01/06/2022
Have you made your New Year’s resolutions?
About 44% of adults surveyed in a recent Medifast poll said they planned to set a resolution for 2022, compared to 50% in 2021. Top resolutions for the new year include financial health, holistic health and wellness, and focusing on self-care or body positivity, the survey found.
While not everyone will make a New Year’s resolution for 2022, a majority of Americans feel optimistic about the future, according to a new Fidelity Investments study. When it comes to financial health, common resolutions among those surveyed included saving more money, paying down debt and spending less.
Insureds should consider reassessing their insurance coverage needs now to support their financial goals for the coming year and help make it safer, more secure, and more successful for themselves, their family and their business.
1. Assess whether your Homeowners Insurance policy is appropriate for your home’s value and location.
Although about 93% of homeowners have insurance, many do not take the opportunity every year to review their coverage to identify coverage gaps, and approximately 64% of homes are undervalued by an average of 27%, leaving many homeowners considerably underinsured. Any changes you make to your home can impact its assessed value and your Homeowners Insurance needs, especially major changes such as adding rooms or outbuildings, converting a detached garage to an attached garage, adding a skylight or installing new windows or doors.
2. Check your insurance coverage for high-value personal items
Many homeowners mistakenly believe that their Homeowners Insurance policy provides full coverage for all items inside their homes or on their property. The reality is that contents coverage is a percentage of a Homeowners Insurance policy and there are coverage limits for high-value personal items such as artwork, jewelry, antiques, collectibles, and musical instruments.
To safeguard personal items, you likely need the coverage afforded by a Personal Articles Floater. This specialized coverage can help you replace your high-value items if they are lost or stolen, repair them if they are damaged by a severe weather event, smoke, or an accident. A Personal Articles Floater may be purchased for single items of great value, or it can be tailored to provide the level of coverage needed for several items or a collection.
3. Take simple but effective steps to protect your home and family from fires. In 2020, fire departments responded to a structure fire approximately every 64 seconds, according to a National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) report. A total of 379,500 residential structure fires occurred that year, the NFPA reported, resulting in 2,630 civilian deaths and $8.7 billion in property damage. Investing in the appropriate Homeowners Insurance and specialized coverages can help you when things go wrong, and making fire safety a priority can help keep you and your loved ones safe when it strikes. Install new batteries in your smoke detectors, test your fire extinguishers regularly, review basic safety and emergency plans and stage evacuation drills with your family.
4. Shore up your defenses against cybersecurity threats
According to the FBI’s 2020 Internet Crime Report, the most common cyber crimes reported by victims included phishing scams, non-payment/non-delivery scams, and extortion. The FBI received 791,790 cyber crime complaints in 2020, with reported losses of more than $4.2 billion, the report stated. In 2021, the number of data breaches publicly reported was expected to make it a record-breaking year, Forbes reported.
5. Complete a safety check and assess your risks for on-site hazards. The start of a new year is a perfect time to perform a thorough review of your company’s premises and practices and address any potential risks to your staff or clients. Find and repair damaged walkways, repair or replace inefficient or malfunctioning equipment, check safety systems such as fire alarms and sprinklers, and have all staff review emergency plans and implement safe practices.
6. Every business has environmental exposures—find and address yours. Most business owners underestimate their company’s environmental liability exposures. Every business faces potential liabilities and costs related to health effects and cleanup from environmental pollution due to accidents, fires, extreme weather events, or natural disasters, and the costs can be catastrophic. Environmental claims continue to rise in the U.S., driven primarily by natural disasters. As climate change contributes to more severe weather events, experts believe oil spills and other environmental incidents could become more common, ABC News reported in September of 2021. In 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency assessed nearly $160 million in civil enforcement penalties.
Remember that KPT Insurance can provide you with expert assistance to complete the action steps outlined above, assess your ongoing risks and more. Clarifying what your existing insurance policies cover and bridging any gaps with additional coverage to provide you with appropriate protections for your personal and professional exposures will help you gain the financial security and stability you need to keep all of your 2022 New Year’s resolutions, from purchasing that gym membership to upgrading your billing system
