Dreams Quote:

Its not reckless to follow your dreams, in this day and age, its necessary.

Auto Insurance is So Complicated!

I found this article today and thought it really does a good job explaining the different types of auto coverage as well as what coverages to choose for your specific needs.

Types of Auto Coverage

Everyone who drives needs car insurance. In fact, most states require it by law. When you buy car insurance, you are buying what is called a policy. Your policy is based on a variety of factors including what kind of car you drive as well as what kind of insurance you want. Auto insurance policies are actually a package of different types of insurance coverage.
The first step in understanding an auto insurance policy is to learn the various types of coverage insurance companies offer. Some of this coverage may be required by your state and some of the coverage may be optional.

• Liability - This coverage pays for accidental bodily injury and property damages to others. Injury damages include medical expenses, pain and suffering and lost wages. Property damage includes damaged property and automobiles. This coverage also pays defense and court costs. State laws determine how much liability coverage you must purchase, but you can always get more coverage than your state requires.
• Collision - This coverage pays for damages to your vehicle caused by collision with another vehicle or object.
• Comprehensive - This coverage pays for loss or damage to the insured vehicle that doesn't occur in an auto accident. The types of damages comprehensive insurance covers include loss caused by fire, wind, hail, flood, vandalism or theft.
• Medical Coverage - Pays medical expenses regardless of fault when the expenses are caused by an auto accident.
• PIP - Personal Injury Protection (PIP) is required in some states. This coverage pays medical expenses for the insured driver, regardless of fault, for treatment due to an auto accident.
• Uninsured Motorist - Pays your car's damages when an auto accident is caused by a driver who doesn't have liability insurance.
• Underinsured Motorist - Pays your car's damages when an auto accident is caused by someone who has insufficient liability insurance.
• Rental Reimbursement - This type of coverage will pay for a rental car if your car is damaged due to an auto accident. Often this coverage has a daily allowance for a rental car.

Many insurance policies combine a number of these types of coverage. The first step in choosing the insurance you want for your car is to know the laws in your state. This will tell you the minimum insurance you need for your car. It's good to keep in mind that, just because your state may not require extensive insurance, extra coverage may be worth the expense. After all, no one wants to be stuck with thousands of dollars worth of bills because of an auto accident.
Now, let's take a look at how to determine your insurance needs.

Understanding Your Auto Insurance Needs

Just because your state requires a minimum amount of insurance doesn't mean that's exactly what you should purchase. In fact, most motorists purchase more coverage than their state requires so that they are covered for a variety of problems -- not simply a fender bender. In order to better determine your auto insurance needs, consider these five guidelines:

Know Your State Laws

Remember that forty-seven states require that you purchase liability insurance. Liability insurance is what pays for bodily injury and property damage that you cause another driver. Fifteen states including Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey also require that you buy Personal Injury Protection (PIP). This coverage pays for your medical expenses and lost wages in the event of an auto accident. Your insurance minimum will most likely be determined by state law, but many people are encouraged to purchase more than is required.

Know Your Options

There are a lot of car insurance options; but knowing what you most likely will need is the key to making sure you are appropriately covered. Do you want coverage for a rental car if your car is damaged? Do you want an extended warranty to pay for parts and labor if your car breaks down? If your car is leased, you will probably need gap insurance which pays for the difference between what your insurer pays and what you owe on your lease if the car is completely totaled.

Know How Much Money You Want to Spend

If you know your state laws and have examined your personal needs, now you can put together the different pieces of auto insurance coverage in one total policy. The first piece of the policy is almost always liability insurance. If you only have minimum liability coverage and you injure someone, their attorney can go after your personal assets. So, you need to know your assets and what you can afford to lose in the event of an accident. Many insurers feel that minimum liability is a gamble. In fact, that is why it is often only a little more money for more protection. After all, if you do get into an accident, it is much better for the insurance company to be responsible than for you to be personally responsible. Remember to run through various scenarios such as if I totaled someone else's car, will my insurance cover it? How much will I have to pay out of my own pocket? The answers to these types of questions will determine what coverage makes you feel most confident should an accident happen.

Know Your Vehicle

If your car was totaled, would you be able to afford to replace it? If not, you will want comprehensive and collision coverage. The decision to buy this coverage is usually based on the value of your car. Guidelines usually suggest that if your car is worth less than $2,000, it won't be worth it to buy comprehensive and collision. If you own a $50,000 car though, it would most certainly be worth it to pay an extra $200 annually or so to insure that your car will be replaced if you get in a serious accident.

Know About Your Other Insurance

Many people don't realize that other types of insurance including health insurance and homeowners insurance may pay for damages due to an auto accident. For instance, if you have comprehensive health coverage, you probably won't need more than the minimum required Personal Injury Protection (PIP). Make sure you know what insurance coverage you already have so that you don't purchase unnecessary coverage.
The best way to figure out your own auto insurance needs is to examine potential policies and know how much you are willing to gamble. For instance, it may not be worth it to you to purchase collision insurance if your car is not incredibly valuable and would therefore cost less to fix than to keep insured. Auto insurance is simply about how much you are willing to pay out of your own pocket versus how much you want the insurance company to cover. Once you decide this, you're all set to purchase your auto insurance policy.

Don’t miss out on our December marketing meeting!

Welcome to IMAGE
Innovative Marketing Group

December Agenda

Welcome from American Family!


