Money and Business » credit crunch

How often should you pay for your insurance?

admin — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 19:33:43 +0000

In the good old days, the world was a simple place. You went into a store to buy goods, or to an agent or broker to buy services. The price was quoted and you paid it out of the cash in your bank account. If your account was poorly stocked with dollar notes, you had to wait until you had saved enough. In this primitive way, people lived within their means, only buying goods and services when they could afford them. Those who had regular income and some collateral, were graciously allowed to borrow money from their banks. But pity those who defaulted. Their collateral would rapidly disappear into the hands of their bankers. It was a tough world for borrowers. Then there was a revolution. Suddenly, there was cheap credit available and we could all have what we wanted right now. Just one down-payment and the rest in easy instalments. Then the revolution became a financial tsunami as the newly launched credit cards suddenly put real buying-power in our hands with generous credit limits. Add in the housing equity release plans and all the other wonderful financial gizmos dreamt up by the folk who live on Wall Street, and you have the modern age just before the worst recession in decades and the credit crunch that took everyone by surprise.

Buying insurance policies has always been potentially expensive. When you see the premium rate expressed as an annual sum, it can look a little daunting. Yet, when you are old enough to put wheels on the road, there’s mandatory liability cover in all but three US states. This is where dreams would fade were it not for the willingness of insurance companies to be flexible on the payments. First they dropped to 6 monthly payments. Some went for quarterly. And then the final act of liberation – the monthly instalment plan. Now you could buy your policy on the same basis as your home, the furniture and white goods in it, and the car you wanted to drive. Everything had come down to the total amount you could afford to pay every month and still have something left over to buy food. This has some major benefits. You can buy insurance with no down payment. Just use the internet search engines to find cheap auto insurance quotes offering the lowest premium rates, pay the first instalment in advance and you are legal on the road.

But there is more to it than that. Ignoring the supposed advantage of easier money management, it also frees you to change your auto insurance policy whenever you find a better deal. If you have paid six or twelve months in advance, this locks you into the policy. Yes, companies do allow you to change, but usually subject to cancellation charges – sometimes eye-poppingly high. The freedom to change insurers can be important if you change the make and model you drive. The existing insurer may be less competitive on the rates for the new vehicle, but the charges may take up the saving available by switching to a competitor. However, because insurers prefer stability, they offer discounts on 6 or 12 monthly payments to give them your cash in their hands. Paying on a monthly basis is always more expensive. As always, it’s your choice.

Sell the hummer, buy a hybrid?

admin — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:06:36 +0000

With the price of gas constantly rising, more people driving hummers are finding visits to fill the tank an expensive business. It’s tempting to think of trading in the guzzler and buying a hybrid. A Toyota Prius, for example, will give you not less than 45 miles per gallon – drive it carefully and you’ll do a lot better.

Better still some of the hybrids qualify for a federal tax incentive. The government may talk big about drilling for oil but encouraging people to buy fuel-efficient cars is really good first step to reducing America’s dependence of foreign oil. Check out your own state. When you add up the savings on gas and in taxes and charges, a hybrid can look a good deal. Auto insurance dealers are encouraging the trend with discounts of up to 10%, although the actual discount depends on the type of hybrid you buy. As with all auto insurance, you need to shop around and get as many online quotes as possible before buying.

But before you begin looking round the showrooms, take a deep breath. That Hummer is losing its value fast. The secondhand market has collapsed because only a very few buyers want to take on those gas costs. You’ll get only a fraction of its value if you trade it in now. So that new hybrid suddenly got a lot more expensive. You’ll need a much bigger loan which may be difficult to get at a good rate of interest because of the credit crunch. Once you add in the loss of capital tied up in your Hummer and the increase in borrowing costs, your payback period just got so much longer.

What about payback period? If you’re buying to make a saving, this is the time it takes for you to realize the saving. In this case, you are probably better holding on to the Hummer. The premiums will fall because the replacement costs are lower on a comprehensive policy. Traffic accidents are less dangerous in something built like a Sherman Tank. Some of the smaller hybrids crumple up in an accident. So don’t despair on the auto insurance front. It really may made better economic sense to keep the guzzler than change to a hybrid.

