All These People Have Umbrellas Why Don't You?

Today’s peer pressure has changed from what we were used to as children.  Instead of pushing illegal drugs or unauthorized drinking, grown up cool kids are pushing personal liability protection and sound decision making.

What Is A Personal Umbrella Policy?

Personal umbrella liability policy is so named because it sits on top of your auto and homeowners liability policies, like an umbrella, to provide extra protection. (If you don’t own a home, remember that you still need renters insurance to cover both your liability and your personal property).

Why Do I Need a Personal Umbrella Policy?

Do you own a dog?  Do you have children?  Do you drive a car?  Do you play golf?  These are all extremely dangerous and high liability scenarios that most people take for granted.

Let’s say your walking your dog and a neighborhood kid tries to pet little Fido.  Fido has never bitten anyone but on this day Fido doesn’t appreciate the child’s advance and bites his face.  You are personally responsible for all that child’s medical expenses.  Didn’t see that coming?  Your personal umbrella did!

How Does A Personal Umbrella Policy Work?

Let’s use the scenario above and say that you do own a home and you’ve placed that homeowners policy with Ryan Hanley (This means you most likely have at least $500,000 in personal liability which is what I recommend as a minimum to all homeowners). You also have a $1,000,000 personal umbrella policy.  Fido got the kid real good and the kid has to have reconstructive surgery on his face and spend a week in the hospital recovering.  This is not outside the realm of possibilities.  If a dog get’s his/her mouth around a young child’s face there is going to be serious damage.  The medical expeneses associated with the damage caused by the dog are $750,000 (Thanks to the fact that Congress refuses to address Medical Cost in Health Reform).

In this scenario your Homeowner’s Personal Liability is going to pick up the first $500,000 in damages.  Then the personal umbrella policy is going to kick in and cover the remaining $250,000 (A little simplified, but what happens). If you did not have the personal umbrella where do you think that $250,000 is coming from?  YOU!  Your Home, Your Retirement, Your 410(k), Your Salary…

“You don’t have to be a millionaire, to be sued like one.”

Being Responsible is Cool… Buy a Personal Umbrella…

Disclaimer:

This article is for informational purposely only. There is no legal advice being suggested or proffered and the author assumes no responsibility or liability for the actions take or not taken by the readers based upon such information.

Thank you,

Ryan H.

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Read my syndicated post on Health Insurance originally published to Under30CEO.com 4 Pieces of Advice on Health Insurance for Entrepreneurs.