5 Things You Need to Know About Insurance

As many of you know, I am now a licensed insurance agent. I love that every day I get to help meet people's needs. I love the competitive and rewarding environment. One part I don't like, however, is how I have to deliver bad news to uneducated clients. When I say uneducated, I'm not talking down about them--that is what they are. That is what most of you probably are, and that is what I was before I went through licensing training and practical sales experience. I talk to person after person who have completely screwed themselves over and continue to do so. They always ask: "Why is my insurance so high?" or "Why won't the company I want take me?" Well, I'm going to tell you a few things you may or may not know. If you do, congratulations. If you don't, you may have an icky financial future. Yes, icky.

1) "No Prior Insurance" is the rating killer you'll be slapped with if you let your coverage lapse even a few hours. If you've got no prior, you're looking at rates sometimes a hundred dollars higher than you're accustomed to paying. This isn't just with top-rated companies like the ones that I work with, it's everywhere. 

How to avoid this: I don't care how down-in-the-dumps you are. If you have to let some monthly payment slide, I understand. I've been there. But do NOT let it be your insurance. You'll be costing yourself way more money than you could ever save.

Also, if your insurance expires on March 25, your new policy needs to be in effect ON March 25, not March 26. The expiration is effective at 12:01 AM on the day and waiting to find new insurance until that day or even the next puts you in a lapse. The best companies, like the Hartford, Safeco, or Metlife, will not even accept you. And companies like them often offer you the best prices as well as protection.

2) The liability side of your insurance covers the damage you do to OTHER people. I can't tell you how many people say to me "I only need minimums. It's an old car." Makes me face palm every time. I don't care how old your car is; neither does the person you hit. If you're in an accident and someone is injured or their car is damaged, those 25,000/50,000/15,000 coverages aren't going to cover it...and that's just in Tennessee. There are some states That require only 10,000/20,000/5,000. Now, what do those numbers mean, anyway? The first number is the limit of how much any one person can receive. The second is the limit of money that will be paid out for injuries per accident. The last is the limit for property damage (such as a vehicle being destroyed)...now that you understand these things, I'll take you to my next point...

3) State minimums are for morons. If you're driving around with the bare minimum in liability, you are endangering all of your assets. Taken from a legal website, here's an idea of how much the AVERAGE accident ends up costing a person--not catastrophic accidents, just run-of-the-mill ones. Here they are:

Average comprehensive cost of motor vehicle crashes per injured person:

• Comprehensive cost of a death: $4,100,000
• Comprehensive cost of an incapacitating injury: $208,500
• Comprehensive cost of a non-incapacitating evident injury: $53,200
• Comprehensive cost of a possible injury: $25,300
• Comprehensive cost of no injury: $2,300

Yeah, imagine injuring a person. Along with the stress of the damage to your own vehicle or your own body, you are now liable for tens of thousands of dollars that, guess what? your insurance company is absolutely not going to pay. You dig your own grave when you don't have sufficient coverage. People always say "I'm a good driver, nothing will happen." Well, if they were on purpose, they would be called appointments, not accidents. Stop thinking you're invisible and get good coverage. Again, here's a good segway to my next point:

4) Having double or even triple the coverage usually only costs about $5-$15 extra monthly. I talk to people every day who have purchased expensive, brand new vehicles. Hell, they're probably calling on a smart phone with a pricey data plan. But they say things about insurance like "the cheapest is the best." I'm sorry, what? If the cheapest were the best, you would be driving a jalopy. Know where to spend your money. Having flashy things is just ridiculous if you're too stupid to protect your stuff. Insurance is what insures that you won't lose your Mercedes, iPhone, brand new Nikes. Get your shallow self some education and protect your future.

5) Not a homeowner? Renters insurance is the best-kept secret on the market. It usually only costs about $15 a month to protect yourself and all of your stuff. Did you know that even "full coverage" auto insurance doesn't pay out items are stolen from your vehicle? What would you do if everything you had was stolen? What would you do if your place burned down? Your landlord isn't liable for anything. Neither are your neighbors--even if they cause the fire. Renters covers all of that. It even covers you for liability outside of your vehicle. f you accidentally bump into an old lady at the supermarket. She falls over, breaks her hip, and sues you. With renters, you're covered. Seriously. You need it. Don't make the mistake of thinking nothing will ever happen to you. Because if it does, you'll be in a pickle.

I know that's rough stuff to stomach. So, here's a yummy Goulash recipe to help settle your tummy and make your heart glad...

2 medium yellow onions

1 package whole wheat elbow macaroni

1 large can crushed tomatoes

2 lbs. ground beef (preferably lean)

3 garlic cloves

Various spices

Chop the onions, press the garlic (with a garlic press, duh) and cook them with the beef in a large pan until browned. Boil the pasta, drain, and place in pan with meat. Add crushed tomatoes. Stir and season to taste. I used Season All, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, and a bit of sage. Delicious, hearty, and full of lycopene.

