Insurance to Protect Your Financial Plan

Do you worry about your finances? What about your financial plan? Do you know what insurances you need to protect yourself and your financial plan? Having your money organized is one thing. If you don’t have enough of the right insurances, your plan is at risk. These are the major insurance types that you need to protect your financial plan.

Property & Casualty

According to Allstate.com, Property insurance and casualty insurance (also known as P&C insurance) are types of coverage that help protect you and the property you own.

Property insurance helps cover stuff you own like your home or your car.

Casualty insurance means that the policy includes liability coverage to help protect you if you’re found legally responsible for an accident that causes injuries to another person or damage to another person’s belongings.

If your net worth is is greater than the liability coverage on your P&C policies, talk to your agent about getting an umbrella policy. These policies increase your liability coverage if you are responsible for damage to someone else’s property.

Health Insurance

According to Investopedia.com, health insurance is a type of insurance coverage that typically pays for medical, surgical, prescription drug, and sometimes dental expenses incurred by the insured. Health insurance can reimburse the insured for expenses incurred from illness or injury, or pay the care provider directly. 

Most people have group coverage through work. If they’re older than 65 they have Medicare with a Supplemental policy. If you don’t have coverage through work, you can find coverage at healthcare.gov.

Life

According to Forbes.com, life insurance is a contract between you and an insurance company. Essentially, in exchange for your premium payments, the insurance company will pay a lump sum known as a death benefit to your beneficiaries after your death. Your beneficiaries can use the money for whatever purpose they choose.

There are several types of policies including term, whole life, universal life, etc., all of which have their pros and cons.

Disability

According to Wikipedia.com, disability insurance often called DI or disability income insurance, or income protection is a form of insurance that insures the beneficiary’s earned income against the risk that a disability creates a barrier for a worker to complete the core functions of their work. 

Disability insurance can be short term and long term. It can be own and any occupation. And you can have individual or group policies. Disability policies are important. About 30 percent of Americans ages 35-65 will suffer a disability lasting at least 90 days during their working careers.

Most people have group coverage through their work. The key is knowing what type of coverage you have and what it covers. If you’re highly specialized at what you do, like a surgeon, ask your agent if you need an own occupation policy.

Long Term Care

According to LongTermCare.gov, long-term care insurance policies reimburse policyholders a daily amount (up to a pre-selected limit) for services to assist them with activities of daily living such as bathing, dressing, or eating. You can select a range of care options and benefits that allow you to get the services you need, where you need them.

Someone turning age 65 today has almost a 70% chance of needing some type of long-term care services.

How much Insurance Do I Need?

It’s hard to know how much insurance you need. If you ask your agent there’s a conflict of interest. So they may say, a lot of insurance.

To circumvent this I recommend asking a qualified fiduciary fee-only certified financial planner from NAPFA.org. They can run analysis as to how much and what type of insurances you need to protect you, your family, and your financial plan. NAPFA advisors don’t sell policies, therefore they have fewer conflicts around recommendations. They also have a fiduciary duty to give you advice that is in your best interest, therefore you can rest assured that you’re getting what they believe to be their best advice.

Takeaway

It’s one thing to have your money organized. It’s another to not manage your risks. Make sure you have good coverage in each of these types of insurance to protect your financial plan.

For more on insurance, check out:

• You Are Going to be Eligible for Medicare – Now What?
• Liability Insurance – An Integral Part of your Retirement Plan