Insure Everything Else

hero-bg.jpeg

What is insurance?

It seems like a silly question, doesn’t it? Dictionary.com defines it this way:

Insurance: the act, system, or business of insuring property, life, one's person, etc., against loss or harm arising in specified contingencies, as fire, accident, death, disablement, or the like, in consideration of a payment proportionate to the risk involved. Or, coverage by contract in which one party agrees to indemnify or reimburse another for loss that occurs under the terms of the contract.

In other words, most insurance is a contract designed to allow you to “hedge your bets” against misfortune. The insuring company computes the odds of a specific event or series of events occurring in your life based on a range of information it gathers about you. Using this computation, the company determines a recurring dollar amount it needs to collect you in order to guarantee a specific payout if and when the unpleasantness unfolds.

You pay that amount at scheduled intervals, hoping – ironically – that you’ll never benefit from it. The payments are intended to be manageable, whereas the expenses of serious injury, property damage, or other calamity are generally not. In mathematically perfect system, most people paying into their policies won’t ever file claims (at least not in amounts equal to or greater than what they’ve paid in). That excess allows the insuring company to cover the minority who eventually do file such claims.

Insurance only works if enough people participate. It only works if the insuring company manages their funds responsibility and computes their statistics accurately. It relies on the collective contributions of the many to offset the unknown for a few – and none of us know in advance which ones will be part of that “few.” While a bit oversimplified, this paradigm is the foundation of a wide variety of insurance. Health insurance, of course, car or truck insurance, even life insurance – although with life insurance the odds aren’t so much about if you’ll eventually die as they are when you’ll actually die.

 

THE GOALRY WAY

While it may not seem immediately connected, making informed decisions about life insurance, health insurance, travel insurance, animal insurance, jewelry insurance, or anything else, is part of taking more effective control of your personal or small business finances. Helping you make those informed decisions is what Insurry, and the rest of the Goalry family, is all about. We believe that most people are capable of handling even the most complex financial decisions if only provided with the right information, tools, opportunities, and connections.

Our goal across the Goalry world of unified finance is just that – to strip away the insider terminology and complex mechanisms of insurance, investments, mortgages, retirement savings, debt, and the rest of the financial world. Too often, these different realms are treated as completely separate concerns, when in reality they call come down to our resources and how we assign them. They all impact our credit, our options, and our ability to care for ourselves and those we love.

We’re also here to help you protect your credit and your identity. It’s not because money is the most important thing – it’s not. But our finances, our credit history, our financial knowledge, impact almost everything and everyone that is important to us. It’s about knowledge and the power to use that knowledge effectively. It’s about opening up more options and opportunities. And yes, sometimes that begins with the ability to effectively compare motorcycle insurance quotes or break down the terminology used in refinancing a mortgage. It begins with using the available technology and tools to make information useful to you when and where you need it.

+ In Sickness And In Health Insurance

Most of us are familiar with the basic structure of health insurance. While policies come in endless variations, the basic principle is the same for all of them. You pay in regularly in hopes you won’t need to file a substantial claim… ever. At the same time, you know it’s very likely that at some point, you will.

Unlike many other forms of insurance, however, we’ve health insurance has evolved to offset even the most typical costs associated with our medical care. You visit your family doctor for a checkup, and while you probably make a small copayment, you expect your insurance to cover the remainder. If your doctor recommends treatment or a prescription, you know you’ll have to pay a portion, but you expect your insurance to cover the rest.

Health insurance is also one of the most complicated categories of life insurance (as in, “insurance for all the things life throws at you”). There are endless variations in how policies are structured, what they cover or don’t, and to what extent, what rules you must follow, and even which medical providers you can use. That’s why it’s important to understand your options before you commit. It’s tempting to jump right to your favorite online insurance price checker and grab the first policy you can afford. It’s better to familiarize yourself with the Insurry blogs and let a quality insurance marketplace help you evaluate the best options for you.

+ Coverage On The Move

The other common type of insurance most of us know – mostly because it’s legally required – is vehicle insurance. Unlike health insurance, car and truck insurance is primarily intended to cover serious accidents. It’s also used to cover those you may injure or property you might damage, rather than yourself and your stuff alone.

That doesn’t mean all vehicle policies are the same. As with life insurance, health coverage, or any other financial contract, it’s worth comparing your options using an online car insurance price checker. These are excellent tools, but comparing price is not enough. It’s important to understand your coverage options and the most common elements of vehicle insurance policies. That’s why we’re continuously adding to the Insurry blogs with informational, insightful articles – always in plain, simple English and always designed to give you more control over your personal or small business finances.

It’s also important to remember that there’s more to vehicle insurance than car or truck coverage. You can compare motorcycle insurance quotes, recreational vehicle (RV) policies, coverage for boats, airplanes, or just about anything else.

+ Let’s Get Going With Travel Insurance

Not all specialized insurance policies are quite so enigmatic. Cheap travel insurance used to be available at most airports, docks, or train stations. If anything happened to you on your travels, a beneficiary of your choosing would receive quite a comforting check. One of the earliest forms of what we now think of as health insurance was initially travel insurance. By the mid-19th century, steamboats were a major method of transportation in many parts of the country. They also tended to explode, or crash, or crash and then explode. So, opportunity being the mother of capitalism, travel insurance was born. For a few cents, your loved ones could at least have enough to bury you and live on for a few months while they mourned. For a few dollars, they might not even mourn so much.

