In the US, almost every drive must have some type of car insurance. With so many of us, you would think that the way auto policies work would be common knowledge. But most of us leave the details to our agents, and so a lot of big car insurance company myths are being passed around as common knowledge. Maybe this list will inform or entertain you!

New Cars are More Likely to Get Stolen: This is not actually true for a couple of reasons. Older cars, without the latest anti-theft devices, may actually be much easier to steal. Theives can also find an active stolen parts market, and these parts are usually requested to the older cars we need to keep running.

Minimum Required Insurance Covers Everything: Actually US states only require liability insurance. This insurance actually pays the other guy in case you are at fault in an accident. You need collision and comprehensive coverage to losses to your car.

We used to be advised to drop other coverage on older cars. But you may not save that much money, and you have to think about how you would replace your transportation if you did have an accident that was not covered.

If My Car is Covered, Insurance Will Pay For All Repairs: This one has certainly caught me and other people I know. If your damages will cost more to repair than the book value of your vehicle, the insurer may “total” your car. This can put you in a tough situation if your car is old or new.

Gap insurance helps cover newer vehicles up to the total loan value so it can get paid off. This helps if you are upside down on your car loan. In other words, if you owe more on your loan than the book value of your vehicle, gap insurance covers this.

But people with older vehicles can have a problem too. Let us say you have kept your 10 year old car in very good working condition, and you rely on it for transportation. An accident may damage it, and repairs could cost more than the book value of an older car. But the car cannot really be replaced for that book value either. Most of us do not have gap insurance on older cars.

Bigger Cars or Trucks or Safer and Cheaper to Insure: This is not always true. An auto’s safety is more about design than how many tons of steal went into it. You need to ask your insurer to help you find cheap car insurance for any vehicles you are comparing. They can tell you which vehicles will cost less to cover.

Popular TV Ads Lead to Cheaper Car Insurance: I know this is not always true. Your own best auto insurance rates will be determined by many factors. Sometimes the so-called discount insurer will not be your best bet. Some other companies may offer deals, like auto and home discounts, which will allow you to insure cheaper than the company you think is the famous cheap company.

Find the best car insurance company for you with our safe, fast and free online quote forms.

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The US Medicare health insurance system provides basic health benefits for most American seniors, and also for disabled people. While this health insurance helps seniors afford health care, it provides few benefits for vision and dental care. Some seniors may have dental benefits through a Medicare Advantage plan, while others could be covered through job retirement benefits. But many have no coverage. For more information, refer to: Does Medicare cover Dental and Vision?

Planning For Retiremennt Dental and Vision Costs

But of course, proper care of teeth and eyes is very important for the long term health and happiness of older people. If you have been to a dentist or eye doctor lately, you also know that it can get expensive.

Dental Insurance – I have seen some plans that are even specifically marketed to seniors. In return for a premium, people can buy private dental insurance. Keep in mind that not everything may be covered, and there will still be out of pocket expenses like copays and deductibles. In addition, many dental insurance policies specify a yearly maxium that they will pay out. Before purchasing a plan, make sure you understand how it works.

Discount Dental Plans – While not insurance, these plans operate sort of like network health plans work. They have a group or association (network) of service providers. Some also include vision care. This network of providers agrees to charge plan members a discounted price. These plans are usually much cheaper than insurance, because they don’t actually pay for services, but just allow access to a negotiated price.  Find more information here: Low Cost Discount Dental.

Government or Community Programs – I have just seen an advertisement for a local institution that helps low income people with food banks, resale shops, etc. They had a dental clinic open on certain days for lower income people and senior citizens. You may be able to find programs like this in your local area.  Federal and state clinics also operate clinics in some areas. It would be worth it to search for resources now, before you have an emergency need for help.

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We get a lot of requests for a homeowners insurance calculator. We have split those requests into two general questions people want to figure out.

• How Much Homeowners Insurance is Needed to Cover a House?
• How Much Does Homeowners Insurance Cost?

These are two different questions, and the answers will vary by your neighborhood, the costs in your area, and many other individual factors. However, we do believe we can help you figure this out! Of course, you can also find an isurance agent to give you more information.

How Much Homeowners Insurance Do You Need?

Most of our claims, we hope, are for minor things. We hope we never have so much damage that we have to rebuild our homes. But this is the worst case that has to be considered! And you need to think about how much it will cost to rebuild your home, and not how much it would take to simply buy another home that has already been built.

