Insurance can be confusing…we get it! But we’re here to help provide you with a better insurance experience. Learn more about what these common insurance terms mean so you can be prepared when looking for a policy.
For customer information or to get a quote, please visit our website at www.ShieldAgency.com .
Shield Insurance Agency Blog | Millennials Buying Insurance |
Adulting (verb) – acting like an adult or engaging in activities usually associated with adulthood, often responsible or boring tasks.1
If you’re a millennial, you know this definition all too well. You’ve reached the age where you may be taking out student loans, buying or renting a place to live, having kids, and, ultimately, purchasing insurance. These major life events for millennials make it extremely important to have a financial security net. And that’s exactly what insurance is: a financial security net. So it’s troubling that a survey from Princeton Survey Research Associates International named millennials the most under-insured generation.
There are many reasons why people of all generations avoid purchasing insurance. It‘s often seen as a big investment, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s an expensive one. In fact, insurance probably costs less than you think. For instance, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), millennials overestimated the cost of renters insurance by more than five times its actual cost per year.
Also, the complicated terms can make finding a policy a puzzling experience and the subject matter can be tough to digest. No one wants to think about being in a car accident, experiencing a break-in, losing everything in an apartment fire, or any other sort of bad, unexpected event. But these things can happen, so you’ll want to be prepared.
And don’t let any initial confusion or preconceived notions drive you away. You’re a millennial, after all! Your generation is always tackling new challenges and expanding the way the world works, oftentimes in brilliant ways.
Insurance provides essential financial protection for your future, so now’s the time to start “adulting” and take that first step.
Find a local independent agent and start protecting your finances today.
1 – Grammar Girl
We get it: No one wants to think about death—for us or the ones we love. And a lot of people equate life insurance with death. And while it IS there if the worst were to happen, it can also do so many other things and doesn’t have to break your budget while doing it. Check out these great reasons to consider life insurance:
1. It’s part of a sound financial plan. Insufficient coverage has severe consequences for many families. We know that four in 10 households without any life insurance would have immediate trouble paying living expenses if their primary wage earner died. Life insurance helps with planning for your loved ones’ long-term health and happiness, providing you with peace of mind that your loved ones are financially protected.
If someone would suffer financially when you die, you need life insurance just like you need a savings or checking account. The money from the policy’s death benefit can help your family meet many important financial needs like funeral costs, daily living expenses, and college funding.
2. It’s not as expensive as you think. Many consumers believe that life insurance is either too complicated or too expensive to consider, creating a barrier to ownership with only 57% of people owning life insurance in 2019. In actuality, life insurance is inexpensive and much more accessible than you think. For a healthy 30-year-old, for example, they can get a 20-year term life insurance policy with $250,000 of coverage for about $13 a month. When you break it down like that, it’s easier to budget for and less scary to think about.
3. It can build cash value over time. Permanent life insurance has a cash value or cash surrender value, which means it can build cash value over time in addition to providing a death benefit to your beneficiaries. Just like most retirement and tuition savings plans, cash values can accumulate on a tax-deferred basis and be used in the future for any purpose you wish—a down payment on a home, college tuition, or even income for your retirement.
This can be a good option as the borrowing rates tend to be relatively low and it’s not dependent on credit checks or other restrictions. Keep in mind, though, you’re ultimately responsible for repaying any loan as set out, to make sure your beneficiary receives the death benefit you had envisioned for them.
4. Life insurance can be more than just life insurance. Riders to a life insurance contract or a specific kind of policy can enhance coverage. For example, you could have a life insurance policy, sometimes called a hybrid policy, that includes a long-term care benefit to pay for long-term care services. If this is something you need down the line, you can take advantage of it, otherwise, there is a death benefit for your beneficiary. There are a number of different riders available that can help you customize and boost your coverage.
5. It can help maximize your retirement. If the financial obligations you had when you first purchased a permanent life insurance policy have ended, your policy can take on a new life and benefit your retirement. Structured correctly, your policy can provide supplemental retirement income via policy loans and withdrawals or even options for long-term care benefits.