The self-service machines have largely vanished, but cheap travel insurance is still a thing – and it’s not always a bad idea. Sure, the chances of something happening to you in the air or on the water are incredibly slim. Then again, the policies are, well… really cheap, and they pay out well. And if life teaches us nothing else, it’s that bad things happen when you least expect them. Besides, no one wants to make major financial decisions (however “cheap”) based on a booth across from Starbucks in the waiting area. We can help connect you to reputable travel insurance companies who will happily discuss your options and the potential benefits of decent travel insurance.

+ See Spot Run. See Spot Need Arthritis Medication.

Animal insurance – or “pet insurance,” if you prefer – has become increasingly popular in recent years. It’s tempting to think of it as health insurance for your pets, but it’s probably more helpful to compare pet insurance with car or truck insurance. If your car were alive and stayed indoors or your truck kept jumping on the couch, that is.

Most animal insurance is designed to cover unexpected large expenses. Your normal vet visits and medications aren’t generally part of an animal insurance policy; you pay those out of pocket as you go. In the case of a serious injury or major health concern, however, animal insurance reimburses you for covered expenses. This is different than pet-specific credit cards, which operate under several different names but essentially let you “charge” veterinary care at little or no interest. What they have in common is providing you some breathing room during times of crisis so you don’t have to make difficult decisions about care for a beloved pet based solely on the balance in your checking account at the moment.

Because it’s essentially crisis coverage, the average cost of pet insurance is generally quite reasonable. One way it is like human health insurance is that it’s essential for consumers to understand in advance what it does and doesn’t cover, and how. When you compare pet insurance, it’s not just a matter of monthly premiums. It’s important to be clear on how it works before there’s an emergency. It will probably not surprise you to learn that we can help you compare pet insurance options as well as provide more detailed tips on keeping the average cost of pet insurance manageable for almost any family in almost any circumstances.

+ With this policy, I thee insure

Most of us are familiar with the basic structure of health insurance. While policies come in endless variations, the basic principle is the same for all of them. You pay in regularly in hopes you won’t need to file a substantial claim… ever. At the same time, you know it’s very likely that at some point, you will.

Unlike many other forms of insurance, however, we’ve health insurance has evolved to offset even the most typical costs associated with our medical care. You visit your family doctor for a checkup, and while you probably make a small copayment, you expect your insurance to cover the remainder. If your doctor recommends treatment or a prescription, you know you’ll have to pay a portion, but you expect your insurance to cover the rest.

Health insurance is also one of the most complicated categories of life insurance (as in, “insurance for all the things life throws at you”). There are endless variations in how policies are structured, what they cover or don’t, and to what extent, what rules you must follow, and even which medical providers you can use. That’s why it’s important to understand your options before you commit. It’s tempting to jump right to your favorite online insurance price checker and grab the first policy you can afford. It’s better to familiarize yourself with the Insurry blogs and let a quality insurance marketplace help you evaluate the best options for you.

+ Insurance For Life

Of course, there’s life insurance – the kind we usually mean when talking about insuring our lives. This is the one insurance policy almost certain to be utilized by 100% of those covered. Many employers offer life insurance as part of their standard benefits package, or you can purchase private policies on your own. While there are numerous varieties of life insurance (just like with animal insurance, travel insurance, jewelry insurance, or any other form of coverage), they all fall into one of two general categories.

Term life insurance is the simpler of the two types. Term policies tend to be fairly straightforward. You pay a set amount on a monthly schedule, and if you die while your policy is active, it pays off a predetermined amount. If you stop paying into the policy, it goes away – like a cable TV subscription. You have no claim on the money already spent and no coverage if you die after the policy has expired. On the other hand, term life policies tend to be fairly affordable. You still want to compare your options using a reliable insurance price checker, but overall rates are lower for term than for whole life policies.

Whole life insurance (also called “permanent life insurance”) is intended to be more long-term (hence the “permanent”). Most whole life policies also allow you to accumulate savings in the policy. You can draw on these savings to invest or when you need cash, sometimes without impacting the amount paid out upon your death. This accumulated “cash value” is generally considered an essential part of whole life policies. Of course, as with so many things, it’s all about the specific terms and details.

The Insurry blogs cover life insurance options in more detail, as well as explaining variations like universal life insurance, indexed universal life, and others. We can also help you compare life insurance options if you wish.

+ You Can Insure Against That?

There are numerous other, more specialized types of insurance available, however, based on your individual circumstances. You hear about some of the more unusual of these in the news from time to time – the entertainer who insures her legs for millions of dollars, or the musician who insures his fingers or voice. Some food critics insure their taste buds. In some cultures, many men insure their mustaches.

If you’re rich and worried someone might come after your family for ransom, you can take out kidnapping insurance. If you’re getting married and worried your betrothed might back out after you’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars, you can probably find someone to sell you wedding insurance – what’s known as a “cold feet” policy.

And you’d honestly probably be surprised how many people in the U.S. have actual policies covering alien abduction. Or maybe you wouldn’t be that surprised. It does make you wonder how the insuring company decides whether or not to pay off a claim, however.

Check out our blogs and videos. Use our online tools and compare your options – everything from insurance price checker to getting a detailed copy of your own credit report. And watch this space for an exciting new announcement soon regarding the next generation of personal financial apps and tools. Imagine being able to compare life insurance options, get quotes for pet coverage, analyze your own spending or savings habits, track your budget, adjust your retirement contributions, or simply consult an almost unlimited database of interest rates, quotes, referrals, or informational articles – all as easily as you check social media or pull up a map to the nearest Japanese steakhouse.

We’re excited about how fast we’ve grown and the many success stories people just like you keep sharing with us. We know that it’s a complicated world, and that we can’t always make it as easy as we’d like. But that doesn’t mean it all has to be as difficult or as complex as it so often seems. And it certainly doesn’t mean that you have to navigate it alone.

Let us know how we can help.

color-bg.png