A couple of weeks ago, Sheri and I attended a dinner at a restaurant in Dallas. We were invited by a friend of mine, Michael DeGroat, a fee only financial planner with Ameriprise. Michael believed we’d enjoy the dinner, as well as hear an interesting talk from the special guest speaker. He was absolutely right!
Three weeks ago, I was outlining a post for Monday’s blog when I discovered my website had been hacked. My familiar main page featuring my latest two posts along with links to pages on home, car, life, and business insurance had been replaced by someone claiming to be a jihadist and that they now held all my previous posts. There was no request for ransom, just the smug comment they’d done this to me.
There are 20 homes in Carrollton, Texas on Barclay Drive which back up to Dudley Branch Creek. The retaining wall behind the homes is failing causing the lots to sink as the soil begins to move downhill toward the creek. Some of the residents have filed a lawsuit against the city of Carrollton saying it’s responsible for repairing the retaining wall while the city contends it’s the homeowners’ responsibility to repair the wall. The estimated cost to repair the wall is $3 million. Home insurance won’t help the homeowners either.
I’ve started a conversation with Sheri and my sons. We haven’t completed the discussion nor arrived at any decisions yet, but the questions we’re working through has provided some interesting initial dialogue. The questions are what do they, and myself, want to have happen with my digital assets, and who to name as my digital heir?
I’ve never hit a deer or other large animal, but I have come close, usually when heading out to or home from a backpacking trip. I’ve seen them walk in front of an oncoming car and just miss getting hit. Luckily for the drivers of the car, and the deer, they were able stop the car or SUV safely without a loss of control and give the deer another day. Not everyone is so fortunate, as the amount car insurance companies and the Federal Highway Administration reports.
For the last 10 years, Texans have had the ignominious distinction of paying the highest or second highest home insurance rates in the nation. This year, we caught a break and are currently number three with an average annual premium of $1,625. Florida beat us out to take the top spot with an average annual premium of $1,991 followed by Louisiana with an average annual premium of $1,722 according to Value Penguin for 2015. Rounding out the top five were Mississippi ($1,451 a year) and Oklahoma ($1,428 a year).
I recently had a conversation with one of our Dallas client’s regarding her car insurance renewal. She’s in sales and I wanted to confirm if we had her driving type classified correctly. I asked if she commuted to an office and whether or not she met with clients and prospective clients in their office. It turns out she does, and she’s involved in outside meetings almost as much as she’s in the office.
A friend of mine called me a couple of weeks ago. She and her husband recently bought their first home together in east Dallas and are remodeling it. They smelled gas and called Atmos Energy who discovered a leak in the gas line between the meter and their home. She wanted to know whether her home insurance policy covered the repair of the gas line.
In January, MetLife, the largest insurance company by assets, was deemed as systemically important, or “too big to fail,” by the Financial Stability Oversight Council. In other words, regulators believe MetLife is so big (over $902 billion in assets) and entwined with the financial system that it could threaten the economy if it collapsed similar to what we saw happen with AIG in 2008.
North Texans finally got a taste of winter weather over the past two days when the rain that fell Sunday night froze leaving our streets covered with a half inch of ice. Snow is in the forecast for Wednesday morning which complicates rush hour traffic. We don’t get this weather very often, but it does provide an excellent backdrop to review safe driving practices in all kinds of inclement weather.
Subscribe to my newsletter by filling the form below.
A confirmation email will be sent to your mailbox: please read the instructions to complete the subscription.
