To New Year Resolute, Or Not To New Year Resolute, That Is The Question.

As I promised last week, I won't bore you with another post about insurance this week. I thought that in light of the New Year being right around the corner (the years just keep getting faster), we could talk about New Year's Resolutions.

It seems that every year, a whole lot of people (I won't mention any names, well, except for mine) make New Year's Resolutions, and a pretty substantial portion of them don't keep those resolutions (again, I won't mention any names, other than my own).

For me personally, my most successful New Year's resolutions were supported by other people in my life, and/or good tools. So I thought it would be appropriate to share some of my favorite tools for supporting my New Year's Resolutions, but first, I suppose it would be appropriate to list a few of the most popular resolutions that get broken. Time Magazine published this list in 2012, and I bet it's still as accurate today as it was when it was first published.

• Lose Weight and Get Fit
• Quit Smoking
• Learn Something New
• Eat Healthier and Diet
• Get Out of Debt and Save Money
• Spend More Time with Family
• Travel to New Places
• Be Less Stressed
• Volunteer
• Drink Less

For the first one (Lose Weight and Get Fit), which has to be the all time number one New Year's resolution, I personally lost 40 pounds about a dozen years ago after reading this book.

Apparently it is no longer in print, but it seems that Amazon.com still has used copies available. The book basically equates calories to dollars (made perfect sense to me). If you need help/support with your weight loss resolution, I would highly recommend Wayne Burns at Fortified Fitness. Wayne was born with a double portion of the encourager gene, then God gave him another double portion when He saved him. If you prefer to be encouraged using God's word as the basis of that encouragement rather than to be yelled at, Wayne is your man.

For the second one (Quit Smoking), I've only smoked cigarettes one time in my entire life (the first time was my last time). My childhood friend Mike Marks and I snuck one of my mothers cigarettes while she was at the grocery when we were about 8 years old, but as always, we got busted (we were not the sharpest knives in the drawer, and smoked the cigarette in the kitchen, so she smelled it as soon as she walked in the room). My mother, being the intelligent one in the room, made Mike and I smoke the rest of the pack of cigarettes, and I have never smoked another (never once had the desire to puke my guts out). Not sure that was helpful to anyone but me, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

For the third one (Learn Something New), my personal favorite is to read books, and so I like to shop for Kindle books on Amazon, and if you click the link, you will see that I actually prefer to use AmazonSmile. This is an awesome program that allows you to choose your favorite charity and every time you make a purchase, Amazon donates a small percentage of your purchase to that charity. Another of my favorite methods to learn new things is to watch instructional video's, and in my opinion, no one does that better than Lynda.com.

For the fourth one (Eat Healthier and Diet), see the first resolution for the diet part (lose the weight), and my favorite tool to help me eat better is the myfitnesspal app and website. Just knowing where you stand throughout the day helps keep you in your target calorie range, and for some reason, motivates you to exercise (when I know eating that cookie will kick me over on calories, I also know I can go run or walk it off on the treadmill). I will be reacquainting myself with it next week.

For the fifth one (Get Out of Debt and Save Money), my favorite was Larry Burkett and Christian Financial Ministries, that later became Crown Financial Ministries, but Dave Ramsey will do in a pinch. Actually, I really liked it when I could teach both. The Crown material told you why, and the Ramsey material told you how. Today, the Ramsey material has done nothing but get better and better, so if you are looking to get out of debt and save some money, Ramsey is your man and Financial Peace University is your plan.

For the sixth one (Spend More Time with Family), I find that reading my Bible daily keeps my priorities straighter than anything else, and the best tool I have found to keep me on track is the World Outreach Church app. I just find that if I start each day with reading a portion of scripture, that my day goes better, and I do much better at keeping everything in its proper place. TODAY (12/28/2014) a whole bunch of folks that use the World Outreach Church app finished reading the Bible from beginning to end in a year. Will you join us for 2015?

For the seventh one (Travel to New Places), I just have four words. Get a Gold Wing (you will have to ignore number five to buy a Gold Wing and ride the Tail Of The Dragon with your smokin hot wife).