This figure may be very different from the cost you actually paid to buy your home. If you purchased an older home, it may have cost much less than the actual rebuilding costs. In some cases, though, if the value of land is expensive where you live, your rebuilding costs will be less than your purchase price. After all, even if you had land damage, you should still have your lot even if it needs to be cleaned up. So how can you find an accurate answer so you know you have the proper coverage for your home?

Price Per Square Foot – You should be able to contact a realtor, or look online, to find the average price per square foot to build a home in your general area. In fact, you will probably want to compare a few answers. If you own an older home without a lot of extras, you may be able to use a minimum dollar value. If your home has lots of upgrades and features, and you want to be able to replace them, you will probably need to take a higher number.

Low, Medium, or High?

So let’s look at a 2,000 square foot home in a middle class neighborhood. Let’s say you came up with 3 figures, a low, medium, and high, to rebuild a home. These numbers are $82, $107, and $139 as the price per square foot to rebuild (or build) a home. The low number would represent a basic area home while the high number would represent a home with lots of upgrades and features.

All we have to do is multiple these numbers by the square feet of the home. So we come up with $164,000, $214,000, and $278,000 as our low, medium, and high coverage estimates. Now you have to make some decisions that no homeowners calculator can really help you with. You may be required to have a minimum amount of coverage by the terms of your lease as well.

How Much Will Homeowners Isurance Cost?

Once you have decided how much coverage you need, it is time to start comparing premiums. These days, it is fairly simple to compare home insurance rates with online quote forms. These allow you to enter your basic information once, and then sit back while competitive plans are returned to you.

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With all of the current news about market accounts dropping, and the dismal interest rates paid by bank CDs or savings accounts, people are looking for an alternative in order to save for retirement. An alternative would be save, guarantee some rate of return (or at least, that value will not be lost), and it would return better interest rates than most banks do. That is where annuities may help. You can also get more info here: explain annuities.

How Do Annuities Work For Retirement Savers?

Note: For this discussion, we are talking about fixed annuities, or those sold by insurance companies and agents. Variable annuities are riskier, and while they may promise greater returns, they are outside the scope of this article, and my expertise!

Who Are They Good For?

Annuities are good for savers with a medium to long term savings goal in mind, and for those who can commit to that goal. They are also used to provide a guaranteed payout over some span of time. This time period could be from several years to lifetime payouts.

Types of Fixed Annuities

An immediate annuity accepts a lump sump cash contribution, and then it begins to make periodic payments right away. Consider a retiree who has just cashed out his employment account for a few hundred thousand dollars. He or she could purchase an account, and then start to get monthly income from that account right away. In return for having the money tied up, a guaranteed series of payouts would come back. This could give that retiree the security of income for a span of years, or even for a lifetime.

A deferred annuity, on the other hand, accepts contribution that will be paid out in the future. This could be a lump sum cash amount, or it could be in the form of periodic contributions. Either way, the owner is expecting that money to grow, and to either provide a lump sum or payouts in the fugture.

How Do Annuities Earn Money?

Contracts differ. Some may have a set interest rate. Others could be tied to a major market, like the S&P 500. They may follow this index during growth years, returning a positive return rate. But the real selling point of fixed annuities vs. market funds is a guarantee they will not lose money during bad market years. They may guarantee that the return will never be negative, or they may even have a small positive (i.e. 2 percent) growth rate guaranteed.

Annuity Disadvantages 

Nothing is ever perfect, though these types of retirement funds can be attractive for many people. There is usually a stiff surrender penalty. Let’s say you commit to keeping your annuity intact for 7 years. There would be a penalty, where you could lose money, if you cash it in before that time. In most cases, there will be some sort of exceptions to this charge – say in the case of nursing home confinement or terminal illness though.

Tax Advantages

The tax deferred status of the growth and payouts are big positives too. Even if an annuity does not earn the highest possible return on the market, the tax advantages may make it very attractive to some investors. Since individual circumstances differ, and since tax rules change, you will need to see how you can benefit from this on a case by case basis.

Finding the Best Annuity for You!

When you put together all of the individual goals different people have, and all of the different times and amounts of payouts and returns, it is easy to see why I cannot recommend one particular product in a general article! But you can take a couple of minutes and look at products that would be good for a retirement saver like you.

Find Annuities Online:

Free Online Annuity Quotes

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