Housing Bubble! Don’t panic!

admin — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:17:55 +0000

Wherever you look, the story is the same. House prices are in free fall. What are the facts? According to the S&P/Case-Shiller national index, house prices fell by 14% in the year to April 2008! Those of you who like history will know that’s a faster fall than the Great Depression of the 1930s. I always like to be encouraging.

So what’s going on? Well, a lot of people convinced themselves that buying property was a sure-thing investment. Buy today, sell tomorrow with a big gain. That made it a no-brainer to buy your own home. Unfortunately, two things happened. The was a boom in the construction industry which produced more houses for sale than there are buyers. Secondly, the credit crunch has made banks more cautious in lending money (actually, some banks have gone bust).

The result? Negative equity! Lots of people who owe more on their homes than the homes are worth. How does this affect the home insurance policy? Not at all! Well, that’s perhaps a little optimistic so let’s explore. Home insurance is designed to replace your home if it’s destroyed. The value of the cover is therefore not the sale price but the cost of rebuilding. So, no matter how much your home falls in value, it makes no difference to the premium. Except that there are more national statistics to worry about. According to the latest figures published up to July 2008, US inflation is at a twenty-seven year high. The Labour Department monitors the producer price index (PPI), that’s prices at the wholesale level. That rose by 9.8% in July.

So you should care because? Because the prices of bricks and all the other stuff needed to repair or rebuild your damaged home just got that much more expensive. Worse? There’s no sign price inflation is going to slow. So, when it comes to renewing your home insurance policy, it would be wise to get two or three online quotes from “reputable” builders to revalue the policy. Without this precaution, you might find yourself underinsured, even on a small claim. But if you get hit by a hurricane or some other natural catastrophe, you may not be able to afford rebuilding if you don’t have the savings to bridge the gap between the insured amount and the actual cost of rebuilding.

How many are uninsured?

admin — Wed, 06 May 2009 08:37:15 +0000

In 2007, before we were hit by the credit crunch, the wave of foreclosures and the loss of jobs, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that 47m people have no health insurance. That’s a rise of almost 5% as against the estimated number of uninsured made in 2005. So what does this actually mean? The results confirm that these people have no health insurance plan through their work (including the military) or union membership, and no access to federal or state programs including Medicare and Medicaid at any time during a twelve month period. This reflects a growing reality that the average employer no longer offers health insurance benefits. As a result, the statistics show 10.8% of whites, 15.5% of Asians, 20.5% of African -Americans, 34.1% of Hispanics were uninsured. It also confirms the sad reality that nearly 12% of children had no insurance in 2006. Now, ignoring the politics and focussing on the practical realities, there are two reactions. You can give up on the search for affordable health insurance and wait until the problem becomes sufficiently severe to justify treatment at your local emergency room. It is pointless making any judgemental comments about exposing yourself and others to the risk of more serious injury by delaying treatment. If the premiums demanded by the health insurance industry are always going to be outside your budget, this is not your fault. If anyone or anything is to blame, it is the political system that permits a for-profit system to operate in the health market. Once you introduce the profit motive into any service, costs rise to maintain or maximise profits. Numbers in the accounts maintained by the hospitals and insurance companies do not translate into the faces of the children who are denied treatment. Most CEOs sleep well at night. Alternatively, you can use this site and others like it to get comparative quotes. Then use every legitimate way of reducing the quoted premiums. Start with a family plan because the cost per individual member is usually less than the cost of one policy per family member. You should also look at term insurance. The rates are usually less than for equivalent cover under a permanent policy. This means spending time actually talking with the health insurance companies and their agents. Only when you talk to people and ask the right questions about discounts and the different types of plan and policy, do you begin to find something affordable. The more passive you are, the more impossible it becomes to get access to lower rates. As one of the middle class, you may come more easily to this process. But no matter what your background, you need to overcome your fears and start negotiating the best deal for your family. If this is too daunting, do not let pride get in the way. Ask at your local church or a charity for someone to help.