And so easy to make!

I recommend pairing it with an episode of one of my favorite TV shows, Once Upon a Time. If you're not caught up, you should find a way to watch it from the beginning. Heartwarming story, really. Especially if you're into fairytales. Nice twist on a few of those.

Give your inner child a hey-day.

The "Off" Times

As you may have noticed, I took a week "off"--from writing this blog, anyway. I find myself knee-deep in time-consuming activities. With two weddings on the docket for this year (neither of them mine, I assure you), I've had my weekends committed to dress-shopping with the respective brides, one of them being my younger sister, Emily. Despite my rousing speeches for money-saving options like thrift stores, we began in wedding boutiques. Not that you'll never find anything in these places, but I really don't recommend starting there. For one, if you're having a wedding in a short amount of time (like my sister, courtesy of her fiance's Air Force career), they likely won't be able to get your dress in time. They've got to order everything...which I find annoying. And you get no discount for buying off the rack in some places. Next, there's the pressure. I have watched way too many episodes of "Say Yes to the Dress" and consequently feel terrible about wasting a consultant's time if I'm not going to buy.

Yes, I do like this dress...but I think I'd like to try on some I know I won't like just to make sure. Shouldn't take more than three hours. 

Yeah...so anyway, after three straight weekends and a dress order cancellation, we finally found a winner (for one bride, anyway). It is absolutely gorgeous, fits her perfectly, and is more unique than anything we've seen. She looks a bit like Belle from Beauty and the Beast in it. In any case, rather than the $800 somewhat impersonal ball gown we cancelled for her, we found this fantastic one for only $168. It's the same style, but better. And it's never been worn. We went to this awesome consignment shop called Wear Else on Northshore Drive in Knoxville. They get 'new' wedding gowns from bridal shops that can't/won't sell last year's merchandise and discount the crap out of them. So awesome!

So hopefully that's kind of over, but not. What I'm saying is, I haven't been idle. I don't have time for idleness. I have been kicking some booty at work, though. I will be posting my mini-dissertation on insurance soon enough. You'd be amazed at how many things people don't know that they REALLY REALLY need to know. You may even be one of those people. I know I was prior to my licensing training. There just really aren't a lot of insurance agents with integrity who will explain your coverages.

In any case, I have made some awesome recipes lately--like the Cilantro Lime Chicken Enchiladas with Avocado Cream Sauce that I found on Pinterest. As per usual, I added a little somethin-somethin. I would've added more somethin-somethins if I had been thinking straight. The recipe is delicious, but there are some important things to remember: Don't eat it straight out of the oven. At that point, the sauce hasn't really developed and is sort of bland. If I make it again, I will also add tomatoes to the vegetable mixture. I think that was the missing ingredient. I drizzled a bit of Catalina dressing on top of them when they came out of the oven as well.

Tips for making it healthier (which yes, I did use): Use greek yogurt instead of sour cream in the sauce. Use lowfat cheese. Use whole wheat tortillas (I like a brand that also uses flax seed for extra fiber). It really is already fairly healthy--it's got veggies, a lean protein source, and healthy fats in the avocado. Definitely worth making.

Glorious.

I served it with Homemade Refried Beans. I used black beans instead of pinto, because they're healthier (as evidenced by this chart.) They were so delicious. No chemicals, no preservatives, no gross can-shaped slimy mold. I will definitely be making homemade refried beans from here on out. And easy as pie because they're made in the crockpot. Who came up with that saying, anyway? Pie really isn't that easy. Have you ever tried to bake a decent pie?

Isn't that what White Snake was singing about?

So anyway, you could always pair the enchiladas with the other awesome recipe I made: Cumin Lime Chickpeas. With all of the ingredients I added, it ended up being more of a salad. In addition to what the recipe called for, I chopped up two tomatoes and an avocado. I then added a bit of Catalina dressing and tossed it. It was definitely good.

Light, summery goodness.

I actually served these with veggie burgers. I am a carnivore and definitely bought the Light Side burgers by accident. They were frozen and I had a coupon and the "meatless" text was very small. That said, I had never eaten a veggie burger and was surprised how good they tasted. These weren't packed with sodium or chemicals like most veggie burgers are, either. However, when you're wanting a big, juicy, medium rare burger--they just don't cut it. Still, always up for trying new things! I may even get them again some time.

Okay, since the recipes I posted this time have a bit of a Southwestern flair, I recommend watching Nacho Libre. It's clean, it's funny, and it's bizarre. Seriously. Give it a shot.

Also, this is different, but give Proverbs 31 a little read. It's the kind of woman I want to be...except adding in some sass and some kicking ass. Just do it! And in case you were wondering...