For the eighth one (Be Less Stressed), I just have four words. Get a Gold Wing  (you will have to ignore number five again, so don't tell Dave Ramsey about this blog post please).

For the ninth one (Volunteer), I like to start with my Church, and then move out from there, but still prefer to work with ministries when at all possible. If you are not serving at your church, commit to touch base with someone in leadership next week, get this year started on the right foot by serving others in your local place of worship. For me, I serve on the Multi-media team running a video camera during church services (Santa might know if you are naughty or nice, but I know if you chew gum or sleep during church). If you followed my advice for number seven and eight, then consider joining the CMA (Christian Motorcyclist Association), what a great way to serve the Lord and have a blast at the same time.

For the tenth one (Drink Less), like number two, I have little advice because I have even less experience with alcohol (never tasted it) than I had with cigarettes. I do know this though, my God can free anyone from anything.

May the Lord Bless the work of your mind, hands and heart in the year 2015.

Peace On Earth

 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!"


-Luke 2:8-14 English Standard Version (ESV)

Best Christmas Songs - 2014

The REAL Meaning Of Words

For the next couple weeks, I'm going to focus on a few words used in the Insurance business, words that I had no idea what they meant prior to going through my insurance courses to get my Property and Casualty Insurance license. Many of the words were familiar, but if you had asked me for a definition, I would have had to either take my best guess, or fess up to my ignorance.

Now you might think to yourself, if you were not in the insurance business, you really didn't need to know the definition of these words, which is exactly what I thought (great minds think alike). Now enters the guilt trip, as I looked back over my financial records for 23 years of cabinetmaking, I discovered that I had paid in excess of $460,000 for Property and Casualty Insurance, and my total claims history looked to be less than $30,000.00 (two workers compensation claims and one theft claim).

In the case of the workers compensation claims, I really had no horse in that race (you pay your premiums, but you have little to no power in the claims process, so once again, you pay and the government determines your outcome). As it relates to those two claims, not knowing the definitions of insurance terminology was not too big of a handicap. BUT, in the case of the theft, when I did not receive the amount of money (Indemnification) that I thought I should have received, the agent actually told me a few untruths (don't know if it was intentional, or if it was in ignorance). My own ignorance allowed them to tell me something that was not true, and I accepted their unfactual explanation, along with a less than desirable outcome (I was not restored to where I was before). So as I said, I plan on focusing on the terms that I think every person that purchases insurance needs to know.

So to kick this definition party off, lets start with the most basic term of all:

indemnity 

in|dem|nityNOUN (plural indemnities)

Security or protection against a loss or other financial burden:no indemnity will be given for loss of cash

Source: Oxford Dictionary

If you remember our last series (Was it a scratch or a pick?), the insurance industry has it's own definitions. So let's take a quick peek at the insurance industries definition of indemnity. For an insurer, indemnity means to restore a policyholder to pre-loss condition; make whole. No better, no worse.

So if you compare the Oxford Dictionary definition to the insurance industries definition, although they are similar, there is a pretty distinct difference (no better, no worse), and if we purchase insurance, we need to know this distinction. I can't tell you how many people I have talked with that expect that they should not only be able to make a claim based on a loss, but actually come out better than they were before the loss.

So here is how it is supposed to work, insurance compensates (indemnifies) the policy holder for their actual economic losses, up to the insurance policy limit. Now here is the part you need to know, and know well. Insurance companies generally require the insured to prove the amount of his/her loss before he/she can be indemnified (do you have a written or video inventory of your plunder?). Recovery is typically limited to the amount of the provable loss even if the face amount of the policy is higher. This begs the question, did you know that you need to be able to prove your loss?

As I have been looking for my value proposition (something that sets me apart from other insurance agents), I keep coming back to this subject (provable loss). And have decided that to add value to every property and casualty insurance policy I sell (business or personal), If the client agrees, I will do a video interview of the clients assets, and to take that one step further, I have developed a simple database that I will provide to each client with all the assets we covered in the video interview listed, along with photos of the assets, and fields that allow them to add additional details (i.e., date purchased, serial numbers, model numbers, etc.), providing a very good picture of their assets as proof in the event of a loss, but also as a running total that will allow them to better choose their limits (remember, the insurance company is not going to pay to the limit you choose, they are going to pay to the provable loss). 

