How to Get Mobile Home Insurance

Buying a mobile home is an affordable way to become a home owner. For many people it is the only way they can buy a home, because of the low initial cost. But like any home, a mobile home needs to be adequately insured before you move in. Following are a few tips on how to get mobile home insurance.

Determine Your Needs

Before you go searching for an insurance policy for your mobile home, you should determine exactly what your home insurance needs are. If you also own the land the mobile home is on, then your insurance policy will have to include coverage on the property. The insurance you carry will be comparable to a homeowner’s policy for a site-built home. You will need to be covered for loss from storm damage, liability against injury, theft, and fire. Your policy will also have to include any other buildings on the property, such as a garage or shed.

Coverage for Contents

You will also have to buy coverage for the contents of your mobile home. There are two basic ways you can do that: actual value coverage and replacement cost coverage. With actual value coverage, if something you own is either damaged or stolen you will receive payment for what that item was worth at the time the claim was filed. That means that whatever the initial value was, your payment will be released to you according to its depreciated value. With replacement cost coverage, you will receive whatever amount of money it will take to buy a comparable item at its retail cost.

Do You Need ‘Natural Disaster’ Insurance?

If you live an area that is prone to hurricanes, you may want to consider adding a rider that covers that type of damage. Another ‘natural disaster’ you may need protection from is floods. If you live in a flood plain, you may be required to carry insurance to protect against it. In some cases you may need to protect yourself against the possibility of a flood, even if you don’t actually reside in a flood area because there is always the potential for heavy rains to cause damage to a basement. Having flood insurance will provide financial protection from that possibility. If your mobile home is in an earthquake zone, you will need to have coverage for that potential problem, as well. If your home is financed, coverage for ‘natural disasters’ may not be an option; you may have to carry flood, hurricane, or earthquake insurance if you live in a place that is a designated threat area.

Personal Property Coverage

Owning a large collection of action figures or stamps is the way many people have of expressing themselves. If you have a valuable collection of this type, or if you have extremely costly jewels or furs, you will need to have adequate home insurance coverage. If there is a fire, damage from a storm, or someone breaks into your mobile home, having sufficient insurance coverage will mean you won’t have to take a total loss. Instead, you’ll be reimbursed for their value. It would be a good idea to have visual proof of your possessions in case you have to file a claim. Take digital photos of each item or use a camcorder to record images of them so you can prove you actually had the collection.

Shop for a Good Price

When you’ve determine exactly what type of coverage you’re going to need, it’s time to start shopping for an insurance carrier. You can go on the Internet and search for companies that sell insurance online. Fill out the forms on the websites and request a quote for the coverage you’ll need. After you’ve received a quote, you can use them for comparison when you begin calling the more traditional brick and mortar companies. Make sure you ask for exactly the same type of coverage when you speak to each agent. In that way, you will be sure that the quotes are for comparable home insurance coverage.

Life Insurance Tips for Seniors

Having a life insurance policy in place is important. Everyone needs to be covered, if for no other reason than to pay your final expenses. Even if you don’t have any loved ones to provide for, you don’t want to leave anyone with the burden of paying for a funeral or any other bills you may have. It used to be extremely hard for older people to buy a life insurance policy. They cost an arm and a leg--if you could find coverage at all. Nowadays it’s a bit easier. Following are a few life insurance tips for seniors.

Reevaluate Your Policy

If you already have a life insurance policy in place, you may want to take another look at it to make sure it still fits your needs. If you took out a term life insurance policy when you were just starting out in the workforce, you more than likely made sure the policy would supply adequate coverage for your growing family. They are probably out on their own now, and no longer need your help, so it would be a good idea to restructure your life insurance policy to meet your needs as they are today.

Things to Consider

Your old insurance policy probably contained adequate financial protection for your family to help them pay off a mortgage or put the kids through college. Now that you’re a bit older, the mortgage is most likely taken care of and your kids are probably through with college. You no longer need the same coverage you used to. You may also have adequate savings built up so your spouse won’t need to have the financial protection afforded by a life insurance policy. You should also be sure to update your beneficiaries. If your spouse or children have predeceased you, their names should be removed as a beneficiary. If you remarried, the policy should be updated to reflect your new circumstances. If you have a whole life policy, and have put away sufficient savings, it may be a good idea to move some of that money to a long-term care policy.

New Policies

If you had a term life insurance policy that has expired, it would be a good idea to either renew the term policy or opt for a whole life policy. For seniors, the choices may be limited, but you can still get adequate coverage.

