Last Friday I had to meet with a benefits adviser from my company; we are switching benefits providers, and there was “some important information that had to be documented, such as beneficiary elections, etc”.

It turned out it was just an opportunity for the provider to try and sell their benefits one on one.

To be honest, I was really turned off by the benefits, or more specifically the number of benefits I was offered. Not that we don’t have enough benefits, that’s not the case at all. There were just too many benefit options above and beyond the standard health, vision, …

It’s that time of year again. Holiday cheer, Christmas shopping in conjunction with raiding the left over Halloween candy isle at the grocery store, and oh yeah, open enrollment for benefits at work. Blehhhh.

That’s probably my least favorite administrative task at work. Pick a health plan. There’s only three, they’re all free, but if you foresee yourself needing this little benefit in fine print, you need the “premier blue” plan, but that comes with an additional $500 deductible, a smaller approved doctors lists…

…and this is where I lose interest.

To its credit, my company spends a lot of time and money …

Tonight CNN ran a big piece on how insurance companies are trying to settle claims for next to nothing compared to what they’re worth, in many cases not even coming close to covering medical bills, let alone covering the repair to your vehicle.

While the television report was more in-depth, this article covers the high points.

The whole concept of this report brings up the question: If insurance companies are in business to insure your assets, but they’re also in business to make money for themselves, isn’t that a conflict of interest?

After all, every penny they shell out in claims is one less penny …

There are times I love my insurance company, and other times I’m not quite as fond.

However, whenever your insurance company sends you money for no apparent reason, it’s always a good thing. Today I received my yearly USAA dividend check to the total amount of $58.91. Last year is was just shy of $100 and in previous years it has been upwards of $150.

Overall, USAA will return more than $6.4 billion to its members in 2006 in the form of dividends, claims payments, distributions and other monetary benefits. This adds up to almost half of the total revenue USAA brought …

I just received our annual homeowners insurance renewal, and to my surprise, USAA is actually reducing our premium by just over $150!

Accompanying the new premium was a letter stating that USAA has recently changed the way they calculate the premium to ensure the premium reflects the risk our policy presents to USAA.

A few of the factors they used to calculate the new premium:
Previous property insurance claims (we’ve had none)
Length of time we’ve been covered by USAA
The fire protection against our property
Age, location and construction features of our home

It’s nice to see the insurance company is sending our premiums in the right direction, and this reminds me that we need to …

When I did my first real estate deal, I had the house insured through the same insurance provider I have for my primary residence.  Boy did that turn out to be a mistake.

USAA writes insurance policies for rental property based on replacement cost.  If the house burns to the ground, what does it cost to rebuild the exact same house, using the exact same materials and techniques as when it was originally built?  It’s a lot. 

What would a stone foundation cost today?  How about plaster walls and hardwood floors throughout?  It’s a number about 4 times what I bought it for, and I …