Choosing the right insurance policy is much like choosing the right motorcycle. You want it to fit your needs and lifestyle, but at the same time be within your budget. 

In order to find out what coverage is best for you, it is important to understand all the options available.

​Liability coverage
Liability insurance covers bodily injury and property damage that you may cause to other people involved in an accident. It doesn't cover you or your motorcycle. Find out if your coverage includes Guest Passenger Liability, which provides protection in the event that a passenger is injured on the motorcycle.

Collision coverage
Collision insurance covers damage to your motorcycle if you are involved in an accident. Your insurance company pays for damages, minus your deductible, caused when you collide with another vehicle or object. Collision insurance usually covers the book value of the motorcycle before the loss occurred.

Comprehensive coverage
Comprehensive coverage pays for damages caused by an event other than a collision, such as fire, theft or vandalism. Like collision coverage, your insurance company will pay for damages, minus your deductible, and will cover only the book value of the motorcycle. Keep in mind most comprehensive and collision coverages will only cover the factory standard parts on your motorcycle. If you decide to add on any optional accessories such as chrome parts, a custom paint job, trailers or sidecars, consider additional equipment coverage.

Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage
Uninsured/underinsured Motorist (UM/UIM) coverage covers damages to you and/or your property caused by another driver who either doesn't have insurance (uninsured) or doesn't have adequate insurance (underinsured). This coverage typically pays for medical treatment, lost wages and other damages. In some cases your UM/UIM coverage includes property damage—check  with your insurance professional to see if property damage is included or needs to be purchased separately.

Motorcycle insurance can be a lot like auto insurance with coverage options, but be careful about choosing the right limits of liability and customization options. Most insurance policies for motorcycles do not cover customizations, they only cover factory installed equipment. Before you renew or buy motorcycle insurance review your policy carefully and call us for an On Your Side Review.

     The types and amount of insurance that you need for your small business are based on several factors. What type of business are you in? Where is it located? Do you have employees?

     Home Based Businesses usually have no employees other than the owner with relatively little revenue. However, most successful businesses start as a home based business. Because it is a home based business doesn’t mean that the business shouldn’t be insured. Every business—including home-based businesses—should be insured against loss of property, products, and liability. Homeowners insurance alone will not necessarily cover your home-based business against business property loss or liability. For example, if you are selling products over the internet and use your garage for storage, in the event of a fire or theft your homeowners policy will not cover your business property or the products that you sell. Another alarming example, is if you sell a defective product that causes harm or bodily injury to your customer and your customer sues you for liability, your homeowners insurance will not cover you.

     A common small business policy—called a BOP (Business Owners Policy) is usually available only for businesses with fewer than 100 employees and revenues of up to about $5 million or less. While you can purchase customized insurance to cover your specific type of business, insurers offer standardized small business policies that enable you to affordably protect your company against the most common risks. A BOP policy for a home based business will include coverage for business property, liability, and products. This package policy is similar to an auto or home insurance policy in that it covers the basic perils that small business owners face and additional coverage can be increased or added by endorsement. BOP policies are also very affordable with most policies costing about $500 per year.

If you are one of the millions of home based business owners, congratulations, but now is the time think about protecting your business from unexpected losses with a business owners policy. Call or email us for a quote at 214-275-8372 or Click Here for an Online Quote.

     In most cases, if you have no dependents and have enough money to pay your final expenses, you don’t need any life insurance. If you want to create an inheritance or make a charitable contribution, buy enough life insurance to achieve those goals.

     If you have dependents, buy enough life insurance so that, when combined with other sources of income, it will replace the income you now generate for them, plus enough to offset any additional expenses they will incur to replace services you provide (for a simple example, if you do your own taxes, the survivors might have to hire a professional tax preparer). Also, your family might need extra money to make some changes after you die. For example, they may want to relocate, or your spouse may need to go back to school to be in a better position to help support the family.

     You should also plan to replace “hidden income” that would be lost at death. Hidden income is income that you receive through your employment but that isn’t part of your gross wages. It includes things like your employer’s subsidy of your health insurance premium, the matching contribution to your 401(k) plan, and many other “perks,” large and small. This is an often-overlooked insurance need: the cost of replacing just your health insurance and retirement contributions could be the equivalent of $2,000 per month or more. Of course, you should also plan for expenses that arise at death. These include the funeral costs, taxes and administrative costs associated with “winding up” an estate and passing property to heirs. At a minimum, plan for $15,000 for these expenses. Also, you should decide if you would like to pay off debts, pay off the mortgage and fund college for the kids.