Deferred Life

You can choose a deferred payment policy, which means the insurance company would only pay your beneficiaries the amount you’ve paid in premiums, or a portion of the policy, if you pass away within a stipulated time period--usually during the first two or three years of the policy. After that period of time has passed, your beneficiaries would be entitled to the full amount of the policy.

Guaranteed Life

Another policy aimed at seniors is called guaranteed life insurance. With a guaranteed life policy, you can get coverage that will pay your beneficiaries the entire amount from the moment you sign the papers. These policies are usually limited to somewhere between 20 to 30 years. That means that if you take out the policy when you turn 55, it will remain in effect until you reach the agreed upon age limit, at which time you’ll have to take out another policy. Once you are issued a policy, it won’t matter if you become ill, but you will have to answer questions about your overall health and possibly have to take a physical before you can receive coverage.

Talk to Your Insurance Agent

Before you make any decisions regarding exchanging your existing life insurance policy for a new one, or taking out any new policy, it would be a good idea to talk to your insurance agent about your options. There are many factors to consider and they will be able to guide you. Life insurance is a good thing to have, but you want to make sure that you’re not going to be either over or under insured.

Shop Around

As with buying any insurance policy, it would be to your advantage to shop around for the best deal before you sign up for coverage. Go on the Internet and get some quotes from online agencies. After that you should call your local insurance companies and get more quotes for comparison. If you have an insurance agent that you trust, then by all means give them the opportunity to meet or beat your best quote.

The Benefits of Good Money Management Skills

Have you found yourself with a couple of credit cards, a mortgage, and an auto loan? Or you need the auto loan and already have the credit cards and mortgage but aren’t sure if you can handle another payment?

There are ways to make all of this manageable. There are ways to learn to manage your money and benefits in knowing how to do so.

It takes a little to figure out the ends and outs of it all and adjust your budget to fit your needs but when it is all said and done there are many good things that come out of it.

The Benefits of Good Money Management Skills:

Knowing where your money goes

When you budget your money and you stick to that budget, you can see where your money goes every month. This is a big benefit to you because it allows you to see where you could spend less, ultimately saving more money.

You can watch your spending for a few months and then readjust the budget to allot for more money to go in savings or a vacation fund, or even into retirement.

Stay out of debt

If you are properly managing your money you will see yourself staying clear from falling behind. You make your payments on time, you never go over the limit on credit card fees, and you never overdraw your bank account.

These are things that can pull you under quicker than the blink of an eye. Again, like sticking to your budget, these are ways that you ultimately save money. If you aren’t ever late or over the limit, you won’t ever have those nasty fees added on.

This keeps you from spending more money.

A better retirement plan

Saving now and managing your money correctly will definitely benefit you in the long run. IT helps you look for the future and make those retirement plans. 

The better money management skills you have and use now will mean a better retirement for you and your family.

The money that you are able to save and invest will give you more when the time comes for you to retire later in life.

Teaching your children good money management skills

By watching you manage your money, your children are learning good money management skills. As they see the benefits to good money management skills affect their daily lives they will in turn learn to use them.

This will set them up for financial success in their adult lives. They will watch and learn from you and then use what they learn to adjust their financial plan as they get older and start their own families. This will help them when they go into college or the workforce.

This is a skill that they will take with them through their entire adult life and utilize in their jobs, school, and home.

Good money management skills are an essential key to success as an adult and something that teaching your children young can benefit them for the rest of their lives.

Peace of mind

One final thing, among many other benefits to good money management skills, is the peace of mind that you find. There is absolutely nothing worse than looking at the stack of bills on the counter and knowing that you cannot pay them this month.

Or knowing that the money is not there to buy something that you need or want. These are all very hard to face each day.

So when you are able to manage your money correctly and experience the benefits to good money management skills, you have the sense of pride as well as a peace of mind knowing that you are providing for your needs as well as those of your family.

The benefits to good money management skills are endless.

You find yourself having money to spend, money to pay your bills, and money in your savings and retirement accounts. These are all things that, as an adult, are essential.

If you are an adult with a family it is even more important that you can provide these things for them. Knowing the benefits to good money management skills also gives you the incentive to make a budget and to stick with it as well.

This gives you the knowledge that these skills really do work and can save you money. So as long as you are practicing these good financial skills you should also be experiencing the benefits as well.

Tanya Calaban, Author:

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