Maintaining open communication with your advisor is critical to protecting yourself and your assets, especially in times of economic downturn.
As your life changes, your advisor can work with you to ensure that your balance sheet and lifestyle are protected with appropriate risk mitigation strategies and coverages. Knowing when you should reach out to your advisor will empower you to make an informed decision about how to adjust your policies and take proactive steps to protect what matters most.
Consider contacting your advisor if you experience these types of situations:
1. Change in marital status
If you decide to marry or divorce a spouse, it’s important to reach out to your advisor. Changes in marital status can impact the totality of your financial picture, assets, and impact your insurance rates, which is why your advisor should be made aware of this change.
2. When your children get their driver’s license
When teens ages 14-16 are just starting to drive, until the time they get their license, it’s important to know the difference between them being a permissive driver and a regular use driver in the eyes of car insurance carriers. Your advisor can tell you when you need to add them to a policy based on a carrier’s restrictions. If your child has a driver’s license and lives in your household, it’s likely that they need to be listed as a driver on your car insurance policy. There may be greater financial incentives to adding your child to your car insurance policy versus purchasing a separate policy.
3. As you acquire or sell assets
As you mature, grow in your career and acquire more assets, you need to make sure you’re adequately protecting yourself and your assets from risks, such as natural disasters, litigation, cybercrime, or theft. Did you know that collections, like fine art, wine, and jewelry, may have limits in a home policy that need to be scheduled? Or, when you are at fault with a claim and your insurance policy maxes out, the accusing party can go after your investments and earnings? Your advisor can let you know how to purchase and customize policies that can protect you from a multitude of possible scenarios based on your unique circumstances.
On the other hand, if you decide to part ways with assets, contacting your advisor helps ensure that you aren’t overpaying for insurance coverage you no longer need.
3. Changes to named insureds
In recent years, an increasing amount of individuals are transferring ownership of personal property to limited liability corporations (LLCs), limited liability partnerships (LLPs), trusts, and other tax-advantaged entities. If you’re considering this approach, you’ll also want to know how this impacts your coverage options.
While spouses are usually automatically named insureds and protected by policies, an LLC or an LLP wouldn’t be. Some insurers are open to listing tax-advantaged entities as named insureds or additional insureds, but others aren’t. If this is a strategy you’re thinking of leveraging, your advisor can let you know which carriers you can work with, and which approach makes the most sense.
4. Insurance market changes
The insurance market changes and shifts. While rates are sometimes lower and there is a lot of availability in the market, there are times when rates increase, underwriters have a lower appetite for risk, and insurers pull out of certain markets, which is called a hard market. Right now, some lines of insurance coverage are in a hard market and others aren’t. The results you get in the market will ultimately depend on many variables. Your advisor will tell you how to implement risk mitigation strategies that should result in improved rates from carriers.
Work in partnership with your advisor to determine the most effective loss control strategies for your lifestyle to help ensure you’re protected. Let’s partner to protect your life as it evolves.
This document is intended for general information purposes only and should not be construed as advice or opinions on any specific facts or circumstances. The content of this document is made available on an “as is” basis, without warranty of any kind. The Baldwin Insurance Group Holdings, LLC (“The Baldwin Group”), its affiliates, and subsidiaries do not guarantee that this information is, or can be relied on for, compliance with any law or regulation, assurance against preventable losses, or freedom from legal liability. This publication is not intended to be legal, underwriting, or any other type of professional advice. The Baldwin Group does not guarantee any particular outcome and makes no commitment to update any information herein or remove any items that are no longer accurate or complete. Furthermore, The Baldwin Group does not assume any liability to any person or organization for loss or damage caused by or resulting from any reliance placed on that content. Persons requiring advice should always consult an independent adviser.
