Insurance Program.”

There are many things to consider when searching for home insurance. If you have a home-based business, you will need the maximum insurance coverage, since expensive equipment is often involved. The weather is unpredictable alone, however, other unforeseen occurrences, such as explosive water pipes. The insurance companies will often cover unforeseen disasters, including Mudflows, floods, tidal waters, hurricanes, tornadoes, melting snow, and so forth. If you live in a wooded area, then you are at risk, since mush land is vulnerable and floods often occur.

Other things need consideration when applying for home insurance. If you live in a mobile home, or else own a condominium, then you will need coverage that will accommodate the special circumstances.

While, insurance companies’ offer different types of policies for condominiums, they are susceptible regarding mobile homes. The contents and mobile home itself is not the biggest expense to home insurance providers. Rather, insurance companies are vulnerable to coverage for mobiles, since the home presents out of the ordinary risks. The company will consider mobile home status, neighborhood, year, make, model and other details when considering mobile homes. Most likely, the company will charge high premiums and higher rates to insure the property. New mobiles often cost less to cover, but not as low as the homes that are not risky.

Researching the market can help you find the right agency that offers the best rates on home insurance. Not only will you find better rates, lower premiums, and comprehensive coverage, you will also learn details about the specific company you are applying for coverage.

If you are still paying mortgage, then lenders will expect coverage on your home. Therefore, if you agreed to the mortgage loan arrangements, you may want to find out if you have coverage. It is your choice to find a reasonable home insurance agency, therefore, if you find a good deal you might want to talk with your mortgage lender to drop the insurance integrated into your mortgage payments. You will also need to show copies to your lender that home insurance is existing.

Fires are common in many neighborhoods. At least one home out of 100 in a single neighborhood will experience fire. If your home is destroyed by fire, you will loose your home and everything in the home. If you do not have insurance, then getting back on your feet can become a struggle.

The premiums on the policy will offer a measure of coverage against fires. Many insurance companies’ will factor in fire from the onset of the application. The companies’ will consider fire, flood, depreciation, replacement charges and so forth when considering coverage. Thus, when taking out home insurance make sure you talk with your agent about changes in rates and premiums as a result of depreciation. Most times if the depreciation of the home has dropped, the company will charge steeper premiums.

The Entire Coverage Packages, or Full Coverage plans often have higher premiums, but you must consider that the policy is covering the entire content of your home, plus the home itself. Be advised that few policies have restrictions and exclusions, thus research and learn more.

Authored by Michael Bens. For more great information about all forms of insurance visit our free online insurance publication the Gabae Insurance Source to find the information you’re looking for!

Also you can check out Gabae Insurance Articles to find the articles’ you’re looking for!

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‘House Insurance’ is an insurance policy that combines insurance on your physical house as well as your contents within. If something were to happen, flood, fire, vandalism, theft etc. you the owner will get back everything including your house and its valuable contents that were damaged according to the restrictions of the policy. Of course we all hope and plan that we never have to implement a claim and some never do. Yet, being prepared should you ever have to file a claim will save you alot of time, money and frustration at the worst of times; when you need help from your insurance company. With most large insurance companies developing an online presence many people can now compare prices and get a home owner insurance quote via the internet with relative ease.

Every home owner insurance policy covers two basic important areas, that being the property with physical contents and liability or damages to self and others. If you the home owner are responsible for unintentionally injuring or damaging other’s property then your policy will also protect you from paying for damages done to other people. If the insurance company determines that you were at fault than the chances of getting a claim are pretty slim abviously.

The main benefits of a home owner insurance policy are as follows:

1) In case of any damage done to the physical house the owner of the house insurance policy gets back the amount that has been damaged.

2) The legal responsibilities of the owner are compensated.

3) The temporary living expenses are also given in case the owner is forced to leave his home because of a severe damage to his house.

4) Policies will cover your losses whether you are physically at home or not during the incident.

5) The house insurance policy covers the damage done to the house due to different natural calamities such as hurricanes, tornadoes, flood and earthquake but most of the time they are excluded from the standard insurance policy. If you live in areas that frequent natural disasters many insurance companies will provide insurance like this for an additional fee.

6) A policy can also contain items that you take with you away from the property like laptops for example.

The One Tip That Every Home Owner Should Do:

I certainly hope you never have to file a claim, but just in case you do this is one tip that will save you hours and hour of frustration. There is one big problem that frequently occurs when someone has to file a claim. The insurance company wants to know what you had and how much it was worth. Well, that’s all fine and dandy if they’ll just take your word for it but most of them are going to want to see proof in the form of receipts. I’m sure most of you are following my thinking on this already. How do you produce the receipts if they have just been lost in a flood or fire? Or what if your not able to turn up the receipt because it got lost somehow. An insurance claim can get really sticky at this point because it becomes your word with no proof of your previous items. This has been a really big problem for insurance companies as well as home owners.

How technology has come to the rescue:

Most people either have a home video camera or know someone that does and if not can probly find a store that rents one. In an effort to make the insurance claiming process simpler most home owner insurance companies will recommend that you take a home video of every room of your house with contents and keep the video off site.

If you think about this it works really well - there are even home inventory companies now that do this full time and store the videos in a safe place for you. The insurance companies love this because now they can see firsthand what your trying to claim and it becomes way easier to determine the value of items when they can actually see the make and model simply through the video.

The benefits for you the home owner are huge as well and this has been known to really shorten a legetamite claim and will also guarantee that the price you get for your items is closer to what they are actually worth. The biggest benefit is you may find there are alot of items that show up in the video that you had forgotten about and therefore your total claim may end up being alot higher than simply be memory. It’s recommended to update the video every so often as your contents change.

So let’s recap: use the internet to get a home owner insurance quote to compare companies to ensure your not overpaying for your policy. Do a video inventory of your home with contents and keep the video off site or in another city if you can. It doesn’t take long but may be well worth it to you at some point.

Submitted by Chad McDonald for those needing home owner insurance or searching online for home owner insurance rate products and services.

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