     Many experts recommend buying life insurance equal to a multiple of your salary. For example, one financial advice columnist recommends buying insurance equal to 20 times your salary before taxes. She chose 20 because, if the benefit is invested in bonds that pay 5 percent interest, it would produce an amount equal to your salary at death, so the survivors could live off the interest and wouldn’t have to “invade” the principal. However, this simplistic formula implicitly assumes no inflation and assumes that one could assemble a bond portfolio that, after expenses, would provide a 5 percent interest stream every year. But assuming inflation is 3 percent per year, the purchasing power of a gross income of $50,000 would drop to about $38,300 in the 10th year. To avoid this income drop-off, the survivors would have to “invade” the principal each year. And if they did, they would run out of money in the 16th year. The “multiple of salary” approach also ignores other sources of income, such as those mentioned previously.

     To get a true picture of the appropriate amount of life insurance a family should have, sit down with a professional who will analyze your current financial picture and make recommendations that is best for you and your family. Simply call our office to schedule your financial review at 214-275-8372 or contact me by email at info@hanksgroup.com

​     With computers, TVs, printers, PDAs and MP3 players being shipped off to school, it is more important than ever that students and their parents purchase the appropriate insurance protection. Theft can be a major concern on college campuses. 

     For students who live in a dorm, most personal possessions are covered under their parents' homeowners or renters insurance policies. However, some home insurance policies may limit the amount of insurance for off-premises belongings to 10 percent of the total amount of coverage for personal possessions. This means that if the parents have $70,000 worth of insurance for their belongings, only $7,000 would be applicable to possessions in the dorm. Also, most home insurance deductibles are 1% of the dwelling amount, which means that a $300,000 house will have a $3000 deductible apply before any coverage kicks in.

     Expensive computer and electronic equipment and items such as jewelry may also be subject to coverage limits under a standard homeowners policy. If the limits are too low, parents may consider buying a special personal property floater or an endorsement for these items.

     Students and/or their parents may want to consider purchasing a stand-alone renters insurance policy. This can be an economical way to provide additional insurance coverage for a variety of disasters. Most polices are only $120 per year and can cover up to $25,000 in coverage for personal belongings with only a $250 deductible.

You need enough home insurance to cover the following: 

1. The structure of your home and any additional structures on your property. You need enough insurance to cover the cost of rebuilding your home at current construction costs. Don't include the cost of the land. And don't base your rebuilding costs on the price you paid for your home. The cost of rebuilding could be more or less than the price you paid or could sell it for today.
2. Your personal possessions. Most homeowners insurance policies provide coverage for your personal possessions for approximately 50 percent to 70 percent of the amount of insurance you have on the structure or “dwelling” of your home. To determine if this is enough coverage, you need to conduct a home inventory. This is a detailed list of everything you own and information related to the cost to replace these items if they were stolen or destroyed by a disaster such as a fire. 
3. The cost of additional living expenses if your home is damaged and you have to live elsewhere during repairs. This is a very important feature of a standard homeowners insurance policy. This pays the additional costs of temporarily living away from your home if you can't live in it due to a fire, severe storm or other insured disaster. It covers hotel bills, restaurant meals and other living expenses incurred while your home is being rebuilt.
4. Your liability to others. This part of your policy covers you against lawsuits for bodily injury or property damage that you or family members cause to other people. It also pays for damage caused by pets. It pays for both the cost of defending you in court and for any damages a court rules you must pay.

Give us a call at 214-275-8372 and we will review your policies to make sure you are adequately covered.

If you’re involved in a serious accident with an uninsured motorist, you could be at risk for substantial financial losses. For protection from losses arising from an accident with an uninsured motorist, consider purchasing uninsured motorist coverage. You may already carry uninsured motorist coverage, so check your policy.

Specific options for uninsured motorist coverage vary by state and insurer, but in general there are three types of protection:

• ​Uninsured Motorist (UM) Insurance—Also known as Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury (UMBI) insurance, this coverage will pay your and your passengers’ medical bills if you’re involved in an accident with an uninsured motorist who is at fault. In addition, UM insurance will reimburse you and your passengers for lost wages. UM coverage also kicks in if you are hit as a pedestrian by an uninsured driver, or if you’re the victim of a hit-and-run accident.
• Uninsured Motorist Property Damage (UMPD) Coverage—While UM insurance covers injuries, it does not extend to damage to your car or property. For this, you need UMPD coverage. UMPD covers damage to your car less a $250 deductible.
• Underinsured Motorist (UIM) Protection—In some instances, an at-fault driver may have liability insurance, but the policy’s limits do not cover the full extent of damage to your vehicle. In such cases, UIM insurance will cover the shortfall.

In Texas millions of drivers are on the road without auto insurance and many millions more are without the proper limits of coverage. That is why it is important for you to protect your family with uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage.

Just because you don't live in a flood plain and your lender doesn't require you to buy flood insurance does not mean you should not buy it...Watch this video and call me about your flood insurance.