As the economy eases and the real estate market shows signs of revival, many people whose home buying plans were on hold are now beginning to look around. If buying a new home or vacation property is on your agenda, the Insurance Information Institute (III) has some advice for you: make insurance considerations an important part of your home buying process. In addition to looking at considerations such as location, neighborhood, and home features, you need to do a risk assessment of the home and property so you don’t find yourself owning something with some unpleasant surprises down the line.

For a quick overview of issues and considerations that you should be thinking of, see III’s Home Buyer’s Insurance Checklist and short video on the topic:

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Travel insurance can cover a variety of different trips, from simple family visits to elaborate resort vacations or cruises.  Most policies are not specific to one type of vacation.  When comparing plans, try to identify which coverage benefits are most important for this trip, in other words, what could go wrong and needs to be covered.  With cruises, there are several coverage benefits that become more important.

Medical Evacuation: An evacuation from a cruise ship can be one of the most expensive claims.  Most ships will have medical staff on board, but if there is an emergency, transportation to a nearby facility on land can be costly.  It is wise to find a plan with at least $100,000 per person of coverage to protect against the worst case scenario.

Trip Cancellation / Interruption: Cruises are not always cheap and rarely is the investment refundable.  If for a covered reason the trip is cancelled before it begins, or interrupted after departure, then the unused trip costs can be reimbursed in a claim.  Most commonly, this is a sickness, injury or death of a traveler or family member back home.

Missed Connection: When the travelers are delayed by a common carrier, such as an airline, and arrive late at the port-of-call, this coverage is very helpful.  The traveler can be reimbursed for the additional transportation expenses to catch up to the ship at the next port.

Hurricane & Weather: This is commonly a covered reason under trip cancellation and trip interruption.  Though coverage varies, cruisers benefit most by the following benefit language:  complete cessation of common carrier, mandatory evacuation, inclement weather and hurricane warning.  These scenarios are most likely to impact a cruise.

Squaremouth recommends finding the desired coverage at the best price.  Contact a Squaremouth representative for assistance with a travel insurance quote at 800-240-0369.  Always refer to the certificate of insurance for details.

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Whether we’re moving out on our own for the first time or just looking for a new place to call home, searching for the right apartment can take time and planning. Of course, there are the obvious things you need to consider, like how many bedrooms it has, and if it’s in a nice or convenient neighborhood. On top of that, we need to consider things like renters insurance. In the end, though, having a place to live where you are comfortable and that fits within your lifestyle is well worth all of the effort that goes into it.

So, what kinds of things should we think about when looking for our new digs?

1. The first thing to consider, if it isn’t already obvious, is how many people will be living in the apartment. If you will be living alone, or with only your significant other, a single bedroom or efficiency apartment may very well be big enough for you. If you have kids, however, you’ll want to make sure you have enough bedrooms to accommodate them. Even if you only have a baby, and plan to share a room with her, you might want to consider a two bedroom apartment, because she will eventually soon be big enough to need a room of her own.
2. You should also consider things like the apartment’s proximity to your school or work. How convenient will it be to get to local shopping centers, grocery stores, and other places you will need or want to go? A great apartment that is out in the middle of nowhere, or all the way across town from everything you like to do, can be almost as bad as a poor apartment.
3. Consider the neighborhood. This is e

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Recently, as everyone is probably aware, several flights from Europe to different parts of the world were delayed, due to the earthquake and the high concentration of ash in the atmosphere. Travelers who had taken an international travel insurance plan with Travel Guard’s Pack n Go did not worry at all.

These travelers waited out the delay in the comfort of hotels near the airport, carefully preserving their bills for the stay and the food, which they later submitted and got reimbursement for.

Some of the travelers with the Pack N Go travel insurance had to change their flights once the flight services were resumed. This meant that they had to go to a different airport and buy new tickets at another airline services. They were given the cost of the transportation and also the cost of the new tickets, which were of the same class as the earlier tickets.

There was the inevitable confusion about the baggage and some of it was misplaced in the delay and the missed flights and transportation. The coverage of all the baggage that was lost or misplaced continued till the issue was resolved and the baggage was restored. If the baggage was lost, the compensation was also given. Apart from the loss of time, the travelers did not suffer anything else.

Travel tip: Before assuming that your flight is delayed, though, always check that it is indeed the case. Even if all airlines are cancelling flights, your airline may offer you an alternate route, which means that you cannot always claim reimbursement. < Read more…

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