Choosing an unrealistic limit only benefits the insurance company in higher premiums, so knowing the value of your personal property is definitely beneficial to you. In conclusion, if this video inventory along with the personal property database is of interest to you, please give me a call, or email me with your renewal date and I will contact you 3 months prior to your renewal date to go over your property and casualty insurance needs.

Was it a scratch or a pick?: Part III

This is the third installment of our "Was it a scratch or a pick?" series. On week one we talked about the three most common entry points a burglar will use, and some ways we can secure those entry points. Last week we talked about ways we could discourage a burglar from targeting our home. This week we will talk about things we can do when all our best efforts prove fruitless, and a burglar is successful at getting into our home.

When a burglar gets into your home, his first target room is almost always the Master Bedroom. He knows if there are any guns, jewelry, cash or prescription drugs to be had, the Master Bedroom and Master Bath are the most likely rooms for them to be in. It seems that this generation of burglars are more interested in guns, jewelry, cash and drugs than your electronics (they are easier to dispose of than electronics, and apparently burglars have gotten lazy, or maybe our TV's have gotten so big, it's just more trouble than it's worth).

To thwart them, lets think about where they would expect to find our valuables, and then choose an alternate location. We already know the Master Bedroom and Master Bath are the first two rooms they will look in, but what other rooms will they go to after that? Police reports tell us that the Living Room and Dining Room are the next most likely rooms a burglar will look for valuables. Knowing this can help you choose rooms that are less likely to be searched.

Rooms we should NOT hide our valuable plunder in:

• Master Bedroom
• Master Bath
• Living Room
• Dining Room

If you are like me, and apparently most people are, this means we need a new plan, we need to identify other areas in our home that are less likely to be searched by a burglar.

Rooms we should hide our valuable plunder in:

• Kitchen
• Pantry/Broom Closet
• Attic
• Basement
• Secondary Bedrooms

Now that we know which rooms to avoid, let's look at the places in those rooms we should avoid if we absolutely have to hide things in one or all of these rooms.

Bad places to hide our valuable plunder:

• Under Your Mattress
• Dresser Drawers
• Lingerie Drawers
• Armoire Drawers
• Jewelry Boxes
• Night Stand Drawers
• Medicine Cabinets

As we discussed in an earlier blog, a burglar will typically be in and out of your home in 8 to 10 minutes, so the harder we make it for him to find our Plunder, the less likely he will hang around long enough to find it. To make things even more interesting, I'm thinking it would make sense to put some things that look or feel valuable in those places he expects to find something. Put all your cheap imitation jewelry in your jewelry boxes, but keep your valuable jewelry in a safe or maybe in a few faux cereal boxes in the kitchen pantry.

Plant some old prescription medicine bottles in your medicine cabinet with various over-the-counter pain relievers in them, then keep your real medications in an inconspicuous place in one of the safe rooms listed above (or in a medicine cabinet with the mirrored door replaced by a painting installed in the wall of one of the safer rooms). Buy a cheap toy gun and put it in a gun case, and put it in your Night Stand Drawer.

Mount a high quality safe in a closet or a secondary bedroom, or in the attic or basement and screw it to the floor, then cover it with a bottomless cardboard box, and stack other boxes around and on top of it. Then put a cheap strong box in a drawer in the Master Bedroom with a lot of important looking junk papers (expired insurance policies, Enron stock certificates, old paid off loan documents, etc.).

Last, but certainly not least, you should have a detailed video or photo inventory of all your plunder. If you don't have one, you need to put that on your to-do-list. For any new client that purchases Homeowners Insurance from me, I will be suggesting that we do a video inventory together when I come to present them with their policy. If you would like to schedule an appointment to review any or all of your insurance policies, feel free to call me, email me, text me, smoke signal me, or go to my agent page and follow the instructions for leaving me your renewal dates (I will contact you approximately 3 months before your renewal date).