Life insurance can also maximize a pension by supplementing a surviving spouse’s income, or established into a life insurance trust to allow you to pass on to your heirs outside of your estate (often avoiding both estate and income taxes).
So, what are the next steps? Why not let us do a quick calculation to see how much life insurance you may need? And then let’s talk about your needs and budget—remember, we will help you free of charge with no obligation. Contact Us Now!
Comprehensive Coverage | Shield Insurance Agency Blog |
Sometimes the blog posts just write themselves.
ABC News in North Carolina reports that a driver in the state looked up and saw a bird carrying a huge fish.
“It was one of those slow-motion moments in life. I saw the fish and I saw him drop it,” said Rhesa Walston of Beaufort, North Carolina.
The catfish smashed straight into her windshield.
It happened so quickly she didn’t have time to react.
“There was glass all over my front seat…glass on my lap,” Walston told ABC News.
After making sure her daughter in the back seat was safe, Walston contacted her family and her insurance company. Family members tracked down the fish (apparently, catfish dropped from high altitudes bounce) and took pictures to corroborate her catch.
Walston told ABC News she will have to pay the $250 deductible on her comprehensive auto policy — not a huge price for a story the family will be telling for years to come. Animal damage is covered if you have optional comprehensive coverage. If you only have collision coverage, then you’re not covered.
The eagle could not be reached for comment…
Apparently, I fell off the face of the planet when it comes to car seat safety. Despite reading all the NHTSA tips for car seats, doing the safety checks, and experiencing Michigan winters my whole life, I have never, ever heard of winter car seat safety. If have a bundled-up little one, this is a must-read and must-share on your Facebook page to educate other parents.
First, let me divulge a few of the (brutally honest) thoughts that came to mind when I heard this:
A child may be buckled in tightly with their winter coat on, but in an accident, the impact of pressure would compact the bulk of the coat making the harness too loose to keep the child safe.
While I quickly thought of every reason why this was a bad idea, I landed on the one reason why this was a good idea: safety always comes first. The fact is, a child may be buckled in tightly with their winter coat on, but in an accident, the impact of pressure would compact the bulk of the coat making the harness too loose to keep the child safe. So, I called my local fire department and got these important tips that are pretty simple and much more do-able than I imagined.
The winter coat rule applies to children in car seats and for children in boosters if the seat belt system in the car does not automatically lock when the brakes are applied.
If you find your child’s coat is too bulky to buckle them in safely, here are some alternate options to keep your child warm:
For all the other snow-state mommies and daddies like me who didn’t know this…now you do! So, test the bulk of your child’s coat and keep them safe in their car seat this winter. Foremost encourages all parents to be safe while driving, especially with a child passenger.
Just picture it — you’re driving on a winding road blasting some music, enjoying your time with family and friends, when something pops out in front of you. Do you brake? Do you try to swerve around the thing? Animals seem to have other things on their mind near the roads, and can often jump out at us while we drive, which can cause major safety issues. These moments need a quick response but it can be challenging to think through what to do and then do it on the fly. That’s why we’re providing some guidelines to help prevent a collision between your car and an animal during this season!
Under every circumstance, you should also always make sure you are driving at a safe speed — those speed limits are more than a suggestion! Following the posted speed for a specific stretch of road gives you the benefit of being under control regardless of twists and turns and unexpected visitors!
I am feverishly preparing for what I consider to be a rite of passage: I’m hosting Thanksgiving for the first time. While I love to cook and host my family from time to time, there’s something extra intimidating about preparing the quintessential meal of the year. How do I manage to prepare a turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and vegetables at the same time? In one oven? Without a Thanksgiving Fire!? At this point, I have a spreadsheet listing what I need to do on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and the baking times and temperatures broken down in chronological order. (Thank goodness my mom is bringing the pumpkin pie.)
While I was researching ways to prevent the turkey from drying out, I stumbled upon this fact. According to the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA), Thanksgiving is the peak day for cooking-related home fires. Add another thing to worry about to the list.