Intentions of Innovative Marketing Group:

• Purpose is to meet other professionals and create encouragement for cross referrals as well as recognize professionals who share common values in customer service.
• Business: One professional will be asked to present each month for 10-15 minutes about their business.
• Networking: Round table, everyone will share a short summary of:
      Where you're from
      Where you work and how long
      What type of referrals you prefer
• Enjoy the refreshments, trade cards, and get to know each other!

Join us this December as we celebrate the holidays with health awareness! Tony Burris from Eagle Acupuncture will be speaking this month about the value that acupuncture, herbs, and diet have in our daily lives and ultimately our long term health. So as we head into Christmas this year, we are happy to have a few extra tips to keep the colds down and the energy up! Our agency is looking forward to having you as our guest and we would love to hear more about your business. Don't miss out on the coffee and our free IMAGE membership!


Follow me on my blog at jillsamfam.blogspot.com
Find our agency on Facebook at facebook.com/dwayneellisagency


If your business is interested in a speaking opportunity at IMAGE, please contact Jill for more information. 424-0864 ext 104

 

Hope you are enjoying this holiday season today!

Informative post. Let's not forget our foster children along with the adopted.

Foster Care

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Over 500,000 children in the U.S. currently reside in some form of foster care. Placements in foster care have dramatically increased over the past 10 years. Despite the increasing numbers, children in foster care and foster parents are mostly invisible in communities and often lack many needed supports and resources. In situations of abuse and neglect, children may be removed from their parents home by a child welfare agency and placed in foster care. Other reasons for foster placement include severe behavioral problems in the child and/or a variety of parental problems, such as abandonment, illness (physical or emotional), incarceration, AIDS, alcohol/substance abuse, and death.
African-American children make up approximately two thirds of the foster care population and remain in care longer. Two out of three children who enter foster care are reunited with their birth parents within two years. A significant number, however, can spend long periods of time in care awaiting adoption or other permanent arrangement. Making decisions about the future for a child in foster care is called permanency planning. Options include: returning the child to his/her birth parents; termination of parental rights (a formal legal procedure) to be followed, hopefully, by adoption; or long-term care with foster parents or relatives. Most states encourage efforts to provide the birth parents with support and needed services (e.g. mental health or drug/alcohol treatment, parent skills, training and assistance with child care and/or adequate housing) so their child can be returned to them. When parental rights have been terminated by the court, most states will try to place children with relatives (kinship foster carerelative placement which may lead to adoption by the relative.
Being removed from their home and placed in foster care is a difficult and stressful experience for any child. Many of these children have suffered some form of serious abuse or neglect. About 30% of children in foster care have severe emotional, behavioral, or developmental problems. Physical health problems are also common. Most children, however, show remarkable resiliency and determination to go on with their lives. Children in foster care often struggle with the following issues:

• blaming themselves and feeling guilty about removal from their birth parents
• wishing to return to birth parents even if they were abused by them
• feeling unwanted if awaiting adoption for a long time
• feeling helpless about multiple changes in foster parents over time
• having mixed emotions about attaching to foster parents
• feeling insecure and uncertain about their future
• reluctantly acknowledging positive feelings for foster parents

Foster parents open their homes and hearts to children in need of temporary care, a task both rewarding and difficult. Unfortunately, there has been a decrease in the number of foster parents (non-relative) available to care for children over the past 10 years. This results in larger numbers of children remaining in institutional settings. The number of relative caregivers (kinship foster care), however, has increased.
Reimbursement rates for foster parents are lower in most states than the true costs of providing routine care for the child. Important challenges for foster parents include:

• recognizing the limits of their emotional attachment to the child
• understanding mixed feelings toward the childs birth parents
• recognizing their difficulties in letting the child return to birth parents
• dealing with the complex needs (emotional, physical, etc.) of children in their care
• working with sponsoring social agencies
• finding needed support services in the community
• dealing with the child's emotions and behavior following visits with birth parents

Children in foster care who have emotional or behavioral problems may be referred for a psychiatric evaluation. Some child and adolescent psychiatrists provide consultation to Juvenile/Family Courts and child welfare agencies. Child and adolescent psychiatrists also provide comprehensive evaluations including diagnosis and the development of treatment plans. They also provide direct treatment (e.g. psychotherapy, family therapy, psychiatric medication) to a child. Children in foster care have special and complex needs which are best addressed by a coordinated team which usually includes the birth parents, foster parents, mental health professionals (including child and adolescent psychiatrists) and child welfare staff.
For additional information about foster care contact the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) 440 First Street, NW, Third Floor, Washington, D.C. 20001-2085.
The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) represents over 6,500 child and adolescent psychiatrists who are physicians with at least five years of additional training beyond medical school in general (adult) and child and adolescent psychiatry.

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Facts for Families is developed and distributed by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP). Facts sheets may be reproduced for personal or educational use without written permission, but cannot be included in material presented for sale.

Cause of the Month

Please follow our Cause of the Month as we celebrate Adoption Awareness Month! This month we are sponsoring A New Beginning Adoption Agency. For every like we get, we will be donating $1. Check out their site here: http://adoptanewbeginning.org/.

Dreams Quote:

What you need arrives EXACTLY when you need it when you walk the on path of your Dreams. Don't fret, keep walkin'...