Category: Uncategorized

According to the 2019 Insurance Barometer Study by Life Happens and LIMRA, 43% of American households do not have any life insurance. Furthermore, 40% of those households reported that they would immediately struggle to pay living expenses if their primary wage owner were to die without the security of life insurance. If so many Americans understand how important life insurance is, why do they remain uninsured? 

MYTH: LIFE INSURANCE IS TOO EXPENSIVE.  

This is a big one. Many American families do not feel comfortable enough with their financial situation to purchase a life insurance policy. They believe they cannot afford it, and that they probably won’t need it anyway. The truth is, none of us know what the future holds. Even healthy adults can pass from sudden illness or accident. It’s a hard truth, but there it is. And if this happens and a family is left without their primary wage owner, then they really won’t be able to afford anything. So how much does life insurance cost? This depends on the type of policy purchased and the limits. However, it is possible to purchase life insurance for about the same dollar amount as paying for your daily coffee. If you can afford that, you can afford life insurance.  

MYTH: I’M TOO YOUNG TO HAVE LIFE INSURANCE. 

Okay, we hear your train of thought here. You’re young, partnered or single, and you don’t have any plans for kids in the near future. Why on earth would you need life insurance? It comes back to the previous myth. When you are young and healthy and you purchase life insurance, there’s a very good chance your rate will be more favorable. Hint: that means lower. If it’s a dollar sign you’re concerned about, buying life insurance exactly when you think you don’t need it is your best bet.  

MYTH: I CAN GET LIFE INSURANCE LATER. 

As mentioned above, the younger you are when you purchase life insurance, the lower your premiums are likely to be. As you age, it can become more difficult to get the life insurance coverage you need at the rate you want. And if you develop certain high-risk medical conditions, you could, unfortunately, be deemed “uninsurable” by carriers.  

MYTH: I DON’T NEED LIFE INSURANCE AT ALL.  

Yikes. This kind of thinking can get you (or more specifically, your loved ones) into real trouble. Life insurance has more uses than you may think. In addition to providing income replacement to beneficiaries, life insurance can also cover funeral costs, pay off debts left behind, provide an inheritance or an education fund for a loved one, or even serve as a donation to a charity of your choice. With all of these potential uses, it’s easy to see that no matter what you will benefit from being covered by life insurance. 

Now that you understand the need for life insurance, don’t be one of the 43% of Americans who are living without it. Talk to your insurance agent today. 

Life insurance: you may not want to think about it too hard, but you need to. It can be difficult to consider the possibility of your own passing, but when you realize what the financial consequences of your death might be for your loved ones, you’ll realize just how important life insurance is. If you have a policy, that’s the first step. However you cannot simply let that policy sit untouched for all the years of your life. There are certain changes you may go through that would necessitate updating your life insurance beneficiaries. But what are those changes? We’ll dive into it a little deeper.  

You Get Married 

When you consider the many changes your life will go through after tying the knot, updating your life insurance beneficiary might not be the first thing that comes to mind. But when two become one, often combining their finances, ensuring your spouse will be taken care of in the unthinkable event of your death is one of the most loving things you can do to secure your new life together. Many couples will change their beneficiary to their spouse once the nuptials are over. In fact, depending on where you live you may be required to. The death benefits would ensure your spouse will be able to take care of final expenses, pay off your debts, and not have to experience the burden of entirely losing their partner’s income.  

A Child Is Born  

You may be having a child together, adopting, or taking over care of a friend or relative’s child. Whatever the case, if an important child comes into your life, you may want to take another look at your life insurance beneficiaries. Some do not recommend adding your new child to your list of beneficiaries, since they will not be able to receive death benefits until reaching the age of majority. However you can still specify to your spouse or other beneficiary that you would like the policy benefits to go towards something specific, such as your child’s education expenses.  

You Start a Business 

If you own a business with partners, it is possible to include them in your list of life insurance beneficiaries. However, you should also consider creating a buy-sell agreement with any business partners. This will allow your business partner(s) to use the benefits from the agreement to buy out your shares in the company in the event of your death. If you wish to protect the business you have built, make sure to speak with an experienced insurance agent to ensure you have all the coverage you need to keep your business running no matter what.  

Whoever you name as your life insurance beneficiary, be sure to inform them right away. This is especially true if you choose someone outside your immediate family, since they may not even expect to be named in your policy. Life insurance benefits will not bring you back after you are gone, but they can go a long way towards protecting the people you care about. 

When you think of “workplace culture,” you probably picture casual Fridays or volunteering as a group. Having a positive workplace culture is certainly something that benefits businesses and helps with employee retention. But what some people forget about is that a “culture of safety” is an equally important type of workplace culture.

What Is a Culture of Safety?