It’s pretty clear to see why 69% of all home fires on Thanksgiving are cooking fires. People are stressed and busy, which can lead to carelessness and inattention in the kitchen. Let me join the chorus and reiterate the NFPA’s tips regarding cooking safety:
Then there’s the use of turkey fryers, which the NFPA actually discourages. So does Underwriters Laboratory (UL), which will not certify any turkey fryers with their UL Mark. This video explains why UL finds those appliances dangerous.
According to the National Interagency Fire Center, 63,546 human-caused wildfires burned nearly 5 million acres in 2017. To put this into perspective, consider the size of New York City. At 92,781 acres, New York City could have burned 54 times over with that amount of acreage!
That’s 5 million acres that didn’t have to burn if the ‘you’ part of the wildfire equation had followed proper burning protocol.
Warm weather increases the wildfire threat to many parts of the country. That warmth and dryness entice many people to clean up their yards and burn the debris. If not properly controlled, these fires will grow to become uncontrollable. Fortunately, most human-caused fires are preventable when proper precautions are taken. Here are just a few things you can do to avoid starting a wildfire:
Every year, many families lose their homes and possessions to wildfires caused by humans. Don’t be a part of the statistics. Show your commitment to wildfire prevention, because your safety is number one to us!
To help educate your children on preventing wildfires, check out Smokey the Bear, he’s a pretty smart fellow.
Shield Insurance Blog | prepare your phone | Start a Quote Today!
Today, our phones are rarely outside of our reach. This makes them one of the best tools we have for quickly responding to an emergency situation and increasing the chances of a more positive outcome.
In most emergency situations, you would be the one to contact someone for help. So, it’s important to take a few minutes to research and save important emergency contact numbers on your phone so you can make the call immediately and get help faster.
There are also some emergency situations, like a bad fall or car accident, where you might not be able to communicate with first responders. For this reason, it’s important to take these two steps:
iPhone users can use the Health app on their phones to add their basic personal information, important medical details, and emergency contact numbers within the Medical ID tab and make them accessible from their lock screen. Just make sure you select “Show When Locked” and test it out after you’ve finished setting it up.
Android users can set up their lock screen message by going into their Settings, Users & Accounts, and then Emergency Information. Enter your medical information and emergency contact. Then test it out by locking your phone, swiping up, and tapping “Emergency” to find the information you entered.
Additionally, Android lets you put any message you want on your locked screen. To do this, open your Settings, go to Security & Location, and next to the Screen Lock tab hit Settings. Then, tap Lock Screen Message. Here, you can enter your primary emergency contact or important medication information so that it always displays on your locked phone screen.
Because it’s difficult to predict when or where an emergency will happen, it is a smart idea to update your phone now so that you’re prepared to handle any situation that comes your way in the future. Be safe out there!
Shield Insurance Blog | Motorcycle Coverage | Contact Shield
Picking good motorcycle insurance is more than just choosing between comp and collision or liability-only. Here are four questions to ask yourself about coverages and options before you switch to a new policy or renew your current one.
An odd question? Not really, given the big changes we’ve all experienced in the last few years with health care. If you have a high-deductible policy, and need an x-ray or go to urgent care, you’ll likely pay out-of-pocket.
Medical payments coverage (often called “Med Pay”) might be worth considering. The typical $500 limit should be enough to cover smaller medical bills and it does not cost much to bump up to a higher limit.
While you’re at it, you might want to consider uninsured and under-insured motorist (UM/UIM) protection, too. That covers larger medical costs as well as repairs or bike replacement — if you’re left with the bill from an at-fault driver without sufficient insurance.
Whether it’s that bucket-list ride to Sturgis, or just a long-weekend cruise, you’ll want to consider:
No, we don’t mean your uncle Earl. Coverage for injury to your dog or cat is a newer option you can add.
In much of the country, riding is a seasonal sport. It’s tempting to save a few bucks by canceling your policy when you put your bike under wraps for the winter. But it can still be stolen, vandalized, or damaged. Consider year-round coverage for your bike.
Since 2006, Shield Insurance Agency has been an Endorsed Local Provider with Dave Ramsey.
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