Every year, I like to review the current state of personal insurance for Texas. Personal insurance is what most individuals and families concern themselves with. It includes car, home (condo & town homes), renters, and umbrella insurance policies. The goal is to help most people keep their finger on the pulse of what’s happening. An informed consumer is a powerful force!
?During the days of May 3 through 6 in 1999, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Texas and Tennessee experienced a huge tornadic event. Approximately 66 storms swept through these States. The most devastating was an F5 level tornado that struck Oklahoma City and the surrounding suburbs of Bridge Creek, Moore, Del City, Tinker Air Force Base, and Midwest City. The storm claimed the lives of 48 people and caused $1.1 Billion in damage. Many homes were wiped clean, leaving only rubble strewn slabs of which most were warped by the suction of the funnel.
?Texas funds two insurance related agencies through our property taxes and other taxes that are levied on individuals and businesses; The Texas Department of Insurance and The Texas Office of Public Insurance Counsel. The roles of these two agencies differ in some key areas and converge where most Texans are concerned.
?On the evening of March 1, 2013, a sinkhole opened up under the home of Jeff Bush in Seffner, Florida. It opened in a matter of seconds resulting in the floor underneath Bush’s bedroom giving way. Attempts to rescue Bush failed and he was presumed dead in the days that followed. The home was demolished a few days later.
It’s tax season! If you haven’t already filed, you have 38 more days before it’s due. For most filers, this is a busy time. I’m pulling my information together and organizing it for my CPA to make his job a little easier when we meet next week. This is also a busy time for identity thieves. While they never rest, they love this time of year. The amount of data on our returns is truly amazing.
On Friday, February 15th, a meteor entered the earth’s atmosphere at approximately 9:20 a.m. above Chelyabinsk, a town of about 1 million inhabitants in central Russia. The 50 foot wide, 7,700 ton meteor caused a blinding flash of light as it traveled at 40,000 miles per hour or over 52 times the speed of sound. Most of the meteor’s energy was consumed in the upper atmosphere about 9 miles above the earth’s surface. The energy released in the upper atmosphere was equivalent to at least 20 atomic bombs about the size of one exploded above Hiroshima.
My mother in law has offered child care in her Mesquite home for 2 decades. It’s been a labor of love for her. She loves kids. It’s also been a source of income for her. Many of the kids she’s watched have grown up and are now parents themselves. The number of high school and college graduations she’s been invited to is astounding. The long term reward has not been the income, although that’s been helpful. Her reward is watching the children grow up and knowing she’s played a part in them becoming adults.
Last fall, I received an email from the security department of my bank notifying me there’d been a questionable charge on my debit card. I first thought it was a phishing email so I called the security department of my bank to find out it wasn’t a false email. A charge for $4.58 had been made on my account at a New York sporting goods store. Not having traveled from Dallas to New York recently, I worked with the security department to identify my legitimate charges & payments and refute the ones that weren’t mine. We then shut down that debit card and they mailed me a new one.
?My personal home and car insurance renews in March. Every February I receive several letters from other Dallas area agents offering to save me money on my car and home insurance. None of them know I’m an independent agent. The savings they offer are tantalizing. There’s only one small catch: none of the offers I’ve ever received were real.
?While most people still drive to an office each day to work, there’s been an explosion in the number of people working from home over the last two decades. This was made possible by inexpensive computers and the availability of high speed internet access. What used to be the norm for realtors and traveling sales people has become typical for …
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