Essentially what this phrase means is the attitude of all members of a company – from the bottom to the top – towards safety in the workplace. Cultures of safety can be positive or negative. In a negative culture of safety, workers, managers, and anyone in between do not respect the recommended safety measures. As a result, more accidents happen in a workplace with a negative safety culture. In a positive safety culture, everyone respects and obeys the safety rules and regulations without complaint, and less accidents and workers compensation claims happen. So how do you create a culture of safety in your business? Here are some helpful tips.

Engage in Continued Education

Safety meetings are a great occasion to maintain your employees’ safety education. It’s normal for people to forget what they learned the first week on the job in orientation safety training. If your employees’ work includes a significant physical aspect, the safety meetings are a great opportunity to review proper physical operations such as how to lift heavy objects or how to safely operate large machinery and equipment.

Look Into Near Misses

It may not have actually hurt anyone or resulted in a workers comp claim, but a near miss could be a full on accident next time. If an almost-accident occurs, put on an investigation to look into its cause and determine what could have prevented it. Then observe these new safety practices to reduce the possibility of that near miss becoming something more serious.

Reward Employee Reporting

In a positive safety culture, employees feel comfortable reporting safety concerns or hazards to management. Going along with this, the management must take the reports seriously and work to correct the situation. It can be important to reward employees who step forward about concerns they see on the ground, Often, these individuals are in the best position to notice safety hazards and as such should be listened to as a valuable safety resource.

Every business should work to create a positive safety culture, but accidents may still happen. Ensure your operation has the best insurance coverage to reduce losses in the event of an unfortunate accident or injury. Talk to your agent today to make sure your business is protected.

If you go unprotected, the death of your company’s leader could well mean the death of your company itself. There is a type of insurance that can help protect against the consequences of a tragedy like this. It is called key person insurance.

Key Person Insurance

Key person insurance is a type of life insurance that is designed not to protect your family, but to protect your business operation in the event of its leader’s – or a top employee’s – death. The company is the beneficiary on the policy, and the benefits can provide funds to help hire an individual or individuals to perform the duties that the key employee once did. It can also help in the event that your business does need to cease operations.

Crucial Operations Stop

Especially in small businesses, much of the work that keeps the company running is performed by the owner or another leader. This includes tasks such as keeping the books, payroll, handling important accounts or customers, and more. If your business leader were to die suddenly, there might not be anyone who can step in to perform these duties. As the owner or leader, the individual often does the job of several people. For that reason, the remaining employees may feel the need to hire several new people to perform the jobs that the business owner used to do. But where will you find the funds for this? That is where the benefits from the key person policy come in.

Your Business Closes

The business could also face closure after its leader dies. Sometimes this is unavoidable. If your business relied heavily on the work of it leader, and the leader not only did things no one else could, but also knew information no one else did, it is possible that your best option is to close the business. In these situations, the death benefits from the key person insurance can be used to pay off debts, give severance to employees, and perform any other financial matters that are needed to close the company. This kind of policy can help your business to avoid declaring bankruptcy in the face of a sudden key person death.

If you care about your business, you want to make sure it either goes on after you or is able to close down with minimal losses. Speak to your agent about whether your business has the coverage it needs.

No matter what sort of business you run, accidents can always happen. Even in a “safe” office environment, an employee could be badly burned from a pot of coffee or slip on a wet floor. Since an accident could happen at any time, you’ll want to already have a worker’s compensation plan in place before rather than after an incident. To make sure you have all your bases covered, here are the steps you should take when an employee gets injured at the workplace.

Seek Immediate Medical Attention

Regardless of if you think the injury is minor or not, medical attention must be provided to the employee to assess the damage. Remember that safety always comes first and the faster you get professional help, the more likely your employee is to recover faster from their injury. Having it on record that you sought medical help immediately will also benefit you in case of a lawsuit.

Keep a Record of the Accident

Accidents usually happen so fast that no one remembers the story correctly, but as soon as the excitement dies down, talk to everyone who witnessed it. Even if a coworker wasn’t watching the injured employee specifically, they may remember some detail that will be of use later. You will need to write down their statements of what happened, from the accident to the aftermath, as well as take pictures of the scene that caused the accident to happen. File these records away in case the employee ever tries to come back and sue you over the incident.

File the Workers Comp Report

If the injury is bad enough, your employee will likely claim workers compensation for the doctor bills. If they choose to file, as is their right, you are legally required to provide them with a form and report their claim to your insurance agent. This claim is the most important reason your business should have workers comp in place, because it will save you financially from any fees and costs that come from the injury claim.

Stay On Top of the Claim

Once your employee files for workers comp, your insurance agent will request some documentation and evidence of the accident (this is where your record-taking and pictures of the scene will come in handy). During this time, you should be open with your agency about all the details of the situation as well as check in on your employee to make sure they are recovering well.

Prevent Future Accidents

If an accident happened once, it will likely happen again. Prevent a repeat incident by looking at what caused the first injury and making adjustments. If the building was responsible, preventative measures may include a simple repair. If the injury was a result of lack of training, a company-wide education class may be in order. You could also take this time to ask your employees about other possible dangers around the workplace. For instance, maybe they need better equipment or more safety items such as gloves or masks. By taking proper precautions, you can eliminate future workers comp claims and injuries, thereby making your workplace a happier environment for your employees.

