10 things home insurers won’t say
Your friendly home insurance company would rather you didn’t know that you’re Your friendly home insurance company would rather you didn’t know that you’re paying too much. Or that it could drop you in a heartbeat if you file too many claims.
1. “We have our own caste system.”
Sam Mayer, a physician in suburban Chicago, had insured his home, car and life with Metropolitan Life Insurance for 10 years without ever filing a claim, until a damaged roof and a burglary led to two claims totaling $3,000. Mayer promptly installed a home-security system. But instead of giving him a discount, the company dropped Mayer from its preferred coverage, citing his “claims history” and instead offered him its standard carrier at a higher rate — even though his risk profile hadn’t really changed.
(”Homeowners insurers may sometimes offer a change in conditions of coverage of a consumer’s policy at renewal in order to continue to offer a policy to that individual whose risk profile has increased,” a MetLife spokesperson says. “This often occurs when a customer files more claims than average in a short period of time.”) Read more
10 biggest investing blunders
Just because these mistakes are big doesn’t mean they’re obvious. Being aware of related costs and keeping your goals in mind will help you avoid the traps.
We asked experts to weigh in on some of the most common mistakes investors make, and while it’s easy to see that chasing hot stocks (the most frequently cited mistake) would be an exercise in futility, they reported other less obvious pitfalls to watch out for.
There are never any guarantees when investing, but avoiding these 10 missteps will better your chances of success.
1. Mismatching investment with goal
Need that money in the next couple of years? Don’t put it in a hot emerging-markets fund.
Consider when you’ll need access to your money. This will help you avoid unnecessary transaction fees, penalties and risk.
“If you pick the right investment vehicle for the right timeline, you’ve got it 90% in the bag,” says Richard Salmen, a certified financial planner and the national president of the Financial Planning Association. “If your goal is only six months to two years off, you don’t want to put your money in an investment vehicle that could fluctuate enough that you might miss it.”
For some goals, such as paying for college, it may make sense to use a mix of investments.
“If you are saving for college and your child is within three years of going to college, you’ve still got seven years until that last year of college,” she says.
So while the bulk of short-term college savings should probably be very safe in CDs Read more