By Marty O’Neill, Insurance Agent

Life is….spending time with family and friends. Watching a ball game. Lying in a hammock on a Saturday afternoon.

Life can be all of these things and more. Life is happy and sad and all things in between. It’s about living.

But life is also about protecting your family from the unexpected.  Life is making sure your family can continue without financial hardship if you are no longer around to help them. One way to do that is to have adequate life insurance coverage on you and your spouse.  Life is….being protected with life insurance.

Whether you are the main breadwinner or not, the American Life Insurance Council states you should have five to seven years worth of your salary in coverage. Others increase it to 10 years.

According to LIMRA, 68 million adult Americans have no life insurance. With so many Americans leaving their loved ones financially vulnerable, the Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education (LIFE) designated September as Life Insurance Awareness Month (LIAM), a time for the public to take stock of their life insurance needs.

The best way to determine your needs is to begin with calculating what long-term expenses you have that your loved ones would be responsible for if you were not around. Those expenses could include a mortgage, college tuition and everyday items such as food and clothing.

The type of policy you choose is an important decision. Term coverage can be very affordable initially, but premiums may increase over the life of the policy. Permanent policies usually have higher premiums but tend to stay level. How long you need the policy is also important to consider.

A qualified life insurance professional can assist you in your calculations and show you policies that may fit your needs.

Life is ever changing. Protecting your family from financial struggles after you are gone is what life insurance is all about.

By Marty O’Neill, Insurance Agent

Whether you’re a first time buyer of auto insurance or already have it but are looking for a better deal, you should be asking several questions.

First, is the person from whom you’re buying (your agent) a visible, established member of your community—someone you know and trust?

Second, is the company from whom you’re buying well known? What is its reputation? What about price? Because there are hundreds of companies competing for your business, prices vary—sometimes a lot. It may pay you to shop. Be sure the premiums you’re quoted are for equal amounts of coverage.

How about service? Price is important but saving money won’t mean much unless you get the service you need— when you need it. If possible, ask other clients of your prospective agent how they’ve been treated, especially when they’ve had a claim. Find out how the company handles claims. Is the method convenient for you, no matter where you have an accident? How about solvency? Is the company you’re considering still going to be in business when you file your claim? Your state department of insurance has financial rating information on all of the companies that do business in its state.

Once you’ve decided on a company and an agent, there are more questions to ask. How much coverage do you need? The required minimum amounts of liability coverage may not be enough for you.  Consider your needs in light of your assets and income. How much can you afford to pay if there’s a big judgement against you because of an accident?

What about deductibles? Deductibles lower your premiums—most commonly for collision and comprehensive coverages —but increase the amount of loss that comes out of your pocket.  How much additional risk are you willing to take in order to save? Should you carry collision and comprehensive coverage? As your car’s value decreases, you might consider dropping these coverages and pocketing the savings on premiums. But consider if the savings are enough to offset the risk of footing the entire cost of repairing or replacing your car.

Auto insurance is not a generic commodity. It is a product that should be tailored to each individual. Marty O’Neill can help you answer these questions and thereby help you tailor your auto insurance to your specific and unique needs.