Welcome Back Your Employee

Once your employee has recovered from their work-related injury, you are legally required to allow them to return to work at your business, regardless of whether their claim was successful or not. The injury was likely not their fault and they shouldn’t be punished for something they couldn’t control.

By having workers compensation in place, you can protect both your employees and your business. And since your employees are essential for your business to keep running smoothly, you should want to protect them as best as you can. If your business is operating without workers comp or you need help deciding which policy to choose, give your insurance agent a call today and they will discuss the best options for your industry and amount of employees.

When running a business is already expensive, one of the last things you may want to do is add on expenses for insurance. Every business owner hopes they won’t need it because hopefully nothing would ever go wrong. However, there are several reasons why having business insurance is helpful as well as reasons why not having insurance can hurt you. Check out these risks you run below when you try to put off having your business insured.

Breaking Laws

Most of the country has laws stating that businesses must have certain types of insurance or a certain amount of coverage. If you have at least one employee, you must have at least general liability insurance for your business. You may even be required to have additional protection for things such as workers compensation, property insurance if you are located in an area prone to natural disasters, or even coverage against lawsuits.

Not Protecting Your Employees

You shouldn’t have insurance for your workers just because you are required to. Workers compensation coverage helps both you and your employees by taking care of them if an accident happens and making sure you are able to afford any medical bills they have from the incident. If you don’t have a workers compensation policy in place, you could be liable for a lawsuit and be out a lot of money. In addition to workers compensation, you will also need unemployment insurance for if your employees are unable to continue work for a while.

Business Interruptions

If anything were to happen to your uninsured business such as a fire or flood, you won’t have any means to recover and you will be left with the financial consequences of repairs and interrupted business operations. So while you won’t be making any profit, you’ll also be losing money if you plan to reopen your business. Insurance can help protect you by covering any losses as well as any lost income during the period that your business will be paused.

Property Loss

Buying property insurance for your business helps you hold onto your most important asset in the event of a disaster: the property you exist on. Without that insurance, you will end up losing possession of your property and be unable to continue operation if anything were to happen to your building.

The risks you take of not having adequate insurance coverage for your business just isn’t worth taking. Call one of our agents today to make sure your business is protected against the unexpected.

The last thing you want to focus on when starting or running your business is what could go wrong. While you aren’t necessarily going to face struggles right away, if you aren’t covered with a good insurance policy, you’ll likely experience some issues down the road. Since running a business is risky, you should plan on being prepared to handle anything that comes up with the proper business insurance policy. But how do you avoid spending too much? Here are some tips that could save you some money on your insurance plan.

Know What You Need

Not every business needs the same amount of coverage. It all depends on what your business does and the risks involved. At the minimum, most businesses are required by law to have policies for workers’ compensation, unemployment, and disability insurance. But that’s just the minimum. When looking at how much coverage you need, you can start by looking at general liability insurance which will cover your business for any third-party damages, legal defense costs, and reputation damage from libel, slander, or copyright infringement. In addition, also consider a Business Owner’s Policy (BOP) to cover your business’s property and typically cover more for less money that a general liability policy. Other coverages will depend on the nature of your business, which your insurance agent can discuss with you your options in more detail related to your situation.

Increase Your Deductible

For most insurance policies, not just business insurance, you can lower your premium by increasing your deductible. Paying a higher deductible means less money the insurance company will have to pay after you make a claim on your policy. Because of this, insurance companies are willing to offer coverage at a lower price. Your agent will be able to discuss with you whether or not this would be a favorable decision for your business and the pros and cons of each choice.

Bundle Your Policies

Bundling your policies means that instead of buying separate policies for every type of coverage you need, you can purchase a package that will offer the same coverage for a lower price. Think of it like going to a restaurant. If you order an entree, side, and drink separately, you’ll end up paying a bit more than if you had ordered the combo that includes those items at a lesser cost. Bundled policies are the “restaurant combos” of insurance.

Be Safety-Minded

The higher the risk of injury at your business, the higher your insurance premiums will be.The safer your work environment is, the better deal you’ll get with your insurance. To get a better price, follow all safety recommendations from your insurance company such as enforcing safety precautions to avoid having your premiums raised to cover the extra risk.

Review and Update Your Coverage Every Year

As your business changes, so will your coverage needs, which means you should review your policies each year around the time of renewal to see if there are better options for either coverage or price. Also, by reviewing your policy with your agent, they will be able to make sure you aren’t paying for any policies that you may have needed for the previous year but not the upcoming year.

Consult with Your Independent Agent

Remember when you are reviewing your policies or looking at what kind of coverage to get for your business, consult with your insurance agent to help you shop for the best deals. They know insurance policies inside and out and will be able to guide you through making the best decisions for your business. If you have any questions or think you could be spending less on insurance for your business, give us a call today.