Steps to Better Homeowners Insurance

3 Steps to Better Homeowners Insurance,

Florida Homeowner Insurance

My client Barbara was sure she couldn’t save any more money. “It’s really tight,” she told me as we scoured her budget. Her goal was to save $250 per check into her 401k plan. Right now she was saving $210. We only needed $40.

Steps to Better Homeowners Insurance

She was correct. From everything she showed me on paper, it was really, really tight.

Barbara didn’t waste money. She diligently saved into her retirement plan at work, brought a brown bag lunch every day, and was proud of her “dumb” phone. If she could make calls and get voicemail it was good enough for her. No need for a big contract to play games or get email.

I couldn’t find fault in her grocery budget or entertainment expenses. She enjoyed spending her vacation time in a small garden at home. This even helped with bills (and it was nice getting the fresh zucchini from her every year….a benefit of being her financial advisor). Hell, I wanted to help Barbara find money to save because she deserved to get out more!

So, I had to dig deeper. Where did we find money?


Her homeowners coverage.

It wasn’t a ton of cash, but based on her overall expense, finding $40 per month was like a windfall. Here is what we did.

1) Shopped around. This was the easy part that everyone knows. In fact, Barbara had already shopped six months earlier. What she hadn’t done was checked with her credit union to see if she could get a discount through them. She could. Other clients of mine found discounts through their union, workplace, religious group, or school.

2) Asked for discounts. Once we found a cheaper insurer, Barbara secured lower rates because she was a senior citizen and because she had a home security system. In fact, Barbara hadn’t been using a home security system because she thought it was too expensive. She called a company to have it turned on, and was surprised to find that it paid for itself with the policy discount. She could feel safer and not raise her budget!

3) Paid in advance. The insurance company she chose offered two rate plans: monthly or every six months. By paying at once, Barbara was able to lower her expense even more. How did she afford that cost? Because she had an emergency fund she took the money from that account. Then she paid back into the emergency fund every month. Although she’s paying her “homeowners” account monthly, because they only receive a check semiannually, she receives a better rate.

She could have bundled her coverage with other assets (auto insurance, for example), but that wouldn’t have saved her money in this case. The biggest key to her success was to ask each company what discounts she was eligible to receive, what she had to do to get them (such as activating her home security, or, for another client, getting rid of the trampoline), and whether there were special rates for paying early. Because she asked those questions, Barbara was happier, safer at home, and a little richer.

….and she was a nice source of referrals to her financial advisor! (Bonus for me!)

Any other tips you used to get lower cost or better homeowners coverage?